Category Archives: Family

Cedar Point

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My Dad’s company picnic was at Cedar Point this year. The tickets were at a reduced price and my parents took care of the kids admission, so all I had to do was drive up there and pay for my own ticket. We had almost the entire family up there for this event.

My brother, Adam, his friend, and my Mom arrived on Tuesday. They drove in from Maryland. They ended up spending a few days at the house until Thursday when my Dad drove up from Columbus and my Mom and him left with the kids. They went swimming and had early access to the park, as a benefit of staying at the motel. Adam and his friend left Monday morning.

My brother and his friend stayed at the house and that Thursday night we went to the airport and picked up my sister Amy. She flew in from Texas. It was all a big secret, because she wanted to surprise my Dad at the park. Amy ended up staying with me until Sunday morning when she had to catch the return flight home.

I drove to Cedar Point, because I was the only one with a van to hold the six people that would be returning home with me. The four of us, Adam, his friend, Amy, and I all arrived and went on several rides. We then went back out to the van to grab some lunch out of the cooler we brought. My kids, Eddy and Patty, met us at the van. They had already eaten. We then set out to find my Mom and Dad for the surprise of meeting Amy. It was a great surprise.

We all hung out together for awhile. We went on a few more rides and we had the happy accident of getting stuck on the Snake River Rapids ride. The reason this was a happy accident was while we were stuck on the ride for 45 minutes we managed to get flash passes, which allow you to get up to the front of many rides. I do not think we would have been able to ride so many rides in the few hours we had left before the park closed without those passes.

Father’s Day

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Father’s Day was fun this year. Awoken to a gift from Patty and Eddy. I got a pair of headphones and pistachios and Hershey Kisses. Most of my gifts involve food for some reason. Michelle sent me a message wishing me a “Happy Father’s Day”. It is nice to have a day.

Eddy’s 8th Grade Graduation

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Eddy has graduated from the 8th grade class at St. Paul School. Now that Eddy has graduated from St. Paul the only reason the family should have to go back is for church and church events. Now all of my children are in high school. Kristy made the trip out to see the graduation, as she did last year. The kids were extremely happy to see her.

Grandma’s friend Mary helped me pay for the graduation pictures, and so I should have some pictures of Eddy and his graduating class to give out to family. The students, for the most part, are all going in different directions. Some of them are going to public schools where they live. Some of them are going to different Catholic high schools. I believe only a few of the students are going to Archbishop Hoban next year, so Eddy should be meeting all new people.

The graduation was great. The small reception afterwards was nice. I am sure that Eddy is going to miss living so close to the school that he is attending next year. I do not think that Archbishop Hoban is realistically in bicycle riding range. Unless, he starts getting up really early. I’m sure he’s going to be getting enough of a workout with football.

The Big Blue 100

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Eddy has added a ninth foot to the collection and a particularly large plastic piece to add to the group. There are quite a lot of feet making up this necklace and adding another orange foot certainly gives it some weight. It is a very impressive assortment of plastic feet he has acquired this year. The real weight came from one piece that he earned quite recently.

Yes the big blue 100 piece that Eddy got to add to his growing collection of formerly only feet. This piece is awarded once the student walks 100 miles. He has been proud of his accomplishments up to this point, but receiving a special piece for hitting this milestone was certainly a big deal.

The weather has gotten nicer and Eddy is able to ride his bike to school now. He has slowed down on bothering to show up for walking having reached the magic 100. This is not to say that he is not still doing the walking, but it certainly is nice to sleep in occasionally with the school year winding down. He is also participating in the conditioning workouts at Archbishop Hoban High School twice a week, for football, so exercise is not something lacking in his schedule.

March 18th Bike Ride

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It all started with Patty saying “I want to go to the bridge and see the turtles”. This lead to a 30 mile bike ride and the turtles – they would not disappoint. The unseasonably warm weather here in North East Ohio has encouraged wildlife to venture out and sit in the sun. It was snowing this time last year, but this year it has already reached 80 degrees. The pictures of the turtles are from a bridge in Akron and another north at Beaver Creek.

This year so far we have seen turtles where we normally would not see them and we have even spotted beavers, although we do not have a picture of them. It is neat to see the turtles and be able to take bike rides in March, but I think it will be more impressive in a few months when the lily pads are all over the place and there are fish and other things swimming around. Everything will look so much more alive.

One great thing that could happen this year is if it does not rain every single week. Last year was a record breaking year for rainfall in Ohio, and it made bike rides far fewer and further between than I think any of us would have preferred.

Eighth Foot

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Eddy has managed to add yet another foot to add to an already impressive collection. The pictures for this had to be retaken unfortunately, because while the camera on the phone seems to be decent for certain applications it does not seem to fair well in lowish light situations and close up. More experimentation with settings could have better results, but the camera seems to do the job without so much hassle.

There is something almost magical about the number 8. The great white octo-foot. This of course will not be the last foot to be posted here before the end of the school year. There are probably several more.

The Jungle Book

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I went to see Eddy in The Jungle Book play at St. Paul School. The play and music is all owned by Disney and this was the version for kids. This year Patty was not in the play having graduated and gone on to high school. I went, as I did last year, on opening night. The audience was not permitted to take any photographs or record the show during the performance, which was fine with me, since I do not do that anyway.

Eddy played the part of a rock. The rock had to wear pants and a shirt that were too big. There were two rocks. When I first heard about the part that Eddy got in the play I assumed that it would be him occupying space on the stage. The rock part sung almost all the songs and they even had a line that they did solo. It was a fun play to watch. I enjoyed it.

This is Eddy’s last play at St. Paul School. It has yet to be seen what kind of after-school activities he will participate in at Archbishop Hoban next year. He was accepted and so far it is looking like he will be trying out for football and try his hand at art. I am hoping for another good year.

Fun ‘n Stuff

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The kids all had President’s Day off from school, so it was best to take advantage of that and make sure to do something as a family. Michelle, Patty, and Eddy had no objection to my plan for the day. The first step was to get everyone some lunch, from there it was on to a place that I have been going since I was a kid.

Fun ‘n Stuff is a fairly easy destination for a cheap family activity. My parents used to take us kids there every once in a while. I always remember having a good time. The place has not changed a great deal. There have been some changes, but there is something really nice about being able to come back year after year and have the same fun. There is plenty to do there, but I mostly take the kids for the roller skating, arcade machines, and air hockey.

The kids all went roller skating. More specifically they all went roller blading. I remember when roller rinks started carrying roller blades they were usually a few more dollars to rent, and I never bothered to try. These kids though have gone ice skating and have been using roller blades for quite some time, so they are more versatile than I ever was. We held a little air hockey tournament. The kids are honestly getting pretty good at air hockey. It was a fun day.

Seventh Foot

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Eddy has earned yet another foot, in the before school Walking Club, bringing the grand total to seven. The color chosen this time was black. The school year is well over half over it is fair to assume that there will probably only be several more feet before it is finished.

On an almost completely unrelated note all the feet have a heart shaped hole. No idea what that signifies or if it signifies anything at all.

Mock Trial

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Patty went to the Cuyahoga County Courthouse in downtown Cleveland, right next to the lake, on Friday to participate in Mock Trial. She was the Bailiff and Time Keeper for Archbishop Hoban and if she listens and pays attention to the other students who got to be the prosecutor and defense lawyer then maybe she will get to do that next year.

She recieved a pin and they won the meeting, so there will be another meeting at some point in the future. She should be receiving another pin at that time.