20th Anniversary Surprise!!!

September 15th was my husbands and I's 20th wedding anniversary.
Yes "20". I know I can hardly believe it!!

Anyway for a couple months my husband had some BIG exciting thing planned. This unknown thing...... had gotten canceled twice before this (once due to scheduling and once due to weather). I guessed MANY different things and asked MANY questions (some where not completely answered though).
HHHMMM Where are we going?
AHHHH I know!!
Believe it or not I guessed it!!
I knew it had to do with my husbands friend who owned a small plane. He would not confirm that though.........I also though maybe a hot air balloon???
We got to the small airport and they said "come on, lets go". I said (as pioneer woman would say) "say whaaaa"!!! I could not believe it and I said that ALL day!! It was AMAZING and so fun/exciting!! THANKS HUSBAND!! and thanks husband's friends/pilots!!

The friend and his wife are both pilots. We were going to Put in Bay in northern Ohio, Lake Erie. We had been there once before and it's a lot of fun.
I could not wait to get there......to eat food of course!!

The wife flew us there and the husband flew us back.
Whew... it was nice to have two experienced pilots at once!

Hold on.......here we go!!

Oh my gosh so beautiful.......you could see for about 30 miles!!

Look at those clouds!!

Approaching Lake Erie!! It only took us about 1 hour to get there. FAST!
It would take about 3-4 hours to drive there.

There's Put in Bay!! So much to look at from above!!

We went right to lunch at the marina!!
UUMMMMM crab bisque soup!! One of my favorites....and boy was it good!!

Golf carts are the ONLY way to go!! WEEEEEEEE

A little fun was had at the chocolate museum.
Ompa Dompa Doompity Doo. I've got another riddle for you!!

Speed it up!!

The Butterfly House and Perry's Cave is AWESOME.......it's my favorite!! They have a giant greenhouse full of butterflies from all over the world!!
I went a bit crazy with the pictures.

Below is a gift shop before you go in. This was a large wall of framed butterflies and a stained glass window.Beautiful!

They even had nice glass art inside the greenhouse.

Watch out.......the butterflies will land anywhere!!
Here is one on my leg and one on our pilots purse. Too funny!!

This was the cutest dog ever!! I talked with her owners inside the butterfly house and when I came out I got to see "Daisey".
So sweet!

A beautiful church.I had to snap a photo.

More food of course.......we had to get ice cream!!

Pilots need to fuel up too!!

Soaking it all in..almost time to leave. Boo Hoo!!

Hold on we're off again!! Can't believe it's time to go already.

Goodbye Lake Erie.....it's been fun!!

Goodnight Comanche "Pop". Maybe we'll see you again someday!!

They sure surprised me!!
Thanks so much for a GREAT day!!

Hey husband, let's do this kind of stuff more often.......
What's in store after the next 20 years??
I have some good ideas!!

Lazy September day.............

A few weeks ago in Ohio, the humidity FINALLY came down. Thank goodness we got a break from the heat (although it's back up now as most of you know).

My son had some great afternoons outside in our backyard. He LOVES his tire swings. He also likes to hook things onto the tire swings and spin them and himself around. That's my wind chimes you see hanging from the tire.

It's sometimes VERY entertaining to watch.

Gotta get a little kicking practice in on a day like this.

We have a nice hammock.........aaaaaaahhhhh perfect place to lay and observe. It was so fun just to lay and look up at all the leaves..........and also I prayed a limb didn't fall on my head or my sons. We have lots of trees in our backyard.........beware on windy days!!

Even Myra our dog was LOVING it!! or my son was LOVING on her!! Sweet Myra.

It just felt sooooo good to be outside on these days!! Can't wait until Fall really kicks in!!

Birthday celebration......

A few weeks ago it was my birthday. My family and I celebrated a VERY casual day. I am the cook in the house so I made myself a double layer carrot cake. My daughter helped some. Boy was it good. Thanks Kay (my mother in law) for the recipe.
I did not want them to take pictures............but as you see I didn't win that battle. I had had a LONG day with homeschooling, no makeup on, tired hair etc......but I love the pictures. We were all happy because we were going to eat cake. YUM!!

Not sure what my son is doing in the pics but then again I never know what is is doing/thinking. Silly kid!!

Falcon........sad ending

A couple weeks ago I was driving my daughter home from school. We turned onto our street only to see this falcon thrashing around on the ground (off the right side of the road in the grass). Well at first we did not know what it was...but this thing was no small bird so it was not something you would miss.
We pulled over to get a closer look, then we realized what it was. Poor thing, it was hurt, but we could not figure out what was wrong with it. At times it seemed in agony and it was hard to watch. It just moved around in one spot and did not really go anywhere.

My son and dog were in the car as my daughter, myself and the neighbor and her son were deciding what to do. The neighbor knew of a nature reserve not far from our homes that helped hurt animals like this. We decided to scoop him or her up and she would take it to the reserve. I quickly drove home to get my camera of course, a large plastic tote (for transportation), and to drop off the dog. After I got back, my neighbor quickly scooped up the bird in this tote. She was very brave. I helped some..............HA

She got the bird to the reserve, but; unfortunately it did not live through the evening. The experts said it probably had internal injuries. The only thing we could figure out is it must have been hit by a car...although we are not sure. Poor thing, it was a beautiful bird........
R.I.P. Mr Falcon

New Beanbag Chair.......

I have been looking and looking for a chair for my son. I wanted something he could sit in and be relaxed, look at books, etc.. We had bought one of those floof chairs and ended up returning it.
That was fun trying to get in back in the box!
Anyway, a couple weeks ago I was at Wal-Mart and spied this........it's a bit bigger than I had intended but my daughter uses it too (she's just and inch or two shy of my height).

This is my son the first night we had it..........I would say that looks pretty comfortable, wouldn't you??
I have to admit I have fallen asleep in it a few times too!!

These photos are from the next day.........because of home schooling, I set up a small area in the corner of my living room.

He has used it MANY times since we got it so I would say mission ACCOMPLISHED!!

Swimming at the children's garden.......

Right before school started we met some new friends at a local children's garden. There is lots to do there including a water area complete with falls. My kids LOVE to go here and play for the afternoon. My boy likes the little pool to the right of the falls.

They even had a nice pond with lily pads, flowers and plants.
Pretty cool.......

My daughter had fun with these strange pieces of plant. Not sure what they were but it kept her busy.......and that was good enough for me.

The garden is closed for the season now......can't wait until next Summer!!