Category Archives: Family Fun

The Littlest Pea and a Girl Scout Overnight at Franklin Park Conservatory

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Filed under Family Fun, Girl Scouts, My girls, Single Mom of Two Peas

We have lived in Central Ohio for almost 15 years and there is still so many things on my list of places to visit. I have been so lucky that in these past few months I have been able to visit these places with my peas and our Girl Scout troop.

Not only did we get to visit the Franklin Park Conservatory but we were able to visit during the colorful and delicate exhibit of Chihuly: Celebrating Nature & Chihuly Nights and we got to spend the night!  We toured the exhibit in the evening and in the daytime and it was like viewing two different places.

http://www.fpconservatory.org       www.chihuly.com   

We brought our sleeping bags and stayed in the Wells Barn…I will spare you how it was a wooden floor and I am a chubby 45 year old woman who had no business sleeping that way next time a blow up mattress (I didn’t know I could bring one and paid for that) ANYWHO….


Our Scouts were able to learn how to make home made noodles which honestly I would love to have her do here she said they were so good!

After this yummy homemade pasta snack we headed downstairs for some painting and modge podge….

THEN we walked over to the Conservatory and yes, it was everything I had hoped it would be …. and oh yeah the pea liked it too LOL 🙂 

We walked in to immediately see the first two Chihulys I think we were all in awe because we just stared at them for awhile, they were so beautiful.

There were so many areas of the Conservatory just peppered with Chihuly and beautiful plants specifically Orchids this time of year. 

We walked through with our guide and saw a wedding set up for the next day I can only imagine how gorgeous that wedding will be.

After out night walk in the Conservatory the girls were invited to make S’mores it was so cold!!

Those are the leaders up there after smores it was free time and get ready for bed …..OH MY GOSH I honestly could have just stayed up all night HARD WOOD FLOOR….

After what seemed like forever we got up the next morning for breakfast I had coffee while I tried to straighten out my body…..

After we were able to pack everything up in the car and grab out patches we were allowed to go back to the Conservatory for one last look seeing it in a different light.  We even saw some areas that we missed the night before.

 

There is so much to see here and in the summer we plan to go back for the outside sites too! 

 

As of now during our time of staying at home the Conservatory is closed, please visit their website for updates on when they plan to reopen and hope to support the Conservatory during this time.

Two Peas and the Otherworld

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Filed under Family Fun, My girls, Single Mom of Two Peas

After our morning at the amazing cat cafe we headed to the other side of town to OtherWorld an Immersive Art Exhibit or as all the girls saw it a pretty freaking amazing Instagram photo op!~

https://otherworldohio.com

The line was out the door but we got prepaid tickets well even that line was out the door it is a pretty popular spot and from what I understand they have a new way of handling that thank goodness because we were in the rain it was kind of cold and miserable for a few minutes.

The cost was $22 each not too bad we floated through area some crowded areas and some areas we couldn’t even get to but the ones we did were pretty dang amazing.

Not a lot to write about but more to show with the colors and lights and pure genius of the artist.

 

Of course the older girls took their own pics for the gram or snap or whatever it is they do but the littlest pea let me be her photographer 🙂 

The last photo op before we took was this tree that I was obsessed with so a picture was taken with every color change! 

And because I am that mom I made the girls pretend to be the picture behind them LOL ~!  Can you find it? they have the facial expressions spot on and hint they are twins wearing yellow with hats 🙂 

 

We spend a few hours here and they would love to come back sometime let us know if you went or plan to go and your favorite part! 

