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Yes, his book is in a vice. It's his vice from his Home Depot work bench. No idea why he wants to keep books in the vice, but he does! :) Funny little boy!
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Tuckered out!
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Sleeping beauty!
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On March 26, we piled into the car and began our drive to Tiffin for our "Mini-Ohio" vacation. It was a short round trip. We left around 9:30 on Saturday morning, and arrived back home on Monday around 7:00pm, but we made the most of it! We got a late start because at 5:30am, Miss Sarah woke me up and began complaining about her ear hurting, so I postponed our start time, knowing I could get her into the doctor. We arrived at the doctor's office well before they opened and they got her right in to see Dr. Chromer. Sure enough, ear infection! So as soon as we had antibiotics, we were on our way! We arrived in Tiffin shortly before 3:00 due to the multiple bathroom stops and the one lunch stop we made. Nannie met us at all of the rest areas so Justin didn't have to be carried in each and every time! Our first stop in Tiffin was to the nursing home to see Grandma. She was very excited to see us and the kids were excited to see her. Jackson actually warmed up to her enough to give her a hug by the end of the afternoon. We spent about 45 minutes there and then headed to Barb and Walter's house. There we enjoyed watching the Butler Bulldogs beat Florida by the skin of their teeth! Their run in the NCAA tournament has been nothing short of amazing! They will be playing VCU next weekend! They are only the 3rd 11 seed to advance to the Final Four. But I still think Butler will have their work cut out for them! Regardless, an 8 or 11 seed WILL BE in the final game! We ate dinner during the game and after the game headed over to Grandma's house to get ready for the evening. Part of the reason for the trip was to help out in cleaning out Grandma's things that she doesn't need anymore. I was very motivated and happy I could help clean out a few things before we left. Sunday morning, March 27, we got up early. Sarah actually woke up Nannie at 6:00am, snapping in her face, and saying, "Look, I can snap!" We ate breakfast at Barb's and then got on the road to Kalahari Resort to check out their indoor waterpark! We were so excited! It was about 26 degrees outside, but inside, it was a lovely 80 degrees! The kids had a blast. We found a couple of baby areas and they just had a ball going up and down the slides and into the water multiple times! We spent awhile there and then tried out the wave pool where we were bounced around in the waves for a while. Sarah and Jackson enjoyed being dragged around in a double innertube by Nannie and Justin enjoyed hanging out on my hip as we braved the waves! After the wave pool, we went to the middle of the park and checked out the big blue and orange slides! I went down with Jackson and Sarah the first time, then Nannie traded and she went down with them. Everyone had to ride by themselves, but I made sure that the kids got on the slide and went down. Next we found the lazy river and enjoyed some leisurely floating on it. The kids enjoyed getting wet by all of the fountains and waterfalls that were part of the lazy river. Then we ate lunch and the kids ate and ate the pizza, nuggets, and french fries. Lunch was a much needed break for all of us! Especially Jackson. He was so hungry! Our next stop was back to the baby areas and the wave pool. I decided, though, that I was going to try and get Sarah to go on one of the bigger slides, so we grabbed blue mats and headed up to the Cheetah Racer. When the light turned green, the guy in charged gave her a little push and away she went into the very dark tunnel! I was worried that she would be very scared, but she told me that when she came out, she was laughing. She beat me to the bottom of the slide! We found one more kiddie area at the front of the park and spent the rest of the time there, except for Nannie! She wanted to ride one of the "junior" slides again, so she and Jackson headed over and rode the orange slide again. At 3:15, we were done for the day. We headed to the lockers, changed, and headed home. We arrived at the farm around 5:00 and were greeted by Uncle Steve! He and Uncle Joe joined us for dinner that night along with Grandma, Barb, Walter, and Cheryl. When dinner was over, I took the kids next door and tried to help out again with some more cleaning out. We managed to get through a couple more closets, before Mom, Barb, and I called it quits! Monday, March 28th, we spent the morning around the house, I packed up and we headed out to see Grandma. We took lots of pictures of her with the kiddos! After our visit with her, we headed to The Clover Club to see Sarah and have lunch. We were excited to visit, for a short while, with Tony and Judy. Tony was just able to stay for a few minutes, but Judy stayed with us until we were finished with lunch. Bellies full, we jumped into the car and Sarah, Jackson, Justin, and I headed home to Indy. Although it was unseasonably cold for the duration of the trip, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I was sad we couldn't stay just one more day! I love my Mini-Vacations!

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Here we are at a park in Tiffin. It was cold! But the kids enjoyed being outside and playing at the park! Justin loved the slides!
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This picture is a little hard to see. It is a picture of Sarah, Jackson, and Justin as they are coming down one of the baby slides at Kalahari's Indoor Waterpark in Sandusky, Ohio. Also pictured is Nannie's shoulder and the back of her head.
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Here is Jackson's birthday cake for his 4th birthday! He got to eat the yellow lego all by himself! Michelle Stierwalt made the cake and did a fantastic job on it! We added the Toy Story legos as the cake toppers. He has been on a major Toy Story kick since Christmas, when Santa brought the Toy Story movies (all 3) and the Toy Story dolls. All three kids have enjoyed getting to know Buzz, Woody, Jessy, and the rest of the Toy Story gang. Jackson got Rex, Slinky dog, and Mr. Potato Head for his birthday. He also got "The Dump" from the movie. He was very excited to get this toy!
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Sarah!

She says the funniest things. Today she came up to me and told me she was going to go up to her room to practice her stop, drop, and roll. She said she wanted to make sure she was ready just in case there was a fire! What a funny girl. She also said some really sweet things today. Mom's cat Gus is missing and Sarah looked up to heaven and said, "One wish God, it has to come true. Bring back Gus!" So sweet!!!
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Sweet Justin!
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Sarah square dancing. Big girl!!! I'm so proud that she went and did it all by herself without me having to help at all!
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Here is one shot from square dancing. Forgot to mention that Sarah wanted to wear a hat, so she grabbed a pink Easter bonnet in lieu of a coyboy hat. She also had come downstairs in boots that didn't fit her which I made her take off. What a hoot! Pix aren't very good but it gives somewhat of a visual.
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Square Dancing!

Sarah, Jackson, Justin, and I attended Grassy Creek's Square Dance tonight. It brought back wonderful memories of my own square dancing experiences. There were many. My favorites of course were the father daughter square dances at OLL for Girl Scouts. I also loved the finale of the 2nd recital I was in, the hoe-down! The Virginia Reel was the dance I took part in. Suzanne was in Thank God I'm a Country Boy and who could forget Jennifer in Broomstick Buckaroo. "I'm gonna ride my pal, to the old corral, gonna hollar giddyup too!"

Sarah did a wonderful job tonight. The pictures weren't very good because of the lighting in their gym. She seemed to even have a better grasp of what was going on in her square, than her 4th grade partner did. I was very proud of her. She was excited to share what she had done in her P.E. Class. I wish I had video taped it. She did about 3 different sets with her 4th grade partner then sat and watched the big kids perform. After their performance, we all joined in and made two big circles and did some square dancing ourselves. Sarah did a great job and was wonderful at listening to the directions. Justin enjoyed dancing around the gym also and loved clapping with the music and all of the movement. Jackson was a little unsure of all of the people and didn't want to dance, so he hung back and didn't participate, but also didn't keep up with me. So by the time Sarah and I were on the other side of the circle, Jackson was frantically scanning for us and began crying. So we dropped out of the circle. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. She had a great time and did a fabulous job!
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