This past week (Monday, June 16th through Thursday, June 19th) the three of us attended Vacation Bible School. For the past couple weeks we’ve been helping stuff envelopes and distribute flyers for this. Everyone, especially Christopher, was excited about “Dino Detectives.” The pastor created these large dinosaurs out of cardboard that he textured and painted. A large dino head stuck out over the baptistry with the tail coming out the doorway on the side. Every night, after a special activity, the kids finished off the evening with free snow cones. It was really nice.

Doug volunteered to teach VBS, while I helped sign children up at the registration table. Christopher just had fun! Pastor D gave a little introductory talk each night, had the “dinosaurs” breathe fire or smoke, and then the children went to their classrooms to learn about the Biblical story of Creation. After seven, they came out to listen to the Pastor some more before getting their snow cones. The biggest event they had planned was the dinosaur hunt. One of the parisheners made dino eggs out of old coffee grounds with little plastic dinosaurs inside. The “eggs” were hidden out in the little park area behind the church, and all the kids went and hunted the eggs. It was pretty cool. The eggs did look fossilized on the inside when they were cracked open.

Other highlights included the “Missionary Moment” every night when The Browns, Missionaries to Ecuador, would tell funny stories about living abroad. There was a Penny Offering which was actually a contest between the boys and girls. They would contribute their change (blue pail for boys, pink for girls), and whichever one weighed more became the winner. I also brought Lemonade cake for everyone (volunteers) and brownies on the last night.

At Doug’s job, he went from having plenty to do every day to looking for stuff to do since he’s not on a particular project at the moment. So he surprised us this week by coming home early one day and taking the next couple days off as vacation days!

Friday he took off, and since the weather seemed to cooperate (touch and go for awhile there) - we went camping. We camped at Happy Hills camping area in Nelsonville, which was pretty close to Old Man’s Cave. The campground had electric so we could charge our phones and stuff. We toasted tofu hotdogs and vegan marshmallows over a fire for dinner. Christopher played on their playground, and at 9 o’clock they showed “Bee Movie.” It was really nice. On Saturday morning, Doug cooked us a great breakfast of Gimme Lean with potato, peppers, and onions. We took down our tent, packed up and drove to Old Man’s cave where we walked around, took lots of pictures, and Christopher finally got his walking stick. He was so happy with his new stick - child sized with a turtle carved on the top. On the way back, we stopped at Dragonfly vegan restaurant and had THE BEST MEAL OF OUR LIVES. Yes, Caps are warranted.

On the way back, we listened to some more of “The Pocket and the Pendant,” Christopher and I’s (I? Mine?) - anyway “our” most recent podiobook obsession. It’s very addictive. Nothing else incredibly interesting happened this weekend. Sunday, church. Lunch. Dinner. Bedtime.

I certainly hope you’ve enjoyed this latest edition of “Days of the Russell family’s life.” Please tune in next time when we let you know whether or not we won the lottery.

Friday, May 23rd, Doug was supposed to work until noon-ish, and then we’d pick him up and start driving home. The hotel was only paid up til Friday. But Doug’s supervisor’s told him, since he was working that day, that he could stay an extra night in the hotel. That way we wouldn’t have to drive all night to get home.

Since we didn’t have to drive home right away, we decided to go to Washington D.C.! I drove to the area Doug was working, and we got some pizza for lunch. Then we drove to a subway station, and took the subway into D.C. It was so much fun! Christopher was really impressed by how fast the train could go!

After getting off in the Mall, we walked to the Lincoln Memorial. On our vacation 2 years ago, that was the only monument I really wanted to see that we never went to. So this time, it was our first stop! I found the whole thing very moving. We went up the steps and stood before the actual statue, read the writing on the wall, and then went downstairs to the mini museum. The walls of the museum had printed quotes from Lincoln, photos of different rights Marches that took place in front of the Memorial, and even showed a short film about the history. I got a little teary eyed.

From the Memorial, we walked to a bus stop and took the bus to Georgetown. By the time we got there it was a little late, so we had dinner at Taj of India. For dessert we went to my favorite tea room - Ching Ching Cha.

Ching Ching Cha is a Chinese tearoom that makes a trip to Georgetown worth the trip all by itself. Doug ordered some Lapsoung Souchon, which he’s been craving for awhile. I ordered some Ti Kwan Yin to share with Christopher. There was a metal kettle on an iron warmer in the middle of our table. That provided the heated water for the tea. Doug had his own teapot to resteep as many times as he liked. I had a clay teapot, a discard bowl, 2 scent cups, and the actual tea cups Christopher and I drank from. We were instructed in the proper way to brew and enjoy our teas. It was incredible!

