My Birthday Date

I posted earlier that I was looking for a good place to eat for my birthday and thank you for all the wonderful suggestions I now have a long list to choose from for future outings. My choice was highly influenced by Gordonfan's suggestion of Rib City. I love a good barbecue so I did a little research and went with Burbank's. It was very good, the price was right, not super crowded and the service was super fast. The onion log was very tasty though I wouldn't recommend getting it for just two people. It would be enough to feed five easily. We also got the pulled pork sandwich which came with cole slaw, very good, and a side. I got mashed potatoes and gravy which was just average and Mark got the sweet potato casserole which was deeelicious! I was practically licking the bowl and I'm not even a sweet potato fan, I normally pass it right on to the next person on Thanksgiving. Very tasty, I highly recommend Burbank's especially if you enjoy southern cooking and the humor of Earl Pitts!

After dinner we headed off to Borders Bookstore for hot cocoa, chocolate chip cookies, and good conversation. It was so nice to have an uninterrupted discussion with my husband. Then we just wandered around the store together and separately checking out this and that. I could spend hours browsing a book store, the quiet, the books, even the smell, I had forgotten how much I like doing that. It was a wonderful night. Thanks Mark for making my birthday a great one! I love you.

Halloween Fun

Once again our neighborhood rocks when it comes to trick or treating! Unfortunately Mark had school on Halloween so that left me taking 4 kids out to do the rounds not to mention getting them all done up. A big thank you goes out to the Jones family for letting me tag along with them for a little adult moral support. Phewww! So here are some pics of Halloween 2008 with the Chapins.

Anyone want to guess what Jackson is...Dr. 2 Brains from Word Girl on PBSkids!

Liam wouldn't get in the picture so I had to take a separate on of him.

A Request

Hi all, so my birthday is coming up and I am making Mark take me out to dinner and I have yet to fall in love with any specific restaurants in the area so I want to know what your favorite is. For those of you not from the Ohio/Kentucky area feel free to chime in anyway, maybe your favorite is a chain or maybe it will just make me homesick for my old haunts, either way I want to know. Thanks for your input, I'll let you know sometime after Nov 9 who the big winner is and maybe we'll get you a doggie bag!

Election Frustration

All right so I know I'm probably singing to the choir for most of you but I've got to get this off my chest and for those friends of mine that lean towards the left bear with me.
Aggghhh! I am so fed up with this election I am tired of biased media that won't be tough on Obama and tired of McCain who won't be tough on him either. I'm tired of trying to support a campaign where I can't even get a blasted sign for my yard or sticker for my car. I'm sick of politicians that won't answer the stupid question during a debate, JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION! I'm tired of seeing all these Obama signs everywhere and wondering if they really know who and what type of America they are voting for. Do we really want a country where the government has control of everything including as Obama says, "spreading the wealth around"? Of course we need to care for the poor but what he's talking about is Marxism and not what has made our country great. It's starting to look like either people are voting without all the facts (thank you to the media) or maybe that's the kind of government the majority wants. That scares me. I'm sick of the double standard feminists and their cruelty and disrespect towards Sarah Palin and I'm really sick of Hollywood (enough said on that).

I know politics really gets people passionate and fired up and that's why I normally veer away from political conversations but I felt like this was a safe outlet to express my feelings. So whether you agree with me or not this is how I feel and as far as I know I still have a right to express it. I hope I still have it at the end of the next 4 years.

Savanna & Luke Get Inspired

Savanna and Luke saw what Jackson was making out of a box of "junk" and could not resist joining in. Here are thier creations.

Bacuum, by Luke

Mouser, by Savanna

Shoot Boat, by Luke

Jackson Builds the Future

Jackson recieved a generous gift of wires, magnets, speakers, headphones, & switches from Mark's coworker Nicholas, and has been smiling in "creation heaven" ever since.

Bull Dozer

Cleaner Boleaner

S. S. J. Boat

Shocky

Bird Show Fun

In August we were able to go behind the scenes of the Bird Show at the Cincinnati Zoo thanks to Eddie, a friend from Nocturnal Adventures and performer in the show (Bob). It was a ton of fun and the kids had a great time. We got to watch the show and then take a tour of the enclosures the birds from the show stay in. Here is Eddie showing us the Stellar's Sea Eagle. Some of the enclosures are below the stands where the audience sits.

Here is Savanna feeding a Hyacinth Macaw. Each of the kids got a turn, even Liam!

Here are the kids on the stage of the bird show with their souvenir feathers. It was a great day.