Two Peas and a Cat Cafe

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Filed under Family Fun, My girls, Single Mom of Two Peas

Before we hit our new status of stay at home the peas and I were lucky enough to hang out with some friends and go to a few amazing local places. One place that the peas had been begging to go to was our local cat cafe Eat, Purr, Love.

https://www.eatpurrlovecatcafe.com/

The cafe is really fun we are able to make a reservation on line it was $10.75 an hour for each of us. The cafe is ran by Columbus Humane so all the cats are adoptable, unfortunately we couldn’t adopt as we just adopted Nightmare from the streets LOL. But we really wanted to spend some time with them and be able to donate to the organization. While we waited for our friends to get the oldest pea got a hot chocolate and the littlest pea grabbed a board game to play. You go through two doors to get in the cat area so that they don’t get out, they allow 10 people back there and who I will call the cat concierge takes us back.

Once we got back there everyone scattered !

These cat’s have it made while they wait for their forever homes; they even have a fish tank to watch it may have caught the attention of the The Pheebs too.

The back wall of the cafe have pictures of all of the adoptees and they are running out of room happily~ !

We had a great time visiting with our new fur friends and believe it or not none of these guys where there a week later they were all adopted !

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Right now the cafe is closed BUT the new online store is open so you can still support the cause. And hopefully they will be open again soon! Until then follow them on Instagram and Facebook for updates~

Two Peas and the Ginger Zombies

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Filed under Family Fun, My girls

2015   It all began with a little pea and not so perfect gingerbread man cut out.

Phoebe was upset that her gingerbread looked like they had broken legs well Pyper and I thought they looked like Zombies!  So to keep my littlest little stay jolly and not be upset Ginger Zombies and a Riley girl tradition was made!

We use the Pillsbury ready made cookie dough it’s much easier and actually tastier than that one year…………yikes we won’t talk about that OK we will …….. the year was 2016 the stores every single store didn’t sell the dough I thought I was late the all sold out but a quick google search would show they never sold them in the first place SO we went homemade because no one sold them!

We started this new tradition to our little Riley girl family  December of 2015 this will be out 4th year and they are now expected by some of our friends but mostly the peas Uncle Ben (my brother).

And of course we have to have just the right way to give them right?  The first year we found the PERFECT tin from Jo Ann Fabrics but we never found them again so we just look for ones we can zombify.

Ever made ginger zombies or crazy ginger bread people we did Ginger Ninjas once too but they didn’t stick like zombies? Let us know how you do them!~

In the meantime please enjoy these Ginger Zombie making day pics through out the couple of years!

2016 – We did a gingerbread house because because the homemade dough was gross.

2017 – The year the oldest pea just wasn’t interested…..

2018 – The year Phoebe added eyes!

We hope you enjoyed our zombies I’ll update after our 2019 hoard is complete!

The Littlest Pea and Pancake Art

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Filed under DIY, Family Fun, My girls, Photo Blog, Single Mom of Two Peas

t and most fun art project we have done is because of the pancake art challenges on YouTube the littlest pea is obsessed! 

So when she asked if we could do them, that was an easy yes we can…..She didn’t even need help with the batter…..

 

We used a few more colors this time (we’ve done this a couple times) and put them in ketchup and mustard bottles and a few bottles from the Dollar Tree.

 

Always spray the skillets …..We need an electric one like the YouTubers ….

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Let the fun begin! 

When you mess up make it a swimming pool…..or if your shamrock looks like a tree add apples~  And when you make the oldest pea into a pancake don’t say that the bubbles are her pimples she gets offended LOL ! 

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We made a Pyper and her friend Kenedi who cracked up over the “Me” pancake…..

Pay no attention to background spray (our puppy has accidents 😦 )

 

I love the P that Phoebe made me she was pretty proud (so was I) ! 

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Some pics from last time rainbows, Narwhals, and even the big sis helped last time  !

