Party and Lego Store!

Thursday 5-13
It still has not stopped raining and I am really getting anxious to see all these places here in Columbus that romperoo has promised to show me!

But, I was not disappointed! Miss L. and the other girls here decided to throw a party for me! We had treats at the bakery and concession stand and had a cookout, too! McKenna (fka Gwen) even blew up balloons to celebrate. (all party photos were taken by Miss L. She's a pretty good photographer, huh?)


Friday 5-14
Yet another rainy day. Am I in Ohio or the Pacific Northwest?!?

Romperoo has decided come heck or high water (which might happen), we are going out today! We went to Easton Mall with a good friend and had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Romperoo had a hard time tearing me away from the cheesecake display case. I could barely sit still during lunch because I was anticipating my delectable dessert! I was a little chuffed when romperoo actually SKIPPED dessert. Alas, we have to watch our girlish figures...

Then a BIG surprise! We went to the Lego store! Who needs cheesecake when you can have Legos? The store has really cool displays all over the place. Star Wars, Toy Story, little villages - very impressive! The back of the store has a full wall of bins of Legos. You can pick the size of the container that you want and cram it full of as many Legos as you can fit inside! Plus, there are neat displays where you can build with Legos and make small Lego figurines. I spent nearly an hour in the store playing and having a great time. We bought a little something for AGR's son - hope he likes it!

Miss L is home and it's time to head off to a friend's!
~Maggie

More fun in Ohio

Tuesday 5-11
Another rainy day here in the Buckeye State. Sadly, the weatherman has predicted more of the same tomorrow.

Romperoo and I started off the day cleaning and then baking cookies. We need the cookies for the reception after an orchestra concert tonight! I think this will be my first. Mr. C is playing the string bass tonight. Miss L has already picked out a very fancy outfit for me to wear.

Between the storms, romperoo drove to Chipotle and picked up some lunch. We took everything over to the Scioto Park in Dublin, Ohio. She wanted me to see the Leatherlips sculpture. Diligently, it sits high on a hill overlooking the Scioto River. I climbed all over the rocks and then took a break and had lunch! Here is more info on the sculpture



The Dublin Arts Council has some other, well, "crazy" installations. Check out the "Field of Corn". 109 huge ears of concrete corn. It's, um, interesting. I have to send a computer link because the rain started back up and we couldn't make it.

After soccer and lacrosse, we had a delicious dinner and then got gussied up for the concert. Mr. C did a great job playing and I was loving the cookies at the reception!

I need to call it a night. I am pooped!

Wednesday 5-12
I...am...so...busted!

Last night I couldn't stop thinking about the Graeter's ice cream that was in the freezer. Yeah, I know that I had feasted on cookies after the concert. But when it comes to desserts, I am so weak.

So, I climbed out of Julie's bed, made it down the stairs, opened the fridge and there it was. A brand new, hand-packed pint of raspberry chocolate chip in all it's glory.

Unfortunately, I must have made a little too much noise, because romperoo came down the stairs and caught me in the act. She was pretty nice about the whole thing. She let me have one more spoonful and then it was back to bed!

It is raining again today. Now I know how Noah felt. We have pretty much had rain since Sunday night. It is putting a damper on our ability to tour the city.

Romperoo decided to take me someplace indoors today. Guess where? GRAETER'S! We got to tour the factory where they make the ice cream! Definitely a great rainy-day idea! Here is some info on Graeter's Ice Cream. No wonder this ice cream is so "graet." The can only make two gallons at a time!



Soccer practice is indoors tonight! Everything is too soaked!

More to come from Ohio!
~Maggie

Columbus Zoo

Monday 5-10
Poor romperoo's tire can't be fixed. We spent most of the day waiting and waiting and waiting (six hours!) for the work to be done on her car. I guess that means no trip to the prehistoric earthworks today... Hopefully we can get to it sometime this week!

After everything on the car got repaired, we headed out to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
The new Polar Frontier has opened and we all had been promised that I would see the new animals.
There are life-sized polar bear footprints on the walkway of the zoo that lead you to the exhibit. I had fun trying to leap from paw print to paw print. These bears are HUGE!
Here is a picture of me getting sized up against a polar bear!
The polar bears have a 1.3-acre yard is specially designed to be the ultimate polar bear habitat - with lots of rocks, two pools (loaded with trout), smell ports, dig pits and shelters. The still pool is about 167,000 gallons and has areas where guests can view the bears from above, at eye-level and from below.

