August 3-10

I think the easiest way to do this is to attempt a chronological rundown...

The drive to camp - Bryan was home from work all day as we prepared to go to camp.  He had some errands to run and then helped keep the girls out of the way while I packed.  Both girls took great naps.  Good for packing, not so good for sleeping later.  At 8:30 pm, we left for Iowa.  I drove, Bryan napped, the girls talked until 11 before falling asleep.  :/  Half an hour into the drive, I realized we had forgotten the pack and play.  I called Mom, and she said not to worry about it.  To quote her, "We have two engineers, a physicist, and a roll of duct tape.  We'll figure it out.  You should be worried."  Switched drivers at 1 am and again at 6 am (all Eastern time).  Gretchen did not go back to sleep well after the 1 am switch.  Olivia woke up at 2 (or maybe 3), upset about still being in her seat.  Everyone was out again by 3:30ish and both made the 6 am switch much more easily.  At 8:30 our time which was 7:30 Nebraska time, we arrived at camp.  Welcoming crews were out.  :)

Campout - We shared a cabin with Justine's family, which worked out pretty well.  Gretchen borrowed Edward's pack and play while Edward, being less mobile still, slept on the floor.  Not enough naps were taken, but much fun was had.  Volleyball and soccer and talking for the adults, playing on the playground and jumping pillow for Olivia, rocks and sand for Gretchen.  Sounds like Gretchen got the worst end of that deal, but she was happily content with her rocks and sand, especially if given a cup in which she could put all the treasures she discovered.  Gift exchange was Wednesday, pictures were a breeze, Olivia loved her green camp shirt, and the hymn sing on Thursday night was really great (until Gretchen woke up and I had to leave).  The rain didn't start until Thursday night after the hymn sing, and the weather was not too hot or muggy the rest of the time.  Also, does Nebraska not have mosquitoes?  I didn't see any.

The drive to MI - We were originally planning to leave Thursday night, but I didn't see that going well and the way out wasn't spectacular enough for Bryan to insist.  We did manage to get a pretty good start Friday morning, which we then somehow squandered so as to be the last ones in Friday night.  We traveled the way Bryan's family does, which is to say we went through drive-thrus and/or stopped at restaurants rather than packing food.  After dinner, Bryan actually admitted that his family's way didn't seem any easier than the way my family does it (and we already knew it was more expensive).  Hah, another (maybe) convert!  Olivia got mild food poisoning from some milk that was left at car temperature too long, so we added some time taking care of her.  The only casualty was one quiet book page, which I discreetly pitched at the next gas station.  We got in to my parents' house at midnight, bringing our total trip time to 14 hours.

The wedding - My weekend was full of wedding festivities because my roommate Danielle got married.  She married and Indian-from-India guy, so there was an Indian engagement ceremony on Saturday after the rehearsal.  I got to wear (and keep!) a saree, and I learned that one can never have enough water when eating Indian food.  The ceremony on Sunday was American (although they did exchange vows in both English and Tamil), so I was in a regular dress and heels.  I haven't worn heels in over a year; this was a terrible experience.  Luckily, the ceremony was short and pictures were well organized, so I was able to kick off the heels fairly quickly for the reception.  An Indian man gave one of the speeches and, since he had never attended an American wedding before, didn't follow any of the usual patterns for speeches, delivering the most hilarious speech/toast any of us had ever heard.  Bryan, Jacque, and I helped clean up a little afterwards and then got back to my parents' house around midnight (again).

The trip home - We left Monday morning to go back to Ohio.  Bryan had to work Monday afternoon, so we left pretty early and spent the whole trip down convincing Olivia that there was no need to stop on such a short trip.  We burned through all the toys we had with us (which lasted all the way back from Nebraska with no problem) in the first half of the trip.  We finally made it home and the girls celebrated by dumping the toys out all over the floor.

The rest of this week has been unpacking and settling back in.  I thought I turned the dishwasher on before we left, but apparently I did not, because I opened it to find a closed soap container and moldy dishes Monday night.  :(  Two sterilizing cycles later, I gave up and rewashed all the dishes by hand.  Luckily, sterilizing cycles reduce the amount of cleaning effort required to a regular-strength hand washing with steel wool, so it wasn't too bad.

