Lake Lizzie Nature Preserve Date

Today Richard had the day off from work and we took this time to go for a Date Hike...all 3 kids were in school. We did take his Ham radio with the plan to hook it up and see who was able to chat.

Many, Many moths ago I was given a new camera, the Canon EOS Rebel XS. It did not come with the instructions so to be honest, it scares me..I know next to nothing about this camera but today I took it out of it's bag and with a full battery, took it on the hike with us. I'll learn as I go and play around with the features but I WILL learn how to use this camera!! 

You may click on the pic. to enlarge them for detail viewing

Tiny Woodpecker of some sort

Shrub/marsh looking out to Lake

Random Wildflowers swaying in breeze

Loved this Path, this pic doesn't do it Justice

Huge Banana Spider between 2 trees

Just a fun shot

Huge drainage pipe as we were exiting Lake Lizzie

After hiking around Lake Lizzie only to find out there are no tables to set up Richard's Ham radio, We drove over to another park that we have been to before and set up his radio there. We didn't get to actually talk to anyone this trip due to a silly little Sun Flare and an annoying call from the Elementary School. 

That was our Friday Date and we are ending it with Cookies and Milk.

My 34th Birthday Dinner Table

We have been so busy this Summer with Parks and Crystal's Riding Lessons.

Here we are waiting at the park while Crystal rides.

This week was my Birthday and I turned 34! My MIL came over and cooked a very delish Shrimp dinner and we enjoyed some Sweets!

As a present to me a ordered a couple of items from the Bath&Body Works Sale that is going on right now and I'm waiting on it to be delivered, I will share as soon as it arrives. Hubby let me sleep in and cleaned house for me!

It was a Great Day!

Yankee Candle! The First in About 3 Years!

Today was a Wonderful day! The best that we have had in quite some time. We drove to Mount Dora and let the kids play on the huge playground there and then walked to the lake's edge and even saw a rare sighting of a Bold Eagle flying right over our heads, swirling in the high winds.

Then we drove to grab some lunch at the Sanford Mall, it was good but not as great as we remembered it. 

As a total surprise to me Husband let me pick out my first Yankee Candle in about 3 years! After about 1/2 hour of all 5 of us sniffing the jars we picked "Sweet Strawberries". I lite it as soon as we arrived home, it gives off a wonderful scent throw that I even smelled upstairs while folding laundry, A plus in my book since this house is huge! I gave it a good time to form a nice wax pool so hopefully it will burn evenly from now on.

I haven't bought a Yankee Candle in forever so I was surprised at how many more scents there are on the shelves now but was not happy that the price had gone up so much. We love that they are made in the USA though!

What is your favorite Yankee Candle scent? Do you change your scents month to month or by seasons?

Watcha Working on Wednesday

 This past Sunday we heard water leaking behind our shower in the wall so Richard went into Daughter's closet which is behind our shower to find a flooded mess and after tearing apart the wall we found the leak, after 2 trips to Lowes for the needed parts to fix it the shower is dryer but the closet is taking longer to air out.

Today we got the chance to run to Chillicothe with Richard since he had an interview, his contract is up and he is in the process of looking for a new job, please pray that he gets something fast. After dropping him off the kids and I ran to the park to feed the ducks, here are some cute pics...

This pic of our 3 kiddos is my fav.!

We are enjoying Richard having the extra time with us and we are busy with lots of day trips and trying to stay cool in this heat. I have started a new book by Mary Ellen Hughes called String of Lies.

What Summer reading have you been doing, have you discovered any one new?

The Dawes Arboretum

On Sunday after Church we were invited to go explore a great park named "The Dawes Arboretum" in Newark OH. It is a treasure trove of flowering plants and trees. The perfect place for a picnic and picture taking! We are looking forward for a return trip soon as we ran out of time.


These are the hedges that spell out "Dawes Arboretum", we climbed the high tower but wasn't on there for long cuse you could feel the tower sway with every step. It was scaring the kids..really..the kids..lol..



Hamming it up at the Sun Dial


Our new Friends, a classmate of Crystal's.


The perfect family shot..except Abigail decided to hold up that postcard right as it was taken..lol..

Hocking Hills and Lake Logan Dam Day Trip 6-9-08

Since it's so hot and the kids were getting bored We loaded up and headed out! We went to Hocking Hills for a nice drive and stopped at Cedar Falls for a little walk, DH could only walk a little ways so we will go back another day to finish the 2 1/2 mile hike. One breathtaking few of a tiny waterfall.
Had to pose the kids on this Rock Bench, They love Hamming it up!
This is a crevice hole made by years of water swirling down there, DH played around with my focus on the camera to get this pic for me!
This is how far up we were from it!
This is the Iron bridge that we had to cross, the kids were very slow walking across it and Abigail kept looking down and grabbing for Daddy...Never cried though...I'm proud of her! MMM...Should have tilted the pic for ya.
This is what we saw when looking down!

Then DH was sore so we loaded back up into the car and drove to this tiny Dam, Tankers was amazed and we stopped and let the kids run in the field next to it.
Quick shot of everyone posing, One of the few pics of DH that I grabbed!!!

The field that was next to the Dam, the kids were chasing Butterflies. You'd think that they didn't have 5 acres to play on...LOL...

It was a nice day and everyone came home and vegged out!