CEDAR POINT!

Friday was Ohio State Day at Cedar Point. I had never been before, so I was excited to go with some of the students. You know, they needed me to 'chaperone.' :)

I was also super excited to ride the rollercoasters. I've only ever ridden the ones at Magic Kingdom and that was back in February, so I wanted to ride 'real' rollercoasters. 

 

Me and Snoopy at the front gate.

Jill and I met Charlie Brown.

As soon as we got inside the group wanted to ride Millenium Force. I had no idea what that ride was, so I went for it. OMG! Definitely much different than the runaway train at Magic Kingdom! lol.

I rode down that drop!

 Unlike at Disney World, you aren't allowed to take pictures of your photo from the ride off of the screens. My bad. I only got yelled at for it four times! :)

The one time my hands were up in the air and not gripping the handle.

 I still cannot believe I rode that! I wasn't a bit nervous though. It was a good thing for me to just get straight on the ride and not see what it was doing or where it was going beforehand.

The next ride we did was Magnum. I didn't know anything about it before and it was ok, but definitely too up and down for me.

Pre-ride.

We survived, barely. :)

 Then we ventured in to kiddie land and rode the Woodstock Express. This was equivilent to the coasters I rode at Disney World.

Jill and I got brave and sat in the front seat! haha.

Risk takers right there!!

Punished!

 I also rode the Blue Streak, which is the oldest coaster there. I did not enjoy it. It was a wooden rollercoaster and my head hurt so much be the time I was only halfway through. Again, it was too much up and down.

Everyone made fun of me for screaming on the rollercoasters, so on this one I recorded me. I sound like I'm getting murdered. ha.

We also did fun rides, like the horse race, the old fashion cars and the ferris wheel.

At the derby.

Trolley.

And the highlight of my day, getting my picture with Aaron Craft. Could he be any more precious?

 

Love for Lenzelle too.

 Overall I had a great time at Cedar Point and want to visit again sometime to ride more coasters! Maybe even one that goes upside down? :)

Success!!

High Street Lunch Tour

Thursday was the first stop on the High Street Lunch Tour with my co-workers and friends, Adam and Jill. It was decided that we'd start at High Street and Lane Avenue and work our way south through all of the restaurants that we haven't been to before. The rule was if all three of us haven't eaten at a restaurant, we go. So we will skip those chain places like McDonald's and Wendy's. We're not going every day, just once a week. I'd be broke as a joke if it was every day. I'd also gain 400 pounds.

Our first stop, since we'd all been to Noodles, was Diaspora, a Korean and Japanese Restaurant. I like Japanese steakhouse food, usually because I get steak/chicken and rice. I'm not a sushi fan AT ALL! I also eat Chinese food, as long as there is a buffet type thing that I can see to pick and chose what I want. Ha.

I was not a fan of what I got. It was labeled as "Beef and Vegetables" so I thought it would be something like stir fry. Nope. It was ground hamburger with a mix of veggies that I definitely don't eat - pickles, carrots, bean sprouts, mushrooms. Yuck. And there was a fried egg on top. Eww. The lady even told me it was a favorite. Who did they poll?

Not my ideal lunch at all.

We even had to eat with chopsticks! And this nasty, nasty sauce on my dish (thanks to the waitress). Jill got fried veggies and Adam got spicy tuna sushi.

going out of the box and eating new things

Next week we'll hit up the next restaurant. We figured out that the next five places on the list that we haven't been to are either Chinese or Japanese food. This might be a long month of May for Jill and I.

Greatest Show on Earth

Last night Molly, Jill, Suzie and I went to see the circus in Columbus. The last time Molly and I went to the circus we were wearing matching Osh Kosh B Gosh overalls with giant white bows in our hair. Needless to say, we were still little kids! :) Suzie had been once when she was really little as well and this was Jill's first time.

Molly and I were auditioning to be in the show!

To say I sat on the edge of my seat would be an understatement! I was literally sitting on my knees like a five year old the entire time! I don't know what was more exciting, the girls hanging by their hair spinning in circles from the ceiling, the people being shot up in the air and caught, the trapeze people or the lions! It was just an amazing show!

Opening act!

I don't know if I would take my kids though, they would have to be older. There were some parts that were scary. Like when I guy fell of his horse and almost got trampled to death! Yeah, that happened. And the whole dragon theme of this circus was a little scary for me. I don't like dragons, so I could have done without that. But I did learn that there are three different circus shows that travel (red, blue and gold) and we just saw one of them (blue). Yes, I went home and wikipedia-ed the circus to learn all about it. #nerdalert

Cute elephants!

It wasn't very crowded, so at the intermission, we moved down closer to the floor for a more up close view!

These girls in the air fascinated me.

3 graduates

Molly, Tyler and I are all now official college graduates. My cousins Kate and Lauren will be finishing up their degrees in the next few years and then my grandparents will be 5/5 for grandchildren graduating from college. Not too shabby.

Let's rewind to the family pictures from yesteryear.....

2007, I graduated from Ohio State. I didn't really get many good pictures from that day, but this one of the family is nice.

Tyler finished in December 2010, but walked in May 2011. Mom and Molly went more blonde and I'm ghostly pale.

