gone camping

We went camping at Pymatuning State Park over Memorial Day weekend. We had just planned it less than a month in advance, and we got a great campsite. Someone must have just cancelled their reservation before we booked ours. We were right on the lake! The weather was perfect--low 70's and sunny. The kids were able to fish right off the rocks at our site. We arrived Friday evening around dinner time, and I cooked up the steaks while Joe and the kids set up camp.

We enjoyed a beautiful evening.

Saturday, we started out with a hike on a nature trail in the park. Joe had the kids' rapt attention as he read them the info from the pamphlet relating to the marker we were at.

Then we went to the fish hatchery, and fed bread to the fish. I have never seen anything like it. In this one area, the fish are so thick that the ducks can stand on them. When you throw a piece of bread in, the fish come up out of the water to swarm all over it.

We had a great picnic in the shade near the hatchery.

I love this picture that Katie snapped of Emma. She never walks if she can help it. She runs.

I had bought this t-shirt for Katie at the thrift shop for a quarter. It makes us laugh.

Sunday afternoon, we went and checked out the dam and the Pennsylvania side of the lake.

Then I took a nap while Joe took the kids swimming. We followed that with a game of "Ticket to Ride." Joe spent alot of his time working on fishing poles. Emma pulled a worm out of the bait cup and named her Sally. She played with Sally for a good while, and then buried her in the dirt. We think Sally lived.

We never did catch any fish. It might have something to do with the fact that we don't really know much about how to do it. Emma had fun with the fish net anyway.

The idiots in the campsite next to ours started feeding bread to the Canadian geese for a photo op. The problem was that the geese came ashore and wouldn't leave. They're no dummies. So these people go back into their camper for a while. Eventually, the old man started shooing the geese towards us. Ummmm, it wasn't our idea, and we don't want them. Eventually the geese figured out no more bread was forthcoming, and they left.

Monday morning, we packed up camp and headed home. We enjoyed a picnic our branch from church, and then embarked on the task of unpacking from camping. I accidentally uploaded this picture twice, and the computer won't let me delete it. So, enjoy it for a second time.

'Fro Joe

Joseph has amazingly thick and wavy hair. It comes from my side of the family. He has been wearing shaggy, as did most of his friends in Michigan. Here, it has earned him the nickname at school of "'Fro Joe." Well, a couple of weeks ago, he finally asked for a hair cut. I couldn't believe the amount of hair on the floor! He is a cute guy no matter what, but the new 'do is definitely lower maintainence. Check out some before and after pictures.

Mother's Day weekend

This Mother's Day, I enjoyed a weekend-long visit from an old friend, Jessica Price Vaughan. We have been friends since we were 14. She helped host my baby shower for Joseph (where everything was pink, because he was supposed to be a girl), and she hosted my shower for Jacob and Katie as well. She has been a wonderful friend through the years. She drove up from Richmond on that Saturday, and stayed until Monday. Saturday night, we went to Mary Yoder's Amish Kitchen for Mother's Day dinner. The girls were having a great old time in the van on the way home...Jacob was not enjoying it.

Sunday after church, she and I went to Kirtland to see the bronze sculptures of Christ. After dinner, we watched "Twilight" on her computer. I had read all the books, but had never seen the movie. She is a bigger Twilight fan than I am, and was able to share all kinds of cool trivia about the shooting of the movie. It was fun to share the weekend with such a dear friend. I was going to say old and dear, but that makes me feel old.

Dance, Daddy, Dance!

The girls' dance recital is coming up in June. There will be a dance done by just dads. Joe, being the ham he is, is all up for it. He will even change the timing of soccer practice so he can be at the three practices. Katie, thinking she would have to dance with him, said she didn't want him to do it. Then when we explained it would just be him, she said this:

"Fine, you can do it. Just so long as nobody knows you're my dad."

Oh, boy. Here we go. And she's only 10.

A Giant

All four kids had soccer games on Saturday. Emma's team played against a team who had a kid who looked a good 3 years older than anyone on the field. Emma is tall for her age...but this kid...he wasn't just tall--he looked alot older than any other kid on the field. I can't figure why anyone would lie about a birthdate for rec league soccer in small town Ohio, so he has to be seven, but Holy Cow! Can you guess which kid I am talking about?

For Emma's birthday, Mimi gave her caterpillars which we watched grow into butterflies. This is the third year Emma has done this, and she LOVES it. Thanks, Grammy for getting us started with this! She names them and everything. Well, this Friday was the day to let them go. We started out with 6. In years past, we have always had at least 3 or 4 make it all the way to healthy adulthood. This time, we were down to two. One of the two flew away immediately. The other one, although it looked fine, apparently had something wrong with its wings. It sat on the deck railing for a while, and then dropped onto the grass below. Emma stayed outside with it for some time, waiting for it to take flight. I suspect it became rabbit food. But it was still a fun time.

Big fun in a small town

This weekend was the annual Geauga County Maple Festival, here in Chardon. It has been going on since 1926. It is a pretty big deal. Over the course of the week, we watched the quiet square get packed with carnival rides, tents, food vendors, and temporary log cabins for the maple producers. We went on Saturday afternoon. Joe and the boys worked Saturday evening at the parking lot at a bank right on the square, parking cars. It is the scouts' big fundraiser. People gladly pay $5 to park right there next to the action. The weather was beautiful when we went.


We watched the lumberjack competition for a few minutes.

We ran into several friends there, and Emma and I rode the ferris wheel with two of her friends from school.

We also got maple stirs, which are cups with maple syrup that has been heated to 234 degrees, and you stir and stir until it turns into maple sugar candy. Yum!

We enjoyed watching statue man.