T&L

This past weekend Ted and I took a much-needed short vacation up to Wisconsin to visit family, celebrate Ted’s mom’s birthday, celebrate our own 2 yr. wedding anniversary a little a month early, and attend the Packers home opener game.  As always, our time in Door County, Green Bay, and the Milwaukee area was incredibly relaxing and blissful. It’s always so nice to get up there every year in mid-September, just as fall is getting ready to settle in, the leaves are starting to chance colors, and the weather is cool and breezy. It’s become a tradition that we both very much look forward to and appreciate!

Thursday evening on our way up to Ludington, Michigan for the night, we had the pleasure of driving past Blue Lake, where I spent six weeks this summer living in a rustic cabin in the woods and teaching theatre & dance at one of the nation’s top fine arts camps. It was so nice just to drive by camp again and to remember all the great times I had there with really great people only three short weeks ago. I truly cannot believe that is has only been less than a month since all the tap dancing, Shakespearing, choreographing, boonies-living, and beach bonfiring. It literally seems like it was years ago! So driving past camp really made my night wonderful and brought back some very fond memories. We stayed the night at a hotel (read: KING BED…undoubtedly the best part about staying in a hotel!) in Ludington and awoke early the next morning to the embark upon the S.S. Badger, a historical coal-powered car ferry and mini-cruise vessel, across Lake Michigan – from Ludington to Manitowac.

We loaded Ted’s truck and trailer into the bowels of the ferry – our truck and trailer shared the trip with three farming tractors, two semis, several motorcycles, a handful of other cars, and a truck with crates full of freshly picked apples from a farm! – and then we climbed up to the passenger part of the vessel for our four-hour journey across the lake.

We snacked on popcorn, apples, and hot chocolate, played a few video games in the arcade, hunkered down in the lounge for a heck of a lot of Bingo (a surprisingly fun activity…are we getting old?), learned a slew of new corny jokes (you’ve been warned!), and hung out on the deck, cozy in our deck chairs, just watching the water and world go by, and enjoying the wind and rain. Unfortunately, it was too cold and overcast to lay out on the deck, basking on the reclining chairs in the sun, but that sure didn’t put a damper on our time onboard. Taking a short cruise on this history-laden ferry was a totally awesome and unique experience, and a great way to save several hours driving around the lake when we could be relaxing on a boat on the lake instead. I may or may not have invaded the children’s playroom.

When we docked in Manitowac we drove to Green Bay to spend a few quality days with Ted’s parents. We snoozed on the couch for a luxurious midday siesta and they took us out for dinner that evening.

Saturday we took the entire day to venture to Door County in the convertible (our wedding car) on our annual pilgrimage in celebration of our two-year anniversary. It was a beautiful day. I’ll have a whole separate post on that later! Trips to Door County always deserve their own post.

Sunday we went to church bright and early, came home for a nice sit-down, home-made breakfast of Ted’s mom’s classic egg bake, and we were joined by Ted’s sister Kate, her husband Tim, and our nephew and niece Caleb and Alexis, who had driven up from Milwaukee for the day. Kate, Tim, Ted, and I took the kids (and, uh, ourselves) to Green Bay’s classic historic Bay Beach Amusement Park, a sweet little old-timey fun park that Kate and Tim used to go to as children, located right on the shores of Green Bay. All the rides are still $0.25, except for the main ride we came to experience…The Zippin’ Pippin’, Elvis Presley’s favorite roller coaster! At only a buck a ride, it’s still a total steal! It was a great coaster!! Ted, Kate and I went on it, and it was practically empty except for us, so we got the front car. It was an absolute blast! We laughed and hollered the whole ride and got great views of the bay from the top before we went whizzing down and around. I can’t wait to go on it again the next time we visit Green Bay! It’s a just plain fun coaster. We also rode the train around the park, Ted and Kate took the kids on the kiddie helicopter ride, and all 6 of us crawled into potato sacks for a multi-lane race down a huge slide. Such a wonderful morning!

