Dawes Arboretum

Kevin took the day off on Tuesday to hang out with me! He wanted to do something different and free and after some research he found the Dawes Arboretum about an hour from home. The weather was perfect a refreshing 76 degrees and sunny day! We packed some snacks and a jug of water and were off. 

when we got there we took a map and picked the "Holly" trail. 

First stop was the ceder swamp it said to leave the tadpoles and salamanders in the park and i would have if i saw any! i was greatly disappointed that the swamp was dried up but it was still pretty.

you can see the "knees" of the trees

where are the salamanders?

beautiful

Fter that we took a hike thru the woods to a cottage but it was locked then up the hill further to a cemetery where Johnny Appleseed's family is buried and a few Revolutionary War Vets were among them too.

one of the men who fought for America's Freedom from Great Britain

can you see the Frog?

the water Jug was a life saver it got pretty hot in the middle of the day

*love*

Then towards the end of the train was a Japanese Garden with a large pond I spotted a few koi.

It was very pretty,

A cute stone bridge

After we finished the trail we went on the auto trail up to the look out to see "dawes arboretum" spelled out in foliage.

Afterwards we went to Kevins running store to register for his half marathon and then to lunch at El Vaquero!

Yum! Then we realized it was rush hour so we went to Caribou Coffee for an hour or two reading the magazines we bought at the library for .25 cents each earlier that morning, to wait out the traffic.

That night we watched the movie "To Save a Life" and it was very good I recommend!

Love to all!

Saturday is a good day to be with Friends....

Kevin and I were both off last Saturday so we made plans to go see our dear friends Jimmie and Lauren and their daughter Grace in Dayton. The day at work dragged since i was egarly waiting for my endtime to draw near on Friday. Once 7:30pm came i was out the door and we enjoyed the sunset drive for about an hour to our destination! 

When we got there Kevin and Jimmie planned out their route and eating times for the next morning on there 9 mile run. The two of them have been training for a half marathon they are running in together in 2 weeks (Spirit of Columbus). Jimmie found some "sport beans" that they can eat for extra energy boost on the run. They are pretty good too! :-)

 

She cracks me up!

So innocent

she loved her cool bus tent!

We went to bed at 10:30pm and I was not tired but the boys were getting up at 6 am so I tried.... lol!

I woke at about 8am did some devotions and waited for Lauren and Grace to finish their morning routine. Then we started on breakfast, I made turkey bacon and eggs and Lauren made homemade pancakes! Yum! Funny tho she wrote the recipe wrong in her book and she added baking soda instead of baking powder and she was wondering what the aftertaste was...poor Lauren didnt hear the end of it! We also accompanied our breakfast with cantaloupe and grapes. Poor Grace was not felling well and had a hard time keeping things down that morning but she was ok the rest of the day thank God.

 Walking to the market which used to be an old Train Station!

We then played alot with Grace playing peekaboo and with her musical cookie jar. She is such a sweetheart!

Next they took us to a fun indoor market lined with interesting vendors. you could buy breads, cheeses, vegetables, jewelry, pottery,seafood, and fresh flowers which Kevin let me indulge in and we went later so they were a $1 per bushel. I got three and then they added 5 more for me at no cost since they were trying to get rid of them! so exciting Lauren and I shared them when we got home and divided them up into beautiful arrangements! We also bought a cheese that you scorch on a hot skillet on both sides and serve with tomato or whatever and eat as an appetizer very yummy! And we also got cranberry orange bread! 

One of the bouquets!

A closer look of the lilies

We went home and they made us a delicious "mexican caviar" dip for a snak to hold us over till dinner, it was made of chick peas, salsa, black beans, cilantro, limes, and corn served with tortilla chips! mmmm!

then we played "Fireball Island" its an old game but super fun and i won! lol 

Lauren and Jimmie then made a homemade pizza it was delicious alongside a hearty salad.

