A cat with allergies

When we moved back from India, Ted was concerned about his allergies to cats, especially when they live in the house. Ted's allergies haven't been too bad so far with Cleo in the house. She is outside some during the day but at night she is generally inside. She recently decided she really liked sleeping on our bed but that really made Ted's allergies worse. So the bedroom was cleaned really good and all the bedding washed and now we keep the door shut our bedroom. The other night Cleo jumped up on Ted's lap, this is pretty rare as she tends to only do this to me. While laying there she started sneezing. Not just once but continually for several minutes. She would stop and rub her paw over her nose and then her ear. I joked with Ted that she must be allergic to him and he would have to move outside! Ted was actually pretty concerned that she might be getting sick and hoping that he didn't catch it. He already has had "cat scratch fever" once. The next morning I called the vet and was informed that cats do get hay fever occasionally. She seems to be feeling better now. But who would have guessed I would have a husband and a cat with allergies!

A little roadtrip

This past week we took a quick trip to visit my sister Caroline and her family near Cincinnati Ohio and Kings Island Amusement Park. The kids have never been to an amusement park...yes Mason is now 13 years old, such bad parents we are. There probably is some unwritten law of parenting that we have surely broken. But now they have and they really had fun. The boys especially loved it. I don't think there was a big ride that they didn't ride. Emily and I chose to stay mostly in "kiddie land." The great thing about visiting Kings Island and my sister in one trip was the fact that we got to visit with them and my niece Sarah and nephew Seth have season passes so they went with us and were our tour guides. My niece talked me into going onto a roller coaster, one of the smaller ones. It was tolerable with my eyes closes. I am not a fan of roller coasters! I was content to ride the swings and scrambler. The second day we went to the water park despite some cooler temperatures. I was fun but could have been lots better had the weather been warmer. So much for global warming.

Emily cooling off in the mist

Bumper car time

Seth and Logan

Mason waiting while we rode the carousel...was he afraid??

View of the son of the beast ride which is not operating now...a very large wooden coaster

Ted and Mason waiting for the Drop Tower to start

The Peoria Airshow

On Sunday afternoon we went to the Peoria Airshow. It was the first time for the kids to attend an airshow and they really seemed to enjoy it! They got to climb in lots of airplanes and walk around airplanes. We all had a nice time of just sitting out and enjoying the beautiful weather we were blessed with! The United States Air Force Thunderbird's were my favorite! I couldn't believe how close they flew to each other. Absolutely incredible!!

Bits and pieces

Blogging from the US seems so different than blogging in Chennai. I guess because everything was so new in Chennai it was fun to share and tell the stories! But at last a few things going on around our place. We got 15 pullets...hopefully! We should be in the egg business in about 5 months if all goes well. I love having fresh eggs and miss my hens from India.

2 day old chicks

2 week old chicks

Blackberry season was here and we had fun picking berries! I made a few cobblers and froze the rest. No jam this year, but hopefully next year. The kids sure had fun picking and eating them.

Sydney and Emily playing

Who knows what she thinks is in there???

Emily ventured out the get the paper and had a mishap with a boot! Love this photo!

Millie and Sydney don't get to come in the house all the time but when they do come in the kids have so much fun playing with them!! Mason's favorite thing (and I think Logan enjoys it too) is to hold down Logan and call Sydney to come lick Logan. Lots of laughter is heard when this goes on.

Poor Millie, looks like it is dress up time...

It really is friendly play...but yikes look at the chompers!

It was a stormy Friday this past week but the sky cleared and Emily decided to try her hand with a kite. She tried flying while riding her bike and that didn't go too well. She decided to try it the right way. We just need a few less trees and a bit more wind!

Just some Canadian geese out for a swim

Sydney is always a huge help when it comes to hanging out the laundry! Mason brought her to the door this week for me!

Hard work being a puppy!

Our vegetable garden

Every spring we plant a garden, generally around Good Friday the first seeds go in. This year since Ted was home he was able to get a start on the garden for us. The first couple of pepper plants got eaten by deer so Ted replaced them and left for India for his final trip. I joked with him that it was so nice of him to plant a garden for the deer. But surprisingly the plants were still alive when we returned. The corn that he put in didn't come in too well. It was really spotty. We attributed this to the seed that he used. We decided to stop by Kelly Seed in downtown Peoria for some corn seed that was coated with some special coating. So we went in and bought some seed. Of course while in there he eyed a garden seeder and since he didn't get anything for Father's day he thought that would be awesome to have as it would help him to plant the garden in straight rows. Of course now that he has this new seeder we had to buy some more seeds to plant. We laughed that gardening really isn't a money saver, it will take years to recoup the costs! But it is fun to see the stuff grow. Our garden is fairly weed free at the moment but just wait...the weeds will soon take over.

Rising Waters

Ever since we returned back to the US we have had a lot of rain. It did stop raining however last week and the ground is finally getting dried out. The river was over the banks and flooded the field below our house. Ted probably needs to take the kayak out while the river is up.

One day we decided Sydney needed her first bath. The kids were so excited about it, why I don't know. We discovered she is as fat as she appears under all that fluff! Millie got a bath this week after she discovered the neighbors had horses...lets just say she come home all green and really smelly. I was not happy with her! Yuck!

Sydney and her pet toad