Since Ted’s parents live only about a mile from Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packer’s home stadium, Kate, Tim, Ted and I got decked out in all our Packers gear, took our traditional family photos, and walked to Lambeau for the home opener game against the San Francisco 49ers. Though the Packers lost the game (many thanks to the terrible referees…even the 49ers fans in attendance attributed their win to the referees poor performance), the game itself was a heck of a lot of fun! This is the first and only Packers game I have ever been to that they lost, but now that that loss is over and done with, we have it out of the way and can continue to win from now on! As I said, the game was still a ton of fun. We had Boys II Men singing the national anthem, a fantastic military fly over, a lot of great plays and exciting moments, and gorgeous weather. We always love attending the home opener with Kate and Tim. Another wonderful tradition we look forward to every year :)

(seeing double?)

After the game we walked home to have ice cream turtle cake to celebrate Ted’s mom’s birthday, and then we crashed pretty early.

Monday we slept in, spent a lazy morning unpacking the trailer and repacking our bags, went to Chili John’s for lunch with Ted’s mom and Fr. Bob, ran a few errands, visited the Packer Pro Shop to pick me up some Packers gear and office supplies for my desk at work (I’m surrounded by a Lion’s fan and a Viking’s fan…it was necessary), and then drove to Milwaukee where we picked up the best cheeseburgers and fries in the whole entire world at Kopp’s for dinner. We drove another half hour to Mukwonago where Kate, Tim and kids live. We all piled on the sofa to devour our cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and Dairy Queen blizzards while we watched some Monday night football and old episodes of Who’s Line Is It Anyway. I crashed early, but it was a fun night nonetheless.

As always, a totally fantastic weekend!

An early morning rhythm & motion dance class at Cincinnati Ballet + Tasty treats at the Bonbonerie Bakery enjoyed outside beneath the shade of a pretty garden + A shared lunch of the best Vietnamese eats in Cincy at Pho Lang Thang + Frozen Yogurt on the banks of the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Newport + Excellent conversation + Best friend in Cincinnati = Best Tuesday morning girl date ever. Dance class, theatre and foodie buddy…this girl rocks :)

Bubble tea and matcha green tea cupcake with the creamiest cream cheese frosting in existence from Essencha Tea House in Oakley….total perfection.

“Welcome home” flowers from Ted!

And a few more fun pics from the Packer v. Bengal game…

I do realize that I have been THE WORST blogger in the history of bloggerdom this summer. I’ve gone weeks without blogging on several occasions. Boring, I know. I’m hoping a post full of photos will distract you from that, maybe….did it work? This time I have a really, really good excuse. I’ll have lots of great posts coming up soon…promise! Good stuff is coming your way!

Thanks for sticking with me! :)

On Saturday Ted turned the big 33 and on Sunday I had my golden birthday and turned 26. We started our birthday weekend off right on Friday with a trip to Valley Vineyards Winery for a relaxing evening of wine and steak. Saturday, on Ted’s birthday, we joined our friends out in the Williamsburg countryside for a rummage sale they were hosting…we had a few things we needed to part with as well! We made a few bucks, but more importantly, we had a really fun, relaxing morning just hanging out, eating fresh-from-the-oven cookies, picking tomatoes and peppers from the garden, and chatting with our friends outside in the cool morning air while selling some wares. In the afternoon we ran a few errands, grabbed dinner and a chocolate malt for the birthday boy, enjoyed a drink at our favorite little Mexican bar, and caught an evening showing of “Brave” at the theatre. It was such a fun movie and we had a really relaxing day, with no set agenda or schedule. When we came home Ted opened all of his wonderful birthday cards from our thoughtful friends and family and then Ted presented me with my/our birthday gift – tickets to Kings Island & Soak City – Cincinnati’s roller coaster and water slide theme park! We’ve been wanting to go since we moved to Cincinnati nearly two years ago, and thanks to a sweet friend who works there, Ted was able to secure us a pair of comp. tickets to spend the day riding roller coasters and slipping down water slides on my birthday!

