Red Thread Girl

A picture that shows some of the chaos that is our house currently. We are having the floors re-finished in 7 out of the 9 rooms in our home. We are doing the heavy lifting to bring down the cost.

However timing was a little off and we had to abandon residency very quickly due to fumes, dust etc. It wasn't easy to find a hotel on the fly this past week as UC has graduation, sold out Reds games and a Teacher's Conference at the Convention Center.

So our kitchen looked like this when we left in a hurry this past Wednesday. We didn't return to stay for another 5 days.

Miss A took many naps on long car rides.

I tried once to get her to sleep with a movie as an enticement first but that did not work.

So we took long car rides through Indian Hill, Mariemont, Terrace Park and Clifton.

She also slept in her stroller after Mt Adams Farmers Market this past Saturday.

And again after the Art Walk.

And after the Indian Celebration at Fort Ancient Sunday.

So here is how the last 5 days started. In the above picture I asked Audrey to say "White Swan" because this crib @ Netherlands reminded me of the one we had in China.

Miss A was happy about all the play area in this room

Baba and Audrey in the lobby.

At Fountain Square.

Salsa dancing on the square. Some kind of entertainment every night on the square.

A at Hathaway's for breakfast the next morning. Below is a picture of this diner. it has been remodeled since the 90's when I worked downtown but pretty much the same.

Below is a picture of A on newly sanded floors. We had to make a trip home a couple days into this journey as we packed so quickly to get out.

Thursday Paula Maureen came down to spend the morning walking around downtown and have lunch. Below is a picture of A on the stage in the Orchids.

We checked out the fish on the square. Below is "Sowwy Night"

This one is "Chinese Tiger Pig"

Salsa band and dancing.

We had to move hotels for the weekend and stayed at Springhill at he entrance to Eden Park. Miss A was excited to go to the pool for the first time this year.

Saturday we walked from the hotel to Mt Adams Farmers Market which is held in Towne's property behind the Monastery.

Below A is checking out their fountain. She had the worst fall she has ever had near here. She was running and tripped over her own feet, did a somersault on concrete. Surprisingly she did not get hurt physically and calmed down relatively quickly.

Blowing bubbles with neighbor kids.

Buying earrings made out of recycled tires at the booth pictured below.

Then luckily Sue at Hair on the hill could squeeze A in for a bang cut at noon Saturday.

First time she wore the cape.

Playing the piano at Bow Tie while waiting for our lunch to be prepared.

Sunday after a late checkout (so A could swim again) we decided to drive to Fort Ancient so she might get a nap.

We had no idea they had a big celebration going on which included free activities for kids like the one below, making Indian necklaces based on your birth month.

Audrey's listening to how to make a necklace.

Working with beads. I think she looks particularly exotic in the picture below.

Then she got butterflies painted on her legs and arms. This lady was great and allowed her to pick the colors and tell her where she wanted them painted.

This is the best picture I got of her necklace.

We all enjoyed this story teller.At the end of his stories he asked if anyone had any questions (and they did). I thought it was cool that he said don't worry about being politically correct as he was more interested in us understanding than fearing hurting his feelings. he said he would gently correct anything that could be sensitive.

below is the "Celebration" which occurred at noon. We did not get to stay long into this event as Audrey was losing steam and fell asleep on John's shoulder about 10 minutes after it started.

But she loved the costumes and still talks about them days later.

When we got home Sunday we felt the fume,, etc were too much so we stayed another night @ Netherlands. Below is Audrey coloring on the kids menu at Rock Bottom. She brought "bear"(right ) who she re-named "yuppie+ while we were on this adventure.

International Yarn Bomb on the square which happened sometime over the weekend.

The sign counting down the days until the World Choir Games come to Cincy. The biggest event our city has ever hosted. And we thought it was tough to get a room this past week.

Smelling the lilac roses at the Netherlands.

Goofing in the Hall of Mirrors Sunday evening after dinner. Looks like there was a wedding there the night before. We considered this for our wedding reception 10 years ago.

Audrey performing on the Hall 's stage. Interestingly Doris Day made her debut 1 floor above this stage in the Caprice Pavilion 72 years ago. She was Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff then.