My Navy Grandpa

My cousin posted about 20 pictures of my Grandpa on facebook last night. They were old hard copy photos and she had them restored. I'd seen the first picture before, but the rest are new to me.

Grandpa Wickham retired from the Navy. I wish I knew more about all of his ranks and honors, time served, etc. I know he served in three wars - WWII, Korea and Vietnam. That was rare. I tried searching online for more info, but came up short. Anyone know how to find that information online? 

When I saw these pictures this morning, they made me sad. My Grandpa Wickham died when I was just 4 years old, so I don't have many memories of him. Obviously even if he'd lived longer I still wouldn't have known him at the time these pictures were taken, but maybe I could have gotten some stories behind the photos. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and know all of my grandparents during their younger years. I bet they were pretty cool people - I mean, I am an offspring and I'm awesome! ;)

I'm going to guess he wasn't very old in this picture.

My Grandma and Grandpa Wickham in October 1943 - 7 months before they married. She was 15 and he was 19 at the time.

I love this picture - he looks so sharp and important.

I wish I knew the story behind this photo - they're obviously doing some kind of challenge. Eating out of feed troughs, with boxing gloves on and facemasks. I can only imagine the story. :) This photo probably makes the saddest of all because I never got to know him as a fun person.

Columbus Crew - We Love Ya!

I'd never been to a Columbus Crew game before. Tyler's been to lots and lots and has invited me to go a number of times, but I never went along. When he was in town last weekend for the Color Run I suggested he stay in town for all of Saturday and go to the Jazz and Rib Fest with me and he said he would if I went to the Crew game with him. Deal.

Well, we didn't end up going to the Jazz and Rib Fest. We met the Reuter family at the North Market instead (he did eat ribs!) but we did go to the Crew game.

It was my first Crew game and also my first soccer game ever where Tyler was not on the field and in the bleachers beside me! Crazy huh? I missed seeing him out there on the field.

First Columbus Crew game and my professional sporting event for my 101 in 1001 days challenge.

We sat in the rowdy section, also known as the Nordecke.

My favorite brother.

I wish Ohio State had smoke come up out of their seats!

There were lots of homemade banners, but at least they were neat and well designed!

They sang and chanted the. entire. game. Which was nice!

Columbus' city logo.

"We" won!

Players coming over to the fans after the game.

I tried to meet the players after the game, but Tyler said they're all married. :(

Thanks bro for the ticket!

The section we sat it got pretty rowdy and it was actually alot of fun. I always wanted to be in an awesome pep section and I definitely was in a section full of diehard Crew fans. So I will definitely go back if he has extra tickets in the future!

Next time I'll need some official Crew gear to wear, like this Homage shirt. ;)

Five Question Friday - 7.27.2012

1. What is the funniest thing you saw on Facebook/twitter this week?
I actually gave up facebook and twitter last week. I just waste too much time on there. I caved and reactivated facebook because I use it to communicate about our upcoming family reunion this August. 

Twitter is still gone though. And I'm a huge instagram junkie now.

But I got nothing funny to share!

 
2. What is your favorite Olympic event?
WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS! For. Sure.

I'm even going to a party to watch the women's all around and having my old roommates over for the women's team competition. And my cousins over tonight for the Opening Ceremony. And the Closing Ceremony is going to have the SPICE GIRLS! I'm just sooo giddy about the Olympics!
 

3. Do your kids to chores around the house? If so, what are they and how old are the children? Do they get paid for them?
I wish I had a few kids to help clean up around my house. It's just me. Bowie doesn't do her share either!
 

4. If you get bad service/food do you complain or keep quiet?
It depends. If it's really bad I would probably complain. If it's not that bad I would just keep quiet and probably leave a smaller tip. :)

But being assertive is one of my things I'm working on, so I've been much more outspoken if things aren't as I ordered, etc.
 

5. If you could pick ONE frivolous item for your home, what would it be? (massive room sized closet? swimming pool? greenhouse? etc...)

A very organized walk in closet.

Color Run: Columbus

Way back in March, Tyler and I decided that we were going to run in the Color Run when it came to Columbus in July. At the time, that sounded like it was soooooo far in the future.

We wanted to run in the one in Chicago, so we could also visit our sis and her family, but it was already sold out.

On Easter we were talking to my cousin about it and she wanted to join, along with her friends, so we formed a team. We weren't really that creative in coming up with a name so we called it "Team Hillton." (Combo of Hilliard and Piketon - I'm a creative genius, I tell ya!)

At first we were all really dedicated to running. I was up to four miles a night. Then hot weather hit and they got busy with other things, so we kind of fell off the bandwagon. Which is OK if you're doing the Color Run. It's not really about time at all.

