our fav hangouts in Columbus OH
we took darla and her cousin clare on a cousinfriend playdate to see the gigantic, elaborate, festive thomas the train display at the library yesterday. we love time with our sweet niece. and we love the girls’ interactions now. i’m hoping they will grow up to be best cousinfriends like two other ladies i know.
so my job is pretty awesome. i get to hang out with a brother + sister band:
they do this cool trick in the middle of the set where they change instruments
they’re really good and gonna make it big time someday.
that’s my friday in a nutshell. speaking of friday, here’s some things to read:
Dear Baby Blog’s post and discussion about birth in the united states this day and age.
husband turned me on to large hearted boy. a good summation of music-ing and book-ness.
and lastly, my good friend meg posted this this week and i loved it. we should all be more like ben franklin. or maybe not according to this short.
when i say semi i mean that we could still hear the semis speeding along the superhighway. the audubon park is a little nook of nature carved into the cityscape between the two biggest highways that pass through columbus. still, it’s one of our favorite spots to play, bike, hike and spy a little nature. here’s our latest nature hike.
photo 1. our path 2. darla holds my hand; a momentous event 3. our shadows turned out more “poltergeist” than i would’ve liked but, eh 4. she climbed stuff 5. deer tracks! 6. “take heed. for the path you are about to choose will lead to certain destruction!” 7. she enjoyed being able to run as far in front of me as she liked without restriction 8. i realized halfway through the trip that it was incredibly insensitive of me to wear a hat adorned with a feather to a park dedicated to avian conservation 9. you can’t see the little guy but a shrew was in the underbrush rooting for his breakfast. we watched him for ten minutes – a personal record for d’s attention span and ability to stay fairly quiet 10. she climbed more stuff 11. she left “directions” for other hikers so they wouldn’t get lost 12. N is for nature 13. examined moss. i’m going to have to get a magnifying glass to bring along for future wilderness treks 14 & 15 shoulder ride and her turn to wear the hat 16. salvaged item art inside the audubon center.
this trip was the first time we’d ventured inside of the center. wowza, what incredibly wonderful resources and setting. we spent a good hour in the reading library which architecturally consists of 3 walls of glass looking out over the park. lots of birds flying to and fro and stuff. i’m hoping i’ll be able to get darla a jump start on learning plant names, bird species, trees, etc. those are all things about which i wish i had more of a knowledge bank.
it was a very organically educational, carefree day for us. there were many more discoveries and new experiences that i didn’t capture because i did force myself to put the camera away and just be present. i love how everything seems like such a marvel in nature. the pictures don’t even do justice to the weather and the jubilant attitude darla exuded that day. universe, i’d like more days like that one, please.
our best little dude friend and our favorite cousin/niece* share a birthday week so it really just bums darla out that she has to attend two birthday parties on one day every year. sarcasm! i use it!
yesterday was filled with lots of excitement and lovely treats and refreshments from two very well put together and thoughtful parties. also, the weather couldn’t have been better considering it’s been a little on the damp side in ohio lately. here’s what i captured of kiddos enjoying the revelry.
1.being the center of attention is a bit overwhelming 2. sesame street cookies
she be climbing things e’rywhere
where’s the birthday girl? there she is!
you, umm, on your face…you got some on your face. blue. you got blue on your face.
present time. not as in “right now” but as in the gift unwrapping sense of the term. 
most parent approved gift
“first, i say we hang ‘im.
then we smash ‘im. then we stomp ‘im. then we kill ‘im!”
double fisting
our favorite dude
decorating pumpkins
CAKE. CANDY. CAKE. JUICE. CANDY. CANDY. CAAAAAAAKE!!!!
*this is to mean darla’s cousin and my niece. not that she is a cousin niece all in one package. that would be off and i don’t know how that is even possible. i’ll ask kentucky.
it seems that in addition to sense of humor, complexion, facial expressions, hair color and basic bone structure, cousin and i share an acute case of hypochondriasis. don’t be alarmed. it wasn’t a real brush with meningitis. probably just allergies. but anything is possible when you have a bag of hot apples in your kitchen and have been laughing way too much for three days.
my cousin always lifts my spirits and makes me feel like anything is possible. i joke with her that the reason i like hanging out with her is we’re the same person and since i’m incredibly self-centered i really like being with another me. the truth is she’s a way cooler and more talented “me” and i feed off of that. it inspires me. beyond that she was very helpful with the practical stuff this weekend and didn’t flinch when darla went animalistic, biting furniture, etc. i’m already looking forward to our next visit. thank you cousinfriend!
