Another summer come and gone....

Life has just wizzed by as it usually does in the summer and we’re at the edge of another school year. I haven’t posted lately and that is mainly because I have been focusing my energies elsewhere. I have been busy scanning, searching, uploading, ordering and organizing photos from the last 16+ years. I wanted to get our old photo albums (which stopped in late 2006) switched over to newer albums and finally print out our digital pictures (which started in late 2006) and get them into albums. I have done that up through 2009. PHEW! There are a lot of photos to go through!

BUT, as it’s summertime, Ella and I both celebrated our birthdays. Ella turned the big 1-0! I turned another year older, but I won’t bore you with the details except to say that UDF really let me down by running out of hot fudge! Ella also got to spend the week of her birthday at Zoo Camp! She and David each attended a half day camp at the Cincinnati Zoo during that week and had a blast doing it!

Ella's big thing this year was asking for money so that she could go online and order the specific Webkinz that she had her heart set on. We were able to find the top four she wanted and had $20 left over to spare! Ella also got a two day pass to Kings Island from my parents and went to KI with Emily on two separate days for some special sister bonding time. Ella found a few rides she really enjoyed and one or two she didn’t care for at all. Here are some photos of us celebrating Ella’s special day.

Ella is wearing an Ethiopian outfit my parents bought at a fundraiser!

I did decide to do something a little bold a little over a week ago and that was to get 12+ inches cut from my hair. This is not the first time I’ve gotten such a haircut, I’ve done it at least 2 or 3 other times in the past. It seems to be my habit to grow my hair long and then chop it off when it becomes too cumbersome and heavy on my head. I was not sure how Masamo would handle the change in my look so I brought the braids of my hair home for him to see. He looked at me and said “You look like Didi Jennifer” (my sister also has short hair). When I showed him my braids that had been cut off he looked at them as if they were some type of dead animal until I explained what they were. Even after that he didn’t want to touch them. That was the extent of his reaction, I’m happy it wasn’t anymore dramatic! I also wasn’t sure how Jason would react to my changed look since I didn’t tell him I was getting my hair cut and he’d always go on about how much he liked my long hair. However, when I got home, he was resting on the bed and peaked one eye open and said lazily, “You didn’t tell me you were getting your hair cut” and then went back to sleep. That was his reaction; it takes a lot to rile that man up! With all that being said, I sent my hair off to Locks of Love and hope that it makes some child a very good looking wig!

Me and my old hair in braids

My new hairdo!

Kelley's Island 2011

In early July we took a long weekend and went camping with my best friend, Jennie, and her family. We headed up to Kelley’s Island, Ohio. Yes, Ohio has some islands, in Lake Erie! We had camped here before two years ago and had such a great time we decided to go back!

Jennie and I had been planning this trip since January. Kelley’s Island is a popular place to camp and the spots fill up quickly so in order to get two campsites next to one another and not be next to the bathrooms, or another undesirable place, we had to call and reserve our spots as soon as possible. The soonest we were able to do this was six months to the day from when we would be arriving at our campsite. Needless to say we didn’t get prime sites but we did end up with the two sites we had two years ago and they suited us just fine!

This year, we decided to bring bikes to ride around the island. We have four children between us that do not ride two wheelers sufficiently enough to be on public roads to for them we brought a babyseat, trailer and two tag along bike trailers so everyone could enjoy the ride! we decided that was one of the best decisions we made, the kids had a blast riding around on their bikes!

Our Campsite

Here are a few of the activities we enjoyed while we were together!

Playing

Peek -a- boo!

Exploring the island

Hiking around Horseshoe Lake

Finding the old Limestone Crusher building

Ella found young bunnies!

Biking

Not too many of these pictures, I'm not skilled enough to take pictures while riding a bike!

Andrew called anything with wheels a "Wee!"

He was always asking for a "bike wee" aka, a bike ride!

Hanging around the campfire

Doing the "chores"

Andrew loved to help do the dishes!

Jason and I did chores too, just didn't capture that on film!

Fishing

Swimming/Playing at the beach

At one point I lost sight of David only to find that he had swum over to this couple and shmoozed his way onto their enormous raft! That's David for you!

At the end of five days, this is how we all felt!