My garden suffered from a lack of water while we traveled, so I declared the zucchini plant dead and pulled it up.  It had provided us with 10-12 zucchinis already this season, so I accept its demise.  I also harvested all the carrots, and they were put to delicious use in two meals this week.  My tomatoes are thriving in the heat and look relatively healthy as the plant keeps turning out little red tomatoes.  I've already harvested twice as many tomatoes from this one plant as I got off four plants last year, and there are so many green and light pink ones that are still growing.  :)  My beans are still attempting to grow, although a few of the plants are dead.  Every now and again I spot another nice, fat bean growing, so I haven't pulled them up yet.  The original plan was to plant more carrots and/or beets this summer, but we'll be moving before they're ready to be picked, so that probably won't be happening after all.

Olivia turned 3 on Sunday (the 3rd), so we celebrated on Monday night with Macaroni and Cheese followed by Green Cake with Chocolate.  It was delicious.  Oma and Opa gave her some new books which we read daily and James gave her a beanie baby chameleon that she calls Pasquale, in honor of Rapunzel's.  She got a Barbie from Tom and Donna and a few more from us, so she's now in Barbie heaven (and the one from Tom and Donna gets a chance to rest occasionally, which is good, because it looked rather well worn after just one week at camp).  Grandma and Grandpa came on Wednesday with a light-up cowgirl hat, a new bath toy, and bright green luggage that says "Going to Grandma's."  The first thing Olivia packed in her new backpack was Pasquale.  She has since added as many books as she can fit, all her Barbies, and a baby doll.  She's been walking around the house pulling her suitcase and carrying her backpack for three days now, talking about how she's going on a "long trip."  Sometimes the long trip is camping.  :)  She has one more book (from Aunt Jan) waiting for her at Wal-Mart, but her mother hasn't gotten around to picking it up yet.

And that's our update.

Pictures:

Fun Friday - August 8

Previous answer: Last week's word: Bignonia - Woody tropical vines named for Louis the 15th's librarian.

Last week's initials: I.B.C.A.

1.  International Bread and Cake Association

2.  Incredibly Big Creatures Association

3.  Isaac Bartholomew Carver Anderson

4.  International Brick Collectors Association

5.  Iowa Butter Cow Award



This week's person: Otto Wichterle

July 27-August 3*

*But not really, because the actual post is being rolled to next week.  This week is just hold-over stuff.  :)

Before we start, an invitation:  We will be holding the Second Annual Barhorst Fun Run (at our current house, since we will not yet have possession of our new one) over Labor Day weekend.  You are welcome to crash at our house for a few days or just come down for one, whichever works for you.  We are tentatively planning to have the actual run and after-party on Monday.  Details will be fleshed out as we get closer to the actual date.  Mark your calendars now, though.  You have plans in Springfield the last weekend of August.

Okay, back to the previously scheduled post.

First, house pictures.  Obviously these aren't our furnishings.  I'll put up more house pictures when its filled with our stuff, but this gives you an idea of what it looks like.  :)

This isn't the actual floor plan to our house, but it's close enough (the master bathroom looks more like the option; the other two options we do not have):

Front and back yard (Bryan thinks this is a terrible front picture of the house.  Also, the backyard is much bigger than this, but only the small portion between the house and the garage/driveway is fenced in):

Living room:

Kitchen (and you can kind of see the family room):

The master bedroom has a little room off one side that we will probably use for the chapel (and/or a nursery):

This is the main reason Bryan loves this house.  So much empty, open space to play with!

Next, pictures of the girls.

Gretchen has discovered books and likes reading them as much as Olivia did/does:

The girls brushing their teeth (and Bryan goofing around with them):

Finally, I have some new videos up on Vimeo.  Have you checked out the Vimeo videos yet?  I know it's an extra step, but I started having glitchy problems with the videos that I embedded directly in my blog.  All you have to do to watch the videos now is click the link and enter the password (which is BarhorstBrewed).  I also put all of the videos into an album and arranged them chronologically so that you can see them all in one place any time you want.  Just click the link to the right and enter the same password (BarhorstBrewed) when prompted.  Or, if you're reading this in an email, here is the album link again: Barhorst Family Videos.

Here are this week's new videos:
If You're Happy and You Know It
Gretchen Listens to Books
Bedtime Routine

July 20-27

Gretchen goes up stairs quite well now.  She insists on climbing them herself every time we come up from the basement (which is at least twice a day since our chapel is downstairs).  We're still working on going down backwards, rather than leading with the head.  :)

Olivia is tall enough to reach many of the light switches in our house.  She's even tall enough to turn them back off!  She has also figured out that she can push the steps in the bathroom over to the door and stand on them to lock the hook.  You know, just in case Gretchen figures out doorknobs any time soon.  Luckily, she can also unlock the hook, so we haven't had to break the door down.

