Yard Work & Bonfires

Rob and I got breakfast moving early this morning, as we anticipated a day full of yard and boat work. We chowed down and headed outdoor for a day of weed-pulling, grass-mowing, boat-buffing and other miscellaneous meanderings around the house.

i'm insanely in love

See ya later, weeds...

pre-weeding..

At some juncture in the day, I received a text from Chris, inviting us over for a bonfire later that evening, as one of their friends from Cleveland was in town visiting for the weekend. We happily obliged, and after the afternoon wore on, we cleaned up and made our way over for a relaxing evening of friends, loom bands, bonfires and smores.

The sun went down, and the sparks went higher! 

We sure have had a happy Saturday, and we hope you have too!

xo | cmd

Headin' To The Dren Lodge

It was definitely a feel-good Friday:


feel good colors!

It was one of those rare Fridays in which everything seems to fall into place as though you purposefully put it there. Including lunch:

nom!

Yessss.
It was also one of those Fridays that included a post-work road trip. This time it was north to good old Mt. Vernon. We're home.

We made better time on the road than we'd expected, so Mom & Dad, aka Nana & Pappy, set up a little bonfire and some treats for our hungry bellies.

pretty little glow

We roasted some hot dogs, ate our vegetable sticks [duh; we're at my mom's house now...] and then broke out the s'mores sticks and all the fixins.

pappy getting her started

love my little campfire bug!

telling nana secret ghost stories

*Yawn. We're HOME.
Tomorrow we'll celebrate Dad's birthday. See you then!

xo | cmd

Family. Boating. Roasting!

My parents arrived, as promised this morning. We exchanged our usual hello's, which mainly included Sydni saying, "Nana! Look at ________!" a few hundred times within about five minutes. I love it. We helped them get settled in, and then started packing up for our day trip out to the lake.

We toted everything out to East Fork, somehow got my aquaphobic mom on a speedboat, and took off for a day on the water.

Yeah, it was a picture kind of day :)


mom & syd

^^ Look at my mom in her wayfarers! Haha. Freebie from the credit union, she told me, and really the perfect accessory for a boat trip. Love my mom (:

It wasn't long before we found a nice spot in a cove, where we ate our picnic lunch and started really enjoying the day. Sydni strapped on her lifejacket and hit the water right behind me. Swim time!

look at her go!!

thumbs up!

We floated and cruised, cruised and floated, and then rode up on one of the narrow strips of shore in one of the coves for some more fun in the shallows.

syd, dad & rob working on syd's fishing pole

syd finding good rocks for skipping!

nana & syd playing in the sand ♥♥

The day really was all about Sydni. She's like a fish when she's in the water, just as I was when I was little. It was tough telling this girl that it was time to go. I mean look at her! She looks like a little grown-up in the water....

little summer babe!

When it finally was time to head back, we of course let Sydni show Nana & Pappy how well she could drive her boat. She's a champ!

vroom vroom!

Fast forward through the trip back to the house, during which Sydni zonked out almost immediately; she got a healthy little snooze in before we were back at home and gearing up for round two.

Round 2 = Bonfire!
The only problem was.. we didn't have a fire pit.
I wanted a fire pit.

The best solution I could think of at that moment, was to make ... a fire pit.

SO, I DID. (:

boom. back yard fire pit.

I turned into a little sod farmer for about an hour, peeling the lawn up in a circle to form a little pit. We used the brick pavers we got from Jay & Trey's house to build a small outline, and while it's a bit lop-sided, we weren't going for an aesthetic accolade as much as functionality. Oh, and we didn't have sand or gravel at our immediate disposal, so yes, that's cat litter.

Rob fired up the grill, Mom and I skewered some chicken, Becky and Mike showed up with firewood, dad set up the chairs and coolers, and Sydni ran around with a headlamp attached to her head to occupy the dogs. Talk about teamwork (:

The sun eventually began to fade, our dinner plates were all empty, and it was time to get the real evening started with fire.


not too bad!

dad, mom, the dogs & a couple of my little pony characters

becky & sydni..
.. sydni's that blur of a headlamp running by ;)

S'mores.
It's not a family bonfire with smores. It's also not a real kick-off to Summer nights without smores. Becky got us started, using a peanut butter cup instead of the traditional Hershey bar.

nommmm!

Soon, we had a production line of smores lined up around the fire, a system in place, and seven sets of sticky fingers.

it's time for smores.
it's time for summer!

I could do this every weekend ♥

xo | cmd

Nature Preserve, Market & A Mini Camping Trip

Sydni started the weekend off with breakfast for her and me. ;)

such a great helper! 

I'll pass on my scrambled egg secrets to her, one of these days. Haha.

