Two Peas and a Castle

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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!) 

 

The Elvis

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Last summer my friend Lisa and I went to Memphis I have always wanted to visit Graceland and it was the last chance to stay in the Heart Break Hotel before they tore it down.  I almost cancelled as circumstances around the trip had changed but luckily Lisa was able to come with me.  Our super fab trip post will come later 🙂

But while we were there we saw The Elvis Sandwich or The Elvis Special everywhere.  We were going to get one to try but ran out of time so I bought the postcard and the girls & I made them.

Smoosh two banana’s and a cup of peanut butter together…….

Normally when I make grilled cheeses I put the nutter right on the bread then grill…..NOT here NOPE this is so much better but not healthier I’m sure LOL~ 

You put the butter in the pan first  then melt and put the sandwich in….seriously genius!~ 

Who taught me to butter the bread first??? 

They were so good ….. BUT one out of two peas approved 🙂  One thinks they are the most disgusting thing she’s ever smelled … she’s wrong but she’s only 8 so…..bahahaha! 

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You should try this here’s the postcard if you do let us know what you think! 

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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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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!) 

Spring Break 2017 Wednesday

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The Columbus Zoo! Since we just renewed our membership of course we had to go!

https://www.columbuszoo.org/home/visit

We had Gorp of course but hit Wendy’s before we went in. And this particular Wendy’s (6195 Glick Rd, Shawnee Hills, OH 43065) had the nicest staff, they even gave the peas free frostys and walked around to make sure everyone in there was happy. And yes frosty’s make the peas happy LOL

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The Zoo was busy but parking was pretty easy for lunch time 🙂

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We love this zoo and try to go any time we can with a membership it’s easy to just go a couple of hours or all day.   Bur what shall we do today?!?

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Hi Jungle Jack Hanna

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We always run through the house at Habitat Hollow seems aimed at littles but the peas still love it.

And we never miss the Polar Bears and Artic Foxes ….. but this time NO BEARS 😦 nm,

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Didn’t stop the little one from taking her doll and playing in the arctic playground!

WE caught the Bald Eagle in all his glory, and the Sloth Bear in all his lazy LOL~

Pheebs wanted to visit the Rhino and empty her pockets into the conservatory fund …..

Cougar cat …..

We visited the Asian Elephants and the Red Panda that snuck up a tree that we were watching but never turned around to say hi ….

We didn’t get to see all of the Zoo but hey that’s why it’s great to get a membership~ a little at a time no grumpy kids, no need to rush and if the animals aren’t out this time they will be next time! 

By the way we were pretty excited to see that out favorite Arctic Fox was the cover animal for the map 🙂 

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So if you are ever in Columbus visit the Zoo! 

 

Spring Break 2017 Tuesday

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Next on our week of fun we were heading to Hocking Hills and if you follow this blog you know we are some GORP loving girls!  So we made a peanut butter mix for the trip on Monday night.  Not very colorful but very yummy! 

Next morning we packed our lunches grabbed our hiking boots, the waters, the backpack full of everything we needed and took off to The Rock House.  

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Just like wanting to hit all the central Ohio parks to hike, we want to hit all the Hocking Hills areas too.  The Rock House looked pretty amazing and well……it was.  

Phoebe and I climbed everything we could BUT Py has a new-found fear of slipping  and instead chose to stay at the bottom and watch ….and start the Phoebe Near Death Count as we do when we go hiking.

Once we reached the inside of one of the rocks it was just as awesome as I had hoped.

Did  I mention it was dark in there??

We stayed in there awhile Phoebe and I climbed up and Py took some really bad pictures that will never be released  LOL ! 

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We climbed back out and found ourselves on the other side of the park! We had to walk a couple of miles up these kiddos were getting tired good thing we had GORP ! 

Once we got up that crazy hill we ate our lunch and Phoebe hid her gnome in places just to take fun pictures. She is creative that’s for sure!

After lunch we decided that we would head over to Old Man’s Cave it was still early and we still had GORP after all! 

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I admit so far this part of the park is my favorite for the photo ops 🙂 

At this point we have been here so often we knew just where to go, you know for more pics ….

When the girls got to far in front of me I yelled Stop……Hammer Time and yeah they did it….HAHA!

Check another fun day off the books it was time to get our muddy selves home. 

