Ohio Historical Museum

A few weeks ago, DH and I took the Bachsters to the Ohio Historical Society Museum here in Columbus.  DH and I had been to the museum a long time ago, way before we had kids, so it was fun for us to go back and enjoy it again (with 3 additional little people).

This museum has a little of everything, which makes it a really kid-friendly experience.  We saw fossils, Civil War flags, taxidermy, Native American artifacts, dolls from the 1800s and a camper from the 1950s, to name just a few of the many things on display.  Here are some shots of our day:

I can't believe that mastodons use to live in the Ohio area.  This one greets visitors as you enter the museum:

 
We all loved exploring the Lustron home, straight from the 1950s.  DH and I laughed when we saw the phone book (a real phone book!), and the Bachsters especially loved the rotary dial phone and record player (things they have probably never seen before):

Early Columbus transportation:

Early firefighter transportation:

I loved the handmade quilts.  How proud these quilt makers would be if they knew one of their creations was in a museum (!):

There was a little hearth area that was set up not far from the quilt display that the Bachsters just loved.  There was a butter churner and a spinning wheel, and these kept them busy for a long time:

And to top it all off, you exit through a gift shop that sells Ohio-made products, like maple syrup and wine.  I bought an Ohio-shaped cookie cutter (to make sweet reminders of our fun Ohio-y day)!

-Cheryl

Moose....shout....

Moose....shout....barge....frump....piracy....entrance....lawyer....dissemble....expunge....insinuate....
netiquette....armistice....matriculation....cephalopod....chiffonade....sedition....mackerel.

These are the words our oldest Bachster had in her first ever spelling bee a couple of days ago.  She did awesome in the spelling bee - she finished in the top four (out of 80 + kids in her grade).  We were all cheering for her from the front row, and were so excited she made it so far!

I am such a proud mama!

-Cheryl

1st Place (x2)

I have such good news to share: 2 of our Bachsters won 1st place in the local Graeter's Ice Cream coloring contest!  I'm such a proud Mama!

When the manager called to tell us about DD's first place win for ages 6-9, she probably didn't see that her brother had won in his age group.  So, when we all went to Graeter's to collect her prize and enjoy a celebratory cone, we were all pleasantly surprised that we had not 1 but 2 winners!

Actually, we have 3 little winners, because our 8-year-old was incredibly supportive of her siblings (even though she must have been very upset that she didn't win).  She gave them hugs and told them great job and showed no signs of jealousy.  That's a commendable accomplishment in itself, and another proud Mama moment.

Our oldest DD did a drawing of zombies eating ice cream at the cemetery!  Our 8-year-old did hills and trees and a fancy person in the truck.  And Little Dude drew a tree with a bug jumping out of it beside the Graeter's truck.  Here are their entries:

And here are our little artists enjoying the fruits of their labor (or in this case, the cotton candy ice cream in a chocolate waffle cone with sprinkles of their labor: 

And yes, they can eat those gigantic cones, no problem.  They're Bachs after all.  And they do their Mama proud.

-Cheryl

Strawberry picking - 2013

The past few years, we've made it a tradition to go strawberry picking.  The farm where we usually go has stopped growing strawberries because the owners want to retire.  So we were faced with finding a new pick-your-own spot and we found a real gem: Jerry's Berries, out in the country, yet not too far from home (we're in Central Ohio).  And they're organic - love that.

So, here are a few pics from one of our strawberry picking excursions.  We only made it out to pick two times this year - the first time, we came back with way more than we could eat (I ended up freezing some of the berries).  The second time out, no one was in the mood to pick, and Mama had to pick most them (along with juggling my duties as official family photog).  Even though strawberry season is short, we enjoyed all the berries we picked, and can't wait until we can carry on the tradition again next year.

 

-Cheryl

Our Easter

I wanted to share a few pictures of our Easter - we had a great holiday this year (and are still enjoying it, actually - the Easter Bunny brought way too much candy)!

Here are a few shots of our egg coloring session:

Here's my egg creation - a picture of a camera...on the other side, I drew a picture of knitting needles hard at work:

The Easter Bunny didn't get our poor pup any special treats and he looks so sad in this picture.  He knows when there's a special event or holiday happening, and he wants to join in too!  I will need to have a chat with The Bunny about this to make sure it doesn't happen again next year.

The Bachsters got these cool bubble wands in their baskets, so after we ate our fill of candy, we went outside to play with them.  They discovered that it was great fun to cover our cars with bubbles!

We have an egg hunt every year, and our 7-year-old always finds the most eggs, much to the dismay of our 9-year-old - as you can see......

(Even poor Ranger kept sniffing around the eggs, hoping to find his Easter treasure.  Sigh....some of us had a better day than others on Easter morning).

Do you celebrate Easter?  If so, how was your holiday?

-Cheryl

A sliver of summer

Last weekend, the weather was crazy-warm.  I couldn't resist the opportunity to get out with the Bachsters and I'm so glad we did because a few days later, it was back in the 30s.  But at least for one day, it was like a little bit of summer.

We explored Blacklick, one of our favorite Metro Parks in Columbus.

We went to the pond first, and saw a turtle and some goldfish.  No dragonflies yet, but I am so ready (and so is my camera)!

After the pond, DH and the Bachsters had a snowball fight in the parking lot.  Did I mention it was almost 70 degrees?

