Ride Around Town

My number one reason for wanting to move is NOT space, although I have discovered that spacial issues are actually a science.  My primary reason for wishing to live elsewhere is the amount of time I spend in the car each day driving 3 kids to and from school with two more in tow.  One to three hours per day amounts to a great deal of time over the past 8 years that my infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers have spent strapped in a seat belt instead of playing outdoors, interacting with each-other and their toys and worse yet; finishing their afternoon naps.  I’ve even had to take sick kids on the drive with throw-up buckets clutched in their arms because I’ve no other choice.  Driving to school was supposed to be a temporary fix…not a permanent solution.  Without a move I have 18 more years of this to go and more complexities on the way, as I have more children in public school participating in more before and after school activities, attending 2 or more different schools with different start and end times and now early morning seminary is on the horizon at 5:30 a.m.   I would like my children to learn to be a little more self-sufficient.  It’s a life skill.  But for now, this is our best option…

Since we spend soooooooo much of our time driving 7 1/2 miles to Fairview-Clifton and 10 miles through traffic to SCPA each day, I figured I would share some scenery with you…it’s a big part of my life.

Tristan gets picked up from Fairview first at about 4 p.m.  He is fit to be tied since he’s been at school since 9 a.m. Rediculously this does NOT include recess since it is colder than 32 degrees.  We won’t be home before dark either so there go any ideas of running off energy in the backyard.  I grew up with recess that included ice skating, skiing and sledding.  If you didn’t have mittens for some reason, the teacher had spare socks for your hands at the very least.  The weather had to be drastic to miss out on recess.  We raise “hot house tomatoes” here.

 

Singing along helps pass the time.

Thank goodness for a good CD player and Raffi or Scripture Scouts.  I can do without singing vegetables though.  I draw the line there.

 

We pass Schiel Primary where Haley went for K-3 and Lindsay attended briefly K-1 before transferring.  No, there is no green space.  The playground is a parking lot they fence off during recess time.

 

I believe this is part of “Pill Hill” (many hospitals all in the same vicinity) and is part of the view on our drive.

 

 

Homes like this line the final hill on the way to pick Haley up.  These are newer ones…built to fit in with some the very old flat topped homes of this area.  They look like Sesamee Street.

 

 

 

This is a view of down town from the above house.  Haley’s school is a couple blocks down.  This is one of the most crime ridden neighborhoods in the nation (based on some national poll taken late last year).  Lock downs at school are frequent.  Rick works at this school on the second floor in a room with raw sewage running down one wall.  He frequently hears gun-shots from down below.  Occasionally after school the security guards tell him to go back upstairs and work until the area is clear between the school and his car out back.  Many times I watch the news and am grateful he is home and left when he did.  His new school building will open this coming fall.  However, this new building is just blocks away and does not improve this particular situation.  It is around the corner from the drop in center.  The locals are not happy to have this school as a neighbor.  Sadly Rick will have to walk a few blocks to work from a parking garage and I worry at the prospect of him leaving school late at night alone.

We have arrived to pick Haley up.  Tristan has been in the car for 25 minutes as we crawl through the traffic around UC.  My younger ones are going on 45 minutes.  We yell out to security to send Haley out and they get on their walkie-talkies.  She’s been waiting for 45 minutes in a supervised holding area doing homework and reading.

 

Haley is dumb-founded to be greeted by a camera after a long day.  Sorry!

 

 

 

We are now pulling away from SCPA.  This school somewhat reminds me of Monroe High School in architecture on the first level at least.  I think they were built in the same time period.  I loved the old charm of Monroe High where I graduated from in Rochester, NY.  They don’t make schools like that anymore, as you are about to see.

Don’t worry!  I let the kids loose with the camera while I drove.  They LOVED this project, except it did cause some arguing over whose turn it was to take the picture.  Arguing is a form of entertainment to pass the time.  This is just some scenery on the way back to Fairview.  Not too impressive in the winter.

Welcome to the brand new Fairview-Clifton German Language School which moved to this brand new building in August of ‘08.  It houses N-6 and has nothing of the charm the old school of the 1800’s did.  I will have to get up there and snap a picture of it one of these days.