Next time we run (yeah, I'd do it again), I'll know to create a cool team name, get t-shirts and fun shorts, start at the beginning of the pack (so you can actually run and not get stuck in 'traffic jams' of walkers) and get even more colorful than we did this year.

I guess there is another similar race called "Color Me Rad" that is also coming to Columbus in a few months, but I think I have something that day. But if it's anything like the Color Run, it will be a good time! And I encourage you to do it!

pre-race picture at Arch Park

Me and my bro before the race.

Team Hillton

Thousands and thousands of happy people.

Here we go! (sing it like the N*Sync song!)

In the pink cloud. Whit looks grossed out. Lauren looks prissy.

I have no idea why the next three photos are sideways. They aren't like that when I upload them!

The backs of our shirts - pre-finish line festival.

 

Lauren and her friends.

Me and Ty

Me and Ty in the cloud that almost drowned us!

I think this is Whitney, but just look at the big dust cloud!

Tyler during the countdown.

the girls in the big cloud of color.

After the race.

We did it!

Before & After

Tyler was colorful!

So was I - with a photo bomb in the background!

Instagram shot on the walk to the car!

Bowie wanted in on the action!

Five Question Friday - 7.20.2012

1} What do you call them- flip flops, sandals, thongs, or slippers?
I just call them flip flops. May occasionally call them sandals.

2} Are you a "my kids can do no wrong" kind of mom or a "Johnny punched you? Well what did you do to him first?!" kind of mom?
Not a mom at all.

Britt reminded me that I'm a fur-mom. So in that way, I guess I'm probably a "Bowie can do no wrong." kind of mom. I mean, she's so cute. And tiny (although she is growing), so how could something so tiny or cute be bad?

But, last night she was being really bratty and I had to sternly tell her no multiple times. She did not listen.

3} Would you confront a good friend that looked/looks down on your husband/significant other?
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but of course I would like it if my friends liked my boyfriend/husband. Their opinions do matter!

4} Biggest pet peeve?
Driving! People that wait until the LAST. POSSIBLE. MINUTE. to merge when the sign said lane was ending two miles ago!

5} What's your favorite take out meal?
I just like pizza.

Country Living

Last night Molly and I went out to Jessica's house. Out in the country. Yay! My intentions were for horseback riding lessons, but they were unpacking her parents' UHAUL, so we just played in the yard with Suttyn and all of the dogs.

And we jumped on the trampoline. A LOT. Did 484,293 rounds of Ring around the Rosie. And sweat so much I smelled. (But not as much as the night before.)

But as I was laying on the trampoline, looking up at the sky and hearing the radio play from the barn nearby it hit me that I hadn't had a day (or just evening) like that in a long time. Where I was just out in the country, playing and having a lot of fun on the farm.

Not my farm.

For the longest time I was so focused on moving out of the city that I didn't take the time to enjoy actually living in a city. Which is what I'm doing now. I'm making my apartment a home, rather than just a temporary place to sleep, and embracing all of the fun things Columbus has to offer.

For years I went home every. single. weekend. Partially because I liked going home and hanging with my family. But mostly because I didn't have anything to do in Columbus. I didn't have friends from college that were still in town to do things with and my boyfriend at the time went home every weekend as well, so I did too. Because I thought Columbus was boring and I hated being here alone. I'd rather be alone in Piketon where I knew people or could go to the grocery store and run into someone I knew.

Then last fall I started staying up here more and doing things in town and going home less often, and then this spring I really started making friends and joining groups and teams and classes and I'm so busy now that I just don't have time to go home. I feel bad for not visiting that often, but I think that this is my time to be here in Columbus, enjoying everything the city has to offer - baseball games, festivals, events, nightlife - because I haven't done that in the past, even though I always wanted to.

But last night I realized that I do miss playing in the barns or out in a field in the middle of no where and just being so hot, dirty, smelly and just overall gross that standing in the shower is the best feeling in the world.

I miss the country side of things that I don't get to do that often anymore since I'm in the city, but I also know it will always be a part of me and I can always go home to that anytime I want. This job and this city is where I'm supposed to be right now. It won't be forever so I need to enjoy everything while I can and quit always looking ahead and planning for the next thing to happen. I just need to enjoy the time being and let things happen as they happen.

And working with ag students every day, all day helps too! ;)

Cross Fit Bootcamp

Last week I saw my friend Jenny talking on twitter about going to a crossfit boot camp that is held on Monday nights at Columbus Commons. I had heard about it months ago and even tried to talk my bro into coming to it once a week with me, but it never went anywhere after that.

So I mentioned to Jenny that I might want to go and we made a date of it for the following week.

