totter otterville

went to totter otterville this week with holly, owen, and caroline. the kids had a great time! otto spent about half his time in the ball pit, just pretending he was a baseball player and throwing ball after ball. greta enjoyed the dance area, where she was able to put on a tutu and follow along to a ballet instructor video. now that i think about it, it's funny that i paid for them to come and do these things....this is what they do at home!
here are the kids in the dressup area. i particularly like otto's purse.

festival of lights 2010

with frigid temperatures and a forecast for snow, we plowed forth with our plans to meet our friends, the burkholders, at the zoo for the festival of lights. as the snow began to fall and the streets covered quickly, we wavered but decided to brave it and head on out. it was snowing pretty good when we left our house, but luckily cincinnati road crews are much more efficient in the snow than newport, because the worst road conditions were from our house to the taylor-southgate bridge.

we (and the burkholders) arrived at the zoo safely, we discovered two things. one: that the festival of lights is GORGEOUS in the snow. and two: that not many other crazies brave the cold and snow to go to the zoo, so it was not crowded at all. perfect!! we had a great time checking out the sights with our friends. owen and greta mostly enjoyed playing in the snow that fell while we were there. thanks to the burkholders for a fun night!!

halloween eve

pictured: greta (the green light "GO"), owen (the pirate), gavin (the dog), addie (elmo), caroline (the cat...see how she's crawling like a cat!), otto (the stop sign), and trevor (the doggy's bone).

twas the night before halloween.....
and our friends the burkholders invited us over for a halloween get-together. i have to say, it was the most fun i've had in a long while. it was so cute to see all the kids in their costumes. the food was delicious. and the company was by far the best part. the "bigger" kids played in the basement almost the entire time, which was a fun change for all of us i think. thanks so much holly and jesse for hosting us....we all had a really fun time!