photo info: 1. cousin’s room awaits her 2. cousin helps out with naptime storyland 3 & 4. dress up at funky & functional 5 & 6. darla and henry discover corn in the foddershocks 7. my schnoze 8. darla stealing fun 9. mother daughter matching 10. darla rides a barreltrain 11 & 12. pumpkin patching 13. darla and adam find a worm 14. cousin race 15. henry finds the great pumpkin 16. adam and darla picking apples 17 & 18. cousin bridget’s art lessons. 19. “painting is good arting, mom” 20. darla’s pallette 21. mommy’s bad at everything 22. can you guess whose is whose? 23. bobbing for apples is way hard b/c laughing underwater is never portrayed in disney movies 24. we call this “stolen apple pie” 25. roasted butternut squash 26 & 27. back to the groovy spoon for farewells.
on a further note, we did a loose P day. whoa that sounds wrong. anyways, we covered P a bit with pumpkin patch, apple picking, painting, apple pie and patience! i think we’ll need a remedial session though as i was a bit distracted and trying to be a social butterfly.
there’s really only one thing to do in columbus ohio on columbus day with a toddler…take her down to the replica of the santa maria and try to fill her tiny brain with the knowledge of christobo columbo while she screams at you that she wants to go in the port-a-potty “just to see what it looks like.”
our bike ride this evening was borderline magical. i think we passed a unicorn in the audubon park. we paused along the scioto to see the pink fluffy clouds reflecting on the river. i hope darla will remember this evening in some little recess of her brain for the rest of her life.
guess what our letter day was? G. aw gee. shucks.
i’m tired of writing out all the details and i’m sure it’s just annoying and boring to read. BOOOORRRRIIINGGGG! from now on i’ll just be posting pictures with a general outline and if you ever wonder how the day went just imagine me over your shoulder all day long pointing out every detail that starts with said letter of the day. every damn thing. my kid is probs going to strongly dislike me someday.
gymnastics
groovy spoon fro yo with gummi bears
she refused to use green to color in her G.
we finished up with some geography after grocery shopping
cordelia has added a whole new dimension to my love for this fall season. biking around columbus has been fantastically enjoyable these past few weeks, when it’s not been raining. columbus, i think i like you a whole lot more from a two-wheel vantage point with blue skies and temps in the 60s. lets see if we can keep a good thing going.
A Day on Wheels
once all geared up and ready to go, we cycled to the library again. our next movie, Ponyo, was ready for pick up. Darla enjoys the grand entrance of the library b/c the words MY TREASURES are etched in the marble. She loves to run her fingers through the grooves as she says the letters. i felt very connected to this moment on several levels.
then it was on to Juergen’s bakery in our hood. this was our first time stopping in but it won’t be our last. the place was the essence of kitschy charm and they had an adorable little table out front which was just darla’s size. well the chairs at least. the table not so much. darla had chocolate plum pudding and i had a sugar pretzel. she ate both.
after riding around for a little bit longer we headed home. little miss decided that our pumpkin, clumpy pumpy, needed to go for a ride as well. ahhh these days are so sweet.
signing off,
the luckiest momma evah
because i can’t decide which method of schooling we are going to jump into – oh my gosh i can’t handle the pressure of this decision! – i’m just sticking to an amalgamation of homeschooling and unschooling for now. i’ve come up with the letter activity project. i focus on one letter a day and integrate the letter into our days activities.
we started this project today with the letter L and we ventured to none other than….the library! as far as libraries go, columbus’ is topnotch. no, really, it was voted national library of the year. i’m not LYING – an L word. See how good of a teacher i am? here’s pics of the day.
first we found the lion on the felt board. then we read about little leo.
then momma loaded up on books
we found the letter L in the magnetic letters
then we headed upstairs to the gallery space to LOOK at the art exhibit. The Carnegie Gallery at the main library branch has an exhibit up called Strands and it was quite beautiful. the exhibit will be running through oct 21. little lovely lady enjoyed it. (all L words. wink.)
we stopped for a little cupcake snack b/c darla was pretty good and b/c she’s a treat nazi.
we finally returned home to bask in the spoils of our Learning (L word!) i might have gone overboard with the libros this time. meh.
we followed up the library outing with a Listening Lunch which really means that i just put on a record album to aid our digestion while we munched. the album was rumours and i cried during songbird. troof.
here’s to learning from life until i can finally stomach the thought of shelling out thousands to educate my preschooler. i’ll post our progress but please don’t expect me to be able to do this in 26 days. Also, i don’t plan on going in order, obvio. I just don’t have the organizational skills and the energy to to do it that way. annnd i hope i can come up with some activity for letter u that isn’t unicycling. maybe. on second thought i might keep that one in there.
But that’s ok. A photo post is probably just as sufficient and far less annoying than parental boasting. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this up to date for Mr. Wright, who is now sailing the Mediterranean for 3 months. We feel sorry for him….
momjeanz 