We came back to the hotel quite late that night, and the next morning we checked out. On the drive back, we made sure to pass Pangea - a vegan store I’ve ordered from in the past. They had a small storefront, and we bought a tee shirt, a hoody, and various snacks and mixes. Then we made the long drive home.

A couple weeks ago, Christopher had his last day of school! The Thursday before, they had a school picnic for the end of the year. They had a bounce house type obstacle course, all types of food, and face painting (though Christopher elected to get a snake painted on his arm). The next day was a fun day too, and he came home with a snake painted on his face. Monday was the last day (due to snow days), and he came home with Terry the Terydactyl - a gift from his teacher. She gave stuffed animals away to the whole class.

Doug is still going back and forth between Maryland and home. Last week he went for 3 days, and this week he goes for 5 days.

Saturday, Doug took off Christopher’s training wheels, and in no time at all he was riding by himself! Doug would walk along next to him, but he didn’t need to be pushed off that much. He never even fell hard or got bruised! Is he awesome or what?

Yesterday (Sunday), between church services, we all went to Spring Hill Manor for the Underground Railroad Experience!

We had reservations for the reenactment at 2:30, so we brought lunch and had a picnic on the grounds first. For the reenactment, everyone sat in this one area and listened to Negro Spirituals like “Wade in the water” sung a Capella. At 2:30, we were told that we were escaped slaves and were led through the woods as if we were being helped by the people at the manor. We met several “runaway slaves” along the way that told us their stories. At one point we had to sneak past “slave catchers,” and there was even a confrontation between the manor owner and a slave catcher. Everything was based upon journal entries from the house.

One of the escaped”" “slaves” told us she walked all the way from her plantation in the South. Christopher tugged on my sleeve and asked if it was the Plantation we visited a couple weeks ago. I told him, “Maybe!” Then Doug reminded him how many times he’d asked us, “Are we there yet (while we were driving back)?” “Well,” he told him, “Imagine WALKING all that way!”

Today we dropped Doug off in Cleveland again. We didn’t do much today other than homey type stuff, practicing bicycling without training wheels, watching a HULK movie, stuff like that. I’ll write again when I have something interesting to say.

On Monday, late afternoon, we finally figured out how Christopher and I could go on Doug’s next trip to Maryland. Winston is being watched by Bonnie and Autumn. Christopher, Doug, and I drove to Prince Frederick on Tuesday, and then we had a nice dinner at Mama Lucia’s. The gnocchi was INCREDIBLE.

Wednesday, while Doug was working, Christopher and I had another serving of gnocchi at Mama Lucia’s. We went bowling at Lord Calvert Lanes, and Christopher got a really nice ball there too. We went to Funland and played minigolf and batting cages. After Doug finished, we all had General Tso’s Tofu at The Little Panda.

Today, after Doug went to work, Christopher and I went to Sotterly Plantation in Hollywood, Maryland. Christopher and I looked around at all the different buildings, and we learned quite a bit about the Plantation and what life was like there. After our tour was over, we had a picnic there with our leftovers from the Little Panda.

Here is Christopher’s report on what he learned.

>The Knowledge Trip to Sotterly Plantation

I learned that there’s a big giant house built by slaves. It started out as a tiny house with only two rooms, but the guy who owned the slaves told them to build more things on it and he told them what to do.

They grew tobacco to make money. They used bat dung to make tobacco, and they rolled the tobacco down the rolling hill to get to the ship to get to England to get money. Even children smoked pipes and everything.

They grew vegetables to eat. They slaughtered pigs and chickens (ew!). They grew a certain type of plant for band aids. They grew plants for flavoring (herbs) and some flowers to decorate their house. They also grew plants that smelled nice because they didn’t take a bath.

They didn’t take a bath because they didn’t have clean water. They put nice smelling things in a bag around their neck so they’d smell nicer.

I saw one slave cabin. Twenty four people in this small little cabin lived there. There was a fireplace, and I think there was an ax near the fireplace. All the children slept upstairs, and all the adults slept downstairs. The children worked in a lot of ways like bring water near the house.

Well, now we’re in Maryland. And that was the Plantation. I hope you enjoyed your knowledge trip.<

We came back to the hotel for a little while to relax and wait for Doug. Christopher lost a tooth! And then he composed this report as I typed.

Hopefully Doug will finish soon, and we can have pizza.

