My camera is back and I had to fiddle

Today we went to the museum center after we went on an early morning tour of Steilin's Meat Market (on Colerain Ave). I was trying to do available light photography, really hard under the lightening in the basement of a very old building. I could have gotten nicer shots with a tripod, I got quite a bit of blur in some of them, especially when he was playing with the balls. I opted to convert them to b/w because I didn't like the yellow glow I got in the color shots.

Can you believe Luke is 18 months old? I can't wait to do his official photo shoot, hopefully in the next few days, hoping for some awesome fall color.

Loveland Stage Company catches on fire!

We live about 2 blocks outside of the historic district on Loveland. Last night around 7 PM one of the buildings, the Loveland Stage Company (built in 1939), caught on fire. The building is a total loss, ironically it sits directly next door to the firestation. We couldn't get into town to see what was going on until the fire was completely contained (according to the police officer standing guard at the time of the road it burned itself out, they couldn't get it to go out), so the pictures are from around 10:15 PM last night. I just got my SLR back yesterday afternoon, I was thrilled to have it to try to capture the shots, but it took me a while to remember why I couldn't get what I wanted...I finally switched to the normal 50 mm lens which I can open wide (1.8 fstop) and I had to set the exposure at 1/4 sec to 1 sec, the shake is pretty noticable in the shots, that's what I get for trying to travel light and not bring a tripod! I couldn't believe how many firefighters were at the scene.

Here is a link to the article from a local paper:

http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/20081021/NEWS/810210310&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Click on the collage to see my shoot from last night:

Big Bone Lick State Park – Salt Festival
Where: Big Bone Lick State Park 3380 Beaver Road Union, KY 41091-9627(859-384-3522)Date: Friday, October 17th, 2008
Time: 10:30 – 3:00 (you do not have to stay till 3pm but you are welcome to)
Cost: $1.00 per person
Who: Homeschoolers/Unschoolers of all ages
RSVP: No later than Friday, September 26.

Here is a information they send as well as a copy of the schedule:

Welcome to Big Bone Lick State Park, the home of American vertebrate paleontology, for our 2008 Salt Festival.

Big Bone Lick was famous for its salt springs, which drew many large Pleistocene mammals to the park. Some of these large mammals were tapped here at the park, becoming mired in the soft bog like area around the springs. Additionally, the are was well known to Native Americans going back to the Paleo-Indians, who hunted the giant Pleistocene mammals here. In more modern times native Americans and European pioneers gathered water from the springs to obtain salt.

This weekend will be highlighted by many activities, programs and special events going on through the park. After checking out the festival, don't forget to stop by our visitor's center, gift shop and live bison herd.

The Old Caintuckee Primitives and Clands of Desdin Glen are proud to be hosting our primitive camp this year. Both groups would like to extend a warm invitation for you to come and join them to learn some of the shills and lifestyles of our early settlers. Demonstrations include beadwork, leatherwork, wood splitting, fire starting, weaving, old time coffee making, soap making, story telling, pioneer children's games, and more. Special demonstrations are denoted by a blue flag being raised by each camp. If you see the blue flag raised, please stop in for a special demonstration.

Schedule:
9 AM to 2 PM: Pioneer encampment open. Step back in time to the 1840s and participate in demonstrations, storytelling, talks, and hands on learning about many facets of pioneer life. (Pioneer Encampment Field)

9 AM to 3 PM: Salt making demonstrations all day. See how pioneers got salt for the springs here at Big Bone. (Salt furnace behind the big shelter)

9 AM to 3 PM: Learn how Native Americans made spear points, arrowheads, and much more during our flint knapping demonstrations. (Primitive Shelter Area)

9 AM to 3 PM: Make your own pottery masterpieces with Albert Bauman (Shelter Field)

9 AM to 3 PM: Reptiles of Kentucky. Join Scott Braunstein as he shoes you the many species of reptiles that can be found in KY while learning why these natives species need to be protected (Shelter Field)

9 AM to 3 PM: Visit Pat and Mat Maley as they demonstrate the many uses of plant fibers and hair for spinning, weaving, cordage and much more. You don't want to miss these demonstrations (Pioneer Encampment)

10:30 AM Tomahawk Demonstrations: Any age welcome to come watch, but you must be 12 or older to throw! (Primitive Shelter Area)

11 AM Listen and be mesmerized by the beautiful melodies from Soaring Raven as he plays the Native American flute (Crafters venue)

12 PM: Atlatl demonstrations. Join us at the altatl filed to learn about a most ingenious hunting device used by people all over the world. (Primitive Shelter Area)

12:30 PM: Mammals of Kentucky presented by the KY Environmental Education Company (Main Tent)

1:30 PM: Prehistoric fire starting demonstration. Learn 2 different ways that Native Americans used to start fire without matches or lighters (Primitive Shelter Area)

2:15 PM: Tomahawk Demonstrations: Any age welcome to come watch, but you must be 12 or older to throw! (Primitive Shelter Area)

What great fun! The park is located about an hour and 10 minutes from here, but the drive was easy and the traffic light. When we got there the place was PACKED, but after lunch the school buses really cleared out. It was hard to push Grant around in the wheelchair, but we made the best of it. One of the funnier things, we stumbled onto a reenacting family with a teenage daughter. She was making corn husk dolls and giving them out to the kids. She ran out of husks and said she was going to get more, the 3 older boys (Gaige, Chris and Jacob....poor Grant got left out since it was in the wheelchair) go traipsing off after her....it was HILARIOUS..figures they would find the one teenage girl in the entire event!