Making Magic with the Littlest Pea

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Filed under Family Fun, Girl Scouts, My girls, Photo Blog, Single Mom of Two Peas

Home without the Oldest Pea so what could the Pheebs and I get ourselves into??? 

~~~We made Harry Potter Wands~~~

We just Googled how to and saw SO many tutorials!  All pretty great, some easy, some so detailed that it was cool to watch but a little too hard for the 9yr old.  The easier tutorials were simply chop sticks, hot glue gun, and paint ….some added glitter so of course we did too~ 

I made the first one and had her watch told her not to touch the glue or the end because of the burn factor and then let her go.  Can we just look at that sheer determination and not the unbrushed hair bahaha ! 

After the glue was wrapped around the chopstick she treated it like a troll

Because we didn’t want a flat side to the wand we let them dry like this in the glitter jar:

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The dry pretty quickly and if you don’t like how it turned out you can peel it off and start again.

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Then once they are dry you do the paint and glitter. 

Our creations: 

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And one special wand for one special person.

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The week we made the wands was also Teacher Appreciation Week so she made her teacher one and then made her a sweet painting to match. 

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Add glitter! 

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~TADA~

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We hope she liked it!

We hope you like this post and let us know if you made wands and how you did it ! 

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This is the face I love my crazy little pea 🙂 

Two Peas and a Castle

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Filed under Family Fun, My girls, Photo Blog, Single Mom of Two Peas, Uncategorized

Every year since I can remember nothing good has ever happened on my birthday, there has been stitches, broken bones, bruises, accidents and even heartbreak.  Last year I refused to leave my house because I didn’t want to risk it!

This year I refused to believe my birthday was cursed.  I wanted to be with the peas and have an awesome day.  I chose to visit the Loveland Castle or as it is formally called the Château Laroche.

 

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It took 90 minutes to get there not bad and the girls were in great moods so that was even better!

They are open 11 – 4 and its only $5 to take a self guided tour which I personally LOVE when you go in you are greeted by a volunteer who tells you a little about the castle and which rooms are which.  Of course the first thing we saw was the Dungeon <—– sign.

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And immediately ran to it….

They cracked up because someone placed a lucky troll in there with the “prisoner” not too lucky it seems !

The dungeon led out to the gardens but we wanted to see the rest of the castle before we headed out there.

We went back upstairs and saw Sir Harry’s office, it was amazing left just as he had left it. (behind bars so no one could disturb)

His bedroom was in the same condition so awesome…..

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Then up one more flight and the dining room was something out of King Arthur

 In the back they have a sword collection and a video playing that tells you all about the Castle and Sir Harry, all the art, the chairs, the chains, and the Suit Of Armors

But that wasn’t all there was one more floor sort of….it was blocked off but the roof area was just spectacular from what we could see and just the stairs going up there well the kids said they were way cool 🙂

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I would have loved to roamed all over the roof it did look pretty cool. So we went back down a flight look again in case we missed something.

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Also those were some of the best pics I ever took of these girls!

We found a oriel window….a small balcony to look over some of the garden.

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Look at the dragon!

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Now look at us LOL

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We ventured outside the castle and it was gorgeous…..

We loved this little trip we even ran back in for one more picture….

They weren’t too into it and the little wouldn’t sit alone I made her pretend to be royal apparently royal is a mean mug. HA!

The castle was a perfect day trip for my birthday with my girls for more info about the place go here:  http://www.lovelandcastle.com/  if you check it out let us know how much you liked it!

OH and then there was this!

Next time we go we will go on one of the castle days they host once a month is the summer….also going to go hiking right there too !~  Sir Harry lived from 1890 – 1981 his life was amazing and the way he built this castle by himself stone by stone is nothing short of amazing.   So do it Google him I feel if I start adding facts and stories I will have lifted it all from other website…I don’t want to do that 🙂