We also hiked in the woods a bit, visited the park's nature center, played on the playground and then went to Graeter's for ice cream.

Just like summer.........only it was winter!

-Cheryl

At-home dentistry

A few weeks ago, Little Dude came up to me and said "Mommy, my tooth is loose."  Was it ever....it was on the verge of falling out, along with the one right beside it.  Well, his older sister heard this and got right down to the business of getting that tooth out for him.  All afternoon they worked on it:  Little Dude holding his mouth open while his sister (I mean, dentist) wiggled and twisted the tooth.

And that hard work paid off: later that day, tooth #1 came out (followed by tooth #2 a couple of days later).  Our resident dentist stayed with her patient the whole time, even ensuring his recovery was comfortable.  She didn't even ask for payment (the loot from the tooth fairy), only asking for a hug.

If only every dental procedure were so enjoyable!

-Cheryl

Introducing......

We have a new addition to the Bach family, as of Christmas morning.  I'm pleased to introduce you to Tiger, DD's leopard gecko:

All Christmas season, our 7-year-old kept repeating one very special request when asked what she wanted: a pet lizard.  And on a trip to the pet store during holiday break, we stopped by and looked at their selection and this is the one she picked out.  What a great guy Santa is for getting her Tiger! 

And I must say, she is taking her new role as Mama very seriously (I've been referred to as Grandma a few times already.  Oh, my).  She changes his water, feeds him crickets and mealworms, changes his day & night lights and cleans out his "auditorium" (as she calls it)  - all without being asked!  She also made a little sign for the side of his habitat with his name and a picture of a tiger (not a lizard!).

Our DD is completely smitten - she peeks in and tends to Tiger throughout the day.  And since returning back to school a few days ago, she loads him up on the care in the morning since she's going to be away for several hours.

I'm such a proud Mama (er, Grandma)!

Welcome to our family, Tiger!

-Cheryl  

Our October

There were so many fun activities we did in October that I had every intention of writing about on my blog, but for some reason or another never got a chance.  So, I thought I'd go ahead and share some pics from our October, even though they may be just a tiny bit late. 

Little Dude and I went to Slate Run Historical Farm early in the month for a field trip with his preschool class.  It was cold that day, but lots of fun:

Pumpkin pancakes are one of our favorite breakfast treats in the Fall.  I've already made them several times this season.  Recipe from Martha.

Our oldest DD won second place in the children's category of this year's Columbus Metro Parks photo contest!  I didn't win anything this year, which is ok because this was her year.  She was so excited when she got her ribbon that she took it in to school to show her teacher!

After viewing the photo contest pictures, we hiked around Inniswood, our favorite park.  It's so beautiful there in the Fall:

We discovered a field nearby where Ranger can run around, and there are always deer.  Of course, his favorite activity is chasing deer!  This shot, while obviously a big unintentional blur, is kind of neat, the more you look at it.  At least, that's what I keep telling myself:

We were fortunate that Hurricane Sandy only brought strong winds and some light snow to Central Ohio.  The kids had a blast playing in the snow before school that day:

And of course, there was Trick or Treat.  This year, we had a goth princess, a dementor from Harry Potter & Commander Cody from Star Wars Clone Wars.  And it was a chilly, rainy, cold beggars night, so the Bachsters were back home in a flash, content to eat their goodies in the warm, dry house and let our jack o'lanterns brave the cold instead:

We had a nice October - I hope you did, too.

-Cheryl

Pumpkins - 2012

A couple of weeks ago, on a warm Fall afternoon, we all set out to the pumpkin farmer's house to pick out our pumpkins.  It's an annual thing for us - as soon as we saw the pumpkins out in September, the Bachsters have been begging to go. 

The pumpkin farmer is a sweet old guy who has been selling pumpkins in his front yard for years.  In the past, he's had some very unusual kinds, like "peanut" pumpkins (they look like they have peanuts glued all over them) or green pumpkins.  This year, he had some neat huge white ones - I've only seen small white ones before.  And of course, there were lots of orange ones, too!

Do you have any fun Fall traditions?  Please share!

-Cheryl

Lithopolis Honeyfest

I mentioned a couple of posts back that the Bach family went to the Lithopolis HoneyFest earlier this month, and I wanted to share a few pictures from our day there.  It was a great festival, and the little town of Lithopolis (Ohio) is adorable!

A trio of beekeepers:

A very aggressive pipe-cleaner bee:

We definitely want to come back and check out all the cute antique shops and coffee house we saw in Lithopolis:

Such a cute little town....such a fun little festival!

-Cheryl

Wagfest

Last weekend, we went to Wagfest, which is a big festival, all for dogs, here in Central Ohio.  There was a dog swimming area and park, shows, vendors & breeds of every kind.  I thought I'd share a few pics!

 
Ranger met a couple of other Rhodesian Ridgebacks at the fest:

It was a really hot day, and Ranger absolutely loved the ice area they had set up for the dogs to romp in.  We ended up visiting twice so he could play and cool off:

We watched the dock jumping in the afternoon - some dogs couldn't wait to make the jump, others needed a little coaxing:

And here's a shot of a dragonfly, because I can never resist taking a dragonfly picture:

Ranger had a blast at Wagfest, but towards the end he was so tired, he was going under food carts & plopping down.  It was a big day for our big dog!

-Cheryl