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It has been a banner week here in Central Ohio! Columbus has had its share of newsworthy events.

This lobster only weighs 13 pounds, and that is a man's size 11 foot.

Have you been hankering for a nice big lobster lately? Does watching those clawed dinner treats in the tank at your local restaurant or seafood market make your mouth start watering until you can almost taste the drawn butter dripping off a huge hunk of tender deliciousness? Well, come to Dublin, Ohio! This week at the Dublin Kroger a seventeen-pound lobster was discovered in the tank by a customer! Now an average lobster that you would purchase for your dinner is around 1 1/4-2 pounds. Just picture one that's at least eight times bigger! You can read more about this creature of the sea in The Columbus Dispatch.

The lobster was released back into the ocean to live out his obviously long life.

these are not the cubs born at the Columbus Zoo

On a much cuter and more precious level, at the Columbus Zoo this week, babies were born...triplet lion cubs!  They are the first lion cubs to be born there in twenty-four years! I didn't know this, but lions have not been bred in captivity in North America for several decades because of inbreeding and other inappropriate parings, according to Harry Peachey, the Assistant Curator. The cubs' parents, Asali and Tomo, are one of 31 pairs in N.A. to be part of a new breeding program monitored by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan. Unfortunately, there are no pictures yet. Even the zookeepers have only seen the cubs through a video camera lens. They're giving the mother time to bond with her babies and it seems she is doing a fantastic job so far.

Who says the Midwest is boring!

Warning! Meltdown!

I picked up Gaige from school yesterday and was met in the carpool line by one of the teachers explaining why Gaige was crying. She said he had felt a little ill earlier, but that he wasn't running a fever. As Gaige entered the van, the trickle of tears turned into a torrent with dramatic sobbing following closely. Trying to deduce the cause of the meltdown while maneuvering out of the school parking lot was a little tricky. Between sobs and moans, I finally managed to glean the following information: everyone disrespected him, his leg bone was "twisted", and he was "really, really tired".

The total disrespect by his classmates was the result of them not wanting to play what Gaige suggested, so they went off and did their own thing while he stubbornly refused to change his position, as he is wont to do. The twisting of the leg bone (the opposite one was twisted the day before) I attributed to growing pains and was relieved after an hour's rest on the sofa and a dose of ibuprofen. So relieved, in fact, that he was able to chase his brother around the house and drive me crazy.

I'm pretty sure that exhaustion was the biggest factor in the meltdown. Adjusting to first grade takes a toll on a six-year-old boy. That, combined with not getting to sleep until 9:30 p.m. on the average night and waking up by 6:30 or 7:00, equates to not enough rest. Having homework every night for the first time has been a big adjustment as well. I'm hoping that in a few weeks all these new developments will be old hat to him and will make for smoother sailing.

I didn't have the camera with me to record the meltdown, but I found a picture of a similar one when Gaige was four.



When Jaye, Kelly and the kids were here last weekend, they went to the zoo. Lauren and Kelly are exploring the Habitat House.



Matthew was doing a little computer work with his dad, but then he got sleepy.