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PS……for those that believe in b-day curses……on our way home at the gas station waiting to turn into a spot to get gas…..we got hit by a lady pulling out of a parking spot……she didn’t see us.

Next year we might just might not leave the house again $1580 of damage but at least we were able to drive home…..kind of killed the day though thanks lady!

 

Update to answer a question from a follower: Phoebe’s T-shirt came from https://www.humanunlimited.com/  We all have one! She wears hers at least once a week ~ I have gotten a few from them and they are amazing to check them out!!! (also they are located in my hometown of Akron OHIO! woohoo!) 

 

Meet Sid …

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Filed under Family Fun, My girls, our furry children, Single Mom of Two Peas

We took the plunge after years of begging and the loss of our old man Pete (our 16 year old cat) I decided that maybe a dog would be good for us.  It would get us moving more, get outside to walk a lot , rescue of a fur baby and dog parks! So many dog parks!.  

I got in contact with a rescue that did not have a building for the dogs but only fostered and adopted out that way.  It was a lot of paper work and visits to the house with all these other crazy stipulations. And that was not the only rescue like that I honestly got intimidated and one point understood why people just bought dog from a pet store (I know shame on me right?)  But honestly the adoption fee through this particular agency was $350 – $500 depending on the age ect.. etc..

Still…..I met up with the foster lady 45 minutes out of my way at a pet store, the dog, a Jack Russell mix had no interest in me and we just didn’t click.  The foster mom was super nice and talkative told me all about the dog; she was jumpy and small and looked like she needed a salon ASAP the dog not the mom.  The girls were excited they knew that this was my first visit then they get to visit then the house visit. They call 4 references, your vet, your landlord, the doctor that was there at your birth, blood sample, ss # and your old high school teachers all to make sure you are a good fit.  Because as you know all the super nice and caring foster people are apparently also are a judge and counselor.  (BIG eye roll) That seems like a lot of pressure to place on a loving soul that just wants to help the animals. ANYWAY….

I came to work the next day and told my two friends who saw immediately this was not the dog for us…..she ignored me after all and I had her leash!  It was hard but she was in foster care so I felt better about passing I send an email to the foster mom and explained I didn’t think she was a good fit with out family.  She thanked me for being honest and told me with such a good head on my shoulders about adopting a dog we would be a great family for whomever we saved.  That made me feel so much better because I felt a lot of guilt.

My friend Traci knew we needed a small dog and not a puppy but a younger dog she looked at all the shelter around us our County shelter seems to only have Pit Bulls up on their website which is whatever but we couldn’t get a big dog.  I came to the conclusion that all the small dogs get adopted pretty quickly since being in a metropolis with lots of apartments those are apartment size dogs.  Which brings us to….the Ross County Humane Society….Traci sent me two pictures of small chihuahua mixes they were both adorable one female one male. I went that Saturday…..we asked to see the dogs and were pointed to a room with 10 (I think) cages it was quiet until we opened the door.  Then a rush of barking took over I immediately saw the one we asked to take him out and it was love at first sight.  He was great with the shelter cat in the hallway and was excited to go outside then rushed to get us back inside as if he said ok Mom sign me out!

So I did it literally took less than 30 minutes to fill out one form, get his chip and make an appointment to get neutered.  $132 included the surgery and his license, all I needed was his rabies shot which we got that Thursday when he went to get neutered.

I did get him a license for our county too ….

So ladies and Gentleman meet our punk rock dog …… Sid Vicious

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He was so happy on that long ride home 🙂 

He fits right in with our little family, we walked him so much the first day we had him he planted himself under out front bushes and didn’t want to go anymore LOL 

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The next day we took him to a dog park…then walked around downtown Grove City and even got him his own ice cream 🙂 

He is a cuddler…

I think he picked his favorite SHHHHH …

We have found that he is not fond of other dogs or squirrels and his arch nemesis is a pigeon that sits just beyond where he can reach and mocks him. 

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He loves people though we just need to work on his jumps and over-licking! 

 

Then there is this guy…