Now I've been running alot lately (except for the last two weeks!), but I haven't been lifting or doing anything like that. So needless to say, I'm pretty week and was a little worried about not being able to keep up.

I went last night and it was great. It was 95 degrees outside and there were about 40-50 people there. There were some buffer guys there and there were some older women too. It was a big range of age and ability, so I felt fine. We did stretches and push ups and other types of things in the grass, then we did 15 minutes of frog jumps with push-ups in between the entire length of Columbus Commons. Twice.

I'll admit there was one time about halfway through my second trip that I thought I was going to be sick. I'm going to blame it on the extreme heat. ;)

We got a lot of looks from people around the Commons and one guy asked me what was going on. I responded it was a bootcamp. Then he asked if it was for the Army. I wasn't sure if I should thank him for thinking I looked Army ready or if I should tell him he's a complete moron. 

I've seriously never sweat so much in my life. I mean, my tank top was soaked! And my legs were sweating too. My shins! Who sweats on their shins?And I smelled so bad. Just keeping it real. I took a shower as soon as I got home just to go to the car wash!

I've never sweat so much in my life. I'd been home for about 20 minutes too! Thank you Cross Fit.

I'm looking forward to going every Monday night with Jenny from now until the end of September. Maybe I'll have these super buff arms and buns of steel by then

If you're interested in the classes, more info here.

4th of July Tradition

Every year we celebrate the 4th of July at the beach on our family vacation. There are quite a few families that go at the same time and one of them are the girls that I have babysat for since they were 6 months and 2 years old. And I believe I have a photo of me with them from every vacation.

We've been going on vacation together for 11 years. So I'll have to dig out the photos prior to digital cameras from the storage boxes, but for now, here's the last three years.

They're getting older, while I'm looking younger, right?

July 4, 2010

July 4, 2011

July 4, 2012

And if we were standing up this year, Payton would be taller than me. :(

Five Question Friday - 7.13.2012

1. What's your view on men wearing sandals (yay or nay)?

Yay for flip flops. Nay for those velcro-ish sandals. Unless you're a senior citizen.

 

And the flip flops must be the leather kind. You know, Abercrombie/American Eagle/Hollister looking. Not the cheap-o's from Walmart. Those just make me think of the hog barn at our county fair. (Story for another time!)

2. What song do you love but are embarrassed to admit?

I'm not even embarrassed about it. I LOVE the "Call me maybe?" song. It's so catchy. I totally rocked out to it last weekend when dancing in the Arena District, complete with the telephone hand motions. :)

 

And I'm a sucker for Justin Bieber's "Baby Baby Baby". Also catchy.

3. What summer camp should they make for moms? 

I'm not a mom, but I would totally attend a summer camp for former campers. You know, a reunion of sorts (without kids) for all of those we went to 4-H camp with as kids. We could go boating, swimming, high ropes, repelling, all those fun things we haven't done since we were at 4-H camp five billion years ago.

 

Obviously I would recommend we sleep in later than 7pm and most of us would probably go to bed way earlier than we did back then, but ya never know!

4. What is the most romantic song? (Not necessarily your favorite or your wedding song...)

Can't really think of any at the moment. I pretty much avoid any romantic sounding songs. I'm just sticking to upbeat music. Like "Call me maybe". :)

5. Do you have an embarrassing pregnancy story?

I do not! No babies here!!

Parasailing

A few months ago before we went on vacation, I thought about it would be so much fun to go riding on a banana boat while at the beach. When I looked up the information on it, I found out that you got to ride the banana boat out to the boat when you parasailed, so I decided that I'd like to do that too.

Molly wanted to go too, so when we got to the beach, we called a place and made a reservation. We also asked our "little sisters" Payton and Avery if they wanted to go along too. Payton said yes, Avery said no.

So we went the morning of July 4. No better way to celebrate America's birthday than to look at the shore from 200+ feet up in the air over the Atlantic Ocean, right?

It wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be like. It was so much fun! The banana boat ride was fun and while we were soaring above the water we saw a sea turtle! No sharks though. :(

I barely got wet, but Molly was soaked. Now we know why!

We survived!

Parasailing was so much fun. I can't believe I waited 27 years to try it! It will definitely be a must on vacation every year from now on!

Vacation

Just a few vacation photos. This is not all of them, just some highlights from my phone.

We had a good time. It wasn't long enough, yet too long at the same time. How does that work?

With all of my little sisters at Broadway.

Molly and Payton coordinated "Long Dress Night."

My family.

Reuter Family

I got Essie's "turquoise and caicos" nail polish. My favorite color ever!

We found a crab in the ocean.

We went parasailing.

Celebrated the Forth of July on the beach.