I made Ted’s birthday cake using one of his favorite hobbies and his two favorite cake flavors – a bowling pin carrot cake and a pineapple upside-down bowling ball cake to celebrate his survival of 33 years on this planet. He loved it. :)

Sunday morning, my birthday, we arose bright and early to spend a day at King’s Island and Soak City. We rode some great roller coasters (loved the Firehawk!), slipped and slid down some really fun water slides until closing time, enjoyed tasty nachos, soft pretzels with cheese, and Dippin’ Dots ice cream throughout the day, hit up one of my favorite burger joints for a late night feast and drinks, and then finished off the day by opening all of my wonderful birthday cards from our thoughtful friends and family. It was the perfect golden birthday!

T&L birthday weekend = total success! :)

I’m back!

It’s pretty remarkable how quickly 6 weeks can come and go. It seems like it’s been only a few days ago when I excitedly drove beneath the “Welcome to Michigan” state marker for the first time in two years and first peeked into my rustic cabin and promptly decided that I definitely was not going to survive 6 weeks alone in that cabin.

Well, I not only survived, but I thrived and had a wonderful time. For the first time in many years this summer actually felt like a true blue summer. You know, the summers of your childhood or the summers you always imagined would stick around forever – fireflies, sandy beaches, waves, ice cream cones, sprinklers, gorgeous sunsets over peaceful lakes, the scent of sunscreen and bugspray, walking to your friend’s house (well, cabin) totally unannounced to see if they can hang out, cookouts, swimming, campfires, s’mores, fireworks, naps, good books, making new friends, hikes through the woods, laughter so hard and frequent that you can hardly breathe, ice cream pie, long scenic shore-side drives, bike rides through the dunes, blankets on the grass, ice cold brews, drive-in movies, long hot days that stay light until 10 p.m. and short cool nights, the occasional big mid-summer thunderstorm, camping, a great job that doesn’t even feel like a job because you’re surrounded by music and Shakespeare and opera and dance and adults and kids with a deep and lasting love for the arts, camp songs and sing-alongs, talent shows, concerts, performances…it was the summer I’d been hoping for for years. A summer whose very existence I was beginning to question because surely those kind of magical summers are real to and exist only for children. I’m relieved to know that they exist for adults too. And they’re worth the wait.

But one 7.5 drive with a new camp friend along for the ride, beautiful ‘welcome home’ flowers from Ted, one great ‘car-and-everything-I-own’ sand-purging party, and four epic loads of laundry later, I am home. Back to Cincinnati, back to Ted, back to the crays, and back to our happy life together. For a short time. More on that later.

As I mentioned, a new camp faculty friend, who also lives in Cincy, accompanied me on the drive home and made the trip go by so much more quickly as we girl-talked through all of Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. When I arrived home I was greeted with a huge hug, a vase of gorgeous flowers, ice cream, a beer, and my slippers ready and waiting – best. husband. ever. The next day I slept in for the first time in 6 weeks, was treated to a fantastic ‘welcome home’ Mexican dinner complete with a strong and tasty sangria margarita, and a night on an actual couch (real furniture!), with actual carpet (no more concrete floors!), and Hotel Hell, Hell’s Kitchen, and Master Chef on TV (GASP!). Surprisingly, I didn’t really miss these luxuries at all while I was at camp…though it was kind of fun to have them all back for one relaxing evening!

And, of course, while I was away our babies grew. The craybies have grown into full-blown porkchops. They’re hardly recognizable from the tiny little translucent specs they used to be. They’re looking more and more like sweet Mav every day.

Ace

Gigi

Ace is a girl and Gigi is a boy. Gigi is short for Gentle Giant, who was named before A) we knew that she was actually a he, and B) before he not-so-gently ripped a claw, leg, and two antennas off of poor Ace, prompting us to buy another tank with all the fixings so they can both live peacefully and separately, in our loving care. I apparently hadn’t gotten around to teaching the “it’s rude to eat your sister” lesson before I left for camp…craybie steps. Ace’s body parts will regenerate and in addition to being HUGE, they both appear to be happy and healthy. So we’re officially and happily a family of four.