Things worked out, and Doug was able to be home on our Anniversary last Tuesday. It was really nice. Christopher went to school, and Doug had to work a few hours in the morning (not enough vacation hours saved to take the whole day off). At 11 o’clock I picked him up from work, and we went to Vegiterranean for lunch. It was so nice to be able to go to a restaurant and have so many choices! We both had the bean chowder appetizer. For our entree’s Doug ordered the gnocchi and I had a Ceasar Salad Pizza. Doug had fancy coffee with vegan cheezecake for dessert, and I had Darjeeling with a lemon cream tart. Yuummmmmmm.

Afterwards, Doug surprised me by taking me to a used bookstore he’d heard about. Since moving to Ohio, used bookstores are something we’ve both really missed. They aren’t as prevalent up here as in Florida. We spent over an hour just browsing through the books. Doug finally decided not to get any, but I came out with 8 new mass paperbacks. They were having a “Buy 3/ Get the 4th book free” sale, so I can’t really be expected to withstand that sort of temptation. Seriously.

I ‘m almost done with the 2nd book from the store already. I’m having so much fun!

Christopher got home, and we all just relaxed around the house a bit. I think we all had a really nice day.

Contrary to our hopes, Doug is still going back and forth to Maryland for his work. As a result of his work schedule, a couple weeks ago I put in a request for a leave of absence at Target. My last day was yesterday. At least for now. I don’t know if I’ll be going back to work or not. It depends on Doug’s schedule and our finances. I’m very ambivalent about it since I really liked working there. I felt appreciated.

Last weekend was the Dandelion festival at Breightenbach winery in Amish country. I posted pics in the family gallery here. The weather was very overcast and rainy, so the children’s dandelion picking contest was cancelled. They had indoor activities in “The Barn” instead. The first was a bubble blowing contest which Christopher won on his very first try! They also had a coloring contest and a game of “Mother, may I?” We got a couple souveneirs (a rubber band gun for Christopher and a tee shirt for me), ate lunch and watched the band.

After the fest, we stopped and got cheeseless pizza for Doug. We stopped off at “Free Comic Book Day” in Canal Fulton, sponsored by Toys Time Forgot.  Christopher got to pick out FIVE free comic books with the Hulk, Spiderman, Sonic the Hedgehog, and a Robot! They had the robot from “Lost in Space”, the General Lee from “The Dukes of Hazzard”, and some artists signing copies of their work.  It was really fun!

After Free Comic Books and pizza, we all went out to see “Horton hears a Who” at the cheapy theatre.  We’d seen “Iron Man” the night before, so this whole weekend was sort of a spree for us.  Doug and Christopher had been looking forward to “Iron Man” ever since they heard about it.  He’s Doug’s favorite Super Hero, and they’ve been downloading trailers and everything for months.  It was very well done.

Today Doug was supposed to come home, but they cancelled his flight so he won’t come home til tomorrow.  Supposedly he’ll be here and just work in Akron next week, but I’m not really counting on it given how unpredictable his schedule’s been.  But if everything works out, we’ll go to Vegiterranean (a Mediterranean themed vegan restaurant in Akron) for lunch on Tuesday.  Au Revoir!

The weather has been alternating between stormy weather and beautiful Spring days. I am still holding off planting my Basil in case we get one last chill. The weeds haven’t waited though, so I’m planning on getting some new rubber gardening gloves to keep up with the thistles. I’ve been pulling them like crazy, but I love watching the dandelions sunny faces. Pretty soon it’ll be time for the Dandelion festival!

A couple weeks ago, Autumn and Bonnie came up to Ohio. Autumn is staying with Bonnie for awhile until she finds her own place. She just started her new job (yesterday) at the Akron zoo as part of the Education department. She’s “shadowing” for a couple weeks before she officially takes over her job.

Doug was home for a couple weeks, so it was nice to be able to see him every night and enjoy the weekends together. We all went to see The Spiderwick Chronicles when it came to the cheapy theatre, and we’ve gone hiking and eaten out. One day we walked Jackson Bog and saw garter snakes.

Last week we ended up driving to Cleveland three times which was INSANE. Last Monday we drove up to see Colleen Patrick Goudreau (one of my heros) give a talk for Mercy for Animals. They had a free vegan dinner as well, but due to some disorganization there wasn’t any food left by the time we made it to the buffet line. We unfortunately had to leave before she gave her talk, but I did get to see her and she signed my cookbook, “The Joy of Vegan Baking.” We got our income tax the next day, which was lucky because when I took the car in for service it turned out we had bald tires! That evening, we went to Cleveland to get our ASUS EEE PCs, our anniversary gifts to each other. Another night we drove back because Doug’s PC was defective, so he exchanged it. But we went to Toys R Us and got Christopher some Spiderman Shoe Skates and some Chaotic cards. He was really excited! They were a reward for his being so good all week, especially about us dragging him to Cleveland so much!