Sleeping has improved.  You may recall that we moved the girls into the same bedroom.  It was rough for a month or so.  They'd stay up too late talking or yelling or jumping or whining or whatever.  Gretchen was so excited by Olivia's presence that she couldn't sleep, and Olivia was so busy telling Gretchen to go to sleep that she couldn't sleep either.  And then there was the whole light problem.  But that's all better now.  We remove the light bulb every night, and Olivia hasn't even tested the switch for over a week now.  We're going to continue to "break" the light for the time being, just in case.  :)  We also discovered that everything goes more smoothly if Gretchen is asleep (or at least almost asleep) when Olivia comes into the room to go to bed.  We did that successfully for quite some time, but lately Gretchen has been awake and everything has still been fine.  They're used to each other and are able to ignore each other and settle down relatively quickly.  Hooray!

Gretchen has words word-like sounds.  If you live with her (and are her mother, apparently, because Bryan can't always understand her) you can sometimes make out what she's trying to say.  She has a very clear "yeah" and a getting clearer "no."  Other than that, it's kind of a guessing game.  I'm convinced that she says "I want that," "Olivia," "drink," "I'm done," "want down," and "read again."  I've also heard "floor," "chair," "sit," and "book."

Olivia's clock turns green when she's allowed to get out of bed in the morning.  For a while we thought she had grasped the concept, but then it turned out to be a fluke: she just slept later than the clock most mornings.  Then we went through a few months where we asked her what color her clock was when she came out of the room every morning.  Now I think she's really got it, though.  She waits for the clock and then comes out and says, "My clock turned green, I can get up now!"

My garden is a jungle.  I've gotten several good sized zucchini and three dinners worth of green beans.  We got about 5 pea pods before the combined force of the green beans and the zucchini bullied them out of the garden.  :(  I pulled out all the dead pea plants and then harvested the beets (which were also looking sun-starved), so hopefully my green beans will rally and continue producing.  I frequently prune my zucchini plant because it is taking up way more than its fair share of garden space.  Unfortunately, all the sad looking leaves are the ones on the side where there aren't any other plants.  The healthy leaves are muscling their way into green bean territory.  The carrot we pulled up was a little small, but tasty, so we're letting the rest of the carrots sit a little longer.  The peppers are getting big, and Bryan keeps trying to pick the biggest one, and I keep reminding him that the biggest one is on the yellow pepper plant.  :)  I have tons of green tomatoes of varying sizes and two that turned light pink this week.  This garden is worth it just for the increased tomato yield.  :)

We're moving!  We've been looking at houses in Lima and found one that we really like.  The basement is detached, meaning it is under the house but has no indoor stairs.  Indoor stairs wouldn't be too hard to add, but Bryan likes that extra escape that an office in a detached basement would offer when he works from home.  Anyway, we made an offer, they countered, yada yada yada, and we're closing on August 20th!  The sellers then have a month to vacate, so we won't realistically be moving until at least October.

We're camping this week and then going to a wedding over the weekend, so next week's newsy post will be a bit delayed until the following Sunday.  I've got some pictures and videos (and house stuff) that I'll schedule to go up next Sunday, though, so that you won't suffer withdrawal.  :)

Pictures:

Fun Friday - July 25

Previous answer: The Adventures of the Queen - A luxury liner is sunk in an attempt to kill one of its filthy rich passengers.



Last week's word: Bignonia

1.  A type of flower.

2.  The fear or phobia of abnormally large objects.

3.  Woody tropical vines named for Louis the 15th's librarian.

4.  A very fancy and expensive form of bologna that is served in limousines along with caviar.

5.  A begonia and magnolia hybrid plant.



This week's initials: I.B.C.A.

*NOTE* This is another two-week submission period.  Submit answers by August 6, and I'll see you back here on August 8.

July 13-20

Gretchen's status as a one-nap baby didn't last very long.  She's back to two naps most days, but they're at inconvenient times and of awkward lengths.

You've heard of a herd of cows and perhaps even a gaggle of geese, but have you heard of a storm of girls?  That's what Bryan calls Olivia and Gretchen when they both come running at the same time.  I wonder what he'll use when we have boys?

