Holiday World 2009

We were able to make our annual trek to Santa Claus, IN with the help of Uncle Mikey (aka Mike Pulido…a dear friend of Mark’s from his days at Purdue, and a dear friend of mine too). He made a special trip up from FL to take us and to make sure the tradition continued. Both Mark and I loved Holiday World. We both grew up going to different amusement parks (M- Kings Island, J- Six Flags Great America), however this was OUR park- and the park we loved to take our kids. I could go on and on about what is so special about HW, but I’ll let the pics below tell the story. However, lots of wonderful memories were made this trip while lots of wonderful memories were revisited.

The three of us in front of Santa Claus at Holiday World.

Luke, Kate and Uncle Mikey enjoying an ice cream cone! Luke had to get Mint Chocolate Chip...Daddy's favorite.

Luke and Kate on the "Salmon Run." I have a picture of Luke on this ride for the past 4 yrs.

Uncle Mikey and Luke on the tube ride. When Uncle Mikey aske Luke if he was scared, Luke said "No. My Daddy and I went on this before and it isn't scary."

Kate taking a nap while the boys played. I have a very similar picture of her from last year.

The kids playing the 'fishing' game.

Luke on a slide having a blast!

Kate on the Alligator Slide.

8th Wedding Annivesary

I will admit, yesterday was a very rough day for me and by far the roughest day for me since the funeral, however I found the strength to make it through with the help of my friends and family. Along the way, I found some significant ways to celebrate this special day now and in the future. I realized that our anniversary means so much to me because it was OUR day….everyone celebrates Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Halloween….but August 18th was OUR day….we picked this day out ourselves and committed ourselves to each other.

I spent some alone time at St. Susanna’s in the morning. This is where we were married….where the kids were baptized….and where the funeral was. The same priest, Father Kevin was there for all of these events. Mark highly respected Father Kevin, and the feeling was mutual. This church holds so many memories for us and it is such a special place. I had the sanctuary all to myself for a while and was able to spend some quality time reflecting in between sobs. I also got to talk with Father Kevin for awhile, who can relate to losing a spouse, which was also very comforting.

After Luke got home from school, a florist came with a beautiful bouquet of daises….with a beautiful note “Happy Anniversary. All because two people fell in love”. Daisies where the flowers at our wedding and the day Mark died I bought a plaque that read “All because two people fell in love” though I never got to show it to him. At this time I still do not know WHO sent them….but really it doesn’t matter who did….it is the gesture…and for now I can believe that an angel sent them to me.

That afternoon, I sent the kids to the sitter as I need to do something else by myself. I drove down to the Greenwood Mall to Build-A-Bear. I made myself an “Autumn Bear” (which symbolizes Mark died in the fall) and asked that they show me how to close up the bear when I got home. The reason was that I wanted to put a little bit of Mark’s ashes in there (and figured it would have freaked the workers out in the store) so we could have him close. Though a little creepy, it was very, very peaceful. Of course when I showed the kids the new “Daddy” bear they fell in love with it. One of these days I will explain what is inside.

And for dinner, I brought home Skyline Chili for us to eat. Mark LOVED Skyline and introduced it to me when we first started dating.
I might not be making a “Daddy” bear every August 18th, but I know I will be spending some time at St. Susanna’s and eating some Skyline every August 18th.

Our Wedding Day, 8/18/01. Leaving St. Susanna's Catholic Church, Plainfield, Indiana.

The beautiful daisies.

The "Daddy" bear from Build-A-Bear....of course he had to get a Purdue shirt :o)

Kate's First Day of Preschool

Kate is going to preschool at the "Flip Zone" which is a local gymnastic school. This is where she has taken gymnastic lessons from in the past. The best part about the preschool program is that she gets to do 45 min of gymnatics each time! Getting two birds with one stone outa this deal!!

She was super-duper excited about going. After a little crying, she did great. She had a great time and her teachers (which one of happens to be a neighbor!) said she is a very, happy little girl. And of course, she said her favorite part was GYMNASTICS!!!!! I did okay dropping her off....I cried more after picking her up as I was so proud of my little girl as she talked non-stop about her first day of preschool.

Kate oustide the house before we left.

Kate with her "My Little Pony" backpack that she picked out.

After her first day!