First thing on the agenda today: Frogs & Turtles! Sydni and I had a mission to get to the Farbach-Werner Nature Preserve just up the road here in Cincinnati; they had a special day today dedicated to various frog and toad species, along with some other fun wildlife. There was a pond, too, complete with enough turtles to send Ali straight to Heaven, I'm sure ;)

PHOTO MONTAGE #1: Nature Center!

frog exhibits!

learning about froggies & toads

miniature outdoor amphitheater for a miniature drama queen? ;)

love of my life. light of my day!

some light trail hiking & one pretty cool tree

how could i not take a million pictures?

see ya next time, nature center!

We wrapped up our time at the nature center and decided we were hungry. It was absolutely gorgeous out today, so we headed for Findlay Market, to say hi to Becky & Mike and grab some grub.

love your local markets!

The rest of today was errands. Storage unit, a few stores, the post office, and maybe one or two other miscellaneous places before we took a breather back at Becky's. By breather, I mean nearly a 3-hour nap. I guess the week finally caught up to me - to us - apparently ... whatever the case, we both needed it and had a much better night from it.

And for the night... CAMPING!
I decided that rather than rummage through the depths of the storage unit for my other tent, we'd just use the one I bought secondhand on Friday. Turns out, all was well with it [A+, Craigslist! :)], and it didn't take us long at all to pick some flat spots on the lower portion of Becky's parents' property and pitch our tents.

PHOTO MONTAGE #2: CAMPING!

all set up (:

the most important part of camping?
-- marshmallows. duh.

syd learning how to make a fire
pie iron pizzas... no complaints there!

mike helping out with some marshmallow roasts

one of my greatest friends! 

Sydni had a BLAST, there were no meltdowns when I asked her to sleep in a tent, and it even rained just enough to lull us to sleep but not flood us out.

&& yes, this is backdated. I didn't take my laptop on a camping trip. (:

Weekend, continue!

xo | cmd

Celebrate Family!

my sister!

I get that this holiday weekend was built on the foundation of the holiday itself: Memorial Day.
I am in no way, shape or form trying to detract at all from the gravity of what tomorrow represents.
I am saying that because of the extended weekend, we are here, visiting family, and for that I am celebrating. I love my family, and I was given a quick reminder today that they are just as incredible as they've always been, and that it's only getting better.

For example:  My daughter alone is growing like an outta control weed - she's developing into her own faster than I can follow, and I love it. My husband has since left the Air Force and re-joined the world of auto glass. My sister's family is blooming into this band of musically and artistically talented souls who continue to impress me every time we're together. My great niece Emmie will turn four this year. My parents are remodeling their kitchen. My cousins' kids [my 2nd cousins] are in their mid-20's now. Where is time going???? Holy smokes.

emmie & sydni ... strategy meeting. haha

Anyway, these types of holidays are typically fail-proof in bringing all of us together in one spot at the same time. I say that we're all scattered; that's halfway true. I think I say it more-so just because we are now the ones living remotely. The bulk of my family is located within a 20-30 mile radius of each other. With the exception of us, and my cousins in PA, the majority of the family is back in Ohio. I said all that to say that while the drive can be a little tedious, it is totally worth it to have even just one weekend with my family.

mom outdoing herself yet again!

syd & lola

It didn't take us long at all to get right into the swing of things; Cynthia & Brian brought not just Emmie, but their little puppy Lola, too. It was about 10 whole minutes before Sydni had assessed the little fuzzball as a non-threatening situation, and for the rest of the evening made herself Lola's personal babysitter. Since they were just about the same size - we'll say proportionally-balanced - it was pretty funny watching her tote Lola around all afternoon, everywhere she went. The dinner table, water balloon fight, and campfire were no exceptions. I think she wants one. Hmm. Not gonna happen, not just yet.

water balloon prep..... the dry phase..

Oh, and we had a full blown water fight that stemmed from my mom's idea for an innocent water balloon toss. We warned her that this would spiral out of control; she didn't believe us, but I think she realized it when the water balloons started flying, then the buckets came out, then the hose itself, along with some squirt guns intended originally for just the kids. Needless to say, by the end of it, we were all soaked to the core. That's right, I love my family. :)

kiddies all dried off :)

After we'd swapped all of our sopping wet gear for dry clothes, wiped off all of our runny makeup and tied up stringy hair, we made haste with it to get the fire pit started up for some s'mores & such.. because really what is a family shindig without gooey, chocolatey marshmallow sandwiches?? Duh. :p

marshmallows. this is a science around here....

fire! 

roasting with mini :) 

It's been an incredible weekend. I love my family, and I appreciate so much having the time to come and spend with them. We head back tomorrow to IL; it's gonna be another couple of months before we're back up this way; that makes it all the more perfect to have this time when we can.

I.
AM.
SPENT. 

Time to get some sleep and put my drivin' eyes in. See ya tomorrow. 

xo | cmd