BRANDON AND SOPHIA - 2006

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

Brandon and Sophia with Christian and Kelsi Sampsel

September

October

November

I believe this was the day Sophia was a monkey and jumped on the bed...

December

2006 - FALL

WHERE HAS THE YEAR GONE?!?

Halloween's always fun for the kids whose excitement begins the moment their costumes are picked out.  This year Sophia was Deedee of the Doodlebops.  Bran- don was a dead pirate.

Our community set aside two hours for trick-or-treaters on the Sunday before Halloween.  Porch lights were turned on at the homes where the costumed kids are welcome.  Some residents even sit in lawn chairs at the street so the candy collectors don't have to traipse over lawns or up and down driveways to get to the sweets.  We headed out promptly at 4:00 to get to as many homes as possible.  After an hour of running from house to house, Brandon and Sophia began to wear down and long before time ran out, both were ready to go home.

 Dawn and Sophia celebrate their November birthdays on the 3rd and 4th.  Sophia and Brandon wanted to buy something to give Mommy, so they emptied their piggy banks and we went to the dollar store.  Brandon immediately picked out a bracelet with tinkling bells on it.  Sophia took a little longer, finding more things she'd like to have than were appropriate for her mom.  But eventually both spent their money and we came home to wrap their gifts.

To celebrate Sophia's transition from baby to little girl, her bedroom was redecorated.  The color was changed from periwinkle to a rich, deep rose.  Before her party began, Brandon joined Sophia to have their picture taken on Sophia's new "big girl" bed.

Sophia's birthday party included Christian and Kelsi (and Grandma Sherry and Aunt Kellie, their mom) plus neighborhood friends Nicholas and Genevieve who came with their parents.  Once the presents were opened and cake and ice cream eaten, the kids began working off their energy.  It's amazing how much noise six children can make.

Brett was also born in November.  A year ago we left Brandon and Sophia in Matt's care and Dawn and I flew to San Diego to spend several days there celebrating her birthday and Brett's.  We decided to repeat the reunion again this year, but rather than return to San Diego, we decided to meet in Las Vegas, a new place for Dawn and one worth revisiting for Brett and me. 

We had a great time walking through some of the hotels along the south Strip.  While Brett exercised patience, Dawn and I found some shops at the Aladdin and Venetian worth visiting more than once and we stopped long enough to take pictures at Caesar's Palace and Bellagio.

We stayed at the Paris-Las Vegas hotel which is across the street from the Bellagio, known for the fountains programmed to perform to music.  Don't laugh when I tell you that I had tears in my eyes after watching the water "dance" to Time to Say Good-bye sung by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman.

A few years ago, Dawn and I visited a Dale Chihuly glass exhibit in Columbus.  He is also the artist who did the ceiling in the Bellagio lobby.

We rented a car on Friday and drove out of the city.  Our first stop was Red Rock State Park.  We stopped at several turnouts to take in the scenery, but didn't have the time to walk any of the available trails.  (That cute little red car in the background was our day's transportation.)

From there we drove to the other side of Las Vegas to see Hoover Dam.  We didn't spent much time there, and we didn't take many pictures, but at least we can say we've seen it twice -- once from the air coming into Las Vegas and once on land.

Copyright ©2003-2006  Kitty Park

2006 - SUMMER

CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER

I have no excuse for my tardiness in updating the site.  That's not to say it hasn't been busy, because it has!  But one day rolled on to the next and then the next.  Nearly every day, and therefore, every week, was like the one before.  The normal routine was that Sophia and Brandon played on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with Christian and Kelsi.  Sherry and I again sat in the shade watching the kids play outdoors.

Relief from the heat Water mains are flushed periodically to check pressure.  We knew when the task was scheduled and had the kids get into their swimming suits to take advantage of the abundance of water.  The cold water didn't deter their playing in it.

007 and Associate The boys continued their dress-up play.  Last year's cowboys and indians were replaced by 007 and his associate.  Note from the expressions on their faces that this was serious business!

