Milestones, Memories, Family, And Fun

 I hadn't posted much in August but the last couple of weeks were busy and fun filled.  We were busy getting ready for our kiddos in Oregon to make a visit.  It was a short but very sweet time.  They came to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.  We didn't want a huge party and I know my sister and our good friend, Bryn, were disappointed.  But it's quite a lot of work to get all that done whether it was us doing it or them and when it's a huge crowd you don't really get to enjoy everyone.  So they said, OK, and we just had our boys, some of the Grandkiddos that could make it and our friend Bryn.  My sister had just been here and will come again in October with her kids so we'll party with them in a few weeks.  Time is flying by and these past 50yrs sure did!  Last Wednesday Craig came ahead of his family.  Amy, Sophie and Katie came on Friday because it was Sophie's first week of school and she couldn't miss that whole week.  Everyone from Oregon arrived via the friendly skies and it was a great time!  On Saturday the kids did all the work from decorating to cooking and if you know me that was hard and weird to not have a big hand in all the planning.  They did great though.  Here's a few pics of their work:

The guys, Jackie, Craig, Jordan, and Phil set up the cooking station in the garage since it was a little rainy outside.  They made hamburgers, (my request!) and brats along with pasta salad that Evelyn made, fruit salad Bryn made and potato salad that agreed I could make.  Added with chips and extras it was delish.  Phil took charge of the dessert which was key lime cheesecake (Jack loves Key lime) and double chocolate cheesecake to make me smile!

My gosh they were amazing and so gooodddd!!  He didn't bake them, he has a friend who makes these but we gave him all the credit for their yummyness!

The girls doing the prep!  That's my granddaughter, Sophie in front of the island, Amy my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter, Katie next to her with the "50" above her head.  Thanks girls, you did great!

The dining room set with it's gold lame' table cloth, flowers and happy anniversary sign.

Kitchen fireplace decked out with lots of gold

I put together a little poster board on the dining room buffet.  

The sign on the fence was cute but my transplanted hostas look ready to call it a season!

Jack and I in our "Golden together 50yrs" t-shirts.  

The kids gave us this metal sign they had made.  It can go inside or out but for now it will stay here. We also got a super cute blanket with all the info on what was happening in 1974.  You could buy a house for $36,000 then and now you can't get a car for that! Crazy.  I know everyone always is amazed at how time goes by and all the living that's done in those years.  We have such a great family and many good friends that we cherish.  When I put the following pic on the poster I couldn't help but wonder if that young, 21yr old, had any idea what life had in store.  Of course she didn't as none of us do but I will thank my Heavenly Father for the blessings and even the trials we've gone through to this point in life.  It's been lessons learned, love shared, tears shed from laughter to sorrow and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  To my siblings who sent us a sweet card with some cash to enjoy something special to my kids for putting up with us all these years and sharing this day, THANKS SO MUCH AND WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Mirror, mirror on the wall, you have no idea at all!

Crazy kids!

First dance but not the last!

A cool ride to head to the future.  Happy Anniversary Jack!  Love you forever!

Fall Teaser

 The weather has been glorious this weekend.   Just a little taste of Fall I think.  Lower 70's for day and 50's for night. Just enough to make me dream of pumpkins and Halloween gatherings.  But not enough to actually decorate for that season yet! Come on, it's August and I know there are hot days ahead and maybe even a few sun burn days too.  However, the yard is finally getting green again after a few storms last week.  We got lots of needed rain but thankfully not the damaging storms Cleveland received.

Hello green grass with just a few brown spots left here and there.  I was able to mow the lawn after not getting the mower out for over 2 weeks!  I worked 4 days this past week and for me that's a lot.  My back wasn't handling it too well and after a 9hr day on Friday I was ready for some R&R.  We didn't make the BBQ that was the plan for Friday night but Saturday night we had our own little cookout and the first real fire pit night of the Summer.  It was way too hot and humid before now.

Hey, it's an empty chair just waiting for me!

Toss in a couple of hot dogs, potato salad and fresh off the vines tomatoes and it's a feast!  We're not s'more people but we did split a Hershey bar!  Well, it's late but I don't work tomorrow and I'm heading outside to see if I can spy any meteor showers. 

Night all!

Happy Birthday Cam-Man!

 August is moving right along and so are some birthday wishes.  Yesterday our Grandson  Cameron turned 17.  Wow, wasn't he just a little guy?  We joined with his Mom and sister and his other Grandparents, along with our son Jack (his Dad!) to watch him blow out those candles in one fell swoop!

He's a great kiddo who's quiet like his Dad and also super smart.  They just found out he's the top of  his class!  He also works at a local Dairy Queen and loves his video games.  Typical teen! Love  you Cam! Happy Birthday!   Here's some of the other players in this celebration:

His Mom, Stephanie. Even though she and my son are divorced, everyone gets along and we celebrate these times together.  I'm grateful for that with no drama!

His sister Summer.  Notice the artwork on the walls? Many of those are Summer's! She's very talented and this party room is a great place to display her work!

Summer and her Dad along with her constant companion, Happy!

Cameron opening his presents next to his Grandpa Jerry on one side and PawPaw (Jack) on the other. We gave the gift that keeps on giving...you know, money!  It was a nice evening after the storms that rolled through our area.  Cleveland really got hit hard with rain and wind and lots of outages and damages.  We got the much  needed rain but no problems, thankfully.  Not much else really happening around these parts but watching the garden start to produce.

Green beans are coming in and soon the canner will be humming along.  We've enjoyed the fresh off the vine tomatoes.  I dream of these all winter!  I know it means work with picking, making sauce, canning and such but they make me smile in the winter seeing them all lined up on the shelf in those glass jars!