Later we went to River Scape in downtown Dayton for live music. It was a nice night and Gracie got her groove on with the music! The area was very nice and the water front was lined with porch swings which was a nice touch!

 There was a flood a while back and the flood line is way over Kevin's head!

some random paddle boats of different species...

enjoying the music,,,

Aw too cute!

the lovely Davis family

Grace loving the fountain

Then it was time to go home :-( We truly had the best time and cant wait to see them again in 2 weeks for the race! So proud of our men!

Grand Opening!! *TweaKsJewelry*

 just opened up shop on Etsy.com! finally!!!! please take a look and if you could help send the link to my shop to people who may be interested. thank you!

click on link below or click here.

We're going to the ZOO!!

Yesterday was my last time taking Judah to the zoo before he is off with mommy to a new state! Kevin was able to get off as well and we went with my best friend Betsy and her son. It was hot but we had no rain and there was a breeze. We packed a lunch and snacks and Kevin even held an umbrella for us to shade us from the hot sun while we ate. Such a gentleman! we made it thru 3/4 of the park before the adults got cranky and were ready to go home! We stopped at Wendy's on the way home for frosties to keep with tradition!



At the tiger exhibit, all of us and Tico (short for Santicos)

The new baby elephant born last summer and the momma. The elephants are Judah's favorite.

Judah and I at the new Polar Bear exhibit! It was nice you can view them from the top or under water in their swim tank. It was neat! There were two bears and the are twin sisters.

This one shaking off the water. Courtesy of Kevin the photographer of the day!

When we got home Judah and I went swimming in our pool while Kevin napped until it started to thunder. Kat picked Judah up and then i took a nap. Sadly when i woke up i was in incredible pain had a pounding headache and felt sick. Kevin took good care of me got me migraine meds and made me drink a ton of water. He called mom and she said I got heat stroke or heat exhaustion. I thought I drank a lot of water thru the day and had no pop or anything so i dont know why. Kevin got me a movie and food so i could lay and rest. besides mom he is about the only person i want around when im sick bc he takes such good care of me! As always you all can go here to view pictures of the whole day!

Kabobs!

Recently we busted out the grill and bought some skewers and made fun Kabobs!! I sliced some cucumber,and squash,lemon, mushrooms, tomatoes, and onion and i marinated chicken in Caribbean jerk for me and barbecue sauce for Kevin. We also grilled some corn on the cob!


Kevin cant wait to try it!

Finished product! Yum!

It was fun to put together and was very tasty! Plus I had enough veggies to make mom proud! lol!
I love summertime barbecue!

Yet another hobbie....

So here is a taste of some of the pieces in my collection of handmade jewelry. I still need to photograph a few I have given as gifts to people but this is a start. These I will soon be selling on Etsy.com to begin my hobbie/business for a while. Eventually I want to have a website of my own to sell them, I also want to come out with a line that profits will go to benefit missions as that is also one of my passions!


(no name yet)
This is made of olive green and copper cultured pearls, silver plated findings, and sea green spiral shells twist tight clasp. I would sell for $35- $40 for the combo and $50 if I use sterling silver for the findings instead.

"Honey Bee"
This bracelet is made of copper and golden yellow cultered potato pearls, with golden yellow died mother-of-pearl disks, and yellow bicones crystals with a honey bee toggle clasp. maybe $15

"Moonlight Tide"
made of steel blue mother-of-pearl nuggets, peacock blue potato cultered pearls, dark blue bicone crystals, and silver plated findings and spacers, lobster claw clasp.this is one of my favorites. about $25
Kat borrowed it for Kari's graduations and it looked awesome on her went well with her outfit!

Can you tell i like to work with pearls? lol! Well what do you think of prices? would people buy it you think? I will post more pictures later!
love to all!

Jana's Gift

So I finally got Jana's graduation gift all ready! I got the jewelry box idea from online and put stamps on the out side to decorate it. So cute! Her "piece" is one of my favorite so far and I will post pictures after she gets it! Yay!