Go here http://parks.ohiodnr.gov/hockinghills to map out your trip to HH ~ 

PS. Phoebe’s near death count 11 (if you read the blog you know Py freaks out every time Pheebs get fearless) and as she (Phoebe) is watching me type this blog tonight she would like to add that Pyper had a trip count of 5 or 7…… 🙂 

Stay tuned for Spring Break 2017 Wednesday….the Zoo! 

Spring Break 2017 Monday

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I took the girls to get their first ever manicure …. the hardest part picking out a color Phoebe matched her dress with a sea-foam and Py picked Royal Blue  (I chose black I know shock….)

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The couple that worked on the girls nails were so sweet. 

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It didn’t take very long for the nail cleaning, hand massages and paint….then the massive dryer !

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Then off to Beauty and the Beast!~ 

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Not gonna sugar coat…Phoebe was not a fan and was pretty vocal about it she eventually fell asleep (as she does when she is at the theater).

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We went to the Movie Tavern so we could have lunch at the same time and since it was closing in a few weeks we had to have one last time in the cool theater …. BTW we are super sad about it closing.

So yes, we had a laid back sort of day and I loved it, that night however………MAJOR storms and tornado warnings.

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Because we live in a house without a basement the tornado spot is the coat closet under the stairs…..well this mom had all her shoes in there.  Not much longer littlest pea chucked those out in the hall and hunkered down not to come out for THREE hours! 

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We were really in no danger but this one was petrified so her sweet oldest sister and fur brother hung out with her until the coast was completely clear (: yes those are shoes in a mountain behind her…

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It was a fun and somewhat frightening day!  

Spring Break 2017 Sunday

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This year I took the week off with the girls to spend some major quality time doing all kinds of things.  

I spent time figuring out just what we would do each day and as we did them they checked them off the list.  Sunday we went to a skating party to kick off our week of fun!  The oldest pea is not a fan but she tries, the littlest loves skating. 

Of Course when you add nasty glowing crap all it has to be fun! 

Have I mentioned how happy I am to be able to spend Spring Break with these two cuties ? !  and tell you ALL about the fun stuff you can do locally or near by too 🙂 then after the Spring Break 2017 post stay tuned….I will also do a behind the scenes with the peas….it isn’t all fun and smiles people it will be time to unload!~  

We’ve lost her…..LOL

But not this one she could skate all day….

Or fall….

One last pic for the Mom (those faces!) …. now to tell you all about Monday! 

Skate America in Grove City…….the little loves skating here the oldest likes the games 🙂 

 

Two Peas and Indian Run Falls

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It all started with a can we have a sleepover?????….and honestly I get this every weekend it was no shock LOL.  I normally would say clean your room and sure…only the weather had been so nice I wanted to go hiking the next day so I said no because they would have to leave early the next day and that’s no fun……So um yeah they had a sleepover….. I am a pushover this has been proven in so many ways but this was a good one I just took them all!

Phoebe was the first one up that Sunday so we made omelets and toast for the girls her sister loves to bake she loves to cook.  When they are old enough maybe I won’t have too *fingers crossed.

We packed up some water, apples and granola bars and set off to Dublin we hadn’t been to this one so we get to check that off our list of parks.

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It was a smaller park than we have been to but we found some amazing things while we walked.

thought this tree looked liked a face!

Of course the girls felt the need…..OH…!

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Then the falls as usual Phoebe wanted to get in….it’s not that warm!  Py and I have a near death count for Phoebe on all our outdoor adventures the highest was at Hocking Hills with 30 something….this is where  she wants to do something that could potentially lead to very bad things.  Such as jumping over the gate to the falls….Near Death Count 1

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There was a longer trail we could have taken but they were getting antsy and since I didn’t pack lunches only snacks …..we just stayed a couple hours.

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We walked to the other side of the park which was an old cemetery and this http://dublinohiousa.gov/grounds-of-remembrance/  The Grounds of Remembrance.  The girls paid their respects we talked about what it meant went back then looked at the old grave stones. 

Some pics on the walk back to the car…..

I’d claim them all ~ I think they had fun they even let me take pictures so yeah! 

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As great as this park was as I mentioned before it was smaller and no kids playing area so we went over to Hilliard to Homestead Park.

 Let those kids run free! 

So as much I we hate global warming the nice days were very much welcomed.  This Mom needs to be outside and these kids all need to run around and not be on their devices all the time!   I can’t wait for the next place and maybe we will have more friends come……let me know if you’d love to come along!