Snow Tubing at Perfect North
Where: Perfect North Slopes Lawrenceburg, Indiana
When: Wed. February 27th from 4-9:30pm
Who: All Ages but only one person per tube!
Cost: $15.00 per person (Minimum number for this
price is 15 people)
Waivers: Everyone must have a tubing waiver.
Get yours at http://perfectnorth.com/tubing_groups.php scroll down to download and print.


This is a blast! And we are getting a great deal. It’s usually $15.00 for 2 hours but we are getting 5 and ½ hours for $15.00! You pay me there because to get that great rate we have to pay as a group. We’re asking everyone to try to arrive no later than 3:45pm so we can collect the money and waivers, pay and get on the tubing slopes as close to 4pm as possible. You are welcome to bring your own food. They have a heated tent with picnic tables, outlets for anyone wanting to have hot food and/or drinks, and a concession stand for those who choose to buy. I recommend dressing for snow tubing weather. Don’t forget your coats, hats, gloves, snow boots, snow pants and anything else you may want or need.


Directions from their web site:
Perfect North Slopes is located in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. From I-275 take the US 50 Exit 16, follow ski area signs north on Indiana Route 1 to ski area entrance. Or http:// perfectnorth.com/directions.php


As always this is probably our absolute favorite Feb. fieldtrip. The weather was perfect, in the low 30s and the place was absolutely deserted! In years past there have using been other groups there, but we were the only one, you couldn't have asked for more of a bang for your $15.


The boys (Grant, Chris, Jacob and Cade) formulated a plan to snowtube IN THEIR SWIMSUITS and when Will saw them, he decided he wanted to be part of the fun (they put their swimsuits on at home under their snowclothes). I don't know whether I should be proud or embarassed by their antics! It was so sweet, the following morning, Will came out of the bedroom and said "thank you for letting me snowtube in my swimsuit", I guess even at 3 he realized that it wasn't something most moms would allow. And I can't even blame this one on their dad, after all it was my father who was a "polar bear" and went for a dip in the Ohio river with his dive buddies one New Year's Day...so it is in their blood! I honestly could see me dad looking down from heaven and ribbing the guy next to him saying "yep, those are my grandsons!".



I was excited this year that I got to snowtube since I wasn't pregnant or didn't have a newborn in tow. Lucky for me, Luke stayed home and spent some quality time with his dad! The kids were the first ones to hit the hills shortly after 4 PM and we were the last people off shortly before 9:30!

Can't wait for next year!

Park program: Raptors
Where: Sharon Woods in Sharonville, Ohio
When: Wed. February 20th; 10-11am
Who: All ages
Cost: Free

Come join us as we learn about these magnificent birds! We will meet at the Sharon Center. If the weather is nice you are welcome to picnic and play following the program.

This was a well done program presented by Adam of the Hamilton County parks. Adam led a hike for us back in August and told us at that time that he was only a seasonal naturalist, so we were really surprised to see him. Lots of live birds, up close and personal! What was great was that we got to meet two new families. Lisa and her two son and Jennifer and her 5 children (4 girls and 1 boy). We all ended up going to lunch at Larosa's after the program because there was far too much snow on the ground to even consider staying at the park and hanging out.

Luke was a real handful at the program......completely mobile at this point it appears his hands have some kind of magnetic attraction to outlets, he can spot them a room away and get to them before my butt even gets off the chair! You would think a park district that hosts classes for kids would have outlet covers on their outlets....no such luck! Luckily he hasn't figured out that he can put things INTO the outlets yet, then I am going to be in big trouble! How could something so cute get into so much trouble????

I don't think I ever posted about this originally, but a month or so ago (well actually before Christmas) Luke started getting hives and breaking out. The only thing that appeared to be different was that he had started eating wheat, so 4 weeks ago we went to see the doctor and they suspected a food allergy or possibly celiacs disease. 2 weeks ago we had blood tests done (for the 5 major allergens) and we went back this week for a follow up.

Yesterday I took Luke back to the doctor...they had called earlier this week to say that test results are "inconclusive". So just to prove the point, we fed him wheat yesterday morning before the appointment and he broke out (it was just so so when we were at the office, now he is BRIGHT RED all over his face again!)...Even with the mild reaction he was exhibititing in her office (2 hrs after eating), she agrees that there is definitely something going on so she said NO WHEAT until he is 15 months and then we will challenge him again (also no milk since Em was allergic to that) and if he reacts then she will diagnose him with celiacs (apparently of the 9% of kids get that get inconclusive results, 76% end up having celiacs or some such nonsense)...so we have 5 more months of no gluten! She said the great thing is that since kids bodies change so much before 2 years old, it may just be a phase and that by 15 months he won't react any......