This past Saturday we went hiking (well, walking at least) with Autumn at Brecksville National Park (Cayahoga Valley). It was beautiful, and I’ll post some pics in the gallery. Autumn spotted deer tracks. We ate Japanese food for lunch, and for dinner we went out to another great restaurant in our area… Sahara. We just discovered it! It’s lovely. The cuisine is Middle Eastern, so we chowed down on falafel, mama ganoush, vegetarian green beans, hummas, pitas, lentil soup…YUM! And there was a belly dancer there! It was awesome.

Along with the EEE PC, Doug got me this computer program I’ve been drooling over called Writer’s cafe. So Monday we drove Doug to Cleveland AGAIN ( ), and I’ve been using the car to take Christopher to the park or library after school each day. Yesterday we went to Massillon library for a change, and I found a whole bunch of videos that for a long time I’ve been trying to borrow. Today we went to Jackson park, and Christopher made several new friends. He’s still working on his devotions and homework every day, but now its after he’s played outside. Yesterday he practiced on his Spiderman skates in the driveway. We want to take as much advantage of the weather while it lasts!

Hopefully Doug’s schedule will straighten out soon and all the craziness will subside. For now, we’ll just all have to enjoy the ride as much as we can.

March has been full of challenges. Doug went on his business trip to Maryland. I had the flu for about a week and lost my voice (nothing unusual about that)! Christopher had a week off from school. I finished my first edit of my novel. And we’ve been trying to do our taxes. Busy! Busy! Busy!

Of course, we had the Easter holiday which meant that Christopher had a nice little mini-vacation. Doug was able to take some time off to spend with us, since he’s been working so much overtime the past months. On Easter Sunday we went to church and spent time together at home as a family. The Easter bunny gave Christopher a lovely Easter basket with a big toy bunny, some toys, and 3 Rice chocolate bars. The past couple weeks, we saw a couple dollar movies, played some video games, card games, and board games, and ate large portions of candy and chocolate. We also had Indian buffet a couple times, and Christopher got to go skating again Saturday morning!

The weather has been gradually getting warmer, and I’m enjoying the longer days. Before long, we should be able to play basketball outside while we wait for the school bus. I love Winter, but I’m also glad Spring is here. I’ll get to plant my basil soon, and next month we can go to the Dandelion Festival!

Even though Valentine’s Day fell on a Thursday this year, Christopher’s First Grade party was on Friday. I have posted the photos I took of the party here. Since I had the car that day, I was able to attend. When I first showed up at his class, all the children were making paper heart people. They had cut out hearts from construction paper, glued on accordion style arms and legs and were in the process of applying googley eyes. After that, they went through their valentines and had snacks. I even got a photo of Christopher telling the little boy next to him that they were supposed to pray before eating.

That evening, we all went to an indoor miniature golf place with Doug’s church group. Everyone had a good time, and Christopher got a ribbon for “Great Performance.” Afterwards, everyone in the group went to Pizza Hut. They even had a nice salad bar there.

Saturday and Sunday Doug and I both worked alternately. I would go in to work, come home, and then he would leave. Sunday night the Pastor came and picked Christopher up so he could go to the Church Service and club. The Church club that night was racing Hot Wheels. Christopher was a champion and won a kit to make a small wooden glider.

Today was President’s day. Doug had to work, but I was off today. I let Christopher play video games, which I rarely do. But he also had to do a report for us for President’s day. I’ll conclude by leaving you his literary Masterpiece. We’re so proud of him.

President’s Day Report 2008.

by Christopher

Washington was a farm boy. He lived in Virginia. He fought the Franch Indyin war.

In the war his Shert got shot 4 times. And allso 2 horseis got shot. But he did not get hert.

He was cmander and chife of the contonetel army. He was the ferst President. He got voted by electorel callig. He retierde.

He Dide of a throat infecshin.

Well, Friday (Feb 1st) I got up early and got lunches ready for Doug and Christopher. Doug left, and Christopher ate his breakfast and hurried up to get ready for the school bus. And then we read a little while we waited. And then we stood by the door so we wouldn’t miss the bus. And then I got worried that we missed the bus. And then Doug called while I was on the computer checking for school closings, and he told me that Christopher’s school had a snow day that day. SNOW DAY. Yaaaay!

