Balloonacy Weekend

This weekend was Ashland's Balloon Fest. We were to have many things going on from Thursday to Sunday morning. No one informed Mother Nature that rain was not wanted...except secretly we were really happy that rain did fall. The Fest was a balloon bust as strong storms with high heat blasted us off and on. In between the sun was shining but very hot and humid. A perfect storm so to speak for nastly weather. The best day was Saturday afternoon and evening.Saturday evening the weather was much better for balloon flying and finally they were able to give what everyone was waiting for all weekend. We were lucky that the winds blew them in our direction. As they approached we really hoped they would fly over. We weren't disappointed. We had family from out of town visiting and I have many other parts of the weekend to share but I'm starting here and will finish tomorrow. But since this was the celebration that Ashland looks forward to every summer I will show you the balloonacy that did take place.
I love this balloon. The design is so cool. It was great fun to have them all fly over the Pines.
Goodbye!
Here comes another one!
Oh wow! Right over our heads.
What brought us all out to the end of the driveway? What was so interesting? Take a look at the next pic.
This balloon made a landing in the field right across the street.
After the balloons were gone the fireworks in the backyard began. Or maybe they were just sending up smoke signals? All I know is Eddy the boxer curled up in a ball and hid in the basement until the booms stopped.
Raspberry picking was on the docket this afternoon. I can't wait to make my first batch of jam! Sophie and Katie were good pickers.

Part of this weekend was a mini reunion for my 2 older boys with the sister of their best friends in high school. This fun family moved in when my boys were teens and the boys and girls formed quick and lasting friendships. They converted one of the girl's friends to the gospel. The sister was here in Ohio visiting and they all gathered with their own children at the park to catch up, talk high school memories, take pictures and enjoy each others company. I enjoyed a quick blast from the past seeing all of them laughing and talking about their lives and their children. All of them have beautiful kiddos..I can say that since 7 of my 9 Grandkiddos were there! Here's a group shot of the kids.
Here's the group shot with the parents who created all this! Can you pick out the Moms and Dads from the kiddos? I can't believe time has flown by this quickly.
Right after the group shot a storm blew in and we all took shelter at a pavilion. The rain was torrential! The winds blew in much cooler air too. Too bad it takes a huge storm to cool us off. Unfortunately it was another blow to the balloonfest weekend. There was to be a concert in our park that everyone looks forward to each year. We needed this rain but it sure ended the festival finale.
The end of the storm brought the gift....a lovely rainbow to end a crazy weekend of family, food and balloonacy!

Donna News

Many blog friends have asked about Donna. Today she had her 5th chemo treatment. I caught her just as she was leaving and asked permission to snap a pic and post about her. She's doing good so far. These next treatments will be the hardest. She's continued to work the weeks between chemo but I'm not sure if she'll be up to that this time. We'll wait and see and continue with prayers, dinners, and anything else we can do to help. We love you DJ!

A Berry Eddy Week

I do try to do more than one post per week. This blog is suppose to be my little journal after all. I've just been a bit busy which is probably another way of saying not much has actually happened. This coming week will pull some action out however. I'm going to be in the newspaper the week of July 4th. I've already been interviewed and the photographer is coming tomorrow night. I wish I could say it was because I'm so stinking interesting that I was actually news worthy. But no..it's because one of my coworkers..and you know who you are...signed me up for the "Cook of the Week" column. I did it about 28yrs ago and I guess it's going to happen again. Somehow a pic me standing in front of a bunch of food doesn't thrill me. I also don't think People Magazine will be calling any time soon. So, to go along with the food theme, here's what we've been picking at the Pines. Black raspberries are in and so far this batch was made into a cobbler..all gone..and the next group is waiting to be juiced for jelly. The red raspberries are on their way. I picked a few yesterday but somehow they've disappeared..into my mouth. Oh well. I'll give all the gory details of "Cook of the Week" later.
This should be "Pic of the Week". When I came home early from work last week I encountered this...Eddy taking a nap on the couch..did I mention he's not allowed on the couch? I thought for sure he got the memo.

Honoring Dads

I'm so glad we have a day to honor Fathers. I have been blessed with good examples of great Dads in my life. I'll start with my Dad. What a great guy he was. So funny, talented with music and writing and could fix anything that ever broke! He loved us kids and believed we could do whatever we put our minds too. He loved my Mom and I think that's one of the best things a Dad can do for his children is to love their Mom. He provided a home that my Mom still lives in today. He had 6 kids and his sons are wonderful Dads too. I miss him everyday and I sure wish he was still by my Mom's side. I was 23 when he passed away and I sure could have used his wisdom and strength many times as I was raising my own family with Jack. But I think he's watching from above and hopefully he's pleased with what his family has accomplished. Love you Dad!
Here's Jack today enjoying his Father's Day meal. He's been a good Dad to our boys and enjoys it when everyone gathers together for a fun meal, laughter and lots of noise! I'm thankful that I have him as a husband and Father to our kids. Love you Honey!
Here are some more good Dads I've had the pleasure of knowing. Of course I'm a bit biased since I helped bring them into the world! Our first born has 4 delightful kiddos...Driana, Summer, Anthony and Cameron (who was sleeping when this pic was taken). He's a really good Dad to them.
Our second son Craig is a good Father to his 3 kiddos, Katie, Taylor, and Sophia.
Number 3 son is a great Dad to his 2 girls, Lexi and Addy.
Jordan, #4 son, isn't a Dad..since he's not married we're happy about that. But he is a good Dad to his dog Eddy. It won't get him a crazy tie or card today, but I'll give him a shout out anyway!
The boys, minus Craig and family, all arrived with Grands in tow. I fixed all of Jack's favorite things...shrimp creole..okra and tomatoes...black-eye-peas. To make sure everyone enjoyed the meal I also had BBQ chicken, mac and cheese, salad and homemade icecream for dessert. No one went home hungry. These monsters sure didn't! Anthony, Driana, Summer, and Cameron claimed the kitchen table as theirs!
We really needed rain and when the rain finally came today it was a great relief. But the Grandkiddos had to find a way to enjoy the rest of the day. A movie, a blanket and full tummies made it a quiet ending.
Nothing better than a chair full of crazy, cozy, cousins! The day was great and I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day!

