Monday, July 28, 2008

Backyard pics


Here are some pictures of a recent dinner in the backyard. In the first picture, Zachary and Lauren are displaying their lemon and apple slices. In the second picture, Zachary has decided that the lemon slice was too sour to eat, after all. He wanted me to take a picture of his "sour face."

After we got home from St. Louis last night, Lauren told me her brain "hatched" an idea. Her idea is to go to Disney for our next vacation. :-)
St. Louis pics are posted below.

St. Louis Pics









St. Louis Trip

We're back from a mini vacation to St. Louis, MO! We arrived in St. Louis late Thursday night and returned home Sunday night. We had a great time! We visited the St. Louis Zoo, the Gateway Arch, the Museum of Westward Expansion (below the Arch), and the Old Cathedral, the first church in St. Louis. We went up in the arch and had a good view of St. Louis from 630 feet in the air! We also took a carriage ride and a Mississippi River cruise aboard the Tom Sawyer. We watched fireworks downtown on Saturday night and we also looked inside the old courthouse, the site of the Dred Scott slavery trial. I will post pictures soon.
Have a nice week!
~D, M, Z, & L

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Bountiful Harvest, Bunnies, and Blooms

Mid-summer is always a colorful time in our yard! Here are some pictures of some of my favorite blooms. We also picked our first vegetable "crop" consisting of 11 pea pods and one cherry tomato, pictured below. There will be plenty more to come, as the cherry tomatoes are just starting to ripen. I am also posting a picture of one of several baby watermelons that are growing in our yard. The quarter beside it will give you an idea of how little and cute the watermelons are right now! What appears to be a darling little bunny is actually a ferocious garden monster, believe it or not. (David constructed a bunny-proof fence around our garden this year so we could actually enjoy eating the veggies we planted.) Riley chased this litle bunny out of a patch of black-eyed susans and it decided to stick around long enough to pose for a few pictures.




















Saturday, July 19, 2008

This Weekend

We've been really busy this weekend and the weekend isn't even over yet! Friday we drove to Monticello, IN, to Indiana Beach. If you haven't been there, it is an amusement resort on Lake Schafer. It doesn't quite compare to Cedar Point, for any of the roller coaster afficionados, but it does have a lot of fun rides. Zachary rode three roller coasters and Lauren rode some of the tame kiddie rides.

Friday night we stayed in Indianapolis and ate like pigs at the Cheesecake Factory, one of our favorite restaurants. David had a piece of dutch apple caramel cheesecake and I had a piece of lemon raspberry cream cheesecake. That was after the calamari appetizer, loads of bread, and entrees that could have fed a small country. I'm kind of glad we have to drive to Indy or Chicago in order to eat there!

This morning we went to Connor Prairie, a living history museum. We'll have to go back soon because we didn't have a chance to see everything by the time we had to leave. We visited the Lenape Indian camp, the Connor Homestead (the first brick home in central Indiana), and part of Prairietown. Zachary and Lauren got to try their hands at dipping wax candles and we all tried to balance on stilts with varying success. We also watched the potter and the blacksmith. We got to pat chicks and newborn lambs in the barn!

After Connor Prairie, we headed to Anderson University to watch part of Matt's baseball game (Delaware Cows vs. Anderson Servants). Due to a rain delay, we only watched about 1/2 hour of the game. Then, we headed home so I could go to a comedy concert by Anita Renfroe at one of the local churches. She was quite funny, and we topped off our girls' night out with some good chocolate at DeBrand's. Anita Renfroe sings a Mom's Overture, set to the William Tell Overture. You can find it on YouTube at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95Y8hNQiH8. I'm sure all moms can appreciate this one!

Tomorrow Zachary and Lauren are going to sing at church for a little post-Vacation Bible School concert. I was impressed with the number of songs they learned, including motions, throughout their week at VBS. Lauren sang many of the songs in the car this weekend when she thought nobody was listening. (She won't sing upon request.)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
~D, M, Z & L

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Ten Things We've Done Recently or Are Currently Doing

1. Zachary and Lauren started Vacation Bible School at church tonight.
2. We painted the dock at the lake.
3. We spent a day at the zoo last Friday.
4. David and I went to Elkhart to eat at Indigo on 17, a new restaurant we've been wanting to try.
5. We've been planning a long weekend trip to St. Louis.
6. We made brownies over the weekend.
7. We've been watching the progress in our garden. We've picked some lettuce, strawberries, and raspberries. We also have some watermelons, peppers, cauliflower, peas, cabbage, and corn growing.
8. We've been reading our new books from Barnes & Noble.
9. We're planning another long weekend trip to Chicago.
10. Zachary's baseball season ended and he's now looking forward to soccer and flag football.

Have a nice week!
~D, M, Z & L

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Meme

Finally, a new post...almost a month after the last one! Jessica has tagged me for a meme (or re-tagged me since I didn't get around to answering the last one) so I better answer! Here it is...

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Finishing a master's degree in arts administration; 2. Looking for a job; 3. Moving from Bloomington to Fort Wayne; 4. Picking out an apartment 5. Puppy-proofing the apartment

5 things on my to do list:
1. Look up answers to all of the questions I have accumulated after being at my new job for 3 weeks
2. Clean my very neglected house and hopefully enlist the help of the other household members
3. Grocery shopping
4. Read the mountain of books I just got at Barnes & Noble
5. Enjoy the summer

5 favorite snacks/food:
1. Cottage cheese
2. Ice cream
3. Wheat thins or Triscuits
4. Baked potatoes
5. Pizza

5 things I would do if I was a billionaire: 1. Set aside money for Zachary and Lauren's college tuition; 2. Donate to non-profit groups of choice; 3. Travel; 4. Buy expensive, fun things like jewelry, cars, etc.; 5. Give $$ or gifts of choice to family members

5 bad habits: 1. Cracking my knuckles; 2. Making piles instead of throwing things away; 3. Procrastinating; 4. Drinking too much Diet Coke; 5. "Forgetting" to exercise

5 Places I've lived:
1. Bloomington, IN
2. Edon, OH
3. Marietta, OH
4. Springfield, OH
5. Oxford, OH

...end of Meme! I don't know if I can think of anyone to tag. Feel free to tag yourself and let me know--haha!