Cones, bones, squashed pennies and dragonflies

Bunny the spineless, hopping dog.....2 days of torrential downpours in the jungles of zoo camp.... where the polar bears get a tasty treat.....tattoo twin....
Squashed Penny Passports...........
fun with Aiden and Ellie, Patty's kids--my across the street neighbor from 1st-12th grade....3 free Graeters ice cream cones, free blackberry chip smoothy samples, magnets and ice cream lanyards in their annual July coloring contest.....and art for $$ at a local toy store.


THE SUMMER WEEK IN CINCINNATI CONTINUES:

Last evening, we met up with the kids of my childhood, across the street, neighbor. Her son and daughter are one year older than my two, but the boys are pretty muchly head to head--except when Aiden tippy toes it and stretches to try to squeeze in a few xtra inches!
The daredevil from the flatlands of Chicago, discovered the joys of flying down HILLS on her RAZOR SCOOTER, breaking open the scab on her knee about 4 times and doin' multiple mud slide wipe outs in the grass.

Du-Jay also became progressively braver and faster on the hills, till he wasn't riding the brakes any more at all!
The kids all had a swingin', rollin', runnin', fossil finding great time together.


Usually, I'm not a fan of little dogs. They tend to be yappy little dust mops. Big dogs like our 100lb Akita are so much cooler. But I will say Bunny won me over.

My parents were dog sitting for a little Shih Tzu, who was born with a partially formed spine and no tail. The vet was ready to put her to sleep at birth, but the breeder intervened and began physical therapy with her. The determined little dog thrived and now gets around pretty well, walking and even running, with just a slight hop of her back legs--hence her name. My kids were thrilled to have a dog they could leash walk without being bowled over.



We're startin' the kids young with the art for fun and profit ideal. Both kids still want to be artists and veterinarians, so after they got their fill of animals in zoo camp each day, we had them enter 4 art contests.

Three were branches of Graters ice cream--the BEST ice cream in the universe, bar none, and pretty rockin' doughnuts, too! We're talking ginormous slabs of dark chocolate for chocolate chips and amazing flavors. Hey, I'm outta town here. I can splurge on ice cream, cheese crowns, good bakery custard doughnuts...... Back in Chi town I promise I'll do xtra time on the eliptical machine and eat raw veggies and low fat yogurt.

This year the kids had to draw their FLAVORite summer memory for a chance to win a tour of the Graeters factory, t-shirts and other prizes. Best of all, every little ice cream shop location has their own drawing for winners, and every kid who enters gets a free ice cream cone when they turn their art work in!

Today we also took them to a small, but cool Clifton toy store, which has a monthly art contest for $10 gift certificates. They have lots of fun, educational toys and funky kid and baby clothes. I love the black and white skull covered Babylegs brand leg warmers and the Little Mismatched wheel of socks which make 36 different mismatched pairs. It's a look! Zilla had me bring out her mismatched socks and put them in a basket to choose from for summer. Usually they hang in a plastic bag in the closet till the matches can be found.

At the cool toy store, we bought a couple of kid chopsticks attached at the top, with an octopus and seahorse on them. Du got a surprise,wire sphere game. Then I surprised Zilla with a great paper crown of flowers and ribbons for our friend Danielle's performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

We'll head out after zoo camp tomorrow, to see her show and spend a midsummer night with Tim and Dani. If you're near the Columbus area, check it out! If not, you can click on the link above, to live vicariously and get a behind the scenes peek at the amusing quotes, quips, accidents and incidents in low budget, outdoor Shakespearian theatre.