A Trip to Olentangy Caverns

Love us :)

We took a few mini-trips this summer and one of them was to Olengangy Caverns not far from Columbus, Ohio.  We were going to be in the area for a Warrior Dash Race Jamie was running in, so we made a long weekend out of it.  Reece studied a unit on caves in school last year, and after taking a trip to Mammoth Cave over spring break, we decided to give Olentangy a try.  So glad we did as it was Totally different from Mammoth Cave!  This is a smaller cave system used by the Indians as shelter during the winters.  It was much smaller and fun to explore.  (click on the pics to enlarge)

www.olentangyindiancaverns.com/ 

On the left is the stairwell that leads to the cave.  On the right is what we dubbed the "dinner table."

I know his eyes are closed and he would probably not love me posting this!  However, I LOVE it, showing love to his Momma!

Panning for Gems afterwards

At the general store

Warrior Dash

Love this guy :)

The mud/barbed wire pit....

Fire jumping...

So proud of him that he still enjoys doing crazy physical stuff....even if it includes fire and barbed wire lol!

*Forgive the random picture posting, trying to post in a hurry!

Summer Days

 Scooter Fun!

?? Not sure what was going on here !

Strawberries In The Park

Because we live in a small town, we have lots of fun activities planned during the summer such as Strawberries in the Park.  There are activities such as balloon animals, face painting, live music and children's crafts and story times.  The big draw is the Ginormous Strawberry Shortcakes that are served complete with ice cream, fresh strawberries and whipped cream....DELISH!

And because we live right in town, we ride bikes as much as we can!

Mia & Ms. Jan from the library after story time.

Painting 'Pet' Rocks

And because Mia is such a picky eater....she had a bowl of ice cream while I ate the remaining strawberries and shortcake.

She got to play the tambourine, while the man sang "My Girl" to her, substituting "Mia" in place of my girl.  She ate it up and played for the crowd!

She now wants to be a Rock Star when she grows up ;)

Dancing with friends :)

Balloon Fun

YUM!

Birds of Prey!

Soarin' Hawk Raptor Rehab

This is a non-profit group serving the area's injured and orphaned birds of prey.  Recently they came to the pavilion at the Ft. Wayne Zoo to do a program.  This is totally the type of thing Reece loves and he had a great time!

His favorite, a Red Tailed Hawk, only he didn't want to get too close for a pic with him ;)

This is a Bald Eagle, which was really neat to see.  Only when they are older (6 or 7 I believe) do they grow the white head feathers, making them look like the classic bald eagle.  This guy was around 2 years old.

Dissecting Owl pellets.  So here is where I have to put my own thoughts (disgusting, gross, not touching it!) aside.  There are many things Reece loves or is interested in learning more about, and I'm just simply not.  Owl pellets would be in that category (as would any reptile, namely snakes which he loves)!

So for the benefit of home schooling and trying new things, I try really hard to step outside of my comfort zone :/

So owl pellets are the regurgitated leftovers of what an owl eats.  Stay with me here it gets gross!  For example, an owl eats a mouse.  It cannot digest the fur or bones so it regurgitates the 'leftovers' into a little furry pellet.  Having fun yet?  You can take these pellets and dissect them to discover what the owl has eaten.  So he pulls it all apart and there is a sheet where you match up any bones you find to see if the owl has eaten a mouse, mole, chipmunk etc.  Fun stuff!

Ok seriously this is the cutest thing :)

And a little scary!

Mother's Day

Sushi Din din for Mother's Day....Yummo, my absolute fav!

Forts and Late Night Winter Fun

 Reece and one of his best friends ever.  They have been buds since they were about 18 months old and they  have the ability to create fun out of thin air!  Love them :)

Fort building in the basement has become their new fav thing at our house.  Order pizza and a movie, build a fort and sleep in it.  Only the most recent time, the movie they rented turned out to be crazy scary (rated PG mind you) and they both ended up near tears and scared to death.  *Parenting Fail*

Snow, yes I realize it is now May....still catching up ;)
One night in March, about 9pm it was snowing like crazy.  You know the crazy-huge-beautiful kind of snow, that most definitely needs to be played in!  We got the kids out of their pj's/bed and bundled everyone up and out we went.  They most certainly thought we were looney toons!  Making Memories :)

Snow Angels

Photo Dump Catch Up!

So it seem I have a ton of catching up to do blog-wise.  I haven't been updating as often as I would like, however now that my school load has lightened some I plan to be better!

I was just downloading pics to my computer to clear my memory card and figured I would start there.  So here goes :  Photo Dump Catch Up!

Let's just head on back to Valentine's Day...oops! I wouldn't go back this far except that I intended on using this blog as a memory book of sorts for our family, so bear with me lol!

We gave up celebrating Valentine's Day as a couple years ago.  The whole, get a sitter, dress up, have a fancy dinner on the busiest date night ever, usually on a weeknight = overrated.

Since coming to that conclusion, we have been celebrating as a family each Valentines Day.  Spending time together, picking out fun meals, and fun small gifts for each other = much more enjoyable!

The kids decided on fruit and chocolate, caramel, and PB alternative and pizza.

The Feast!

Roses from Jamie, an unexpected lovely surprise!

Assembling the ......

Marshmellow Gun!

So I said above that the kids decided on pizza and fruit....for them.  Jamie and I have a years long tradition of having King Crab Legs and Crab Cakes and beer for our VDay dinner & a movie after the kids are in bed.  Oh and we have it picinic style in the living room *shhh* don't tell the kids !

Crab Leg Fun!

And of course we then felt miserable ;)

I want to be the Biggest Loser!

I recently joined a "Biggest Loser" weight loss challenge with some girls locally.  Goal:  Lose weight, lose inches, get healthy, win big money!  So for the first time ever, I am counting calories....it's like a big math problem that there is no logical solution to, and by the way I detest math.  A measly 1200 calories is what I am told (by the app on my phone)  is the correct amount in order for me to lose at least 2 pounds per week. I would love to aim for 5-6 pounds a week but apparently that's not healthy or something.  The first few days my brain thought it was hungry ALL day! However my stomach was ok, it was just my mind making me feel like a food addict.  And you can forget working out those first days week because I had no ambition!  Now it's Saturday, and I need to start working out to help with that calorie cutting!  As the week has went on, I have been very very proud of myself.  I have had one bad day where we were on the road all day in Amish country so you can imagine the food choices available.  Amish cooking?  Seriously what's a girl supposed to do?  This whole thing is a competition, the girl with the most pounds and inches lost wins, easy breezy right?  I logged onto face book this morning just in time to see one of the other girls running some sort of marathon or race.  #Iamsoscrewed!!!  But kudos to her for getting up and being awesome/motivated/ambitious!  Even if I was still laying in bed....