I started out observing the polar bears from eye level. My, those bears looked lazy. For a long time, one bear lounged on a big rock and soaked up the sun. After a giant yawn, he dived into the water with a huge splash. Then I high-tailed it down the steps to watch the bear as he swam under water.
Then the entertainment began. The bear chased the trout in pool and caught two of them right before my eyes! It was so cool! I was underneath a polar bear watching it catch its food! Afterwards the bear dived down and picked up a huge bone from a cow to gnaw on. It was fascinating to watch these animals.

We decided to continue our tour of the zoo by visiting the Brown Bears, Brutus and Buckeye. These are a pair of brother bears that stand about eight feet tall and weigh 850 pounds each, and these young Alaskan brown bears are still growing! Found as orphans in Alaska, they are now active teenagers. The brothers enjoy wrestling, arguing over toys and playing in the water and snow. Their favorite treats are large bones on which to gnaw, large plastic items for floating, balls and anything they can tear apart. Eventually, just about everything ends up in their pool to play with!
We were really excited to see that the River Otter exhibit was open. That meant one thing, romperoo explained, the new otter babies were on display! They were the cutest little things as they bumbled and romped in their nest.
I wanted to get a close-up look at the mother otter. And guess what? She wanted to get a close-up look at me! As I stared into the pool, she kept coming over and trying to paw at me! She's flip over and then come back and start scratching at the glass like crazy. Hilarious! I was an enrichment activity for an otter!


Such a fun time at the Zoo and Aquarium!
~Maggie

More adventures in Ohio

Thursday 5-6
Today I had to go to the dentist with Romperoo's daughter. She has a cavity and needs to get a filling. I got to sit in the chair next to Dr. Neimann and watch the whole (hole?) procedure. It was very interesting and Miss L was a real trouper.Until, we got home. She wound up having a bad reaction to the Novocaine! I was pretty sad to see her in such misery. Pretty soon she fell asleep and I decided to explore the house.

There is one room that has been closed off since I got here, which made me pretty curious. So, I knocked on the door and when I pushed it open....
(cue screechy music from the movie, Psycho)I discovered the messiest room I had ever seen in my short life! Legos scattered all over the place! Erector set parts littering the floor. Clothing strewed hither and yon. Boy, this looked like FUN! So, I made myself at home. There were a lot of Star Wars Lego characters begging to be played with. I had a lovely time building all kinds of things.

Friday, 5-7
After taking Bud for a brisk walk, I helped romperoo and her friend do their Once-A-Month-Cooking session. These two ladies plan 12-15 meals a month, shop and then prep everything. All the meals are frozen and ready to be pulled out of the fridge. Tonight we are having the Lemon Rosemary chicken for dinner. And, romperoo promised me a special surprise dessert for all my help!

Then I helped romperoo make some sourdough bread. I'm not so good with the mixing part...

Then it was off to school to help the 6th graders with their Teacher Appreciation car wash. Knowing how 12 year olds and water don't mix so well, romperoo wisely left me in the car to watch. Good thing, too. She came back soaked to the bone!

When the kids got home from school, I had a little time to play with Miss L and her friends on the swingset. Then it was time for dinner and soccer.

The weather was starting to get very dicey. The wind kicked up and started to blow very hard. They had posted a tornado warning and the weatherman predicted torrential rains, but the soccer game was still on! Not wanting to risk me getting blown away (or worse, dirty from laying in a ditch), romperoo and Miss L tucked me safely away in the basement. Bud kept me company. Miss L's team won their game (despite several spectator's chairs flying onto the field) and it never did rain a drop!

Saturday, 5-8
A cold, blustery day here in Ohio. Our first stop is to go to our neighbor's perennial plant sale. Every year Yosephine and her sister Teresa' dig up hundreds of plants from their extensive gardens and sell them to raise money for charity. The best part of the sale is getting to sample all their FOOD! They are originally from Czech region and make wonderful pastries. Romperoo let me try the poppyseed cake. A-may-zing! I tried to sneak back for another dessert, but romperoo's son scooped me up. Nuts...

Then it was off the the farmer's market at the Village Green in downtown Worthington, Ohio. The city is over 200 years old. It was a planned community and still is very vibrant. Worthington was one of the Midwest’s first planned communities, blending commerce, residential life, education and faith. Founded in 1803, Worthington reflects its dignified New England heritage with authentic brick sidewalks leading to the central Village Green where many of the city’s original commercial buildings and churches still stand proudly. Today, as in ages past, people come to meet and greet on the Village Green and stroll the streets of downtown Worthington. But, a long time ago, cows and other livestock used to roam the Village Green! Here is a brochure of the Village Green.

There wasn't too much available at the market today. It's still very early in the season. We did get to see some neat art for gardens including some hand-carved stonework. We'll go back next Saturday morning. Romperoo also promised to take me to the cemetery to see the headstones of Revolutionary War soldiers.

