Hiatus

So it has been awhile since my last post...let me see if I can recap the highlights. A few weekends ago we drove to NJ for a VERY quick weekend trip to celebrate with Pam at her bridal shower. We drove out on Friday after work and drove back Sunday morning, we spent more time on the road then time we spent in NJ! The weekend after that, the family came out for DJ's whitecoat ceremony at OU. It is an induction ceremony for the school of osteopathic medicine where the first years students receive their coveted white coats. We spent the weekend in a cabin in Hocking Hills. I made a fire all by myself! and enjoyed smores, the hottub, hiking at old man's cave, swimming, playing games, and hanging out with Abe! Abe's new best friend is Patrick. This is rather ironic since before Abe came along, Patrick never held a child unneccessarily, fed, or changed a diaper, but thankfully Abe has changed all of that! It was too funny because anytime Patrick would make a face or say something to Abe, Abe would crack up laughing!
Speaking of Abe, DJ, Lindz, and Abe came to visit and stay with us this past weekend. It was such a treat to spend so much time with Abe. He is almost 4 months now and is laughing up a storm and his personality is starting to show through!
In other news, last night I was inducted as a new member into the ALMC which stands for the Assistance League of Metro Colmbus. It is an not-for-profit organization that seeks out unmet needs of Columbus and develops ways to meet those needs. I am really excited to be a part of this organization and look forward to donating my time and resources to help those in needs. There are many different programs including, hygiene kits, kids kits, and birthday kits for women and children living in local shelters, tutoring, reading, dental program, PALS (providing for needs at assisted living facility), assault survivor kits, and many more programs. It is a great way to reach out and meet the needs of the community. If any of you are interested in joining Let me know!
Now we are gearing up for another trip to NJ over labor day weekend for Pamela and Jared's wedding! We are flying this time! and as for work we are SUPER slow, so much so that I only have to work 1-2 hours tomorrow, with the rest of the day to myself! Yay! I have been started taking more pictures with my 35mm camera so as soon as I get them developed I will post more. But for now, I will leave with a pic of Abe in his new Pumpkin hat that Aunt Stacey and Uncle Pat got him!

country music, country fair, and irish festival

Well for those of you that follow my blog (I don't know if there actually are any!) you know it has been awhile since I updated. Life has been busy, full of lots of summer fun! Two weeks ago we went to Nashville TN for the weekend! It was so much fun! We went to the Wildhorse Saloon, visited the Gaylord Opryland Resort and saw Carrie Underwood at the Grand Ole Opry!!! I had a blast and Patrick even enjoyed himself! Nashville makes country music so cool! :) I recommend everyone should visit this town! Here are some pics from our road trip...


At the Wildhorse Saloon!!!


At the Gaylord Opryland Resort


They had tons of vegetation inside the resort and even a boat ride inside!






And we saw Montgomery Gentry bus in Kentucky on the way back!


More recently, this past weekend, we started off by going to the Dublin Irish Festival. We met up with some firends form work who entertained us with their version of an irish jig which actually ended up looking more like a russian robot dance. It was hilarious! On Saturday we went to a BBQ for some friends who just moved to a new apt. And Sunday we went to the Ohio State Fair! We started off the afternoon with a hot dog, a cheese steak and a sweet tea. Then we headed to see all of the animals including the pot-belly pig races (which were totally worth the wait!). Then we had cheese on a stick and more sweet tea. After which Charity (my neighbor friend) and I decided to ride some of the fair rides. you know the spinny ones that seem like they are going to break at any moment since they just arrived off a trailer! Yeah those ones. So we start by going on the Fireball, the viper and the tilt-a-whirl...no big deal. We had enough tickets for one more ride and we let Ted chose the ride....so he choses Zipper. The one where they lock into a cage and you go around in a circle flipping over and over in your cage! The whole time I am flipping around trying not regurgitate my cheese stick thinking this is almost over and the ride stops while we are at the bottom. I am thinking at this point "OK I can handle that, now get me out of here!" and just when I think the ride is over we start up again and go through the whole all over again! This happens a total of three times! (all b/c people were screaming bloody murder and the ride attendants were letting them off!) I seriously thought I was going to die or vomit or BOTH! and in the mean time all the change fell out of my pocket and was tossing around in the cage! It was terrible! I should have noticed the vomit piles around the ride before I got on! WARNING: DO NOT RIDE THE ZIPPER!!!!

After I recovered from that ride we had funnel cake, fried snickers, and more sweet tea! All in all it was a great weekend with some great friends and only a few thousand calories!!

...it's been awhile

Recap since my last post:
All of our visitors have come and gone. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for me. My mom came out to help my brother and sister-in-law move to Athens almost 3 weeks ago! I still look out my window to see if they are home so I can play with Abe, but alas they are no longer there and that makes me sad :( My younger brother also moved out and headed back home to NJ (tear). I really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with him! what an adjustment it has been to go from having people around all the time to being alone all the time. Very weird! After they left my mom-in-law came and stayed with us for a week to celebrate the fourth of July! We had lots of fun....

