Trip to Graeter's

Tonight Nora and I went to Graeter's, which has some of the best ice cream in Cincinnati. Steph had a coloring contest sheet that we were able to trade for an ice cream cone. The cashier said she'd be sure Nora's picture got hung up with all the others. Did you ever see a better picture of a Kings Island roller coaster?

Vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate chip? Chocolate chip! (Actually, they have other flavors too, but why complicate things?

Good choice - Graeter's chocolate chip has some really big chocolate chunks.

True - Graeter's is irresistible - but so's the girl.

The pink on the cone is my raspberry sorbet - Nora wanted a bit on her cone.

It's been a cool, rainy day, but the place was packed. Cones were definitely the favorite.

The Duck

For awhile now I've been eyeing the Duck, a converted World War II vehicle that travels on both land and water. Yesterday I decided to take the Duck tour, which starts at Newport on the Levee,

drives across the Taylor Southgate bridge into Cincinnati and enters the river there,

goes on the southern side of the river past Covington's Millionnaire's Row, where Steph and Mike had their wedding pictures taken,

goes under the Roebling bridge, down the river a little longer, turns around, and comes back on the Cincinnati side of the river, past these tents,

then goes by the Cincinnati skyline, leaves the river and travels through downtown Cincinnati past Fountain square,

and back across the bridge again into Newport. This was fun, totally relaxing. If you get a chance, do it. Tickets are $15, which is cheaper than at Duck rides in other cities.

Jellyfish

This afternoon I stopped in at the aquarium for a quick look at their new jellyfish exhibit. I'd seen it, sort of, before, but spent most of the time watching Nora jumping up to touch pictures of jellyfish as they floated by, projected on a blue wall.

A trip to the aquarium is so different without kids in tow - ironically, it seems much more chaotic without them. I guess with them I'm just part of the chaos and don't notice it.

The jellyfish were floating peacefully by, seemingly oblivious of everything around them.

Their new digs are ever so nice, including towers of jellyfish that make it easier for more people to enjoy them.

Closed this time was the shark cage, which is a combination close-up movie and a floor that shakes. The sign said it was being repaired because the sharks got too rowdy. Hmmmm.

Glad I missed that.

Aaron Brave and Royal

Brave at Tower Park in Fort Thomas and royal at home.

Mall Trip

Mike installed a car seat in my truck last night, and today Nora and I took off for the mall.

This little girl, who has yet to touch a starfish at the Aquarium, much less a shark, is brave when it comes to Kings Island rides, or in this case bungee jumping. Her mom had told me she had done this before at a festival, so I let her do it. I'm sure if her mom hadn't told me, Nora would have.

After that, there was some down-to-earth merry-go-round riding.

Friday Fill-In # 133

My answers for Friday Fillins are in bold.

1. Salad and whole wheat bread make a quick and easy dinner. Last night I waited too long for dinner to even want that, so I had a veggie burger.

2. Lancaster Brides by Wanda Brunstetter is the book I'm reading right now. Easy reading, slightly fluffy, four stories about Amish women. For the book I pick up and glance at, Creative Embellishments by Sherrill Kahn.

3. July brings back memories of family reunions, my dad's family coming from Indiana and the whole family of five siblings and their families getting together. Lots of older cousins to play with, homemade ice cream, happy adults.

4, It was obvious from the start that the bill for security for Michael Jackson's funeral would be enormous.

5, They say if you tell your dreams they'll never come true? I don't know what they say about that. Hope it's that they don't come true - night before last I dreamed that cats kept getting into my house and I had to keep tossing them out. And some of them weren't happy about it. I also dreamed that the trash truck came very early and I didn't have my trash out. Apparently there are unwanted things in my life that I need to get rid of.

6. I always need time to think it over. There are two extremes on the continuium - there are those people who want the decision to be made, not stopping to consider the options, they just want the decision made so they can move on. And there are those people who feel like they need more and more information so they can make a good choice and they can drag it on and on. You can really see this in teams. I fall on the second side, and fairly close to the end at that. Sometimes someone just has to say, "You just need to make up your mind."

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to time with Nora and Aaron, tomorrow my plans include not sure, I may just go camping, it's been a heck of a week, and Sunday I want to just relax.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Rose Bouquet

L . o . n . g work day today. Good thing I got my sewing in early.

Embossed Rose Bouqet from Embroidery Library

I did this on a really thick bath towel. Don't try it without your Q foot or equivalent. I actually did try once, around Christmas, and had to give up. This design has 50,000 stitches and the whole design stitched without incident with the Q foot.