Romperoo is a little unconventional when it comes to Mother's Day. She's not a brunch kind of gal, so we headed out Saturday night to her favorite Mexican restaurant to get a jump start on Mother's Day. I was so hungry from all the running that we did that day that I could not stop eating the chips! Oh, and the salsa - fresh cilantro. Yum! Good thing someone needs to carry me, or I don't think I would have made it to the car...

Mother's Day 5-9
Today I jumped out of bed early. I was determined to figure out romperoo's funny coffee maker. I almost had to break out my tools, but then I saw how it worked. Good thing, too - Mr. Romperoo STILL hasn't managed to figure out how to work the machine. She was very impressed (and grateful) to come downstairs to a hot cup of coffee.

We had planned to go to the Columbus Zoo today to see the new polar bear exhibit. But poor romperoo's car had a flat tire. There was a hole in the tire! We had to spend some time in the morning trying to get it fixed.

Then it was off to romperoo's son's lacrosse game. This sport is HUGE here in Columbus. Lacrosse is a Native American sport that is played using a small solid rubber ball and a long-handled racquet called a crosse or stick. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose netting that makes a basket. You use the lacrosse stick to catch, carry, and pass the ball to score in the opponent's goal. You can also use the stick to whack other players - which happens a lot! This game is a little like hockey, soccer and even wrestling. At the face-off, the boys have to kneel on the ground and wrestle over the ball. The boys are well-padded. Girls also play this sport. However, they have NO helmets, NO padding and have to play in a skirt! They use the same hard ball. Ridiculous!
Mr. C let me try out some of his gear before the game. Lacrosse is very fun to watch!


After the game, we headed over to Graeter's for some ice cream! Greater's Ice Cream was originally founded in Cincinnati, Ohio. Now it's made locally here in Columbus. It is addicting and the chocolate chips are the size of my feet and bigger!

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the outside. We did some planting (Mr. Romperoo got yet another Japanese Maple), played some soccer and then the grown-ups had some wine and cheese. We kids got to watch the movie, "Up" and have some popcorn! It was a nice, relaxing Mother's Day!

More exciting things to come this week!

~Maggie

Busy few days in Ohio

It's been a busy few days for me! Here's some highlights of the last two days.

Tuesday 5-4
I had a great night's sleep in Miss L's room. I got dibs on Julie's bed. It was very comfortable and I liked all the beads hanging from the canopy.

Romperoo had a busy day planned for us. We needed to get the garden ready for planting veggies. She told me that she's very excited about planting her garden. Last year they had just moved into this house and didn't have a lot of time to get veggies in.

So, we spent the morning prepping the dirt. Lots of hoeing, digging and raking. Since I am low to the ground, it was my job to pick up all the weeds.

Then we went shopping! We got lots of herbs, zucchini, butternut squash, beans, peas, peppers, cucumbers and several types of tomatoes, including a cool purple heritage variety. Shopping just about wore me out! I am attaching pictures of some of the plants we purchase today.




It's a good thing that I have my tools with me. The screen door broke and I had to help romperoo get it back on track. Works fine now!


When Miss L got home from school, we practiced the piano for a while and then went over to her friend's house. Her friend's mom was really impressed to meet me and I thought it was really cool that she likes American Girls!

Tomorrow is another busy day - more gardening, soccer and Cinco de Mayo!


Wednesday 5-5
After everyone left for school, romperoo and I got busy making lunch for the teachers at school. Not only is it Cinco de Mayo, but it is Teacher Appreciation week. We made 48 Chicken Verde Enchiladas by 10 AM and made a complete mess out of the kitchen! I'm sure the teachers will enjoy the food!

After dropping off the enchiladas, we got busy planting. Romperoo let me plant the herbs in the pots. I think I did a pretty good job. I really like the purple basil.


Then we got almost all the rest of the veggies in the ground. Boy, that was a lot of work. We worked until everyone came home from school and then had to start our running around. Miss L invited me to her soccer practice, so I got changed into my soccer outfit. Coach Matt said that I could play, but I had to cover up my earrings on the field. Romperoo tied a piece of pre-wrap around my head and I was good to go. He sure does make those girls work! I was exhausted at the end of practice.

We got home and had a fiesta to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. We had Chicken Verde Enchiladas (bet you didn't see that coming!), spicy rice and "Cheater 'Ritas." Those are non-alcoholic margaritas and they are addicting!

Time to turn in. Tomorrow is a visit to the dentist and then maybe to the zoo to see the grand opening of the polar bear exhibit. I get to see some lacrosse, too!

~Maggie