We started off the holiday by going to Red, White, and BOOM! since I work downtown we got tickets to go up to the deck of my building to watch the fireworks! It was such an Awesome view!


On the 4th, DJ, Lindz, Abe, and Brad joined us for a cookout and some cornhole! and we helped Abe be patriotic for his first fourth of July! my mom-in-law bought this hat at Red,White,and Boom (One of the residents called her Lady Liberty...the balls light up too! too funny!)



Then on Sunday we went to the zoo to meet the new baby elephant! we barely caught a glimpse, he was so popular!


And then we went on a boat ride and saw exactly ZERO animals with a 30 min wait time! So after the boat ride we had to walk around and see all the animals we were supposed to see on the ride! ugh! but all in all it was a great day with great weather to boot!


Now we are settling back into the swing of normal life and trying to make the most of every day with all the beautiful sunshine!

The Lazy days of Summer....

Diego and Cleveland have been enjoying their summer vacation thus far. Here are some pics of their latest adventures:


Diego couldn't wait until we poured the food in his bowl so he ate right from the container!



Checking out the new washer!



Hanging out in the washer box...its the cool thing to do!



Cleveland trying to figure out how Diego got into the washer box...one is smarter than the other! I'll let you be the judge!




The best cat toy EVER, a bird house!



Bird stalking....

Golf Etiquette

So funny story.... I started golf lessons tonight with some friends at work. Now I just want to say up front that am not familiar with the game of golf and I don't pretend to know what I am doing on a golf course, so I arrive at the course and go into the club shop to sign in (key point: while carrying my golf bag). The lady at the desk says, "please leave your golf bag outside on the bag racks." So, being completely embarrassed for not knowing that, I turned toward the door and whack a stand of merchandise with my bag. My face turned beat red and I got out of there as quickly as possible without looking back, totally embarrassed! So FYI, you should never bring your clubs into the golf shop. :) Lesson learned.

Detroit Red Bull Air Race

Yesterday was a great day. We drove up to Detroit Michigan for the Red Bull Air Race. It was a 3.5 hour drive and we left around 8:00am. The air races started at 2pm with some side shows ahead of time. Let me just say, Detroit is not a place that I plan on visiting again (sorry to those of you from Detroit)I can't tell you how many abandoned buildings that were in that city it was like a ghost town, kinda eerie. And to top it all off, Bonnie, our GPS system was unable to identify some of the roads we were on making our travels very interesting to say the least. But despite the location, the air race was really awesome! Our road trip friend, Brad came with us and provided us with endless entertainment. Here are some photos from our trip:

Patrick after he had some red bull












The pylons that they have to race through on the Detroit River with Windsor Ontario on the other side of the river








A plane flying vertical through the pylons. They get a 2 second penalty for not being at the right angle going through the pylons.








this is my favorite shot with Caesar's Palace in the background. Maybe next year we can stay there! :)











Group shot with our red bull drinks!






In other news, next month is going to be crazy busy! Travis will be heading back to NJ on Friday, and my dad will be arriving from NJ on Friday to stay the weekend. the following weekend, my mom will be in town to help my brother and sister-in-law move to Athens, and as soon as she heads home my mother-in-law will be joining us for a week to celebrate the fourth of July! whew, I am exhausted just thinking about it all, but it will be great to see everyone! And in addition to that I am doing a 6 week Beth Moore bible study at church on Wednesdays, taking golf lessons on Thursday with some girls from work, and work my other OT job every day this week! All I have to say to that is......BRING IT ON!
And now I am going to enjoy some steaks that my husband has grilled up for us and maybe even have some graeter's ice cream! Hope you all are enjoying what is left of your weekend!

It's been a long time...

and I will try to recap everything that has been going on in our lives since my last post.

Well to start off.. it has been rather hot here and since we don't have AC, Cleveland has found the coolest place in the apt....the bathroom sink!

Lindsey, Abe, and I attend the memorial day parade. Abe was such a good baby and slept through the whole parade! Lindsey and I attend every parade we can and thought we should start Abe early so he will hopefully LOVE them as much as we do!

and below is my favorite pic from the parade...

And to continue on my recap...I just want to say that I really love my husband...lately he has been super awesome doing laundry, washing dishes, and cleaning the litter box! I love this man! I am truly BLESSED!

And this past weekend we went to Salem, Ohio (very similar to south Jersey!) for my friend Kim's wedding! It was such a pretty wedding and Kim was so beautiful! It was so great to catch up with OT friends that I haven't seen in awhile! And it was great to see Becca and her baby bump! She is so cute prego! All in all a great weekend with some great friends!