Summer fun

So we've had a very busy summer. I've hardly been home for an entire week this whole summer, so there hasn't been much time to update the old blog here.


I kicked off summer by taking an amazing trip to Naples to vacation with my college roomies from junior year at Milligan. It's been two years since I've seen these girls, and as usual, once I was with them it seemed like no time had passed. It's nice to have that sort of low-maintenance relationship that can thrive without effort. I think it's great that we can be fine until one day it hits us all that it has been too long and we make an effort to do something about it! If we needed to do some catching up, a great place to do it is in the paradise we found in Naples. We had a beautiful place to stay thanks to Mr. Bobrow, Susan's father-in-law, a fun rental car that fit all our luggage, almost perfect weather, and a fun town to explore. I back fresh, with a bit of a sunburn, and with a renewed love for my friends.



A few days later I took a quick trip with my mom to Cincinnati, with a Saturday-long pit stop along the way at the big Columbus Quilt Show. I've learned that I actually enjoy going to these shows in small quantities. I love art, and as long as the world of quilting keeps heading in it's current direction, these shows feel a lot like art shows. The work that some of these people do is pretty incredible. I also like to watch my mom at these shows. They make her so happy and inspired. She actually pours over the program/booklet and pictures after the fact. We stayed at the show through the afternoon and then resumed the trip to Cinci where we stayed with and shopped with Sara. We headed back home on Sunday.

Tony and I took a very long weekend leading up to July 4th in Cincinatti. We spent time with some of Sara and Josh's friends for a July 3rd cookout, battled through the rain on the 4th, went to Ikea(see the picture of Sara and the boys playing in a kitchen there) and basically just relaxed that weekend. We didn't need to do too much because we planned to return to Cincinnati for Tony's vacation time in mid-July.







Every year Tony takes off a week in mid-July so that we can go to camp. This year's camp schedule was different, so we couldn't go, but he still had that week off. Well, what do we do when we have any time off work? Go to Cincinnati, of course. So, for the third time this summer we went to Cinci. This time We were staying for an entire week, but we knew that Josh and Sara would have to work. So after all our visits to Cincinnati, we decided to spend this visit being tourists. A quick Google search revealed many options for us. Wednesday we visited the Loveland Castle, which was a fun place to spend the morning. After a quick lunch downtown at Skyline, we made our way to the Newport Aquarium. It is probably the nicest aquarium, and the highlight of the visit was the shark-petting exhibit. I was surprised that some of the little sharks were really friendly and even wanted to be petted. There was one little tiger shark that just kept swimming back and forth along the side of the tank as if saying, "Pet me! Pet me!" I just didn't realize that sharks could have personality and it was a very fun discovery! We walked around Newport for the rest of the afternoon, walked from KY to OH via the "Purple People Bridge," then met up with Sara and Josh for dinner. This time we went to Walt's Barbeque where Josh got his
favorite nachos ever. Tony and I met up with our friend Ed and his son, James, to visit the Creation Museum. Ed and James are members, so we got to go as their guests, which meant that our visit was free! The museum was so interesting. There was a lot to read and process. It really gives scientific evidence to back up the truths in the Bible and presents them in a very real and understandable way. The pictures to the left show Ed and James on a bridge in front of the museum and one of me in the Garden of Eden with some llamas. Thursday night we had cheap seats (free actually) at the Red's game. We were in the very top row of the stadium.
We spent a busy weekend with Sara and Josh. Friday night we saw Harry Potter 6. Saturday we went downtown for lunch and walked around Cincinnati. Josh shook hands with Trevor Hoffman (future Hall-of-Fame pitcher for the Brewers) when we ran into him outside his hotel. Sunday we went to church, had lunch, took Josh to a clinic for a Strep test (he was positive) and then went to the Cincinnati zoo. We returned to Wooster early Monday morning.

This doesn't even tell about everything we've done this summer. There have also been shopping trips, a baby shower, a weekend in Winesburg, dinners with friends, and a yard sale. In the coming week we're starting a remodel of our bathroom, and I've got both my birthday and my "10 year Class Reunion". We'll have the Campout at the Lot, and then get ready for back to school. Summer will keep on flying!