2013 Molly graduated from Ohio State. Tyler disappeared from the picture because of Soccer, Mam took his place, Mom's hair is longer, mine is short and dark and dad is a lot more gray. And thankfully I look way more stylish and happy than either of the photos before.

Very proud of my little sibs for their accomplishments. I know they'll go on to do great things.

Dogwood 5K

I ran in my third Dogwood 5K on April 27. I wasn't as prepared as I was last year and it showed by how I was a little slower than I had hoped, but even with a few walking breaks (yes, I walked) :( I still finished at 32 minutes. I want to break 30 so bad. Why do I get lazy and walk?

This year Payton didn't run with me because of her injury, so I didn't have anyone to pace me and I'm pretty horrible at that myself.

But I got it done. It was my first 5K of 2013, the 6th one I've ever done. Not my best time, not my worst time.

Somehow running 13.1 miles at Disney seemed a lot easier. I think it was because there are soooo many people running then and at the Dogwood there is a group way ahead of me and a group way behind me.

Rheadon and I after we finished. He basically could have lapped me.

With the Dogwood Tree in front of Mom and Dad's house.

And to remind myself of how far I've come in relation to running and just life in general:

Dogwood 5K in 2011

Dogwood 5K in 2012

Dogwood 5K 2013 (forcing Lori in the picture)

OSU Alum

My sister graduated from THE Ohio State University yesterday. I could be more proud of her for being the little sister that she is and for marking her spot within the College.

I don't have to worry about her leaving me just yet. She'll be back in the fall to continue her education, so I can hang out with her for another year! Yay!

Graduates walking in.

Everyone in their seats.

President Obama was the speaker!!!

She's got it.

With proud mom and dad.

You show 'em how to graduate!

Me and Suzie.

Me and Julie

They crack me up.

Love her.

After graduation parties are always fun! :)

Fairy Godmother

When I became a godmother months ago, I asked that Layton call me his Fairy Godmother. If he would say it with a British accent, that would be even better!

I don't understand why everyone gets this picture in their head when they hear 'fairy godmother.' Thanks Cinderella. 

Are all fairy godmothers chubby old women that always look mad?

A quick trip home earlier this week gave me time to play with my boy. He is getting so big. I can't believe he's already 6 months old today!

I look forward to spoiling him for the rest of my life. I just wish our visits were more than once every few weeks.

We got worms!

Worms. The diagnosis no 'mom' wants to hear.

So Saturday I noticed these little 'rice' looking things on Bowie's back side (aka, her butt. I just feel like that word is degrading to her). I had hoped she'd sat in something, it was the litter, or it was just something else. Just something! Anything other than what I feared. I cleaned her up, but sure enough they were back on Monday. Ugh.

Again, cleaned her up and headed out to officiate my track meet. On the way home I started wondering about these little 'pieces of rice' so I googled it.

"white rice on cat's butt" is what I searched.

(If anyone searched that and ended up here on my blog, you're in luck cause you'll find out what is wrong!)

Every result that came up was for tapeworms. Of course! It wasn't enough that she was in heat for the first 30 days of the year, then we dealt with surgery recovery for the next three weeks. Then a week of terror when we watched the devil cat while Kate was on Spring Break. Then I got 'pink eye'/allergic reaction to medicine. And now we have worms! We can't catch a break.

So if your cat is eating more than normal (she was, I thought it was a growth spurt), her hair isn't as shiny (it's not!), she lays around more than usual (she's not in to playing with toys much these days), she is aggressive (girl has been biting my ankles non stop while I get ready in the morning) and most noticibly, has white rice looking pieces on her behind, then your cat probably has tapeworm!

Luckily, there is a pill that your vet can give you and will kill the worm.

Getting your cat to take the pill is a whole 'nother story. I had to go to Giant Eagle (in my pajamas!) at 11pm to get wet cat food to hide the crunched up pill in because she would not eat it in her dry food. And then I starved her until she had no choice but to eat the medicine filled patte.

I don't feel good mom.

Here's to no more tapeworms. Thank goodness I can't get them.

Prom

Piketon's prom was this past weekend. I went home to see my dear little Payton go to her first prom. She is a freshman this year and went to the dance with her friend Isaac. Isaac is little brother of Molly's friend Hayley and he used to have the biggest crush on Molly when he was little and she was in high school. It's so strange to see both Payton and Isaac as high schoolers!

Isn't she pretty?

They look so grown up!

Payton is 15 and when I was 15 is when I started babysitting her and her little sister. They were attached to my hip when I was in high school and were just the cutest little girls. Payton started kindergarten the same year I started college and I remember crying because my little girl was so old. Well now she's in high school. I. feel. so. old. 

They always came to watch me go to my dances, so it was only natural for me to come watch them do the same.

The picture below is Payton and I at my high school prom in 2003 and at her first prom last weekend. :)

 I look a heck of a lot better these days than I did back then. Thanks mom for that bright blue eye shadow to match my bright blue dress!

Dresses! Also something that look a heck of a lot better these days. I'm not sure what we were thinking back then. But those dresses were not pretty. The dresses in the store are so much better these days. So much better.

I chaperoned the after prom. It's a lot harder to stay up from 12-3am than what I thought. I slept all day on Sunday!