They get along just fine really but stubborn Paddy refused to be in the same room although he did stalk here on the stairs or in the hall way.  Today almost a month later though we have gotten to this!  My friend Traci said they look like Garfield and Odie…. ha yes they do! 

So now we are a family of one dog, one cat and one beautiful blue fish 🙂

***Update Periwinkle the Blue Beta has left the fish bowl she was a beauty and will be missed***

Spring Break 2017 FRIDAY!

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Filed under Family Fun, Single Mom of Two Peas, Spring Break 2017

So we had planned on biking in the park downtown, and learning about birds here:

http://www.metroparks.net/parks-and-trails/scioto-audubon/

I see it from the hearing room where I work everyday and have wanted to take the girls so they can ride without me worrying about getting hit by a car…yes I am a worrier get over it….I even bought a bike rack for the car for this day!  

But instead……we did this:

movies and popcorn and slept in the living-room….. 

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It was a long but fun week and I wore these peas out they needed sleep (please forgive the messy house 🙂 ) 

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I couldn’t bring myself to wake them they were awake until like 1 AM ….. plus I tired them out all week.  So I let them sleep and lounge all day until it was time to go with their Dad for the night. 

I’d say we had a pretty good week 🙂 Saturday when the girls came home we hit a local park and Sunday we spent the day watching Py with the OSU Women’s Volleyball team training.

We can’t wait for summer! 

Spring Break 2017 Thursday

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We have tried to go to the Newport Aquarium so many time the last two years that I decided nothing was keeping us from going this time ! Even the long line waiting to go in 🙂

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We were pretty excited for this one we planned on, the ice cream shop, Barnes and Noble and all the other places on the Levee!

https://www.newportonthelevee.com/

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By the time we got in we were starving so we ran past everyone (it was so crowded it was tough to get through) but made it to the cafe and looked at the brochure to see what all we could visit.

That’s when Py seen where she could walk above the sharks….so we did that first!  Or she did that first Phoebe would have none of it LOL 🙂

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Once she got through that we were send out the front and had to re-enter the building it was awesome this time no one was around we could take our time and not bump into 100 people!

We walked under the sharks and saw them in a huge tank, they were amazing but not as amazing as this smiling guy ~

IMG_6726Sting Rays are my favorite (I love the Manatee tank at the Columbus Zoo just for these smiling stingers!) And if you are ever in the Sawmill area of Dublin https://aquariumadventurecolumbus.com/  these guys have some in the store!

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These fellows had a case of the smiles too!

Well one did the weird nosed turtle looks more annoyed than smiley. 🙂 HA!

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How do these kids measure up ?

Yes we saw Mighty Mike the abnormally large American alligator…..according to the website because as I write this I could not remember …. “Mighty Mike is more than 14 feet long and 800 pounds”  He had a few smaller friends in his tank too!

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Phoebe wanted to see the penguin show more than anything so when it was time we ran over and got a seat…

We watched these little $%^&*&&$%^’s for maybe 20 minutes waiting for a “show” like does someone come out and teach us about them? Is there music do they Happy Feet around?? ….Nope just wondered aimlessly and teased us by pretending they would jump and didn’t unless you looked away for one second! then they would jump.   But the 8yr old absolutely loved it ~

We were able to touch some little sharks at the Shark Central Exhibit.

The jellyfish were gone but they still had this rad lamp !~

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Glow lights! that’s a prehistoric glow thing….yeah we were just amazed at my hair glowing!

We fell in love with the sea horses and the starfish! Phoebe even made her own Seahorse at the Seahorse Creation Station they emailed it to her along with coloring pages too!

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They were just cool…the whole area was

http://www.newportaquarium.com/Things-To-Do/Exhibits/Seahorses-Unbridled-Fun

Hello there little peas!

Touching the stars ….

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Took a break and let the Pheebs play in the Frog Bog and the coolest Frogger game ever! (Yeah I played too 🙂 )

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That was fun took about 4 hours to go through maybe 5….

It was a grey day but it never rained until the ride home so we hung out at the Levee for a few hours…

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Ice Cream, Books …… and Batman 🙂 

Definitely worth the drive …. and we will be back! (lots of stores we missed!)