After the event, we went up to the visitors center to see the bison. Grant decided to walk, and the 400 yards we had to walk to find the bison really wore him out. The bison were cool to see, yet they were surprising aggressive, butting the fence at our presence!

Collage of pictures from event, click to enlarge.

Pumpkin Farm and Maze

Fellow homeschooler, Jessica, decided to celebrate her 10th birthday by going to a local pumpkin farm for a hayride, corn maze and play. We went to Blooms and Berries in Loveland and although the set up was nice, it wasn't as much fun as Turpin Farms had been in past years. The kids found the maze to be easy, even with pushing Grant through in a wheelchair it only took them about a 1/2 an hour. The hayride was nice, longer than at Turpin Farms. The weather was perfect! The animals in the petting area were incredibly sweet, Luke loved them (and he didn't call the goats DAWGS this time!). We missed the cowtrain from Turpin Farms.

Luke turns 18 months old next week and I am hoping to do a photo shoot with him. I wanted to make sure the Halloween costume I found for him was going to fit, so I put it on him this morning when he got out of the bathtub.....taking pictures of an almost 18 month old is like shooting at a moving target! My SLR is in the shop, so I just shot these with my little digital! Click on the collage for a larger view!

Did you see us on the Fox 19 morning news?

We were able to set up a tour for 20 people to see the fox 19 studios and be on the morning news. Bad thing, with my crew, that only left room for a couple other families! Frank Marsullo, weatherman, gave us a tour of the studio and put the kids in the spotlight! He has even agreed to come out in the spring a give a tornado talk to the kids, everyone is really looking forward to that! It was neat to see all the behind the scenes stuff and to see just what goes into getting the news on the air! Only drawback? We had to be in downtown Cincinnati at 8:45 AM, so we had to leave Loveland at 7:45 AM, which meant everyone had to be up and ready that early! We got hung up in traffic but made it to the studio exactly at 8:45 AM! Click on the collage to enlarge!

Weekly Grant Update!

We went to the doctor this morning and had the leg xrayed. Everything is still lined up (although the thinner of the two bones has shifted some, but not anything significant) so they are fairly confident that he WON'T need SUGERY! The "bad" news is that there weren't signs of significant healing, so they were unable to cast the leg. He is still stuck in the overwrapped splint until next Monday at the earliest. I asked if we should have seen signs of healing and they said that what they saw was fairly typical of that severe of a fracture a week out from the injury. They recommended making sure he gets lots of calcium, vitamin C and phoporous. We go back next Monday at 10:50 AM. So he has to stay off his feet for another week, hopefully he doesn't go completely stir crazy!

Grant Update

We went back to Children's yesterday afternoon. Really no more answers than we got from the ER, they boxed in the splint (wrapped casting material around it) and told us to make an appointment for next week (made it for Monday at 10:30 AM) when they will xray it to determine if the reduction is holding (something about muscles pulling it out or some such!), if it is holding, they will cast it with a waterproof cast, if not then we will discuss surgery. The biggest concern seems to be that the bone broke at the growth plate. One of the docs looking at the scan seemed to think there is also a break in the growth plate, but the other doc wasn't sure/didn't think so. Jay is frustrated that they can't give us any answers at this point.

The good news is that Grant is allowed out as long as he is sitting (no walking except to and from the car and absolutely no standing around). He is still in a lot of pain (saying a 3 or 4 with taking percocet every 5 hours).

Grant fell while going to the bathroom this morning. The bottom of the cast hit the ground first and then he fell onto his butt. He said it hurt when it happened, but that it doesn't hurt any more than it was hurting now (does that sentence make sense???). Hopefully he didn't knock anything!

Continued prayers are much appreciated!

Apple Picking at A & M Farm

Location: 22141 SR 251 Midland, OH 45148 513-875-2500 (mapquest fordirections from your location)

When: Tuesday, September 30 11:30 AM (we plan to eat lunch on the way)

Who: Homeschoolers of any age

Organized by: Riesenberg, Leland, Brown and Bayne families

RSVP if you want us to watch for you: Laura

The write up read: Our families are planning to go apple picking and would like to invite otherhomeschooling families to join us. The only cost involved is for the applesyou pick ($0.45 a pound).When I called A&M the woman who answered the phone said by September 30thwe should be able to pick:red and yellow delicious, empire, johnathan, grimes golden and one other variety (I can't remember what she said) She said the winesap may or may not be ready, we are welcome to "bite" one and see if we like them that day.This is one of the few UPICK farms for apples in our region of the state.The staff has always been wonderful and friendly and the kids really enjoy themselves.

A&M is open 9 AM to 6 PM. They have a couple of picnic tables out front, you are welcome to arrive early and eat a packed lunch or if your family eats lunch later, feel free to eat lunch following apple picking!

Things really weren' t the same without Grant with us, but I knew he would enjoy a quiet house so we headed out! We kept missing the roads we were supposed to turn on, it got to be quite comical after the second missed turned! 2 other homeschool families showed up and joined it, the weather was absolutely gorgeous! The bees were out and about but not at all aggressive! We ended up with 20 lbs of apples, 2 gallons of cider, some candy and some homemade jam. Click on the collage to make it bigger!