GOTL

Good old Eddie's Grill at Geneva on the Lake! We met Amy, Ally, and Sarah for dinner and some GOTL fun.

After dinner we went down to the beach and practiced our stone skipping skills.

Eva was great at it... just ask her:)

And a ride on the ferris wheel. Eva was thrilled. I thought she might be frightened, but much to the contrary, she LOVED it.

To finish the evening off we had to stop at Dairy Queen and have some cones. I was by far the sloppiest. Somehow I managed to drip my cone down both hands, on my legs, and a puddle on the concrete. But... it was gooood!

The North Coast

We spent the next day at the beach. This is Walnut Beach in Ashtabula. The girls, Lolo, and I had fun in the water, playing in the sand, and collecting rocks and sea glass. In my younger years I spent ALOT of time at this beach. Luckily, the sand can not tell stories.

Lolo, Eva, and El.

"Bear"ing gifts from Gramma Brown

We went to visit Gramma Brown. The girls were told to go pick out whatever they liked. They started with teddy bears and then Eva picked a porcelain doll and El picked a decorative owl. I hope I have Gramma's genes... 96 and still going strong!

What is it about Ohio and tractors?

Wasn't long before the girls were out driving tractors. This time with a front end loader!

Pa gave El about a thirty second lesson and then let her loose!

She drove and drove...

and drove!

Eva decided to stop watering the flower bed and water Pa instead!

Bears and Log Cabins

El has always loved going to Gramma Pat and Pa's log cabin. She loved going to the woods and looking for unicorns. The woods behind the log cabin are enchanted, of course. She doesn't look for unicorns anymore... but she still loves the log cabin.
Eva is a fan now as well. She also liked to make the bear a bit prettier. She named her "Black Scratchy". This flower stayed on the entire visit although it was often relocated by passersby.

The Truth in the Matter

OK... truth be told Graham was truly after El, or "The Big One" as he called her! He tried to get beside her whenever possible.
We all got a bit hot after our outside play so we moved it into the air conditioning. El, Lilly, and Graham mad some masterpieces.

And the big girls got to relax.

Now that is cute!

Young Love

Here Graham is chasing Eva.

Um, chasing Eva again.

Not sure what is being discussed here. Do I want to know?

Eva just looked at these pictures and said, "Graham is not nice to me. He stomps on my foot and he pulls me around". Looks like boys keep the same mating rituals from 4 to 44. If you doubt me, see my post for Todd's birthday (May).

Red, White, and Blue on the Fifth of July

Kathryn had us, my parents, Heather and kids, and Mark over for a 5th of July picnic. The fun began with an active game of tag.

Which quickly wore some of the participants out!
So we slowed down and had a yummy meal. Enough food for army!

Fourth of July!

Papa put El to work mowing the lawn as soon as we arrived! Well, actually just driving lessons. She will work up to mowing next year.
She enjoyed practicing driving and then parking to get refreshments and then taking off again.
Clearly Eva and Papa had a more difficult time... watch out tree!
I think she likes driving. What do you think?

To be fair... the tree was never in danger. I just caught the shot at an odd angle.

Red, White, and Blue on the Fourth of July

This is the fairy garden DeDe and the girls worked on during the day and evening. If you notice the pile of flowers to the left that is Eva's major contribution. She liked to gather sticks, stones, leaves, flowers and throw them on a pile. DeDe and PaPa have been working many hours in the garden after our departure. Wonder if they are still claiming this is, "just for the kids"?
The title of this blog is the song Eva sang relentlessly throughout the day. "Red, White, and Blue, on the Fourth of July!" I thought she must have picked it up from a Disney or PBS show. When I asked she said, "Lolo taught it to me." ~Thanks Lolo!

Sparklers!

Off to Findlay

We left Cleveland and headed to western Ohio. We are on our way to visit DeDe and PaPa for the Fourth of July. As we passed through lovely little Ohio towns, I was compelled to photograph this Ben Franklin 5 &10. I have not seen one in ages and ole Ben is my favorite historical figure. The photo below is one of the many corn fields we drove through during our three plus hour trek.

A quick stop

We stayed at Gramma Pat and Pa's for just a couple days. Here are a few pictures of us hanging out with grandparents, aunts, and cousins. We then traveled back to Cleveland where Eva and El hung out with cousins Katie and Lolo. Kathryn and I went out to a college Happy Hour with some friends from the good old days! Thankfully there is no photographic evidence from that evening:)

*I didn't add this because I could not remember the name of the "restaurant". Here are the sordid details from Katie's own words.

I remember Lolo teaching her that song as we walked down to the bar... I mean, restaurant.

(disclaimer: we ate at Buckeye Beer Engine while our parents were at a real bar, drinking. We were going to eat outside at the restaurant part but all the table were being used. So we are inside, with "nice decorations" as Eva said. The decorations were beer bottles.) hahah

July 26, 2010 4:23 PM

Arriving in Ohio

We arrived in Ohio at 10:40pm. Aunt Kathryn picked us up and we spent our first night at her home with Charger and Dodge. Eva was quite fond of Charger as he was small in size just like Lelly. El enjoyed Dodge as she was used to big dogs like Jake (best dog ever). The top picture was our ride to Ashtabula. Charger sat on Eva's lap the entire ride. In fact, Charger's paws rarely hit the floor from the time we arrived. Dodgey had plenty of room on the back seat but chose to sit as close and snugly with El as possible! I had to encourage him over with treats a couple times as he was squishing her. They weigh about the same.

Ready for the Holiday?

Eva: Mom? Is tomorrow when we go to Ohio?

Mom: Yes! (smile)

pause...

Eva: (big smile) Then today is Ohio Eve !!!

Get ready for fun:)

About A Roomful of Sugar

When I named my original blog I did not have time to think of a meaningful name. I named it what I was feeling at the moment, "Busy Busy Busy". While in Ohio we were discussing favorite movies and scenes. I mentioned that I was quite fond of Mary Poppins. I then broke out into song with "A Spoonful of Sugar". A little time went by and we heard Eva singing, "A room full of sugar helps the medicine go down...

Welcome to A Roomful of Sugar.

Barbie twins

We all went to see Toy Story 3. It was great (I had a tear at the end). I surprised Eva with the Barbie from Toy Story 3 just before going. She LOVES it. We came home and she wanted to have her bangs cut just like Barbies! I can finally get her to wear a pony tail...yea!!

Ohio... here we come!

I am booking the tickets as I type:)

We will arrive in the Buckeye state on June 29th at 10:20pm.

We will be mooching off the relatives until July 13th.

Looking forward to our visit... it has been 2 years!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET ELYSE!

We had fun, fun, fun on June 7th. For El's big day we rented a speedboat and went tubing! She had a couple of her bff's along for the day. We started about 2:00. I took the four girls out for the first hour and then Daddy and DeDe joined us for the second hour. There was a whole lot of screeching so I guess they were having fun:) We then came back to have (Dad's homemade) pizza and (DeDe made) cake. I put two candles on because it looks like the number 11 and would be easy for El to blow out and get her wish... well... she did not manage to blow them out. She opened her gifts and the "Twilight edition of People magazine" I saw and just picked up for fun was a hit.

My little girl has grown up.

Fun, Fairies, and Boots

Eva is enjoying the new front yard. She loves to be outside! She had spent hours making a fairy house so the fairies will visit our front yard. She also loves her pink and white cowgirl boots. Eva is especially excited that in one more day we get to "keep" Issy all summer long!!!! I can not believe summer is here already... but I am so ready for it.