We went to the zoo on Saturday.  Being a conscientious mother, I brought the camera with us to document Gretchen's first trip to the zoo.  Being a little too related to my own mother, I left said camera in the car.  I also left my phone in the car.  Oh well.  I can still give you a recap.  :)

Unlike our last visit to the zoo, this one was cool and rainy.  We started in the Asian section and both girls were impressed with the elephants and monkeys.  In the reptile house, the water monitor was very active and kept coming up to the glass to lick it, presumably to determine if any of the children on the other side would be particularly tasty.  Olivia did not like the bats, but was especially excited to see some tigers later in the exhibit.  Gretchen's favorite part of Asia was the Pheasant Aviary, where she managed to spot a large, brightly colored bird all by herself.

After Asia we ate lunch and then decided to check out North America and Africa.  For the geographically challenged, Columbus Zoo reminds us that these two continents are right next to each other.  :-P  We sped through the moose and bears, although we did take some time to view Gretchen's new favorite exhibit: the fish in the polar bears' lake.  Of all the animals we saw this trip, the moose and brown bears were the most active.  We hypothesized that it is because they feel the most at home in a central Ohio zoo.  :)

On our last zoo trip, we noticed that Africa was entirely encompassed by the Congo.  The zoo has since expanded, and now has an Africa section (in addition to retaining the original Congo).  There was a large savanna where we saw giraffes, zebras, one ostrich, and a variety of other birds.  It was feeding time for the giraffes, so we got a close up view of a giraffe (and its exceptionally long tongue), although we did not get in line to feed it.  Fun fact: Giraffe tongues are 18-20 inches long and a dark bluish-purple color.  After Africa, Bryan introduced the girls to Dippin' Dots before we set off in search of the exit.  Two tired little girls (and one tired Bryan) napped all the way home.  :)

Pictures and Videos:

Fun Friday - July 18

Previous answer: January 9, 1975 - A man yodeled for five hours and three minutes, breaking all previous yodeling records.

*The answer about John Fenton becoming a teenager was technically also correct (I knew I shouldn't have picked that date!), so I gave a point to people who answered with that.  As Jillian pointed out, though, when appealing to a broader audience, such a family-specific answer is probably not what we're going for.  :)



Last week's movie: The Adventures of the Queen

1. A luxury liner is sunk in an attempt to kill one of its filthy rich passengers.

2. A queen journeys to the Amazon and faces many dangers and adventures while looking for her lost son.

3. The passenger ship, Queen Mary, sets out on a routine passage between New York and South Hampton only to discover they have been led off course.  What adventures will await the passengers at their accidental destination?  Starring Don Knotts.

4. A documentary that follows John Barlow, a biologist, as he explores the queen bee, her life, death, and place in the hive.



We're back to definitions!

This week's word: Bignonia

July 6-13

Lots of Olivia updates this week:

Olivia has learned the word "naked."  Not only has she learned it, but she thinks it's hilarious.  Anyone who does not meet Olivia's standards of dress is identified as being naked.  Loudly.

I've mentioned the Monkey Silly Song before, where Larry from the Veggie Tales teaches us how to tell the difference between a monkey and an ape (a monkey has a tail, an ape does not).  Olivia enjoys singing this song, and we've used it to properly identify one of her small plastic animals as an ape.  After we finished discussing it one day, though, she picked up a plastic sheep and said, "The sheep doesn't have a tail.  It's an ape!"

In the car, we sometimes sing There's a Hole in the Bucket.  Olivia was trying to sing this and got all the words and melody right except for one small problem: she got caught in a loop.  "There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there's a hole in the bucket..."  I finally rescued her from her loop and told her to "fix it, dear Henry," to which she responded with a quizzical, "fix it?!"

We are gaining an understanding of time over here.  Olivia always wants to know what time it is (and always insists that the time is one-two).  I showed her where the clock is in the car, so she reads the numbers off even though she doesn't know what they mean.  She does have a vague understanding of order of events, though, and correctly uses words like "first," "next," and "later."  She's also been trying to explain when things happen, and this is where the confusion shows.  "Last night" means "earlier than now" and "tomorrow" means "much later."  When Bryan comes home for lunch each day, he often gets a recitation of all the things (like breakfast) that we did "last night."

And one Gretchen note: She says woof.  Kind of.  If you can catch Gretchen at the right moment, she will answer "what does a dog say?" with "fffff."  My mom taught her this trick while we were in Florida and is quite proud of the fact that she still does it.  :)

Pictures:

Fun Friday - July 11

Previous answer: Susanna Bokoyni - A Hungarian dwarf who was the oldest in history, living to 105.