A walk in the park

One day, we packed a lunch to eat at a nearby park. Afterwards the six of us took a long walk following trails in the woods.  It was pleasant to amble along, the only noise being the excited chatter of the kids as they discovered acorns, animal footprints in the mud and the water lilies blooming on pads in a secluded pond.

I have a life to-do list.  On it is taking a hot air balloon ride and that's what Dawn and her family gave me for Christmas.  I waited until February to book a July date, but weather conditions were not acceptable until mid-August.  I love flying in airplanes, but this was nothing like that!  Our speed was slow, but I was too excited to relax.  I can now cross this experience off my list, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to go up again.

A few weeks before the end of August and start of school, Dawn took Brandon and Sophia to pick blueberries.  Brandon evidently stayed with the chore until the bottom of his bucket was covered; Sophia lost interest quickly and gave up after dropping a handful into hers. Brandon's first day of school Just as quickly as summer had begun, it was over.  This year Brandon became a first grader and Sophia began preschool.

Copyright ©2006  Kitty Park

2006 - SPRING

 BEAUTIFUL OHIO!

It’s been a long time since Park Place was updated.  There wasn’t much to say about January through March since we just hunkered down indoors and endured miserable weather.   Many of the days were wet and too chilly to encourage venturing outdoors.   The nasty weather gave me an incentive to trust Brandon to get from the school bus to my front door. I stayed inside and measured his steps to arrival here by watching the clock.

By April the weather made a marked improvement and spring flowers popped up accompanied by flowering trees and shrubs.  There’s a note on my calendar written across the week of April 17 – one letter for each day: SPRING with a smiley face drawn on day 7.  For the first time in the years I remember, we had no strong spring storms to knock blooms from trees and batter flowers. Everything was beautiful for a good six weeks.

Kelsi and Sophia at the park When weather improved, Sherry and I took the girls out to the nearby park to play.   She and I were as happy to escape the indoor confinement as Sophia and Kelsi were.

As quickly as school was out, summer began.  Brett flew in from San Diego to spend a week relaxing.  He had forgotten that when the kids knew he was here, if they weren’t at home sleeping, they expected to be with him.   And he obliged, often accompanying the kids on rides around the circle.

Our special outing during Brett's visit was a trip to Wildlife Safari in Port Clinton, Ohio.  The weather was perfect -- sunny with the temperature in the mid-70’s.  Wildlife Safari offers visitors the opportunity to see and feed wild animals from their vehicles.

There were no lions or tigers roaming free as in the days when we took Dawn and Brett to Lion Country Safari in Georgia, but many of the animals were big – zebras, camels, elk, bison.   We circled through the park three times, photographing the animals and feeding them numerous cups of food pellets and cello-packaged carrots.   On our last circuit, Dawn encouraged a bison, waving one of the carrots at it, to come to her side of the car so she could snap a picture.  While waiting for it, she was distracted and didn’t notice as the animal approached her window.   As she turned back to await its arrival, she found its head inside the car and now looking at her eyeball-to-eyeball.  As she screamed and tried to climb over Brett who was driving, it snorted, blowing partially chewed grass over her face and into her mouth.  It was unfortunate for her that it happened, but very humorous for us to watch.

The bison gets up close

Dawn after the bison's visit

Following Brett’s departure, Dawn and I left Matt to watch Sophia and Brandon for two weeks while we took a cruise from Venice, Italy, to Barcelona, Spain.   This was the same ship and cruise itinerary I shared with Teresa in 2003.  I enjoyed the ports-of-call so much, I wanted Dawn to have the same experience.  Our weather was sunny and HOT, upwards of 85° every day.   With nine ports in twelve days, it was not a cruise which encouraged relaxing.  I told Dawn she’d have to come home to rest. Go to the Travel link and scroll down to Western Mediterannean - 2006 for links to a review and photographs taken on the cruise.

Copyright ©2003-2006  Kitty Park