Sprayground at Pleasant Ridge Community Center

For the first time in all my years living in Cincinnati, this summer we decided to take advantage of the Cincinnati Recreation Centers pools and spraygrounds. We quickly fell in love with the sprayground at the Pleasant Ridge Community Center, located about 20-25 minutes from our house.  The sprayground was open from 10 AM until 10 PM daily and was free when the pool was not open.  During the pool hours, there was a $1 per child fee if you were not a member of the pool, but we preferred the sprayground in the morning prior to the pool being open!  If you happened to be at the sprayground at 12:45 PM, there was a free lunch served every day to anyone ages 18 and under as part of the free summer lunch program. The kids loved seeing what was in the lunch bag each time and were always thrilled to find the chocolate milk in it.  I will say that it was typically a pretty high carb lunch, but with busy kids running in the hot summer sun, burning it all off wasn't an issue. 

Although we love the sprayground at Washington Park downtown, the one at Pleasant Ridge was fenced in and typically not crowded!  It also offered 3 shade umbrellas for those of us who do not like the sun beating down on them!  The public library right up the road made for a nice stop either before or after our time in the sun.

Here are a few pictures from our last visit of the summer, enjoying all the other kids being back in school and us having the place to ourselves!

 

Ironically, I didn't realize until I had processed these pictures just how much William looks like Brett.  I know that people always tell me that my boys look alike, and yes, there is definitely a family resemblance, but William REALLY looks like his big brother!  Not only do they have similar faces, they are also built very similar, we just hope that William ends up being taller than Brett!

MAD Camp

MAD Camp presents "Malice in the Palace" the story of Esther

We were so blessed to be able to join Loveland United Methodist Church for a second year for their annual MAD (Music, Art, Drama) Camp!  It is unbelievable that in only a week's time, the kids learn their roles, everyone learns all the songs and the sets and props are created.  Everything comes to a dramatic conclusion Friday evening, after only 5 days of practice!

This year Sophia was cast in the role of Zeresh, the wife to Haman.  In addition to having to learn numerous lines, she also had a solo singing part!  When not in her role as Zeresh, she was part of the chorus of women. I am so incredibly proud of her, I can't imagine having to learn a part and perform it all within a week.  I could have never have done that at her age.  She really enjoys being on stage.  It was a bit comical that the boy cast as Haman was about a foot shorter than her! 

William was cast as a guard, which suits him well since he prefers to not have to memorize many lines!  His only lines were "Boom chugga lugga, boom chugga lugga, boom chugga lugga, boom!" "Make way for the King, Make way for the king, Make way for the King" and "Death to Haman, death to Haman, death to Haman, death!"

Happy 4th Birthday, Noel David!

It is still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I am a grandmother, that I have a grandson!  It is even harder for me to come to grips with the fact that he is now 4 years old, no longer a baby or a toddler, but a preschooler, with his feet pointed firmly towards become a school aged child.  I highly doubt that he will ever set foot in a school, at least not any time soon, school did far too much damage to his mother for her to think it could be the right place for her to ship her son off to each day...but I digress....

Today we had the pleasure of being invited to share Noel's special day with him!  And surprisingly he let me take pictures and he is looking at the camera.  I LOVE how some of these shots turned out.  And I love that his mom made him a Max and Ruby inspired worm cake to celebrate!

Luke conquers the diving board

Luke did it!  He went off the diving board!  With his momma proudly cheering him on, he jumped into the water!  Hard to believe that you couldn't even get him to let go of the side of the pool last year!  My baby boy sure is growing up!

Totally AWESOME 80's Dance!

We had an AMAZING time at the dance!  Doesn't hurt that we got to rock out all night to some AWESOME 80's music!  I completely FORGOT what great music was around when I was in high school.  I think I had more fun creating the playlist than the kids did!  We mixed up traditional dance songs (chicken dance, YMCA, line dances), 80's favorites, and current popular songs.

We set up a photo backdrop so that all the dance guests could take pictures.  It was a huge hit and super simple to make.  We just created "records" out of black poster board and made the labels out of neon cardstock. We cut out our title using a stencil (old fashion I know but I didn't want to lug a die-cut machine with me!) and the same cardstock we used to make the labels.  We attached everything to some white paper that you would use when making a bulletin board in someplace like a classroom.  A little tape and some hot glue and we were all set!

 

Yes, even Jay and I got in on the fun!  Jay came straight from work so wasn't in his 80's garb but I was rocking my high side ponytail, blue eye shadow, Flashdance inspired cut shirt and leopard print skirt!

Here was the information for the dance:
ALIVE 4-H Club along with the Teens from the East of Cincy Homeschool Organization (ECHO) are hosting a FAMILY DANCE! We hope you can join us!

When: Friday June 7, 2013 from 7 PM to 10 PM
Where: 4-H Hall at the Clermont County Fairgrounds 1000 Locust St. Owensville, OH 45160
Theme: 80's
Wh...o: Homeschoolers, their family and friends
Cost: A canned good or $1 per person.

Please bring a snack to share (think finger foods that do not require forks or spoons to enjoy)! Drinks (Lemonade, Tea and Water) will be provided!

Dress in your 80's best! Raid your parent's closet or look in your own...you might be surprised by how much current fashion has a 1980's root! Don't let a lack of wardrobe keep you from joining us, we will welcome you no matter what decade your attire reflects!

Music will be a mix of 80s music and current popular music. I LOVE the playlist! 

UnMuseum

We were so excited to visit the UnMuseum at the Contemporary Art Center in downtown Cincinnati.  They offer free tours to school groups and we decided to take advantage of the last Wednesday of the "school" year!  They divided us into 2 groups and each group explored the museum with a docent.

I love this picture of Tori with "Shark Girl"!

Sophia, William and Luke were with the second tour, but I remembered to snap a picture of them with "Shark Girl" before we left! 

 

Luke spelled out both is name and Noel's name with magnetic letters and then wanted me to take their picture next to their names, only problem was they both stood right in front of their names!