Swoosh!!

This past week and the week before were a flying blur! It really went by like a big SWOOSH! When Jack left for the raft trip I was anticipating a quiet rest of that week until he returned. But when the roof man called and said he could get the leak fixed a few weeks earlier than planned I just had to say OK..and the dumpster arrived. The next morning (on Friday last week) the crew arrived around 6:30am. I was just arriving home from work around 7:30am and they were already hard at it. It had been a crazy call night. I worked all day Thursday until 5:30pm and then got called back around 11pm and never left until after 7am! By a quirkie twist of scheduling fate, our OR had no surgeries because all the Friday Docs were on vacation. I'm so thankful because I hadn't slept in over 24hrs. and I wouldn't have been able to make the next 8hrs shift. But trying to sleep when someone is pounding on your roof all day isn't good either! They worked in a SWOOSH manner and were done around 2pm..so I did finally get some ZZZZ's. It also took me all weekend to recover. I felt like I needed to be thrown in that dumpster! This week has come and gone and after another mini crazy call night, I'm ready for the weekend!
The back deck was looking like something was going to be thrown into that dumpster!
The power tools they were using sounded very much like gun shots. Ed wouldn't even come out of the garage..no way, no how! The whole thing had him a bit freaked.
The finished product. We haven't had rain in a coons age so I'm hoping it's not going to leak anymore! I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
On Saturday night Jack got all cleaned up from the raft trip and we walked down our country road to our neighbor's house to celebrate his Mom's 60th birthday. Happy Birthday Jo! Here are a few of the cast of characters that showed up..like her son-in-law on the left..Mike..her hubby Lloyd, my hubby Jack, and our friend Greg.
Jo's Mother-in-law, Estelle, is such a cutie! If I said she was 90, would you believe me? Well, you better because she is!! I'll have what she's having because whatever it is sure has made her beautiful!
Jo's son Adam (our neighbor) and her Sister-in-law Marla.
The Birthday girl, on the far left, enjoying a laugh on the back porch.
Take a deep breath...and enjoy being 60!
Now for my final entry at the end of a crazy week. Why is my coworker laughing her head off in the locker room? Why is our dear friend Donna laughing her head off too? Sometimes you just have to get a bit crazy!
Why is this coworker holding an adult diaper with, what appears to be something suspicious inside, laughing? Only a few will understand...and you know who you are. TGIF!!

Row, Row, Row Your Raft

Here they are, the few, the proud, the brave. The group from Troop 555 ready to take on the adventure they planned for a year ago. The first stages of planning, the building of rafts and tons more planning on how to get it all to the Ohio River was finally being realized. The weather was pretty good..only one thunderstorm to contend with. The flow of the river and the wind were the trouble spots. They all had to do alot of rowing to get the rafts where they were suppose to be headed. The current was not flowing strong at all and the wind was trying to send them the opposite direction. But they kept at it and made the trip. It will be something they will talk about and relive for a long time. Good campfire stories!
OOPPSSS...As with all good plans a snafu usually happens. It happened in the form of a fan belt. But an hour later all was sort of OK..The trip home had a few oops too.
Once they arrived at the river's edge the real work began. All had to be assembled and loaded up with 3 days supplies.
The leader raft is all ready to start loading..it looks so innocent doesn't it? So....Tom Sawyerish..
Assembling the boys raft.
Boys raft almost all loaded and ready to head out.
Momma Mia that's alot of stuff! Honestly, it really did float!
Well, they didn't sink! Let the rowing begin!
Along the river all sorts of boats were spotted. From the tiny...
To the large!...
This little honey of a paddle boat looked really cute...I'm sure the rafts looked kind of cute to them!
There was a close encounter of the scary kind with a barge...but rowing saved the day!
The experience of going through the locks....learning about the way it's done was one of the goals they wanted to accomplish.
There's a process getting ready to go through the locks. I should have had Jack do the post because he knows all about the effort it took to do it.
But they did it!
For some reason I just love this shot of the boys raft, taken from behind them...
The sunrise on Saturday morning started the last leg of this trip. Jack made it home by around 4pm...very sunburned, very tired, very happy that he and guys all made it safe and sound...very happy they did it...very happy to take a real shower! Good job boys and leaders. It's great to work so hard for so long and accomplish a task, and learn a lot too!

Calling All Tom & Huck Wantabees

Schools out...time for some adventure. My husband is one of 4 leaders in our Boy Scout troop who's going on a high adventure trip with the troop. This trip has been discussed for a year now...plans made and carried out. They're going to float down the Ohio river on rafts constructed by the boys and leaders. I did not see the rafts until these pics Jack took last week. (No, I'm not nervous about it) He's been excited by this outing/fishing trip/camping/guys just hanging out laughing and relaxing/teaching scout skills (notice I put the teaching skills part last) since they concocted this idea last year. The weather is cooperating, the rafts are done, the totes are packed, the steaks are in the cooler...I guess it's a go. If you see Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn tell them Troop 555 is ready...and may the force be with them. Sorry, wrong movie.
Here's an inside shot of the leader's raft...keep in mind the comfy chairs.
Inside shot of the boys raft.
I'm not really nervous about all this...really...I always check on my husband's insurance policies. These rafts look sturdy..right? Hey guys, don't for get the paddles.