Funnies...

Just a random post during "quiet time" while I have a few minutes.

We had a playdate at a new friend's house yesterday (I'm getting out there and making friends! Go me! Lol). Her house looked SO much like our old house in GA, and when we pulled up both kids exclaimed, "Our house! Our old house! We're HOME!" which sort of made me sad:( But then Aiden said, in such a serious voice, "Very distinguished...yes, very distinguished." And I had to crack up--he is so funny sometimes!

We have HUGE power lines here because of the power plant. The kids are convinced that they aren't actually power lines. Instead, they think they are giant robots or transformers, and every time we drive by one they both yell, "Look, Mommy! It's robots in disguise!" (just like from the Transformers theme song). Ava is the cutest because all she says is, "Robots in skies! Robots in skies!"

Ava loves disciplining the cats for me when they are being naughty. Zoe was meowing really loudly this morning and I told Ava to go tell her to stop making so much noise and she ran after her, wagging her finger in her face, yelling, "Stop Zoe! Stop make noise! Go upstairs! Naughty cat! Stop noise!" Chuck and I were both laughing at that one! Then later in the morning Bailey was out of food and water so I fed her and told Ava to go tell Bailey that her lunch was ready. Ava ran upstairs and I could hear her yelling, "Bai-wee!! Time for unch! Food and water ready a you! Come n get it!"

Aiden has been working hard at trying to learn how to read (I told him all 4 year olds learn how to read and somehow this has convinced him that he ought to get on board) and how to write his letters. He still has a lot of trouble holding the pencil the correct way, and it's taking a lot of patience to try to teach someone so stubborn:) I have gotten him to the point now though that when he wants to give up, he takes a deep breath and says, "I can do it, and I will try..." and that seems to help motivate him to keep going. He is getting great at sounding out words and can read several of his beginner reader books all by himself or with a little help. Go Aiden! (meanwhile, Ava can still not identify even ONE letter or number correctly. I am certain that by this age Aiden knew the entire alphabet and numbers 1-10. But she did finally learn her colors, so that is a step in the right direction!)

I think that's all for today...hope it's warmer where you are. It's not even 50 here today! Come one spring, where did you go?

Lake Erie

(Top: picture of the 5 Great Lakes from Space; Bottom: picture taken at Headlands Beach State Park in Mentor, OH)
I had fun writing that little informative post about the nuclear plant, so I decided to educate you all a little more, lol. Our house is about 2 miles away from Lake Erie. If you continue down our road, you actually dead end right into the lake. Many people don't know much about the Great Lakes, and I think in particular Lake Erie has gotten a bad reputation because of the pollution of the lake in the 60's and 70's. But it truly is a beautiful body of water, and I feel lucky to get to live so close to it!

Lake Erie is the eleventh largest lake in the world (by surface area). It is the fourth largest of the Great Lakes in surface area and the smallest by volume. Lake Erie has shores in Ontario, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan. It is the shallowest of the Great Lakes with an average depth of 62 feet and a maximum depth of 210 feet. For comparison, Lake Superior has an average depth of 483 feet! Because it is the shallowest, Lake Erie is also the warmest of the Great Lakes. The lake is named after the Erie tribe of Native Americans who lived along its southern shore.

Like the other Great Lakes, Erie produces lake effect snow when the first cold winds of winter pass over the warm waters, making Buffalo, New York and Erie, Pennsylvania the eleventh and thirteenth snowiest places in the entire United States respectively, according to data collected from the National Climatic Data Center. The lake effect ends or its effect is reduced, however, when the lake freezes over. Being the shallowest of the Great Lakes, it is the most likely to freeze and frequently does. On February 16, 2010, meteorologists reported that the lake had frozen over marking the first time the lake had completely frozen over since the winter of 1995-1996.

Lake Erie infamously became very polluted in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the quantity of heavy industry situated in cities on its shores. The water quality deteriorated due to increasing levels of the nutrient phosphorous in both the water and lake bottom sediments. The resultant high nitrogen levels in the water caused algal blooms. Algae masses and fish kills increasingly fouled the shoreline during this period, but a 1969 Time magazine article about a fire on the Cuyahoga Rover, a tributary feeding the lake at Cleveland, Ohio, so embarrassed officials that the Congress quickly passed the Clean Water Act of 1972. In 1972 the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canadian governments also significantly reduced the dumping and runoff of phosphorus into the lake. The lake has since become clean enough to allow sunlight to infiltrate its water and produce algae and sea weed, but a dead zone persists in the central Lake Erie basin during the late summer. Since the 1970s environmental regulation has led to a great increase in water quality and the return of economically important fish species and other biological life.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Erie

Picture post

I haven't done a picture post in a while, so here you go. This first picture is a cute craft we did last week (from www.notimeforflashcards.com). Then some pictures of the beach last week. And finally pictures from this morning. My mom got Ava this really cute blue dress and Ava finally decided this morning that she wanted to wear it:) She looooves it! Thanks, Granny!