Lots more updates to come later, so stay tuned!

How has your summer been so far? You’ve got two weeks left, get out there and enjoy it!

If you missed Parts I & II, scroll down for the full scoop on our perfect Saturday!

Sunday morning I awake dark and early – like 3 a.m. early – a time I practically had to program into my alarm clock because even the clock wasn’t certain such a heinous time existed…it took some convincing. I drove to the Dayton airport, flew to New York, spent a lovely day, flew back to Dayton, and drove back home to Cincy, arriving just after 11 p.m. Then I downed a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream with Ted, as a reward for my sleeplessness and perseverance. More details later, maybe.

Monday morning, despite the development of a nasty cold that would plague me for the next 6 days (thanks camp), was heavenly.

I. Slept. In.

In a real bed, with real covers, and real mattress.

Past 3 a.m.!

Past 7 a.m. even!

Heavenly.

When I finally awoke, surprisingly um-traumatized, despite the lack of sleep and excessive travel, I immediately dashed to the window to check on the cherry tomato plant I have patiently and lovingly growing from scratch since early spring. It sprouted and ripened four whole cherry tomatoes while I was away at camp – the fruitful extent of its crop. Three of the four were ready so I excitedly gobbled down two – so sweet! So flavorful! Truly, nothing beats the flavor or pride of home-grown tomatoes.

We met Ted’s parents for breakfast at our favorite breakfast spot in Cincy – The Original Pancake House. That too was heavenly! Buttery apple crepes and the thickest, crispiest sugar-cured bacon you imagine are a fabulous way to start a relaxing day off!

We then proceeded to a place I have been longing and pleading and begging and whining to go since we moved to Cincinnati. A place where the exotic comes to life. A place where dreams come true.

The Aquarium.

Exotic fish!? YES.

I have an unnatural love for any and all animals, and this was a long time coming. I was beyond psyched.

I can hardly believe that such beautiful creatures exist in our world. Isn’t it incredible?

(Ted likes sea horses the best)

(Albino Mav’s!!!)

After the aquarium, we all dined on the planet’s tastiest salads and freshest pizzas at Dewey’s in Oakley – one of our top three favorite pizza joints in Cincinnati. I was totally ready for some excellent eats after the decent yet not entirely thrilling or always fresh n’ healthy fare I’ve been subsisting on at the faculty dining hall at camp. I’m literally counting down the days til the return of Dewey’s Harvest Salad in September. Yeah, it’s that good.

Monday night my cold starting sinking in big time, so I napped for a few hours in the evening, awoke just in time to enjoy an episode of Master Chef with Ted and Mom&Dad2, and re-enter the mundane world of laundry and packing for another four weeks in the wilderness.

But I gotta say, what a wonderful weekend and a great break!

How was your weekend?

I promise I’ll attempt to nip my bloggy negligence in the bud over the next few weeks. More camp and life updates to come…stay tuned!

After our relaxing adventures at the Slugger Museum and Toast on Market in Louisville Saturday morning (if you missed Part I, scroll down!), it was time for the real fun to begin…and the ultimate surprise to be revealed!

Ted knew only that he was to keep Saturday, July 21st clear and free, for some maniacal reason his crazy wife had been brewing up for months and was apparently inclined to drive 7.5 hours back to Cincinnati from Michigan to participate in. That was about the extent of the information I imparted. I may have also imparted that anyone who works as hard as he does really does deserve a “Day of Awesome” to which he rolled his eyes, lovingly bopped me on the forehead, and moved on. It’s tough to get anything past that guy.

I gave Ted driving directions from Louisville, instructing him to stay onto 75-S until Exit 57, when the surprise could no longer be contained because the road sign quite clearly read “Sparta, KY – Kentucky Speedway.” At that point, the jig was up. I think it was fairly obvious why were there and what he’d be doing…

…driving 10 solo laps around the Kentucky Speedway in a NASCAR style race car!

