Farmer's Market

Lala and Papa are in town. They arrived at our house about 2:30 am, so we all enjoyed sleeping in that morning. Once we got ourselves organized, we hit the town to Perrysburg-ish stuff. We stopped at the library so the kids could get some books:
Both kids are signed up for the summer activities at Way, like art classes, magic lessons, and puppet shows. They are also participating in the summer reading programs so they can earn prizes and such.

Emma had her modern dance class at the Schaller Memorial Building, so the rest of us killed time walking the shops downtown. Can you tell Papa was somehow involved with this shot?

After Emma's class was over, the kids got their lunches from the hotdog stand out on the sidewalk. We ate a late lunch at My Daily Grind. We got to see the beach and pick treats from the candy jar.

We came away with summer squash, lemon honey, cinnamon bread, and many flowers. Emma bough these little pink impatiens for herself:

Later that night, Lala and I attended Book Club where we discussed The Uglies and ate yummy food. It was a perfect, Perrysburg day.

Welcome Home

We're still settling into our new place. It seems we finish one project, then add three more to our list! Rick's been in heaven working out in his spanky new garage with the epoxy floors. He's digging out his tools and arranging them on his peg boards and such. It's cute to watch him in his man cave.

I've decided to put the rest of my nest making on hold until I get the old house spic and span. It continues to be a monkey on my back that I can't shake. It's funny how you can love a place one day and despise it the next. I'll be so glad when my work there is through. Does anyone do windows?

Despite our state of undoneness, we've already hosted a Sunday night dinner. Rick put his shiny new grill together and cooked up some delicious burgers. Our guests, the Luces, brought a scrumptious apple pie for dessert. Doesn't that sound like an all-American dinner? The one downer was that we didn't have enough seating for everybody. We ordered 8 chairs with our dinette set, but the furniture guys only brought 5. Duh! Who orders an odd number of chairs anyway? Now we have to wait another month before they get more chairs into the warehouse. Plus, the sofa they delivered has a cut on the arm so they'll be exchanging that too. Oopsies!

Well, I've stalled long enough. I'm back to the old house to dust blinds, scrub baseboards, and shampoo carpets. Waaaaaaaa.

Future Bass Pros and Fun Freebies

Our local Bass Pro Shop is incredible. They have all kinds of activities for kids like laser shooting ranges, archery, aquariums, restaurants, etc. They offer classes on camping, cooking, first aid - you name it. It's a Boy Scout's dream!

We recently took the kids there to check out some of the summer crafts and activities. Our whole family got to decorate our own fishing bobbers and sample fudge. Here are some goofy pictures we had taken:

We had to bribe Jake to wear the fishing get-up, but Emma was happy to oblige:

Another place we like to go for free fun is Home Depot. Last Saturday, the kids each made a hardwar organizer for Daddy, just in time for Father's Day. Emma brought hers home and added brightly colored paint. Jake slapped some stickers on his and called it good.

Today the kids and I got away from the new house for some much-needed fun (you can only unpack for so long). We went to Arby's for our free chicken club sandwiches, then drove to Maumee for a show. The 3 of us got to see Race to Witch Mountain for $4.50 total. What a deal! Plus, popcorn was only $1.25 per bag. Sweet! To counteract all that saving, we spent about $80 on random house-related needs this evening. Ha!

Mudhens Game

The Elders Quorum President organized a ward outing to the Mudhens game last Saturday, May 30th. A lot of fun families came out to cheer for the team and see the post-game fireworks. Our seats were near right field, so this was our view:
Jake felt especially lucky to be there, since it was his second Mudhens game of the week. The 5th graders got an all-expenses-paid field trip the Wednesday before.

Emma enjoyed the game as long as we fed her snacks. When she got bored, she played with her DS.

Luckily, the Dworczyks arrived a little later in the game so she could play with Leah.

We were so happy that it didn't rain on us as predicted. You can see that we were just in front of the roof line.

The fireworks were up close and personal.

It's too bad pictures can't capture the full effect.

I think we're ready for 4th of July!

I have a friend that lives right across the street in one of the high-rise apartments. She gets to see (and hear) this spectacle quite often.

Update: Birdies

Remember our little robin's nest? Well, some other bird kicked it out and built a second nest within the same silk flower pot. One tiny blue egg was left behind, but we're hoping the poor robin got away with the other 2 eggs. The new resident had some birdies to hatch herself. Here is her new family:

Creatures only a mother could love...

Marblehead, OH

Our friends, the Cornells, have introduced us to a number of small town "hot spots" lately. On Memorial Day, we drove to Marblehead (near Sandusky) to experience the wonders of Mystery Hill .

Of course, once we arrived, everyone had to potty and have snacks.

Then we shuffled over to this crazy, mixed up house.

Jacob defies gravity!

That water is running uphill!

Be careful Rick!

Now that's just weird.

How does she do that?

How about we move into this place instead?

We should've had our V8.

Next we took a self-guided tour through The Prehistoric Forest. The kids found a dino dig and managed to excavate so perfectly preserved fossils.

Good work there girls!

Look out for that triceratops!

I thought they only ate plants???

Emma got tangled up with this enormous snake.

Jake's a little worried...

Wanna ride?

As if ALL THAT wasn't enough, we went to see an old lighthouse on Marblehead. It was such a windy day that Lake Erie seemed more like an ocean. Look at those waves!

We had to huddle together for warmth.

We want it to be summer so badly that we wear shorts, but it's cold enough that we have to keep a sweatshirt on.

I don't think you'll find many sea shells here Em.

If you look across Lake Erie, you can see Canada.

It may be a lake, but it still makes you feel small.

This lighthouse still operates today.

It's random stuff like this giant pizza dude that makes the drive so fun. You just never know what you'll see on the side of the road.

How could we NOT stop at Cheesehaven?

For all your cheesy needs, shop http://www.cheesehaven.com/.

We really know how to have a good time here in Ohio. Doesn't it make you wanna visit?

Picnic in the Park

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went to one special engagement after another. Our ward friends met at Side Cut Metropark on Saturday for a spontaneous picnic.

The spot we chose was completely shaded by trees, and right next to the children's playground. We also had a huge field for playing catch and frisbee.

We brought KFC's new grilled chicken (not good) and enjoyed the company of ward family. Emma chased babies and ran around with girlfriends.

Jake loved throwing the ball around with Dad (and Dad loved not being at the hospital). It was totally relaxing and completely perfect.