Sooo… we kicked off our shoes and played a bit. I still had some work to do around the house, but we also played chess and watched movies and played checkers. It was weird that it was a snow day though since there really wasn’t much snow - it was just really slushy. Doug didn’t have to work too terribly late, which was nice. And then we got to spend family time together.

Saturday I had to work from 8 a.m. til 1:30. So I rushed home, and we dropped Doug off at work again (on a Saturday!). Then I took Christopher to Magic Lanes Bowling in Barberton for a birthday party. He was late because we had to go to Akron first, but he still got to bowl. Then all the kids went into a back room for snacks and cake. Well, Christopher had chips and soda and a peice of birthday cake. Then everyone got to go on a slide in the backroom!

After the party, we went to the Playplace to kill some time before we had to pick Doug up. Then we figured he was going to be really late again, so we came back to town and did some errands - library, video store, etc. We had just pulled into the driveway when Doug called for his ride! So we drove back to Akron to pick him up. We brought some pizza home and watched Groundhog day!

Sunday, not much happened until the evening. I had to work early again, so Doug and Christopher went to the evening service at church and Captain Fulton club. They had Communion, and Christopher participated in Communion for the very first time! They had the bread and the wine. Christopher was given Valentines and a stuffed poodle from his friend, Mary, an older lady at the church. They got snacks on the way home and we had a SuperBowl party as requested by Christopher. I fell asleep on the couch. Well, that’s about it!

Christopher has been excited for the past couple weeks, because he was going to go skating for his Birthday. His actual Birthday was on Monday which isn’t a good day for a party, so we said he could go skating the Saturday before (1/26) with a few of his friends. My friend Michelle was moving on Saturday, and her daughter Emma’s birthday is the same day as Christopher. Also Andy, Emma’s brother, had a birthday last month that we missed. So we picked Emma and Andy up early Saturday morning and took them to the skating rink. Emma could skate a little, but Andy needed some help. Doug was able to get off work Saturday so he could come celebrate Christopher’s birthday with us!

We all went to the Skating Rink early to get skating lessons from 9:30 - 10:30. It was a nice refresher, and the kids had fun. Then no one could skate until the All Skate from 11:00 - 1:00. So we all ate our lunches then. The rink had set aside a spot in the back of the concession area with a table and seats for us. There was a “balloon bouquet” that Christopher loved, and we set up our cake and presents. Most of the time we spent skating, though the kids played some video games too. They got little prizes with the tickets they won from the games. Everyone also got a treat bag with candy and some small toys. Towards the end, Christopher blew out the candles on his Spider Birthday cake. (It was a special request that I baked for him - double layer chocolate) He got lots of nice presents from everyone. Daddy gave him a compass, protractor and a specially made map so he could teach him orienteering this Summer. I gave him a glove, balls, and aluminum bat for tee ball. plus he got a Sonic the Hedgehog cartridge for his Leapster and an activity book. Emma and Andy gave him a Pirates of the Carribean Bath set and Build your own Pop Up book. Everyone had a nice time.

At 1:00 we left to drop Emma and Andy off at their house, and then we went home for a little bit and reorganized. After a few hours, Christopher picked where he wanted to go for his Birthday dinner - The Golden Corral. It’s a huge buffet style restaurant where they have several “bars” that you serve yourself from. He really liked it. We wanted to take him to a movie, but Doug had wrenched his arm skating so we rented some instead. We stayed up watching movies.

Sunday is always really busy, and I had to go to work at 8 a.m. Doug stayed home because his shoulder hurt so badly. Later, after I got off work, I got things together and Christopher went to Captain Fulton’s club and Sunday evening service. I also baked 32 cupcakes for his class the next day.

Monday was Christopher’s actual birthday, so I dropped Doug off at work and Christopher at school. At 2 p.m. I met Christopher’s teacher and class at the school cafeteria with the cupcakes I’d baked. It was nice! Christopher stood in front of the class, and everyone sang “Happy Birthday to You…Cha Cha Cha!” Then everyone had cupcakes. I waited after they left, and Mrs. Holl let Christopher come to the office a few minutes early where I was waiting for him. We did a couple things and went to the Movie Gallery for Christopher’s free Gallery movie for his Birthday. We also got a couple extra (from recycling ink cartridges). Later on we picked up dinner for Doug at Mariachis (and had some snacks waiting), picked up Doug, and went to see “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.” Christopher liked it though parts of it were a little sad. Pretty nice birthday, eh?