The Great Indiana State Fair

Another tradition Mark and I started with the kids (that I am determined to keep) is going to the State Fair. Luckily it is held in Indy and is less then a 30 min drive. So I took the kids on Thursday after Luke got out of school (thankfully he is in the AM class and done by 11:45!). Finally after the third year, we have seen ALL of it (well parts of it each year, that make up ALL of it). It is HUGE and when you are totting around 2 kids in the 80-90 degree, humid August weather in Indiana, you can only handle the fair for a couple of hours. As always, wonderful memories where made, and I know Mark was with us the whole time.

Luke on the bumper cars.

Kate and Luke playing the 'goldfish' game.

Luke won one for him and then was determined to win one for Kate, which he did. I predict they will live for about 2 days.

Luke was being a good brother and told Kate that he would buckle her up for the ride.

Luke and Kate on the Motorcycle ride.

Okay, they picked this car ALL by themselves! For those of you who know me well, know I am a huge Ryan Newman fan....honestly, I did not tell them to pick this one!!

Luke and Kate on Kate's FAVORITE ride.....

The replica Bridgeton Bridge at the State Fair. The orginal one was burned to the ground by an arson in 2006 and rebuilt in 2007 Parke County, where our Triangle House is. Mark loved going to the Bridgeton Bridge and Mill. He was going to donate some trees from our land to help rebuild the bridge, but we had the wrong type of lumber :(

Luke holding a butterfly at the DNR exhibit. He really wanted to take it home.

Luke got to fish in the DNR fishing pond. He was the first one done catching the three fish limit. (By the way, the DNR exhibit is now our favorite place to go at the fair, outside the midway of course!)

Gilbert the Cat

Here are a few pics of Gilbert, our new cat. In case you are wondering, he is named after the cat on the kid's cartoon "Caillou". Gilbert has made himself right at home and fits right in. He really is a good cat and is very tolerant of the kids (and Buddie too). The vet thinks he is just around a year old. My mom reminded me that he looks like a cat I had growing up that we called Sylvester. That is probably why I took to Gilbert so quickly. So when the kids ask me what kind of cat Gilbert is, I tell them a Sylvester cat. See it is little harder to determine with cats then dogs their 'breed'...and according to the Cat books we got from the library, he is a non-tabby, domesticated short-hair...sounds like a Heinz 57 cat too me (which means a little of everything).

Gilbert soaking up the sun on my mom's porch on our visit to A'town.

Gilbert making himself comfy in the spare carseat.

One of Gilbert's favorite hiding spots...in the garage, on top of Mark's 1968 Mustang.

Luke, Kate, Buddie and Gilbert all cozy on the couch.

Luke's now a Kindergartner!!

After an emotional weekend trying to prepare myself that my baby boy is growing up and still trying figure out how the heck I am supposed to do this without Mark....Luke started Kindergarten.

Sunday: we had "Meet the Teacher," which involved Luke hiding under a desk....before coming out to actually meet her. Her name is Mrs. Rogers and I think she is going to be great. She is just around my age. She has lots of enthusiasm and you can tell she relates well to the kids.

Monday: He did okay at first. He was excited to walk to school with his neighbor friends. He goes into the classroom just fine, put his backpack in his cubby without a problem....the problem came when I stayed in the classroom too long to try to talk to Mrs. Rogers....just like every other parent...so when we did go to leave, he wasn't having it, and clinged to my leg. We went out into the hallway, and the principal, Mr. Cooney (who is awesome, knows of our situation and remembers Luke from being at the school as a 3 yr old in the preschool program) was nice to come and help out.

After I got home and spent quite a few minutes crying my eyeballs out, I got to spend some time with Kate. We went shopping at Kohl's. Of course they had a great clearance sale, so Kate and I had fun picking out dresses. Nothing like a little retail therapy to calm anxiety. And watch out the girl already loves to shop!

We then came home and we both anxiously awaited Luke to come home on the bus (Okay, they won't bus him in the morning as we live too close, but they will bus him home since he is in Kindergarten...I know, makes no sense but I figured he might as well take the bus home since he likes to ride the bus). He came off the bus all excited and couldn't wait to tell me about the "cat dinosaur" book he got to check out of the library. And he was excited to go back! Whew....

