These are some pictures from when the kids and I went to Kentucky and Ohio in late July-early August. But the order of these pictures is kind of backwards. This was actually our last day of the trip. My dear friend, Rebecca, was kind enough to drive us back to Louisville from Cincinnati to catch our flight out to Phoenix. But before we left, we ran by to see Rebecca's classroom. She's got a new job teaching third grade. This is a picture of her outside the school.
These are some of our other dear friends, Charlie and Heidi Moreno. As luck had it, they were on vacation in California and had flown out of Louisville, so I was able to retrieve their SUV and drive it around when I was in Louisville the first several days. We picked up the Moreno's on Saturday night at the airport and crammed everyone and our luggage on the luggage rack to drive together to Cincinnati. Their oldest daughter, Caroline, is one of Sarah's dear friends. We met the Moreno's through her aunt, who lived near us in Stonegate Townhouses about 8 years or so ago. The girls are really growing up fast! Caroline used to be a lot smaller than Sarah. Caroline's had a growth spurt - Sarah hasn't....
This is the pool/backyard at Mamma Debbie and Paul Beck's house that their daughter, Tiffany is living in while her parents are serving a mission here in Phoenix. We got to swim in the pool for a bit, and Rebecca's daughter, Katie, enjoyed playing on the swingset. We had a great time visiting with the Beck's other two daughters also, Tricia and Tracy. Tricia's blog already had pictures of some of the things we did, so I didn't add them to this post as most of you already saw those in an e-mail I sent.
This is the pool/backyard at Mamma Debbie and Paul Beck's house that their daughter, Tiffany is living in while her parents are serving a mission here in Phoenix. We got to swim in the pool for a bit, and Rebecca's daughter, Katie, enjoyed playing on the swingset. We had a great time visiting with the Beck's other two daughters also, Tricia and Tracy. Tricia's blog already had pictures of some of the things we did, so I didn't add them to this post as most of you already saw those in an e-mail I sent.
While we were visiting at the Moreno's house, the kids were outside playing. Suddenly, one of them burst in the house saying that the cat outside had a mole. Heidi and I went outside to see, and I thought, "That's a funny looking mole." I realized then it was actually a baby rabbit. It was tiny, just barely born I would guess as it still had a bit of its umbilical cord on its tummy. The cat had peeled a bit of skin off it, but it was still alive. Erik and I ran to the computer and searched the internet as to what to do. It said that if a rabbit's ears are standing up and its eye open, just to hide it in a bush somewhere and the mother would find it again. But for rabbits that are injured or younger, it would need human intervention. They can't have cow's milk, but can survive on goat's milk or even pedialyte (who knew?). But they require a heat source, and other special care, so instead, the website recommended finding a caretaker that had experience with wildlife. We Googled Ohio and wildlife and were able to find the name and phone number of someone that lived close to Heidi who could take the rabbit and care for it, so we dropped it off to the lady, and we hope it made it.
These pictures are actually from Louisville. There is a place on the Ohio River called the Falls of the Ohio. It's an area where the water is damned up at times and it exposes coral fossils, which proves that the area was once under an ocean. There is a museum there also, although we didn't go through it. The kids were just as happy exploring the rocks and looking for fossils! Sarah is pointing at a horn coral, and Conner (my nephew) is standing next to a good sample laying up on the rock.
Another day, we went to visit my grandmother, who is my mother's mother. I call my grandmother Mom too because we lived with her when I was a baby, and I spent all my spare time at her home growing up. She has 46 acres or so of land, so my children enjoy visting it and running around. There had been a storm recently, so one of these pictures is Erik picking up some of the blown down leaves. Another is of Sarah picking weeds, which she thought were flowers. Still pretty nonetheless, huh? My grandma is 92 years old and still lives there alone. Amazing! She's very spry and gets around without any problem. However, her memory is going quickly. She didn't know who I was, although she still recognizes my mother and her own children, just not her grandchildren or great grandchildren anymore. But that's okay. She can feed herself and live independently, and I think that's pretty good considering that a lot of people her age are feeble and bedridden in expensive nursing homes.
These pictures are actually from Louisville. There is a place on the Ohio River called the Falls of the Ohio. It's an area where the water is damned up at times and it exposes coral fossils, which proves that the area was once under an ocean. There is a museum there also, although we didn't go through it. The kids were just as happy exploring the rocks and looking for fossils! Sarah is pointing at a horn coral, and Conner (my nephew) is standing next to a good sample laying up on the rock.
Another day, we went to visit my grandmother, who is my mother's mother. I call my grandmother Mom too because we lived with her when I was a baby, and I spent all my spare time at her home growing up. She has 46 acres or so of land, so my children enjoy visting it and running around. There had been a storm recently, so one of these pictures is Erik picking up some of the blown down leaves. Another is of Sarah picking weeds, which she thought were flowers. Still pretty nonetheless, huh? My grandma is 92 years old and still lives there alone. Amazing! She's very spry and gets around without any problem. However, her memory is going quickly. She didn't know who I was, although she still recognizes my mother and her own children, just not her grandchildren or great grandchildren anymore. But that's okay. She can feed herself and live independently, and I think that's pretty good considering that a lot of people her age are feeble and bedridden in expensive nursing homes.