A dream come true for any NASCAR fan.

Surprise!

(As always, click on each picture to enlarge.)

We drove through the tunnel that circled underneath the race track and lead to the inner field and pit row. We parked at the gate by the pit. As Ted was checking in signing his life away on liability forms, his parents arrived to witness the beginning of their son’s racing career…surprise again! He knew his parents would be in town that weekend, but was under the impression they’d be meeting us later that evening for dinner and roller derby, since he obviously was unaware he’d be at the Kentucky Speedway to the begin with.

There, right beside pit row, Ted got suited up in his helmet, fire suit, gloves, and other racing gear …

…participated in a safety briefing and crash course on the tips and technicalities to driving a race car…

…took a few quick pics…

…and then we waited around for 2 hours until the right race car for Ted’s height and an instructor-driven lead car for him to follow was ready. Who doesn’t love the “now hurry up and wait” game? We took in a little a lot of sun, watched the other drivers race around the speedway, and excitedly awaited Ted’s big debut. When the time arrived Ted took a cool stroll to his car…

…got loaded up and securely harnessed into his vehicle…

…and off he went! He took 10 laps around the track, reaching speeds up to 5500 rpm (that’s 145 mph)! He looked amazing out there! I took all kinds of great video that I’d love to share, but my version of WordPress does not support video uploads, so you’ll have to take my word for it. It was completely awesome!

After his speeding frenzy, he squirmed out of his car – because, really, squirming is truly the only way in or out of those suckers…

…we snapped a few more mugs…

…and called it one helluva good day at the racetrack!

Operation “Day of Ted” epic surprise = smashing success.

To wind down after a long day of adventurous activities Ted’s parents joined at the Bank of Kentucky Arena on NKU’s campus for some classic yet tasty sporting arena eats and a bout of roller derby featuring the Cincinnati Black-and-Bluegrass Roller Girls – a first for all of us!

Ted and I had been curious about attending a live bout of roller derby for quite some time, and Ted’s parents knew relatively little of the sport, so it was a fun experience for us all – and the A Team did not disappoint! But we were all so worn down from the sun, long drives, high adrenaline, and big day ahead of us – er, me – on Sunday that was due to start frighteningly dark and early at 3 a.m. that we, unfortunately, had to call it quits early and head home to the comfort of a comfy, cozy bed in an air conditioned apartment – read: not a cot in a cabin in the woods.

I am pleased to report that the Awesome Day of Ted was a perfect success. A definite bucket lister achieved!

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post…Part III!

I questioned what to title this blog post as I tromped through the wooded path that leads from faculty village to the Miller Theatre on my way to first-day-of-camp auditions. Do I title it “The Surprise” or “Ted’s Day of Awesome” or “A Whirlwind Weekend,” I mused.

Oh, hey snake.

He must be at BLFAC, majoring in slithering with a minor in hissing and striking. Doesn’t matter. He’s not in my class. But that pretty much put an end to my shameless pondering. I also saw a family of wild turkeys, though they didn’t hurry my pace quite as quickly as the artsy snake did. Anyhow…

Last Friday night after teaching my final section of choreography I piled in the car and drove me and two weeks worth of dirty laundry back to Cincinnati for a weekend I’d been planning for the past three months. Exhausted, I arrived home just before midnight, making excellent use of my trusty 1st generation iPod Nano and its embarrassing collection of terrible yet delightful 80s music to keep me awake for the 7.5 hour jaunt. I’d like to make note of a few things one might be thrilled to see after two weeks in a sparse, rustic cabin in the wilderness: air conditioning, carpet, and a real bed. Followed closely by ice cream, furniture, husband, and crayfish – though not in that order.

Overjoyed to get some actual sleep, in an actual bed, on an actual mattress, we crashed early, knowing there was a big and fun day ahead of us on Saturday. Rather, I knew there was a big and fun day ahead of us on Saturday. Ted knew only that he was to keep Saturday, July 21st free and clear of any obligations.