Tuesday: Okay, I spoke too soon. After hearing for an hour after he got up of "I don't want to go to school" and "I did not ask you to sign me up for school" in which I replied "Sorry, Luke, it is the LAW you have to go to school" (Okay a little stretch there....Kindergarten is not mandatory in Indiana, but a white lie won't hurt). He wasn't even up to walking with his friends at first but once he saw them walking to school, he went. We got to the classroom and wouldn't go in, so Mrs. Rogers came out to help. Then I followed the advice of my mentor when it comes to dropping of your child somewhere they are anxious about you leaving them...it is kinda like a fire drill... STOP, DROP, and RUN. The teacher said I wasn't even 10 feet down the hallway when he went into the room with no problem.

Wednesday: Luke was begging me to go to school 15 minutes before we had to leave and was already outside with his backpack on before I was ready to go. I walked him to the front door of the school, gave him a kiss and he walked to his classroom all on his own with out a fuss or any leg clinging. (I sure hope I am not jinxing myself by saying this!).

Now Kate really wants to go with him. She has to wear her backpack too. She starts preschool next week so we'll see how that goes...

Luke walking to school the first day.

Luke putting his backpack in his cubby.

Luke getting off the bus.

The Month of August

I am going to admidt outright, that I have been dreading this month since Mark died. We have made it through most of the first BIG events without him....Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Luke's birthday, Mark's birthday... some how we made it in one piece.

And pardon me for using a word that I don't let the kids use (not really a cuss word, but not a nice word)....August is going to suck!!

Well, next Monday, the 10th, Luke starts Kindergarten. A milestone for any child....and I will be taking him alone. I remember Mark talking about how when we bought the house we live in, how it will be wonderful to walk the kids to school since we live across the street.

Then on the 18th, it will be our wedding annivesiary. We would be celebrating our 8th. Last year Mark went above and beyond, as it was very special. I got to work to find that he brought roses for me and had a co-worker put them on my desk with the most, romantic card he had given me in long time. He arranged for the kids to go to his sister's that night so we could have a candle light dinner by ourselves at home (take out from Texas Roadhouse, one of my favorites). He got me the most gorgeous patio set for our back deck that I completely surprised me. He also finally got the 'sign-in book' from our wedding framed, which was custom made.

Then the 27th....my birthday...I am no way one of those people who expect a HUGE deal on my birthday, but Mark always got me a cake (from Marsh of course) and that is all I wanted. I am at that age, I don't need a big party or presents, just something simple like a cake.

So please pray for me this month. I will need it. There are days were I feel like I am barely strong enough to keep moving forward and some how have been, but I know this month will challenge me to no end.

I know Mark has been and will be here in spirit, but I still miss HIM so very much.

Visit to A'Town

Just got back from a visit from good Ol’ Antioch. We were there for 4 days. You would think I would have had enough time to visit everyone I wanted, but as usual, I did not. Though we did not do anything super-duper exciting, it was a really nice visit. Nice and relaxing…just what we needed!

To sum it up, this is what we did: Stopped by the cow place (Fair Oaks Farms) on the way up to get some cheese and milk, had Mr. G’s for dinner (my favorite place to eat when I go to A’town), hung out with Auntie Sha-Sha, went fishing by her house and across the way from the house I grew up in, spent the night at Auntie Sha-sha’s, played with her many kitties, went to Car Papa and Grandma’s, had a yummy lunch along with Oberweis Ice Cream Cake (seriously the best in the world), took naps, went back to Nana’s to play with her kitties and dog, had Orlando’s pizza for dinner (yummy….Indy is really lacking when it comes to good mom-n-pop dinners/food!!), spent the night at Nana’s, went over to Auntie April’s to celebrate cousin Jake and Adam’s birthdays, had Mr. G’s for lunch, went to the park by their house, cousin Jake then came back with us to Nana’s to play with the water/sprinkler, went with Auntie April to Newport FD to check out some fire engines while Kate, myself and Nana went out to eat at Orlando’s (they have the best Baked Mosticolli EVER!!!), played some more with Nana’s animals, got up the next morning to eat Dunkin’ Doughnuts for breakfast, checked out the dinousour exhibit at the Lake County Museum, saw some buffalo (yes, the animal), and FINALLY headed back to Indy!!

And on the way home, there was a 45 min period where Kate, Luke, Buddie and Gilbert were all sleeping….ah, boy did I enjoy the silence!!!

Just getting Luke ready for Kindergarten as he starts in 5 days!?!?