This is a commercial for my fourth grade book report.

In early August we went home to Cleveland to visit with Uche's family. While we were there we traveled to Erie, PA to visit Uche's business partner, Eric Miller, and his family. They have an orange cabin on Lake Erie. Jide likes to say "Alex has a lake at his house". We had a blast, a very relaxing and rewarding blast. Not only did we get to see Eric and his wife, Vicki and their little people, Alex and Aidan, but we also spent the day with Chime and his wife, Roschelle. I adore the Millers, to explain how Eric captured my affection I have to tell you that he makes the meanest rice balls. The first time that I met them, we went to a Japanese steakhouse. Try as I might, I could not make a riceball(I can make a mean play-doh ball, though) Eric started making them to get his kids to eat them. I would not doubt that he could make any shape that he wanted. Vicki grabbed me by making this great bracelet for me for Christmas. They are quite the creative bunch. I''m hoping for some homemade paper for this Christmas ;-) . They fed us and allowed us to relax and unwind all day. We stayed until the sun set. We had some great cherry pie, and some lovely fresh red peppers. Alex and Osi are very alike and made themselves busy with the electronics things. Jide spent most of the time down at the beach throwing smaller rocks at this huge rock. I don't know if he just loved the sound or if he really thought that he could maybe crack the large rock. Jide lost his first tooth there. He had no idea what was going on, when he told me I think that he thought that he was in trouble. Uche can skip just about any rock you find for him. Udoka enjoyed himself all day and felt it necessary to help Aidan learn his colors.

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I tried back in January to get Udoka into the same preschool that Jide went to for two years. It is a lottery system and last I knew he was fourth on the three-year-olds list. That was back in June that I had given up hope for this year. He has only just turned three in July, but he's got some amazing language skills and need help with sitting still and listening like a little person. I was going to hope again for next year, then two weeks ago, I got the phone call that there was a opening in the afternoon class. I can't believe I actually had to think about the choice. I had to consider how having no naps was going to effect Udoka and my day, honestly. He loves it. Before he had a school every building that we saw was "my school". He even could make himself a lunch, complete with an ice pack. This year he sees Osi and Jide going to the same school every morning and he really felt that he should have his own. It's done, he's happy, I'm thrilled and Jide gets to see all the fabulous teachers that helped him to blossom for two years. It has been a challenge adjusting to no naps. 6:30 around my house is not a lot of fun. He goes to bed much earlier and does some serious vegging out after school. Yea, Fireside Preschool!!!!!

The best part of going home to Wisconsin in August is not actually the mosquitoes, it's the Kenosha County Fair. I would spend all day there as a child, just checking everything out and sipping my share of snow cones(grape flavor). Very little has changed 25 years later; the bathroom are updated(thanks so much to the fair board), the beer garden isn't quite as big as it used to be, there is now an entrance and an exit closest to the parking lot. There is still the 4-H Pizza building where I did my duties selling pizzas that we had made earlier in the year in the cafeteria of the high school, can you imagine that now? The farm bureau building selling the nicest cream puffs, the dudes that sell the roasted corn. Hmmm....lots of food involved, now you know why the bathrooms needed to be updated! All the sweet smelling barns and the beautiful animals that they hold. Oh, another difference from 25 years ago: the racing pigs, they were nowhere to be found back then(I didn't miss them). I don't remember any hula hoops back then, but you can bet that Osi found them when we were there in 2007.

This is Udoka's favorite book this week. He is getting ready for bed. He is sitting on his great space sheets and Neptune, his stuffed pillow. He is sporting a dish towel do-rag for the hair--very fashionable for the fall. Yes, a dish towel that I bought at a thrift store and placed on his head after I spent nearly three hours untangling his hair one Sunday. It's unbelievable how much it helps with the tangles.

It may be just four boys(including my nephew, Mason), but give them a set of wheels and they get a little crazy.
This was my vantage point after I had twisted my ankle. I would sit and watch them with my foot up.
Bella was my constant helper, even before I hurt myself.

Osi had a close friend, Aidan sleepover Saturday night. Thankfully he brought his helmet along. They had great fun playing Webkinz and Wii. Then somehow Osi managed to drag Aidan off of the Wii. It' s not going to summer much longer, but it is Colorado, so you never know.

Grandma bought us a great pool to play with at her house. Maybe she wanted us to have fun, or maybe she thinks we need to take more baths. The kids had great fun.

check out this video clip on blip

The first day Osi drove the tractor and the next day it was Bella driving "The Birthday Express". It was the 25th of July, Udoka's birthday.

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http://blip.tv/file/1240834/

I swear that I didn't stage this picture. We all sleep in the same room that I grew up in when we visit White Grandma and Grandpa, and I needed to find something in the dark room. Osi and Jide clearly sleep like rocks, really close rocks.