Oh and little man has an ear infection (RAGING was the word she used) so he is on antibiotics...she said they only prescribe antibiotics to babies under a year for ear infections, they don't use them in our practice for older kids. She even told me we could wait it out, but since he hasn't been sleeping well at all, I opted to give them a try.

Great news is that he gained a whole pound since our first visit last month, so he is growing great. She said that that is one of the things that makes her still think it could be celiacs, that he actually gained weight QUICKLY for the first time since birth when I took him off of the wheat. Apparently he was at 90% at birth for weight, 75% at his 2 week check up and slipped off the chart completely at 4 months and is now just below 10%. We go back in 4 weeks for an ear recheck.

Because of his skin reaction, she has diagnosed him with excema, not sure what that means long term, just that his skin reacts to other things that are going on with him I guess.

Bird and Owl Program at Greenacres!

This had to be one of the coolest programs ever. We got to disect owl pellets and bring home the bones. Sophia found a whole skull in her pellet and Jacob found a jaw bone with teeth. It was amazing to see everything that was contained in one small pellet. They spent another part of the program discussing beaks and figuring out what types of beaks were best adapted to each type of work. We viewed wings close up and then they went on a hike.

Sophia surprised me by throwing a fit when we got there. She ended up sitting in the van for the first half of the program. Not sure what her problem was, but she came around and enjoyed disecting the pellet that Donna saved for her!

Celebrating Chinese New Year

When: Wednesday, February 6, 2008 11 AM (If you can't make it at 11 AM, feel free to arrive later, we will be there until 1 PM). Chinese New Year begins Feb. 7th

Where: Chinatown Buffet 1015 U.S. State Rt. 28, Milford Ohio 45150

Who: ALL HOMESCHOOLERS (preschool to teens and anyone in between)

Cost: $5.79 for adults, cheaper for children 4-12, children under 3 free. (Check Valpac coupons-the ones in the blue envelop closer to the event as they often have coupons for Chinatown Buffet)

Join us at one of the largest buffets around to celebrate the Year of the Rat! The food is hot and wonderful! Large variety of choices! We plan to have lunch and do some crafts to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Please RSVP to Lauraso that we have enough supplies for all of the kids.

DirectionsTake I-275 to the Milford/ Rt. 28 exit (#57). If coming from points east, turn right onto Rt. 28/if coming from points west, turn left onto Rt. 28 (you will pass a Lowes on your right)...at the traffic light that would let you into Lowes, turn LEFT onto Rt. 28......you will pass a KMart, Ameristop,Swifty Gas Station...Chinatown Buffet is located across the street from the Ford Dealership. If you get to Gold Star you have gone too far!

What fun! 7 families got together and celebrated the upcoming year of the Rat! The kids made an ADORABLE rat craft (thanks to a cute idea I found online) and also a bookmark with their chinese zodiac sign and of course there were plenty of coloring pages. The boys gourged themselves on food and I believe a few eating contests and challenges took place at their table! The girls approached the buffet in a more refined fashion, but everyone was pleasantly full when we left. I absolutely LOVE the coconut shrimp!

Lunch conversation even drifted to politics, and amazingly it went well. There was even a consensus that this upcoming election looks like it may come down to the election of the lesser of two evils. One mom commmented the McCain reminded her of a character that would be played by Don Knots, now I can't watch the news and reports about McCain without laughing!

Luke was a handful....his menu is rather limited right now (as we are trying to figure out his food allergies), he hated how sticky the white rice was and wouldn't eat the jello, but he was quite happy crawling and cruising around from table to table visiting everyone. I am sure anyone that held him is still pulling that sticky white rice off their clothes!

Tour of Lowe's
Mason Montgomery Rd, Mason Ohio Location
Friday Feb.1st at 8AM
Max 20 including adults
All ages
Free
Rsvp by Jan. 27th to Deanne at dleland1@cinci.rr.com

Deanne wrote: They normally don't offer a tour but have agreed to do one for our group. The tour will last from 45min -1hour. Meet at the customer service desk promptly at 8AM. I know this is early but we have to do it when they are willing to have us.

Directions: http://stores.lowes.com/lowes/cgi/site?site=0542&address=%3a%3a%3a%3a%3a 3a45140&design=default&lang=en&mapid=US&svv=true&zipid=45140&bmap=&zip=45140

LOWE'S OF MASON, OH
9380 MASON-MONTGOMERY RD.
MASON, OH 45040
Phone: (513) 336-9741

Despite the fact that we had to be there SO EARLY and that I went to HOME DEPOT first (luckily it is just across the road) this was a very informative tour. The kids learned a lot of information that might help with their architecture projects and I learned a lot too! The tour guide, Mike, was very informative and patient with the kids and they left with samples and handouts to use for their project. They also were each given a project to take home with them that they usually do with the kid's club on the weekends.