Not sure if you can see the rain in this pic but we're very grateful the storms that have passed through and given us and the farmers some relief.  It's been a hot summer and the humid days are not my favorites but cooler temps are heading this way over the weekend and I'll enjoy that!  However,

I know it's still 46 days away...not that I'm counting...but the stores are already gearing up for that season of candy, pumpkins, and ghouls!

Witches hats and jack-o-lanterns are lining the shelves.

Ghoul blend and pumpkin pie M&M's...Yes Please!!!  I read a meme that said, "I like sweater weather more than sweaty weather"! I have to agree but I'm really going to try and enjoy this last month of Summer.  We have a few activities that include a barbeque and a trip to Lake Erie in the next few weeks along with a visit from our kiddos in Oregon at the end of this month to help us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.  Hopefully that will be a blog worthy post to end August! Until then I'll be on the lookout for something to write home about!  Sweaty hugs from Ohio!

Bye Bye July!

This is a first for  me.  Only 2 posts in July.  One is a hello and one a goodbye.  What have I been up to? We've been trying to finish projects this summer that needed done around the Pines.  A bathroom update is finally in the books.

A new tub 

We kept the same  vanity as it was built in and very good wood.  Just had it repainted and a new vanity top and faucet, lights, and a mirror I found at a thrift shop.

My sister spotted this little picture at the resale shop in Chicago we love to go for treasures.  The ceiling was redone and painted and I painted the walls.  Time well spent I think. Glad it's over!  Then I had decided to change a planting area that had been near our front walkway after we changed the sidewalk from wood to cement. I pulled out all the hostas and flowers and replanted them elsewhere to make space for a fence.  

My sister was visiting last week and left yesterday but on Monday we put the fence in! 

I told Jack that we proved what two old broads with a sledge hammer can do! Ha!  There's just a small part that needs to be finished and that will hopefully be done this weekend.  New plantings and grass will go in but our weather has been hot, humid, and also very dry.  You'd think with the humidity we'd get rain but only a few sprinkles here and there.  Not great weather to plant grass!  We'll do our best to get it done before the end of the next month.  As I mentioned, Midge was visiting since last Thursday until yesterday.  We packed as much as we could in those days.  My niece Amy, along with her hubby Eric and Midge's grandkiddos were heading to Cedar Point so I met them at the turnpike, grabbed Midge and headed here while her family enjoyed 3 days at the amusement park.  Then the kids came here on Sunday and gathered with us for lunch until they headed to Mohican area and spent 2 days at a cabin owned by a friend of ours.

It's a pretty location and cabin sleeps 10 and has all the comforts of home along with a nice hot tub. They hoped to go canoeing on Monday but the area got lots of rain which made me mad since we only got a tiny bit.  But they managed to find other fun things to do.

Amy and Midge checking out the yard area

There's a nice pavilion and a huge fire pit.

Before they headed down to the cabin they joined us for a nice lunch at the Pines.

Amy and  my great niece, Ella.

Jack ready for chow!

Jordan, Jackie and my niece's hubby, Eric.  I didn't get pics of the other kids there.  They were busy running around outside and checking out the neighbor's animals.  We had a good time and my sister and I enjoyed being together and laughing all the time and probably driving Jack a little crazy! He's a good egg to go along with us on some of our adventures and then just let us hang out and enjoy our time.  It sure went fast just like this month.  I hopefully will get back on the blog wagon and post more for my own journal and memories as well as checking my blog buddies out to see how they're all doing.  It's almost August so I'd better get going.  Night all!

Hello July!

 I didn't get a blog out on the 4th of July but I did celebrate with family and a good friend of ours joined the group too.  She's the lady I told you about who lost her husband this year. We try to make sure she's not alone on holidays.  Anyway, guess who didn't take a single pic on that day...yep, me! I just got so busy making sure everyone was eating and enjoying the rainy day I didn't think about picking up the camera or using my phone.  Yes, the rains came but the fireworks still went off as planned. We stayed home but my daughter-in-law and her daughter and granddaughter went.  The only pics I got were:

The carved wooden eagle our son did for Jack a few years ago got a quick holiday outfit on.

I have a star shaped cake mold that makes 6 cakes and I usually whip up a few for this holiday. It's hard to tell what it is from this shot but they had cherry filling and did get eaten! We also did ribs and homemade icecream.  The rain didn't stop us from eating!  We really needed the rain so no complaining about it!  I happened to be off that week since one of the Docs who works 3 days a week at the endoscopy unit was on vacation and that's who I usually work with so I took advantage of the time.  Annabelle and I took a little walk at Freer Field where the Balloon festival had been held.  It was pretty quiet that morning and temps were nice and cool.

I enjoy the trail through the woods.

Coming out of the woods I could spy a couple just sitting on a bench on the hill enjoying the beautiful morning.   Speaking of enjoying a beautiful morning, I took a minute to sit out on the deck one of the mornings and have my tea and toast and just enjoy the pretty day.

So far the bugs haven't been bad but with the warm and humid days we've just been having I'm sure the mosquitoes will arrive and sitting outdoors without screens isn't going to happen much.

On another morning walk we had to stop by and say hi to our alpaca friends...little cute Beano!

Annabelle likes to get up and personal!

This scared me for a minute but this alpaca was just sleeping in the leaves! She soon popped her head up and got up and moved to a new spot.  Well, that's all I've got for now.  I hope the warm weather isn't hurting anyone too badly. We have temps in the 80's with humidity and I'm trying not to complain but enjoy this season.  However, I know soon it will be Fall and then I'll have my happy face on!