This “Day of Ted” caper centered around a prefect, un-pass-upable Groupon deal I’d unexpectedly found whilst prowling my inbox back in May. Ted works really hard all year long, often crazy hours, even by theatre people standards, and he rarely treats himself to exciting activities or fun events, just for himself. So, in short, I crafted the idea to treat him to an all-expenses-paid, fun, Day of Ted (with loving help from the parents on both sides!) because, honestly, the dude totally deserves it.

We started off the morning, a beautiful, breezy, cool summer morning, with a windows-down, breeze-whipping-through-your-hair for two-hours kind of drive down to Louisville, Kentucky. I’d considered both the Makers Mark Bourbon Distillery Tour & Tasting and the Louisville Mega Caverns Cave Ziplining and Challenge Course Tour for our morning’s activities, but due to schedule and timing, it was decided that these activities were best saved for another day in the (hopefully!) near future.

So our first stop, after spotting this epic red jewel-encrusted limousine parked outside of a swanky downtown hotel…

…was the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory for some baseball bat history and a tour of the factory that produces these infamous bats.

We toured the factory and learned all about how they shape, burn, engrave, dip, and manufacture the bats. We toured the museum and learned about the variety of bats produced and used through the ages. Ted tried Mickey Mantle’s bat on for size, took a few swings in the batting cages, and walked away with his very own, personalized, genuine Louisville Slugger.

(A rare sneak appearance of my Peter Pan crocodile face. You’re welcome.)

We noshed at Toast on Market, which is a fantastic little downtown eatery with great decor and atmosphere, wonderful customer service, and totally delicious eats. Bonus: They serve breakfast all day long, which is why (aside from the awesome reviews) I picked it for our Day of Ted lunch spot. Ted’s a breakfast kind of guy and I’m a foodie kind of girl, so I knew this would be right up our alley. I had the Caprese grilled cheese (provolone, mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil pesto) with creamy tomato soup and Ted had the Monte Cristo french toast breakfast sandwich. Both excellent.

Between the beautiful riverfront, Louisville Science Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Slugger Museum, Glassblowing Studio, and outpouring of great restaurants downtown, to name only a few things in the immediate downtown area, we definitely could have made a day of it in Louisville, but we other plans to attend to, so off we went!

To be continued….

:-)

They’ve been up to the usual…tearing about the tank at warp speed, scaling plants, scaling heaters, scaling air hoses, lounging on the slate, basking on plants, eating the plants, ripping the leaves off the plants, hoarding food, swimming backwards, stretching, growing, molting, eating, growing, molting, eating, terrorizing each other, playing tag, playing chase, running laps around the tank, moving gravel, more eating, more terrorizing, more scaling, more basking, more molting, more swimming, more stretching, more hoarding, more tearing, more growing…more being adorable.

Love those crafty crayddlers!

My favorite little guys…what a blessing they are :-)

The craybies are no longer babies. They are toddlers, and therefore, crayddlers.

What porkchops!!

They’re HUGE.

Let’s compare, shall we?

Like I said, HUGE.

And HUNGRY. All the time.

And they’re funny and sweet and fast and cute and so full of personality…and did I mention ENORMOUS?

Mavie would have been so proud of them!

Also, I think we have 16 little bundles of joy, not 15.

And perhaps a few mixed crays? Because some are definitely blue and some are looking like they might turn out to be brown or red or marbled even.

Time will tell.

Some are missing pinchers, others are missing antennas.

Either they’re very delicate, very clumsy, or feeling a little feisty. Or some combination of the above.

Don’t worry, they regenerate.

Regardless, they’re still awesome and still adorable and still highly entertaining.

Crayddlers…porkchops extraordinaire!

And loving kiddos…

:-)

What can we say? We’re blessed.

(They have excellent penmanship, right?)

I know you’re not sick of blog posts or pictures of craybies yet.

So, here’s a few more.

Although I don’t know how much longer we, in good conscience, can continue calling them craybies. At four weeks old, they’re more like toddlers. They totally act like it too.