The house that tall people built...

It's no secret that I am in LOVE with our new house. It's hard for me to pick one favorite thing about it: I love the kitchen, with it's deep rich granite, glass top stove, giant refrigerator and drawer freezer, and the miles of counter space; I love the backyard, in it's completely-fenced-in-wonderfulness, where I can banish the children when I am cooking dinner and not have to worry about them at all; I love the playroom, where Toys 'R Us exploded but the rest of the house still looks clean and clutter-free. But when my sister--who is similarly vertically challenged (read: short)--came to visit, she pointed out something that I also noticed right away...

This house was built for TALL people, lol.

The bathrooms are where it's most noticeable. I never realized how "low" the countertops were in our old house until we moved here. The countertops here are so tall! I can barely even see myself in the bathroom mirrors--they've been hung for someone at least 5'4" lol.

No worries--because I busted out my light-up makeup mirror and bought a full-length mirror for the hall. I'd never leave the house without at least some makeup on--I wouldn't want to scare the children! ;)

Of course, as Aiden pointed out to me when we were discussing this, "Mom, maybe this house wasn't built by people who are really tall. Maybe you are just really short!"

Touche, Aiden, touche.

PS--We really are loving it here so far, moving in the springtime was exactly the right thing to do. I can't wait for the weather to really start warming up so we can really enjoy our very close proximity to the lake!

Fun at Lake Erie

This afternoon was another unseasonably warm and amazing day, and Liz and I took the kids to the Headlands Beach State Park on Lake Erie. Ava took some time warming up to the sand and rocks, but Aiden was a boy in his true element. The kid seriously wanted to go swimming and the water was 38 degrees! We had an awesome time though! Can't wait to go back:)

Picture post...

This is mostly just a picture post. The Easter Bunny came last night and the kids had a great morning searching the house for eggs and gorging themselves on candy from their baskets:) I didn't take any good photos, but I do have some cute video that hopefully, eventually, I'll get uploaded, lol.

Food for thought: Nuclear power

A lot of people don't know much about nuclear power, myself included. But now that I live only miles away from the Perry Nuclear Power plant, I thought I would include some information as food for thought.

I didn't take this picture, but this gives you a pretty clear idea of what everyone within probably a 50 mile radius of the plant has a view of. At first...let's say I found it...unappealing. But, truthfully, it is an incredible and impressive structure that helps provide power for a massive amount of people. That's nothing to sneeze at! It appears at first glance that the reactor is emitting smoke or some other kind of pollutant, but that's actually not the case at all. That giant cloud is 100% steam--the byproduct of the Boiling Water Reactor (BWR).

In a typical commercial boiling water reactor (1) the reactor core creates heat, (2) a steam-water mixture is produced when very pure water (reactor coolant) moves upward through the core absorbing heat, (3) the steam-water mixture leaves the top of the core and enters the two stages of moisture separation where water droplets are removed before the steam is allowed to enter the steam line, (4) the steam line directs the steam to the main turbine causing it to turn the turbine generator, which produces electricity. The unused steam is exhausted to the condenser where it is condensed into water. The resulting water is pumped out of the condenser with a series of pumps, reheated, and pumped back to the reactor vessel. The reactor's core contains fuel assemblies which are cooled by water, which is force-circulated by electrically powered pumps. Emergency cooling water is supplied by other pumps which can be powered by onsite diesel generators. Other safety systems, such as the containment cooling system, also need electric power.

The Perry Nuclear Power plant reactor is a General Electric BWR-6 boiling water reactor design, with a Mark III containment design. The original core power level of 3,579 megawatts thermal was increased to 3,758 megawatts thermal in 2000, making Perry one of the largest BWRs in the United States.

Built at a cost of $6 billion, Perry-1 is one of the most expensive power plants ever constructed.

So, now you know that if you come to visit us in Painesville (or pretty much anywhere in Northeast Ohio), you'll likely get a glimpse of these enormous reactors--and you'll actually know what they do!

Sources: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/at_a_glance/reactors/perry.html & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Nuclear_Generating_Station

Squire's Castle

You might remember that Chuck and I had some of our wedding pictures taken at Squire's Castle in Willoughby Hills, and I have been itching to take the kids there. This weather was perfect and even though my subjects weren't the most cooperative, I managed a few good shots. The castle is amazing, and almost impossible to take "bad" pictures of. I can't wait to take photos again in the fall and I imagine it is stunning in the winter!

On a side note--we really are almost completely settled into the house now. We played in the backyard all afternoon yesterday, enjoying the weather. The kids love the house and the yard, and I am finding the location pretty convenient--I like that Mentor is just a short drive down the highway, but we can still enjoy the benefits of smalltown life here in Painesville and Madison.