No matter…we LOVE this school.  Lindsay and Tristan thrive here.  People actually camp out for days and days in a line to get their kids into this Cincinnati Public School.  It is practically a closed community now since moving to this area, with siblings and Pre-K getting priority registration.  It was hard to get into before but there were only 10 spots left to the public last year and every one else went onto a waiting list hoping to get into this EXCELLENT rated school.  You cannot get into this school past second grade without an interview and heavy parental support and tutoring since German Language skills become an issue.  Lindsay dreams in German now; it is that much a part of her life.  Occasionally she and Tristan have private conversations in German or, at McDonalds, pretend they are not from this country…very impressive to other kids in the playland.  Occasionally impressive to other adults.

This is the old carriage house which sits behind the school.  They preserved it on this piece of property and hope to do something with it after re-habing it.  But I’m not exactly sure what. 

 

 

It is a neat old building.  School volunteers have put in plexi-glass over the missing windows as a temporary solution to keep out weather and un-wanted guests for the meantime.

I love having a whole line of visitor parking for all those times I am here for classes with the kids or volunteering.  Lots better than hiking through some of the other neighborhoods we’ve been in or paying a parking meter.  I’m always happy to get into my child’s school without being pestered for money, drugs or strangers trying to jump into my van with the kids. 

We have retrieved Lindsay from Running Club and it is 5:15 p.m.  Haley has been out of class since 3:45.  My youngest two have been in their car seats for an hour and a half also.  Keep in mind that they also spent the morning dropping Tristan off for 9 a.m. classes.  Lindsay started Orchestra at 8a.m. and Haley had Gifted at 8:30 so those two drove in with their Dad today.

There is quite a difference between the neighborhoods where my kids attend school in spite of the fact they are only 2 1/2-3 miles apart.  Cincinnati seems to go back and forth like that.  Anyway, Fairview, with it’s modern architecture does not “blend” with it’s classic surroundings very well but I think the neighborhood is still happy to have this wonderful school as a part of its community.  Many children of this neighborhood get to walk to school; a choice when so obviously they could easily attend private.

  Here are some examples of houses in Clifton.  If I could live anywhere in the city, it would be here.  Unfortunately these homes run for $500,000+ and they don’t often take long to sell.  What do these people do for a living???  I know they aren’t teachers but…

This one’s for sale around $600,000 right around the corner from the school.

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my children’s friends live in houses like this one.  Seriously, a grand piano is small, almost un-noticable in the corner of a living room in a house like this.  By comparison, a grand piano in my living room???  No one would be able to move! 

 

 

This one is Haley’s favorite.  There is a fountain nearby right next to the road.  It is right down the street from school. 

(My kids are still taking pictures).

 

 

 

It’s small…but I’d take it.

 

 

 

Aren’t these houses so cool?

Tristan’s friend Rohan lives in this house just down the street from school with his parents and brother.  Rumor has it his grandparents live there also but with 20 rooms, they probably don’t even run into each other unless they try.

We arrive home near 5:30p.m.  My two littlest ones and I have been driving the after school round for nearly 2 hours.  Baby is hungry and it is time to make dinner, help with homework and get the bathroom rotation going.  There are also lunchbox dishes to wash, laundry to switch around and fold as well as chores for kids to attend to and music practise.  My day will not end for another 7-8 hours.  Many nights, Rick will be at work until 10 or 11 p.m. (‘tis the nature of entertainment) but tonight he will arrive home in another hour or so after meetings and help with the parenting.  He’ll be up with me grading and typing late tonight after the dinner dishes are washed. 

Space is not my primary motivation for wanting to move.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cat’s out of the bag…the house has been on the market (again) for over a month now (after waiting 3 1/2 years and 2 more children since the last 13 month stint).  We have a bunch of stuff that doesn’t nicely fit in a storage unit with more that needs to go to help clear it out.  We are hoping that the $8,000 tax credit to first time buyers will be motivation for people to come out and buy.  So far… a very expensive fix to the stove for only $60, courtesy of our realtor’s home warranty, a stolen “for sale” sign which our realtor isn’t too happy about since she has to pay for it, a lock box that has gotten fiddled with so many afternoons that we finally took the key out of it (we’ll leave it when necessary) and just one showing…at the price we paid for the house in 1996 plus enough to pay a realtor, no wiggle room but priced to sell.  I guess if it’s meant to be it will happen.  And if it doesn’t then God has something else for us in mind.  I have talked with other neighbors and friends who are also trying to sell in this area.  We are all experiencing the same difficulties so it’s not just me (Heather the horrible housekeeper) and my house.  But maybe when the snow finishes melting…    or perhaps I just get a thorough cleaning of my house done and then enjoy the results while paying it off in 11 more years.  Things always happen for a reason.