Sisters

A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves - a special kind of double.
- Toni Morrison

Isabella and Charlotte love holding hand while in the car together. The sign and have a great time. Most requested group lately? "The Wiggles"

Another Stroll

Charlotte decided to walk around Downtown Gahanna last night just to prove to me that she could... Or it was the ice cream she had!

Charlotte, Fred, and Isabella

Somewhere outside of Findley, Oh

Mindful Diner - Sitting in a place from the past, living in the present!

Lately I have been listening to a lot of Podcasts regarding running, triathlons, and overall working out. One thing that I have noticed is that many of these podcasts have some similar themes that go along with exercising and living in general.

That main theme that I have found in many of the podcasts is finding Zen and being very mindful about what you are doing.

Very brief history, the Shaolin Monks believed that enlightenment was found through exercise, and from what I know they used martial arts as that form of exercise. Anyway, many people now have taken those themes to running and working out and doing a ton of other things but with the underlying belief that you should be mindful in what you do.

"Okay Fred, why are you talking about this?" Well one thing that I have found is that as an adult we have lost our connection to "now" and we are always looking to "then"... two different thens, it will happen then, and it did happen then. We have forgot about NOW!

The disconnect is that children live in the now. I have been trying to incorporate this in parenting to help understand the girls as well as appreciate them more and more.

I am not the one to preach about this at all I find myself reaching for my camera before I ever get a change to relish that is going on now. I try to capture it now, so I can look at it in the then in the future... too bad I missed it then in the past.

Even on vacation I find that I take more time taking pictures than actually soaking in what I am looking at.

Our kids are growing up so fast that from one day to the next they will be different people. We need to be mindful of our kids and try to share the now with them. Get in there and color that dog in green and go outside of the lines! Take your shoes off and jump into the sandbox with them. Get Dirty! Roll around in the grass! Just sit and watch them work. Look at their face when you give them ice cream. Remember time goes from now to the past... not the future to the present!

If any of this means anything to you and you are interested in learning more please read up on it. Along with the girls I am really trying to be mindful about what I am eating as well. Think about how many times you eat a meal and don't remember what it actually tasted like. There is a lot of research about mindfully eating and becoming more full faster, and in turn losing weight.

Listen to this eposide of Running with Ghosts and it can give you a good understanding of what I am talking about.

One small meander for Charlotte-kind

Here is a video of when Charlotte decided to take a meander while at school.

Mark the day!

Mark yesterday as the day that Charlotte decided to walk. The key word is decided. Charlotte has been walking for a while.

Something must have just clicked and she was off.

In saying all of this she is not 100% walking but, she really has upped the time on the toes!

Times Change

We love taking the girls to a local school playground. The girls love climbing and running around. Isabella's favorite is the swings, "Push me really high daddy!"


If you haven't been to a local playground lately, I would encourage you to get outside and get your kids practising their motor skills. Also you would be amazed with all of the new and cool things to play with on playgrounds!

I love these new and very safe play areas, but what did ever happen to the old school playgrounds were everything was steel and burning hot in the sun? I remember as a kid one of the best things to play on was a tire, not like the rock climbing walls, nets, huge painted murals of the US, xylophones, and periscopes to name a few!

Here is a list of some of the things from when I was growing up that was a playgrounds.

• Swings
• Tires (Normally one big and one small)
• Monkey Bars x2 - Remember the ones that were shaped like a half circle also?
• Some sort of fort thing to climb up into
• The Dome - I am really not sure what this was called but you know what I mean
• Teeter Totter - But I remember them as being huge!
• The Spinny thing - basically a quick lesson in centripetal force
• Slide
• Maybe Rings
• What else am I forgetting? Leave a comment

New School Digs!

Well everyone, it seems that the daycare we have been going to is going to close their doors as of September 30th. It will be a sad and happy transition to Isabella and Charlotte's new school. This past weekend, their new school held a carnival. Charlotte was still a little sick so she stayed home but Isabella had a blast.

Isabella cannot wait to get to her new school and Nicki and I cannot wait either. (It's a lot closer to the house!)

Take a look at the pictures Isabella had fun playing soccer. She won a pencil box with Tinkerbell on it. She loved "bouncing around the room" as pictured.

One great feature that we really like is the new school has a room dedicated to role playing. It is an entire town with a police station and grocery store, as well as a theater

pictured. We really think that Isabella and Charlotte will really enjoy growing with this new school.

As some of you may or may not know, Isabella will be having surgery to get rid of her saw that she uses at night to saw logs in mid-August. So after that we will be moving to the new school.

Tri Harder!

Fred finished his second triathlon this past weekend. 4th in his age group and 25 over all out of 153.

And yes a tan is needed!

Michael... memories

I was in Kroger and I had to stop and take a picture of this, some people say this was not a historic event. I think the media begs to differ.

Gahanna continues to impress...

http://www.gahanna.gov/events/parksandrec/music.asp
Check it out... we ate some dinner and found some live music in Gahanna. It was really good. Gahanna really is starting to impress me. I read a few flyers about movies in the park on a big projector with a 16 foot screen, sleep over camp outs, and many other things... check it out!

June 26, The Wizard of Oz
July 24, Breakfast at Tiffany's
August 28, E.T.

Summer 2009 Randoms!

Forth Of July Thoughts

Any holiday is stressful, and as my dad always said stress comes in many different ways. It can be good stress and it can be bad stress. Normally Forth of July holidays consists of eating and spending time with family and friends. When that is all over the fireworks.

Dealing with two kids way after their normal bedtime is very stressful even after an excellent day spent with our core family. Trying to keep them entertained on a blanket for two hours in the rain was a hard task. But once the fireworks started and I held my children it all faded away and it all is worth it. Watching the girls watch fireworks for the first time and the glassed eyes of amazement is something that I never want to forget.

Yes the Forth of July is a celebration of our country, but from now on I know that it means to me, that I have a loving family that consists of two beautiful girls and one wonderful wife. It is a time to realize that there are many ups and downs on our road of life but when you get a second to step aside, it all seems worth it.


Enjoy your life.
Live today and tomorrow will take care of itself.

This is Charlotte being a ham that she normally is.

In Gahanna we had a live band to entertain us wait waiting for the fireworks. Charlotte loved the music and was bouncing up and down to the beat!

Sparklers

Did you know?

Sparklers are responsible for the vast majority of legal firework-related injuries, but mainly as a result of parents giving sparklers to young children. The devices burn at a high temperature (as hot as 1800 to 3000° F, or 1000 to 1600° C), depending on the fuel and oxidizer used. This can cause devastating burns to hands and faces or ignite clothing

4th of July Parade In Gahanna

Gahanna was founded along the Big Walnut Creek in 1849 by John Clark of Ross County from 800 acres of land that his father, Joseph Clark, had purchased from Governor Worthington in 1814. Clark named his property the Gahanna Plantation, from which the City of Gahanna derives its name. The name Gahanna is derived from a Native American word for three creeks joining into one and is the former name of the Big Walnut Creek. The City of Gahanna's Official Seal refers to this confluence of three creeks with the inscription "Three In One".
Gahanna has been listed as one of the Top 100 Best Places to Live in 2007 by Money magazine.

Happy 4th of July!

During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.

After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4.