Early July

July 08, 2017

Early July

I was sad to see June end from a where- is- the- summer- going perspective but... July ushered in some good times so I guess I shouldn't begrudge it too much.

On Friday, July 1st, I picked Alyssa up from OSU from the soccer camp that she attended. It was great to see her again and have her home.

The following day, we drove south of Cincinnati to go to Don and Denise's campsite. D & D have an RV at a campsite that's near the Ohio River. We hadn't been there in a long time. It was Bev's birthday so we celebrated it at the campsite. We didn't spend the night there; just a few hours. D & D hosted a delicious cook out (is it just me or does food prepared by someone else always taste better?). The guys played cornhole, the adults played a card, and we all ate too much food. I hope to go back to the campground soon.

The next day, Sunday, I went for a long run (15 miles) then we went to church and came home to prepare for guests who were arriving. Joe and his girls arrived around supper time. They stayed for two days. We had a relaxing visit with them- trips to the pool, the K and just hanging out. Joe is low key like we are :). Donnie worked on Monday (those hours don't bill themselves...) but came home a little early.

Wednesday evening when Abby was at dance and Jacob was playing sand volleyball, Alyssa asked if I'd take her to Milo Beck park. We wore water shoes and waded in the shallow waters of the creek. It was so pretty out there and enjoyable. My blood, unfortunately, fed many a mosquito and I lamented my lack of foresight to use bug spray. The memories will last longer than the sight of my pitiful legs.

Thursday was rainy out most of the day- the perfect day to bake and for Alyssa and Abby to head to the pool ("the pool looks so cool when rain is falling on it," exclaimed Alyssa as she recounted her swimming in the rain experience to me). They went to the pool when it wasn't raining; a light rain started falling shortly after they arrived. And no, they shouldn't have gone to the pool without an adult. I was not worried about breaking the rules mainly because I figured they'd be the only ones at the pool so no one would be aware of what the miscreants had done. Before they girls went to the pool, the girls and I made an incredibly good copy cat recipe- Auntie Anne's Pretzel Bites. They were so good and tasted exactly like the ones at the mall (or recently for us, the ones at Kings Island). I'll do a separate post on baking those babies.

And those were the first few days of July. Here are some pictures from the week:

At the campground- Abby gets ready to drive Aunt Denise's golf cart...

She didn't drive for long :)

Here is a view of the camp ground from Don and Denise's camp site. The Ohio River is kind of visible just to right of the camper that's in the background. We walked down to the river; it was really pretty but alas I didn't have my camera (phone) with me.

This was the top of the cake that I baked and decorated for Bev. The sides looked awful so I could only get a picture of the top of it.

I took this as we were leaving- just to get a picture of Don and Denise's camp site and camper

On our way to the campground, right as we were almost at the campground, I noticed a collection of buildings and a historical district sign. Why, the sign said that we were at Ulysses Grant's birthplace. Say what?? This is really embarrassing but I'm just going to say it: I turned to Donnie and asked, "He was a president, right?" I know I should have known that right off the bat but I didn't. Yes, history was one of my majors in college but one can't remember every fact, right? Perhaps to assuage my feelings of educational inadequacy/ ignorance/ failure, when we were driving home on our way back from the campground, I made us stop at the collection of buildings. I was driving and I noticed there was a little parking lot on one of the side roads near the buildings. The parking lot was seriously so small- it was adorable with about five spots. So I may be ignorant about US presidents but if others know about Grant and his birthplace, it's safe to say not many are flocking out to the Ohio boonies to visit it :).

When I stopped the car in one of the five parking spots and announced we were going to take a look around, one of the children said that he/she was not going to get out of the car (he/she was not impressed that we were at Grant's birthplace). Whereupon I said that I wasn't leaving the area until the child got out of the car. This child had plans with friends and was eager to get to said friends so the child did in fact get out of the car and was (fairly) cooperative when I took a picture or two.

Abby (not the recalcitrant child) actually wanted to pose next to this sign. One of her teachers this past year in school loved Grant. Abby said the teacher told the kids in her class that she considered naming one of her children "Ulysses" after U. Grant.

Three (not all history loving) Rineer kids- this is the home where Grant was born

Grant Memorial Church

I took this picture in almost exactly the same spot as I took the previous one- I just turned around and faced the road this time. The reason that I took it was to show that we were close to the Ohio River. The river is barely visible but it's there (it's behind the green sign in the middle of the picture)