Flu, meetings, painting garden pots & apartment maintenance

Monday morning Miss A was sick for the 2nd time since we came home from China.

 She had the stomach flu.  So we skipped music class, watched TV and hung out in bed most of the morning.  But she was back to herself after her nap.

 These "ga ga" (duck) pj's are ones we bought in China.  A little short but not really too tight.  We had many changes of pj's that morning.

 Tuesday we walked up to Bow Tie in the morning.

Miss A is so fascinated to see how the piano makes sound. 

We had to cancel our closings Monday afternoon so we closed the next day.  Afterwards we went shopping at Nordstrom's Rack for new shoes for Audrey.  Which ended up being clothes purchases too.  Fortunately we diverted her attention away from the rounder rack of tutu's.

 John pointed out the Nick Cave soundsuit magnets on this car.  Audrey said "I have never seen on a car."

 As if an hour long re-fi was not boring enough for her we took her to an hour long presentation at the Pump house that night.  This building is in the park next to our house next to the conservatory.  It was built in 1894 by Samuel Hannaford.  It has been vacated for since the late 80's  and now 2 developers are proposing to re-developing it as a micro-brewery.  It was an interesting presentation and Audrey was just great. 

The picture below is of the 911 systems (from the 70's ?) left behind upstairs.  According to the The Bicentennial Guide to Cincinnati this building was repuurposed in 1939 as the central radio communications center for the city's safety department.  

In the picture below John and Audrey are looking at the architectural plans.  The presenting developer said the current plan would cost an estimated $2M and they would be eligible for $500,000 in credits because it is on the National Registry of Historic buildings.  This building is 7,000 square feet has an old roof (approx. 80 years old) and lots of asbestos.  I think he said it would cost $250,000 just to remove all the asbestos. 

The developer also said best case scenario they would be operational a year from December.  Sounds like there is a lot of bureacracy with the city right now.

 Wednesday at the park.

 

 "surprise face" when asked to perform and below pensive Miss A.

 Ready to go out to the garden to paint pots.

When it warms up again we will decorate with hearts, butterfly, etc designs.

       "Ta-da" the pots are drying.

Random panda cuteness on the "couch" (A's word) in the kitchen.

Breakfast by Baba.

Thursday we needed to take care of some things in one of the apartments up the street.

One of the tenants has moved out and I told Audrey we would have to re-paint this room.  She repeated what I said.  I have a painter who will do this but when she is old enough I plan on teaching her how this skill.

This is the door that leads to the roof deck that we added in 2004 re-model of this apartment.

View of the Ohio River from the roof deck.

View of the Pump House from the roof deck.

I also told Audrey that after current tenants (2 out of 3 are staying another year) move out I plan on taking out this wall and carpeting the entire floor except the tiled kitchen and bathroom.  Then I told her when she grows up she can pull up the carpet and put hardwood flooring down.  She listened to me and answered simply "Yes".  I wonder if she understood anything I said but I still thought it was cute.

 The apartment kitchen.

 Afterwards we walked up to the bank and then to Bow Tie to say Hi to Baba where we stayed to have lunch with him.

Saturday after we attended a neighborhood open house party Audrey and I walked up to Immaculata to visit with Paula Maureen and Dixie.  PM and Dixie (whom Audrey calls "Ducksie") were preparing food for a Christening lunch for 50 people the next day.

 Miss A watching Paula Maureen peel potatoes.

 

Listening to Ducksie

 The 3 of them.

 Cute.

 The etsy hats I ordered last week arrived today.

 The "Go Reds" hat is her favorite it seems.

 But the white hat is pretty cute too.

Easter weekend in Bloomington

 Miss A playing with "big Panda" while we were packing up to go to Bloomington.  We only stayed 1 night but the way I packed it looked like we were staying a week.  Just when I think I have improved I backslide.

 So Miss A wore this "rocking the tu tu" outfit our neighbor Helen gave her this week for this trip.

 We stopped at Red Lobster to try to encourage her to sleep as we wanted to go to our nephew Peter's 7K race once we got to Bloomington.

 So who takes their kid into Red Lobster with a blue Hitler moustache.  Well we do as I needed the picture for our blog.  She was using the washable ink markers in the car and got it all over herself and  her "manket".

 We barely made it in time to see Peter run this 7K.  He came in 2nd and had an excellent time. My sister, Peter's mom, is on the left in this picture.

 Sharing "manket" with Uncle Tommy.  She recently decided on her own to call my brother Tommy instead of Tom.

 and sharing with Granddad whom she is now referring to as Grandaddy off and on.

 Easter morning egg hunt in Mom-mom ad Granddad's living room.

 with her cousin Cece.

 A very deceptive picture of Miss A in church.  She was hardly attentive or quiet for very long.

 Fortunately the Children's message was early.

 I stayed with her in the nursery but she might have been OK on her own.

 This turtle has been around since I attended nursery school at this church.  We drove back to Cincinnati after lunch with my parents and brother Ted after church.

 Sunday evening after dinner Audrey and I took a walk through our garden to see any changes.  The scilla (campannlata 'excelsior') is starting to bloom.  I was happy to see this as it is in a fairly shaded area.  This plant is supposed to naturalize.

  The Solomon Seal is coming in.

 and this ground cover (Lamium maculatum or Dead Nettle 'Pink Chablis') is coming in nicely on our lowest tier.  This picture does not show how beautiful the Dead Nettle leaves are and how they feel like lambs ear. 

Finally a picture of Miss A in the hydrangea bushes.  Right after I took this picture she took a header on the stone path and scratched up her nose as well as a knot on her head.  I couldn't reach her in time even though it seemed like a slow motion fall.  She cried pretty hard and requested we get manket and then be carried through the garden again. I was happy that this calmed her down and that she was able to communicate what she wanted.