My Daddy went to Boston...

I am sitting at the kitchen table watching the neighbors get a bag of dog poop off of their roof. (see that white thing in the bottom corner of the roof... it's poop!) The children were out cleaning up the yard and the little girl started swinging it around. When I saw her flinging the bag of poop I thought it probably wasn't a very good idea because, um, it's a bag of poop. Then the next thing I know the bag of poop is on their roof. That is freakin hysterical...

Other than that we have had a lovely Memorial Day Weekend. John has had to work the entire weekend so Samantha and I hung out and did mommy & daughter things. On Saturday we went to the Groveport Arts Festival. It was wonderful. The weather was perfect and it was fun to stroll along Main Street looking at and talking about all the different art. It is interesting to see what she likes and why she likes different paintings. One of the artist asked Samantha what she thought one of his abstract pieces was. She told him it looked like a loaf of bread on a table. She discussed the piece with him for a minute. It made me smile to see my almost ten year old discussing art in such a grown up fashion. Later on we all had dinner out on the deck and then met Kelly, Tim and the kids for ice cream in town.

Today John worked again. Samantha and I spent the morning watching re-runs of "Gilmore Girls"... my most favorite show of all times... that and "Law & Order" of course. Then we took our coffee out into the back yard and each of us took a book to read. Samantha sat up in her play house reading and I sat on the bench under the tree in the shade. I read "Night" by Elie Wiesel. It was good but of course it made me cry. After I finished the book I sat there and thought about how thankful I am to have all of the freedoms we do today. I thought about how sometimes we take for granted the things have: our home, toys, television, clothing and even the things around us like spring flowers and how "Night" is a reminder that not everyone has these things and, not everyone has the freedom of being able to see their family and friends when they want. I am truly thankful for the freedom to be able to walk into my own home and hug my daughter...

Well, we finally got over to see Jess' brand new baby, Cadence. Although, I suppose she isn't brand new anymore... she is already 3 weeks old. I had been stalling on going over because I needed to finish crocheting her baby blanket. Anyway, Cadence is beautiful. Samantha really enjoyed seeing a new baby up close and personal. Jess told Samantha that she could come closer and touch her but Samantha felt most comfortable about 10 feet away.

Last night was Skyline night. Kelly and the kids did not go because Tara and Danny had stayed home from school sick. So, Samantha and I met Tacey and Lane there. I felt so bad because we had to bail on Tacey. Samantha got a really bad headache... so bad that she started crying and we had to leave after only being there 30 minutes. Samantha had eaten some of her spaghetti and then had gotten an ice cream. Instead of eating it she held the ice cream in the wrapper on her head. At that point i knew it was time to leave. When we got home Samantha threw up and then fell asleep. Before she fell asleep though she gave instructions to John that he was to wake her up when American Idol came on.

UPS

We used to have these great neighbors, Dave and Gretchen. John and Dave used to love seeing the UPS truck coming down our street. They would practically salivate and say: "it's coming to my house...", "no, it's coming to my house..." You could see them going down their mental list of all the crap they had recently bought on line as they knew they couldn't say the list out loud in front of us wives. Then they would start twitching in anticipation. My favorite part was when the UPS truck would stop at some other neighbors house. You would have thought they were about to cry.

Anyway, this weekend we were out garage sale-ing when a huge UPS plane flew over. John said: "OH... I BET MY PISTACHIO BRITTLE I ORDERED FROM NEW MEXICO IS ON THAT PLANE!"

That is absolutely pathetic! Pathetic I tell you...really, pistachio brittle... he said he was having a craving...

Haircut

My baby got her hair all cut off! It was a shock to see all the beautiful blond hair lying there on the floor! But, I love her new haircut!

I love Spring!

These tulips were in the yard of the empty house next door. They had so many tulips. And, it's amazing how I have a feeling these will spread all the way across the street into my yard next spring!

Tammy's lilacs bloomed before ours so she said I could pick some. Don't you just love the smell of lilacs!

Guess what this is...

Duh, it's a fireplace!

Aren't they cute...

Aren't they cute when they can't fly and torment me! A Robin built a nest on Kelly's front porch, right where everyone goes in and out. I can't believe she stayed and took care of her babies that close to people. Since I took these pictures about 2 weeks ago the babies have grown up and flown away. I missed the part in between where they are learning to fly but still come back to the nest. That week I had to go into the house through the garage and my camera doesn't have a zoom lens so you'll see no pictures of that!

Wagnalls

We'd never been to the Wagnalls Library so Tacey took us... Here is Samantha ans Lane checking out their books in front of the library... notice all the space in between them... Samantha is still in the "boys are icky" phase. Poor Lane, he just wants to be her friend but she wants nothing to do with him. Tacey said he likes the challenge so I don't feel too bad...

Samantha makes Lumpias

When we visited John's dad in New Mexico his wife, Lita made us Lumpias, a Filipino dish. They were so amazing. John had had them before but Samantha and I had not. They were so so so good and we craved them after we got home. So I learned how to make them. Mine are good but no where near as good as Lita's... but I guess they will have to do as we are 2,000 miles apart. These pictures are of Samantha rolling the Lumpias...

The Toledo Zoo

For Mother's Day Samantha and I met my Mom at the Toledo Zoo for the weekend to see the hippo's. The Toledo Zoo is the only one nearby that has hippos. On the way to the hippoquarium we paused to see some of the other animals. This guy is a sloth bear. He had this long, floppy fur and he was quite charming. But, he did make Samantha mad. She tried so hard to take his picture. He would go up to the glass in the viewing area but by the time Samantha got there he would walk away toward the fence. By the time she got to the fence he'd go back to the glass. It would have been funny if it hadn't made her so upset. We told her to wait in one place but she wouldn't and kept going back and forth trying to get that sloth bear's picture.

Here is Mom and Samantha immediately after the sloth bear incident. Note the sad face...

...And me with Samantha after the sloth bear incident. I was gritting my teeth and explaining that you can't control what an animal does and that she needed to get over it.

The gates to the Hippoquarium!

Mom and Samantha about to enter the Hippoquarium!

HIPPOS! HIPPY HIPPOS! HIPPIDY DIPPITY HIPPOS!

They were so amazing!

Kissing hippos...

They were actually graceful when they were swimming...

And they looked like they were smiling...

And like they loved each other... just hanging out in the water... sunning themselves...

Coming up for air every so often...

And pooping... every so often...

They got right up against the glass and it was so cool to be right next to them and see how big they are...

Hippo butts are cute too... But we had to move on and see some of the other animals...

These vultures were having breakfast...

Yummy!

The one went over and decided his friend's carcase looked better so he took it away from her... Surprisingly she didn't seem to mind...

Oh look, a baby Monarch butterfly!

Samantha had to stop to say hello to some ducks...

Mom and Samantha on an elephant...

And still hamming it up on the elephant...

He was interesting... but we all know how I feel about birds!

Oh! Look how CLOSE I am to that BIRD! It only lasted a second before it dive bombed my head, I freaked out and Samantha had to come and rescue me.

Stupid bird thought it was funny...

These guys were really pretty and they stayed in their tree where they belong...

Samantha got a stuffed hippo that she named Howard...

And she got some charms for her shoes...

Samantha really enjoyed the pool at the hotel...

She got to swim several times and almost turned into a fish...

Finally I go her to come out...

Mom got some beautiful lilies to make the hotel room feel like home and she gave them to us to take home...

And, here we are getting ready to head for home but not before having a Mother's Day breakfast...

It was a perfect Mother's Day...