Fall Projects

This fall we are working on a few different projects. Right now we're putting in a patio for our neighbors, and needed a roto tiller to dig up the ground. One of our projects we have to do is move our plants away from the house in the front beds. They've grown so big that they are overpowering each other, so we need to move them, and fall is the time. When we rented the roto tiller we expanded our beds in the front so we can eventually move them out. Here's the progression of our front yard.
This is what our house looked like when we first bought it. Yikes!After cleaning it up a little. Painted now, new walkway, gravel driveway, small plants that are now huge!

From a distance

Street view of the front yard. Now it looks like this.

Most of those plants will be moved out into the new beds.

New beds with walkway.
Big new bed.

Can't wait for Perch Fest!

I'm excited to go to the Lake County Perch Fest this Saturday AND Sunday! Two perch meals! Yum! Check it out! http://www.perchfest.net/ Funny that Robb's company, BK Electric, is setting up all the electric for the event, and my work, Dollar Bank, is a sponsor! It was meant to be...

Capital City

This last weekend we took a trip to Columbus. We went to celebrate the wedding of Robb's cousin Brad to his new wife Cynthia! Since it just so happened to be on a perfect long weekend, we went down for a dual purpose trip for the wedding and with our Koby and PU (pop-up). The weather was absolutely perfect for camping! Not too warm but not cold in the daytime, and nice and cool at night, exactly right for a blazing s'mores fire! I got these giant marshmallows that made fabulous s'mores! They are as big as a baseball~ I swear! The wedding was really nice. Brad and Cynthia got married in a pretty church in downtown Columbus. Then we headed to a church hall in the suburbs for the reception. Cynthia is Filipino, so it was interesting to see how they integrated her culture into the traditional wedding events. At the church they placed a veil over the couple and then a beaded necklace over their heads, knotting them together. At the reception we got to sample Philippine desserts, which tasted very similar to some Asian desserts I've tried. I suppose Philippines is considered Asian, so that makes sense I guess. It was definitely a beautiful day for a wedding, and I especially enjoyed the outside table area to be in the fresh air and still feel like part of the party! Congrats Cynthia and Brad!!The happy couple!
Grandpa and KendraTable 22, the kids table!Garrick, Robb's brother, and cousin NolanAwwww, so cute!

We stayed at Alum Creek State Park http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/alum/tabid/711/Default.aspx. Alum Creek Lake is a 3,387 acre lake. They have the longest inland beach in all of the Ohio State Parks. It was very nice, but stupid them don't let dogs on it. But to remedy this problem, they are one of the parks in Ohio who have a special dog play area. They have fenced in parks and also a beach that dogs can be off leash and play, so naturally Koby has a blast! He normally isn't the biggest swimmer, and gets a little scared when his feet can't touch the bottom. He will fetch a toy or a stick, but squeaks the whole way back cause we think he feels like he's sinking. He was kinda scarred for life from two things when he was a puppy. I took him to learn how to swim in Lake Erie, and the waves were scary for him and washed over his face, which he didn't like. Then one time we took our raft out on the lake with him on it, and he jumped off the raft into the water where I was swimming. His face went completely under, and he panicked like crazy, cause he didn't know how to hold his breath. So we think from then on, he's not been the fondest of not having his feet touch the bottom. We got him a dog life vest from our favorite dog outfitter, Ruff Wear http://www.ruffwear.com/ in hopes of helping him feel as though he's not sinking when he swims. We didn't get to try it though, since the dog beach was the only place we could take him to get in the water, and didn't want other dogs to play with him and tear up the jacket. Too bad, we still don't know if it helps him. Sleeping in the moonlightI love the glow on my sweet puppy's faceHere's why it's so hard to get up in the morning!Our PU! Robb got a new shotgun for Christmas, so he wanted to shoot it for the first time. I've shot them before too, but really need a lighter gun because it always literally is so strong it punches me in the shoulder until I bruise. It's very hard to concentrate on hitting an orange target, when you know pulling the trigger is just going to inflict self-torture! Sunday we went to Black Wing Shooting Center so Robb could try out his new gun! http://www.blackwingsc.com/ We've been to this place once before, and really like it there. It's cool cause they have automatic "trappers". You just say "pull" and these microphones pick up your voice and send out the bird (clay target). It worked good, he hit a lot of targets! I sat on the scorer's chair, watched, and took pictures. (Don't worry, he only shoots clay targets, and would never hunt anything alive.)

Black Wing Shooting Center
Robb loading up!Here's what he shoots at!

Pull!

Driving around the area we kept seeing signs for Olentangy Indian Caverns, http://www.olentangyindiancaverns.com/, so on our way home we decided to stop and see what it was all about. Turns out there's these caves that Indians used to live in. We took a "free" self guided tour of the caverns. It was pretty cool (54*F). Ha ha. Indians had stairs?? Fat Man's Misery (Doesn't every cave have this?)Some squiggly brain formation, supposed to be rare, and has an actual name which I can't rememberRobb standing on "Indian Lovers Bench". King of the Cave!!A rock that supposed to look like an Indian Chief.

The trip went by way to fast, we need to go camping again!Whooped dog on the way home!