Last week's date: January 9, 1975

1.  Pong was created.

2.  A man yodeled for five hours and three minutes, breaking all previous yodeling records.

3.  John Fenton became a teenager.

4.  A plane holding three famous singers crashed.



This week's category is movies.  Give me a short synopsis to for the movie title that I provide.

This week's movie: The Adventures of the Queen

June 29-July 6

Sorry that this post is a little late.  Last week was spent in the dripping wet humidity of Florida as we visited my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Because everyone knows that the best time of year to visit Florida is early July.  You know, to escape the oppressive heat and humidity of the midwest.

Mom, Dad, Joe, Jillian, and James came to our house Friday night.  Then we all woke up bright and early on Saturday morning -- or does 5 AM count as dark and early? -- to make the 15 hour drive to Florida.  Impressively, our total travel time, including stops for gas and meals, was just under 17 hours.  The girls did remarkably well, although they napped so much that bedtime was a bit of ordeal once we arrived.  :/

Weather aside, it was quite a nice trip.  Mom, Dad, the girls, and I took a daily walk down to the playground each morning before the slides got too hot.  This served the double purpose of getting noisy little girls out of the house while older people slept draped on every available surface.  Olivia used Opa as her personal assistant and he helped her clamber over every structure at the park.  After many days of hemming and hawing on the part of Olivia, Oma finally tossed her down the tallest tube slide on the playground, which cured Olivia's need to climb up and then not go down.  After that, Olivia stuck to the slides she was willing to brave.  We usually headed back to eat breakfast by 8:30, so those light-sleeping teenagers that weren't up by the time breakfast was over were just out of luck where rest was concerned.

We took one day to go to the beach because, as Bryan pointed out, "you can't go to Florida and not visit the beach!"  I beg to differ; the pool at Uncle Paul and Aunt Char's house provided all the benefits of the beach (water) and only half the disadvantages (heat, but not sand).  We picked a good day to go, though, because the normally placid bay looked more like a wave pool while we were there.  A stiff breeze kept the bugs and heat at bay, and Gretchen and I sat in the shallows to get splashed by waves while Olivia ventured further into the ocean with the big kids, marveling at her sudden ability to reach the bottom of something so big.  Then Bryan helped Olivia build a sand castle while Gretchen sat on a towel and contentedly tried to fill Rachelle's flip flop with sand, one handful at a time.

My cousins and siblings were very helpful in entertaining the girls.  They read stories, blew bubbles, drew with chalk, and went exploring.  Olivia convinced several people to draw chalk pictures for her, and Gretchen took to standing by the door with the chalk container, stretching as high as she could to reach the knob until whoever happened to be walking by took pity on her and took her outside for a few minutes.  Jillian says that Gretchen spent more time coloring her own legs than the sidewalk, but at least she did it outside.  :)

Ricky introduced us to a game that he (or maybe his friends?) invented, and the whole 13-25 crowd played voccus (I have no idea if I spelled that correctly) nightly.  Bryan and I joined them once or twice, as did some of the aunts and uncles (and James, whenever he could convince mom that it was a good idea).  It was pretty fun when I did play, although our games were cut short by automatic street light timers, and I'm not hardcore enough to play in the dark.  :)  More exciting was the series of soccer games that we played Friday afternoon (yes, in the heat of the day).  Somehow playing pick-up soccer with the cousins in 90 degree weather with 94% humidity (I checked; at least there was a breeze that day!) seems more authentic than playing intramural college soccer in late October in Michigan.

Olivia didn't pick up any new talents during this week, although she did discover a favorite hat that had a fish sticking out of it.  Pictures of that below.  Gretchen, on the other hand, decided that this was the perfect week to improve herself in leaps and bounds.  She began walking regularly, and now only crawls when she needs to get somewhere exceptionally quickly.  She also perfected getting off furniture without dying, so she now at least attempts to swing her legs around so that she's not plunging off couches headfirst.  In a final development, Gretchen made great strides toward eliminating her morning nap.  Some days she still took a short morning nap, but many days she found it unnecessary and was able to maintain a good mood until after lunch time.

Dad flew back Saturday morning, so the rest of us took a more leisurely trip north, spending two days in the car to avoid the 17 hour marathon.  Once again, the girls handled things well, although I could have done without the last two hours.  Still, two rough hours out of 34 in the car isn't bad at all.

Pictures: