Corn on the Cob - 212/365

Nana and I hit the trail at 7:15. We are just loving this cooler weather! 

When we got back, Jim's mom was there to spend the day with Reagan. 

Jim and I, had to take my car to get checked out. It was making a weird rattling noise. He knows a guy that works on cars, so we dropped it off there. It ended up having a bad stabilizer, loose heat plate, and the brakes and rotors were bad. $460 dollars later, we're back in business! The new brakes are awesome! It stops immediately now, which is a nice feature...LOL! 

Jim's mom and Reagan had a nice day. They played, read a lot of books, and drew with chalk outside. I got a lot of chores done and some of my picture files backed up. I somehow got way behind again, so I wanted to make time to get caught up. I don't want to have another hard drive disaster! 

This evening, Reagan and I ran to the grocery store to grab a few things. I grabbed a fresh head of  lettuce and put in a plastic produce bag. Reagan wanted to hold it, but she kept reaching down in the bag, trying to touch it. I told her, "Oh honey, don't touch that. We need to wash it." She pulled her hand out and just held on to the bag the rest of the way. We happened to stop near a lady in an aisle, Reagan held up the bag, looked right at her and said, "We need to wash this!" The lady just busted out laughing. It was a hoot! She's definitely not shy! 

For dinner, I grilled some turkey burgers, fresh zucchini and corn on the cob. Shelly always keeps us stocked with zucchini from her garden. WE LOVE IT and so appreciate it! 

When I was husking the corn, I noticed one was like a little midget, so I decided to let Reagan try it. She had never had it right from the ear before. She went right to town and shaved it clean! She loved it! 

The photo of the day is Reagan and her corn...  

 

Drawing Papa - 211/365

Nana and I hit the trail at 7:15 this morning! 

We wanted to get a walk in, before it was time for Reagan to head back to All the Little Birds. Nana was going to take her to class today, so I could spend the day getting some chores done. 

They had a great time at class. Reagan just adores going there. 

 After class, they decided to go take in some putt putt at Sports World on South Avenue. She did great! I guess she enjoyed rolling the ball more than putting. They even enjoyed a snack there, her favorite, popcorn! 

 After putt putt, they went back to Nana's and just played for the rest of the afternoon. 

 I ended up getting a lot done around the house, so the help was much appreciated! 

 This evening when Nana and Papa dropped Reagan off, she was showing them all her chalk art on the driveway, from the last couple days. She was pretty mad, that their car was parked halfway on her chalk body. She kept trying to push the car off of it. She finally gave up on that, then decided to make Papa lay on the ground so she could trace him. It seems to be her new favorite game! He was a good sport! He even had Brinkley practically on top of him! 

 Jim got to get a taste of broadcasting again this afternoon! Some of the people in Rotary got to go to Cumulus Radio and tape a commercial for the Oktoberfest. He said it was fun to be back at it, if only for the afternoon. He was so thrilled they asked him to do it! 

The photo of the day is Reagan tracing Papa on the driveway...

 The next is Reagan enjoying some golf...

Class, Circus & a Concert - 210/365

It was a busy day for everyone today! 

 Reagan had her first art class at All the Little Birds today. Jim had been wanting to do something with her, for their own daddy/daughter time, so this worked out perfect! 

They got to class and played a little bit with the other kids before class started. 

When it was time for class, they went back and started their project. Each child got a little 5x7 canvas, painters tape and a little tray with paint. They took the painters tape, made a design, then went to town. Reagan and Jim did a little "X". It came out great! 

 After class, they went out to the Canfield Fairgrounds to attend the little circus that was out there. It was only in town for one day. We went last year and it was fun. 

 Reagan was excited because grandma joined them for the evening! They were able to score front row tickets, so Reagan was thrilled to be able to see the animals up close. She said her favorite animal was the camel....lol! 

She hopped up on grandma's lap for a lot of the show and ate a whole box of popcorn. Her favorite!! They had a great time and didn't get home until 10:00. Party animals! 

While they were having their daddy/daughter time, mommy, Nana, Raymond and Jennifer hit the town. We started with dinner at Trax in Austintown. We hadn't been there in a long time, it was delicious! 

After that, we headed downtown to the Covelli Center for the 3 Doors Down/Daughtry show. 

We ended up getting in and out of dinner pretty quick, so we had time before the show to grab a drink. We decided to try the new Warehouse 50, which is actually the old BW3's. It was weird being in there and see it all different, since that was Jim and I's hangout in college. They did a nice job, but it's not our "B-dubs". 

We finished up our drink and made our way to the Covelli Center. It was shocking to see the place barely half full for a concert like that. 

We made it in time to hear a little bit of Halestorm. Whoa, they were something else! The lead singer was a girl and pretty much just screamed the whole time. They had a lot of fans there though, everyone had their Halestorm skull t-shirts on. 

3 Doors Down was next and were really good! I had forgotten about some of their songs. They were the very first event at the Covelli Center and we were lucky enough to have tickets to that show. It brought back some good memories. We also got a kick out of the lead singer becuase he kept saying, "my friends." We remembered that from the couple other times we had seen them. LOL!

 Daughtry came out last, but only did a 45 minute set. It was weird! He wasn't as good as the last time we saw him, but he was OK. 

It was a super fun night for everyone! We had a lot of laughs!

There are three pics today.  The first is Reagan at art class.....

The next is Jim, Grandma and Reagan at the circus....

The last is Nana, Raymond, Jennifer and I at Warehouse 50...

 

62 Years - 209/365

Pretty laid back day today.

 We went down to grandma and grandad Downard's this afternoon. They were celebrating their 62nd wedding anniversary, so everyone went down to have a little picnic! 

62 years! How wonderful is that? They are still happy, too! What an amazing accomplishment in this day in age! Hopefully someday, Jimmy and I will see our 62nd wedding anniversary! I'll be 90 and he'll be 92! We can do it! 

My mom and dad brought a Subway sandwich tray along with fruit, pasta and potato salad. We also had a yummy cake and Handels ice cream! 

 We were also celebrating Aunt Barb, Aunt Jean and Jim's birthday's, too, busy party! 

Reagan loved chasing around Zeke as usual and giving him lots of lovin'. She also loved walking around delivering pretzels and giving hugs to everyone! That pretty much kept her busy the whole time. 

At one point, she asked for the chalk. Aunt Barb had given her chalk for Easter when we were down there. They had gone out and drew on the sidewalk that day. Well, yesterday she remembered that and was so bummed there was no chalk! Poor thing....

When we got home from the picnic, I cut the grass and did a little weeding and trimmed the bushes. While I did that, Jim, Reagan and Brinkley went for a walk at the farm. After all that, we played with chalk on the driveway, since she didn't get to play with it earlier. I asked Reagan to lay down on the driveway so I could trace her. After she saw her super cool chalk person, she wanted everyone to do it! We have the whole family out on the driveway! Looks like a CSI episode out there....LOL! 

The photo of the day is grandma and grandad...Happy 62nd Anniversary!

The next is our chalk family...

 

Princess & Pirate Night - 208/365

Today started off on a sad note. 

My mom, dad, Jim and I attended a memorial service in New Castle, for a longtime co-worker, Linda. Linda was a wonderful, kind person that everyone loved. All four of us were lucky to have worked with her at Butler Wick, and through the change over to Stifel Nicolas. She had suffered for a long time with illness, but was one of those people that you would have never known it. She was always smiling and always had kind words. We will all miss her very much. Rest in Peace, Linda. :(

 We got home from the service and waited for Reagan to get home from grandma's. When they got here, we rushed out to see her, but she started crying at the sight of us. She said she wanted to go back to grandma's. Geez, guess that means she had fun! LOL!

 After she was settled, we decided to try to go on a walk around the neighborhood. We got down the street and it started raining. When we got back, we were giving Brinkley some treats. Reagan loves his, put a treat on his nose and tell him "take it" trick. She went through the motions and when he caught the treat, she started clapping and said, "Congratulations, Buddy! You did it!" SOOO cute!

This evening, we were going to the Pirate and Princess Party at the Akron Zoo. We went last year and it was so cute! Reagan wore her Sofia the First dress and looked ADORABLE! She got so many compliments on it. Everywhere we went someone said something to her. 

The new Grizzly Ridge is amazing! They did such a nice job and it really adds to the zoo. You get to be so close to the bears. We had fun watching the one play with some balled up brush. He was flinging it around and playing in the water with it. At one point, he even looked like he was using it as a loofa!

Reagan got her face painted and got to color her very own crown. She had a ball! 

We were walking down to the base of the zoo, when Reagan turned around and started going the other way. We said, "Come on honey, the fish are this way!" Daddy started playfully chasing her, she went the other way laughing and shouted, "I'm being a pistol!" We were dying laughing! 

The party seemed to go too quick. We were bummed when it was over, but we had to head home. We got back around 10:30. Reagan just loves walking through the door to see Brinkley. Of course, he's always waiting for us. We opened the door and she ran to him and said, "I love you stink bomb!" It was hilarious! Sometimes we call Brinkley, Stinky Brinky, so she must have gotten it from that. She is too funny! 

The photo of the day is Reagan at the zoo...

 

Harvest & Hazel - 207/365

Kind of a busy day today!

We started at Gymnastics. A little funny that happened was, at the start of class, they do some butterfly stretches. Miss Amanda usually asks each one where they are going to fly to. When she got to Reagan, she replied, "Alaska!" I guess she's ready...LOL!

After class, Nana, Reagan and I headed to Fellows Riverside Garden for their Family Day. The theme was lady bugs and sunflowers. The kids got to make a little lady bug out of popsicle sticks, it was so cute!

 After their craft, they could harvest some vegetables in the Children's garden. She picked cucumbers, beans, beats, celery and tomatoes. The best part, you got to take whatever you picked home. How great! We're already looking forward to next week.

After that, we headed over to Elliott's and Petitti's to look for some new bushes. We had some old rocket bushes cut down and were looking for something else to replace them with. I ended up finding another hydrangea tree and two tall skinny hydrangea bushes. Obviously, I love hydrangeas, so I was pretty pumped! I think they are going to be great!

This evening, Nana, Raymond, Jennifer, Jim and I were off to Pittsburgh to see Sister Hazel, again! We had so much fun at the Cleveland show that we couldn't pass up seeing them again, when they were so close. They were playing at a small bar on Carson Street called the Rex Theater. Cool little venue!

We decided to have dinner first, down in Station Square at Houlihan's. It was quite yummy!

We got to the theater right at nine and Sister Hazel came out shortly there after. They were awesome; even better than the Cleveland show! They seemed to have a lot more energy, too. They were quite chatty and told a lot of funny stories! You can tell they are just a bunch of down to earth guys. It was a lot of fun!

When the show was over we were standing on the side street waiting for the valet to bring the car around. We were kind of standing behind the building and I said, I bet this is where the tour bus will go. Jim decided to walk down the street and around the other corner to investigate. Sure enough, the tour bus was on the other side. He came back and said Ken Block, (the lead singer) was standing over there. Jennifer, Jim and I rushed back over to try to get a picture. We ended up getting to talk to him and have our picture taken. He was so super nice!! It was so exciting and a great way to end the night!

While we were out partying with famous people, Reagan had a slumber party with Jim's mom and dad! They went to dinner, did a lot of coloring and chased around Timmy the cat. They had a great time together! We so appreciate them have her spend the night!

The photo of the day is Jim and I with Ken Block from Sister Hazel....

The next is all of us at the show...

And finally, Reagan with her harvest from the garden...

Family Fun Day - 206/365

We had family fun with Ed and Pam today!
First though, Reagan was thrilled because she got to see her friend Dexter! We picked him up from his beauty appointment and delivered him home. Reagan just loves that little guy! 

Anyway, we spent the day tooling around Mill Creek Park. We decided to stop down at the Lily Pond to see what was going on. We brought some bread to see if we could entice any fish that may have survived the devastation over the weekend. We walked around the entire pond and only saw one yellow fish. He was kind of far away, but you could definitely tell he was swimming around. Uncle Ed strolled down the path with us, and then took a break on a bench. Reagan hopped right up and just chatted with him. She just loves her Uncle Ed. When we headed back to the car, there was a gang of geese right near there. They were kind of being mean to a duck and it made Reagan mad. She even talked about it at bed time. :(

After the pond, we just drove around a little bit checking out the park. Ed and Pam hadn't been through there in awhile and it was a beautiful day for a drive. We drove by Lake Glacier where they were doing boat rides. We saw a pontoon boat and inquired, but couldn't get on today. Boo!

After driving around awhile, we decided we were hungry. We decided to have lunch at O'Charley's to visit our friend Cindi. We had a great lunch and a great chat with our friend! It was great to see her!

Our last stop was to Classic Bakery. I wanted to get a cake for the picnic this evening. Pam came in to get some cookies for the road. She was waited on by a crabby old lady. She asked Pam how many cookies she wanted and Pam said she wasn't sure. The lady just kind of grumbled and said, "well I guess I'll just start with this box, then if I need another..." I was already done, so I laughed and headed back out to the car. Pam came out and said the old lady kept up her grumbley attitude the whole time. She was even giving her a hard time about cream puffs...LOL! Chill out and have a cookie, old lady!

This evening, Jim, Reagan and I went to a Boardman Rotary Picnic at Boardman Park. They had it at one of the little pavilions in the back. They grilled hot dogs and everyone brought a side or a dessert. It was fun! Reagan made a little friend, too. They were running around picking up all the sticks in the field. LOL! Reagan even got to meet Boardman Rotary's most famous Rotarian, Mary Lou.

When we got home, Jim and Reagan ran back out to the store to pick up a few things I forgot to get today. What a great hubby! While they were gone, I noticed there were a couple honey bees on my black eyed susan's. I pulled out my macro lens and had some fun! Honey Bees are slowly disappearing, so I was excited to see one!

It was a perfect day! 

There are a couple photos for today... The first is Uncle Ed and Reagan chilling at the Lily Pond

The next is Reagan and Mary Lou at the Boardman Rotary Picnic...

And finally my honey bee picture...

 

Cops, Zoo & a Rose - 205/365

Today started out interesting. 

I was getting ready for the day when I got a text from Rachel saying there were numerous cops and unmarked police cars at a house up the street. We were both thinking WTF!?! I hurried up and finished getting ready, so I could be a nosy neighbor and drive up around the bend, to see for myself! She said there were a ton and she wasn't kidding! It was kind of spooky. 

By this time, they were just standing in the driveway and some were laughing, so I figured the main part of whatever they were doing, was over. One officer happened to be digging in the trunk of his car, so I stopped and I asked, "May I ask you what is going on here?" He just smiled and replied, "Oh, we were just assisting the federal government with a search warrant." Alrighty then! I then asked, "so no one is dead or anything?" He just laughed and said "no, nothing like that." I still don't know what they did or what they were into, but it's not something you like to see in your neighborhood. They just moved in not too long ago. Oh well! 

 Once all the excitement was over, Nana, Reagan and I were off to the Cleveland Zoo to meet Adrienne, Nikki and the kids. We had a great time and the kids were well behaved. The girls all had on blending outfits from Gymboree's latest safari line. They looked adorable! 

We even took a little ride on the train! I had never done before, it was cute! 

After the zoo, we went over to the rainforest to have some lunch. We were all starving by this time. After lunch, Adrienne headed home and the rest of us just hung around chatting for a little bit. While us adults were chatting, we noticed that Ally and Reagan found Nikki's lip gloss and were giving each other "makeovers." It was too funny! They looked beautiful! 

Eventually, mom and I had to get on the road so we could get stuff ready for our dinner tonight. My mom and dad decided that they wanted to get Aunt Rose's, Youngstown family together for a Celebration of Life dinner. Aunt Rose lived in Florida and didn't want a big "to do". 

We had it at Tippy and had nearly 30 people. It was wonderful to see everyone and everyone was excited to be there! 

Everyone brought old pictures of Rose. We passed them around and shared our favorite stories. It was so fun to hear stories that we hadn't heard before. 

For the decorations, we did everything with Roses. The centerpieces were roses and then we attached a picture of Rose to a stick and popped them down in the center. 

Rose always had the perfect manicure, so we found nail polish called "Vintage Rose" and tied a small picture of her that showed off her nails, to the polish. We gave one to all the women. She loved playing cards, too, so everyone got a deck of cards. My mom even found tiny chocolates that were in tiny playing card card boxes. They were so cute! Reagan passed out all the goodies to everyone and did a great job! It was such a nice way for us all to take some time to honor our beloved Aunt Rose! 

 I have three photos for today, shown in order of the day... 

The first is the Federal Agent Raid

 The next is the kids at the zoo...

And finally,  a family photo at Rose's Celebration of Life Dinner...

Porch Party - 204/365

We had another "porch party" with Ron and Rachel today.

 Rachel is due in two weeks with their baby girl, so we're trying to get in a few porch parties before the baby comes. 

We had another great dinner tonight, too! Rachel made spinach feta turkey burgers. The burgers were delicious; she did a great job! I made corn on the cob, baked zucchini chips and a salad.  

I was going to set up the pool so the kids could swim, but this afternoon, we were under a severe thunderstorm watch. Sure enough right around four o'clock, we got a good one. It was a torrential downpour! My mom left right towards the end of the storm and saw someone stuck in a flooded part of Raccoon road. It was crazy!

Anyway, they didn't get to swim today, but it did clear up and we got to play outside. We set up the water table and they did some splashing. 

It was funny because, Parker was remembering things from last week. He kept walking around saying "pool." He knew last week, they were swimming over here! Later in the evening, he even walked up on the deck and was saying "cake." He was looking for the strawberry shortcake that Rachel brought last week. He was like, "where's the cake!?"...LOL! We didn't have cake, but they got to enjoy some popsicles. 

Brinkley on the other hand, got to enjoy some beer tonight. Somehow, one of our cans ended up in the grass and Brinkley just started licking the can. He was trying to suck up every last drop of beer that might be on that can. It was too funny! He licked on that thing for a good few minutes! 

 After awhile, we ended up on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. Reagan was enjoying having people "draw Parker." Where she got that, I have no idea. But everyone had to take a turn and "draw Parker."

To cap off the evening, the kids wandered onto the front porch and just spontaneously held a dance party. They were boogieing down, just having the best time! It was a hoot! 

We kept calling it our "hillbilly night" because the kids were soaked from the water table, the dog was drinking beer and pregnant Rachel was holding a beer at one point. Then, we were sitting in the driveway on tailgate chairs. And finally, a dance party on the front porch! We were having a good time! We always have a fun time with them!

Earlier in the day, Bazetta Tree finally came to cut down the four ugly pines by the house. They were starting to die and turn brown, so we finally bit the bullet and got rid of them. It looks so much better! We have such a better view of the playset from the deck. It's wonderful! I think I'll leave it wide open and just find a few shorter things to plant. I like having the extra space! 

Another funny thing today, Reagan got a cookie from the Dutch Hause and ended up getting the purple sugar cookie icing all over her face and in her eye lashes! It was quite the sight. It looked like eye shadow from the 80's! LOL! 

Overall, a great day!

The photo of the day is Parker and Reagan at the end of their front porch dance party.

The next is Brinkley enjoying his beer...

 

Photoshop Seminar - 203/365

I was headed to a Photoshop seminar in Cleveland today! Exciting!

 But, not before we realized our air conditioning was broken, ay, yi, yi. We actually thought it was a little stuffy last night. Jim finally discovered it was broken around 1AM. 

He called Clayton Heating and Cooling first thing this morning and they came right out. We were their second stop! They were here for 2 hours, and $230 later, we're back in business. We were relieved that it wasn't anything too serious. We can live with a $200 repair. 

Reagan was going to spend the day with Nana, while Jim was working and I was in Cleveland. 

 I left the house at eight, and got downtown and situated at the Renaissance by 9:30. 

 I am a member of Kelby Training online, so I was excited to finally be at one of the live seminars. They are the best in the business. 

The seminar itself was held in the Grand Ballroom and it was packed! They had tables throughout the whole room and almost every seat was taken. I ended up sitting in the middle of the very last row. They had two huge monitors going the whole time.

They gave us an extremely detailed book of everything they covered, so you didn't even need to take notes. You could just sit back and let it soak in. We learned everything from how to touch up photos, to how to combine two images to make them look like one. It was fascinating and I learned a TON! Today, I also became a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Too exciting! I can't wait to keep learning! 

Overall, the program was great and I look forward to attending another seminar in the future. 

 After the seminar and before I headed home, I had to make a pit stop at Colossal Cupcake. Raymond and Jennifer visited there a couple weeks ago when they stayed in Cleveland, and it sounded wonderful. They have cupcakes bigger than your fist! It really was something else! I got Jim and I  salted caramel and cookie monster. They were yummy!

I got home around 7:00 and was able to spend some time with my little girl before bedtime. 

I was happy! 

The photo of the day is the seminar...

And next is our Colossal Cupcakes...

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Something's Fishy.... 202/365

We slept in this morning. Until 9:30!!! Woohoo! We haven't done that in YEARS! 

Our room at the Hyatt was so comfy and pitch black. It was HEAVEN! 

 After we got up and moving, we headed home to pick up Reagan. As we were waiting for the hotel valet to bring our car, I was just standing around scrolling through Facebook when I saw something that broke my heart. 

All of the fish in the Lily Pond at Mill Creek Park suddenly died off. I couldn't believe it! We really love visiting there, we take Reagan and Brinkley all the time. 

Jim and I had stopped at my mom's to pick up Reagan and Brinkley and asked my mom if she wanted to take a ride down there with me. (I didn't want to take Reagan and have her traumatized by all the dead fish.) She said she would.

 We pulled into the Lily Pond and you could tell right away something was wrong. You could almost smell the stench of dead fish before even getting out of the car. We walked over to the water's edge and were just horrified. There were dead fish EVERYWHERE! There had to be hundreds, all different sizes and species. There were some fish that were just HUGE! It was so, so sad. As you looked out across the water, it almost looked like it was littered with leaves. You could just see white spots in the water that were actually just floating dead fish. 

We walked around the whole pond stopping to talk with other people about the devastation. We talked to an older man who said, that he's been visiting the pond for 50 years and had never seen anything like it. That's saying something.

The water seemed to be an odd blue color and have a weird film on top of it. I don't know what happened, but I hope they get to the bottom of it. It was so depressing to see. We couldn't take anymore, so we headed home. 

When we got back, I ran the mower over the grass real quick. After I finished that up, I fixed some dinner for us. While I was cooking, Reagan and Jim were playing stickers in the playroom. When I called them to come in for dinner, they both had stickers all over their faces! It was a hoot! They have such a good time together!

 It was a pretty nice day, except for the Lily Pond. 

The photo of the day is the sticker faces...

Although gruesome, I wanted to keep a picture of the pond devastation... RIP little fish :(

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Gladiators Date Night - 201/365

 This evening, Jim and I were going to Cleveland for a little date night! 

Nana came to pick up Reagan and Brinkley around 2:30 for a slumber party at her house. 

We finished getting ready and off we went. We were staying at the Hyatt Regency at the Arcade downtown. What a gorgeous old building; it's jaw dropping! 

We got to our room and were very pleased, it was huge! It also had the best shower head and water pressure in the world! LOL!

After we got settled, we walked over to the Chocolate Bar to have dinner. We had only eaten there once before, but we LOVED it! We started with the french bread baguette that has chocolate slathered all over it! To. Die. FOR! For dinner, Jim got a chocolate beer and bacon mac n cheese. I got pecan crusted chicken with sweet potato fries and corn salsa! YUM! We ended with slices of chocolate pie! They were delicious, too! 

 After dinner it was time to head over to the Q. It was the Gladiators last home game of the year and, it was fan appreciation night. We walked in and they happened to be giving away T-shirts. Better yet, they were Bernie Kosar shirts! We were so excited! 

The Gladiators do such a great job keeping you entertained during the game. There is constant music and fun stuff on the jumbo tron. It's a hoot! 

They happened to be playing Orlando, which was kind of interesting for us. Another cool thing, was that it was the national game and it aired on CBS Sports. It was cool to see all the extra cameras and reporters. 

The game itself was a great one, it went back and forth the whole time. Our seats were in the lower end zone, so we had a great vantage point. Both teams did a lot of fade routes, so the ball kept going right over our head! The players were always right there, too! 

They didn't do too swift overall this year, but they did end up winning! The final score was 65-62 and in typical Cleveland fashion, they almost lost at the last minute. 

After the game, we walked over to the casino for a little bit. We didn't really play, we're not big gamblers...LOL! We just enjoyed people watching and having a couple drinks in the nice bar areas. Once we had had enough casino, we walked back over to 4th street to find a little snack. We ended up at the bowling ally. We kinda like that little place. We got an order of onion rings and cheese fries. Perfect as a midnight snack! 

 Once we gobbled up our snacks it was off to bed for these old people, it was 12:30! LOL! 

 While mom and dad were off on their date, Reagan had some fun of her own! Nana and Papa took her to Tippy for dinner. After dinner, they went out on the driving range and putting green to play. Reagan loves exploring those places and has the best time. They even got to jam to a little Buffett, because they had a band out on the patio! 

Fun night for all!

The photo of the day is Jim and I at the game..

 

 The next is a little collage of our shirts and the game....

The last is my favorite view from the hotel...

Feeding the Ducks - 200/365

Not much going on today. 

Today is supposed to be the last day of the heat, which is great! I didn't get a chance to water my flowers this morning before gymnastics, and by the afternoon, they were SCREAMING for water. They were a wilting mess. I felt bad for them...LOL! Usually they can hang on till evening, but this heat is just too much for them.

Nana brought the kids back in time to go to gymnastics and since she was already here, she decided to check out the class. Reagan is really doing well! It was funny because Reagan remembered that they got popsicle at the end of class last week. She was giving the teacher her high five as she walked through the partition out of the gym and she said, "popsicle?" The teacher felt so bad, she said, "awww honey, not this week" and made a sad face. I don't know how she remembers this stuff. 

This evening, we just hung around the house in the air conditioning. I ended up just grilling some chicken and zucchini, and we had corn on the cob. Gotta love summer food! YUM! 

Tonight it was my turn to give Reagan her bath. We have a good time. Lately she's been playing with all her rubber ducks a lot, along with her big Vtech duck. She says that the rubber ducks are the Vtech duck's babies. Her new thing is to feed the Vtech duck. She talks to him and just pours bath water in his mouth. That's pretty much all she wants to do for her whole bath. It's so funny! She's so sweet and adorable. I love watching her discover and play. 

One other cool thing is, we got something else to grow today. I had been saying that next year I wanted to get a blueberry bush. Well, we happened to be at the Giant Eagle this afternoon to pick up the chicken and low and behold, they had a bunch of blueberry bushes out front. I snatched one up and we'll see what happens. Reagan is excited! She loves when we have ripe strawberries, so I know she'll be checking the blueberries everyday! 

The photo of the day is Reagan feeding her duck friend...

The next is our new blueberry bush..

Buffett Day - 199/365

It was Buffet day today!

We did our walk right at 8:00 and we about died. It was another hot, hot, hot one. After the walk, Nana took Reagan and Brinkley back to her house for the day, and a slumber party. Jim got home from work around 4:00 and we were off to the show. 

We always pack a cooler and get sub sandwiches for our tailgate. We got right in and set up our camp. As we were sitting there, we started hearing claps of thunder. We checked the radar and it was barely a green blob, so we just kept sitting. After 10 minutes or so, we started hearing drops of rain on the trees. We packed it up quickly and sure enough it started pouring. The hatch on the Saturn opens straight up, so we just stood under there. It only rained for 15 minutes or so, and quit just in time to walk in. It was beautiful the rest of the night but HOT! 

I have to say, Jimmy Buffett's crowd is getting old. I guess we're getting old...LOL! Every year, it's starting to be more and more laid back. It's nice. He came out around 8:15 and played until 10:00. It was great! He just released a new CD (is that what you call it, still?) recently and played a lot from there. He still did all the classics, too though! He's just a hoot! He loves messing with the crowd. 

It was PACKED!! There wasn't a spot to be had in that place ANYWHERE! 

One fascinating thing to watch, is the crowd during "Fins". We were up towards the front, so it was awesome to turn around and watch the sea of people all waving their "fins" in unison. It was amazing! He really does have a cult following.

 Jim and I always say we want to try to see him every year, because you never know when he will want to call it quits. He is 60 some years old now! It was funny though, because he must have said three times last night, "Retire from this job, Ha ha ha! For what!?" Hopefully he means it and we get many more years of Buffett fun! 

 We left two songs early and got right out of the parking lot with no problems, it was great! We were home by 11:15. 

While we were "Wasting away again in Margaritaville," Reagan, Nana and Papa went down to visit great grandma & grandad Downard. They had a real nice visit and stopped for dinner at the Shale on the way home. Reagan and Brinkley just love their slumber parties at Nana and Papa's! 

 Thanks for keeping them, Nana & Papa! 

The photo of the day is us at Buffett!

 Then a collage of the stage...

Finally, Reagan and great grandma Downard...

 

Super Splashers - 198/365

Hot, hot, hot....again! 

We went on our morning stroll and sweated our buns off. Oh how I wish I meant, literally. 

 Jim's mom was coming over today to spend some time with Reagan, so I could hopefully get caught up on the last of the editing. They ended up going to Great Grandma Mabel's, McDonald's and Walmart. They had a super fun time and Grandma Nikki even picked her out a couple treasures. She got a little Doc McStuffins and monkeys for her zoo. She LOVES them! She's been really getting into Doc McStuffins lately. 

This evening, Ron, Rachel and Parker were coming over for a visit. We're trying to get a few "porch parties" (which now are "yard parties") in before the little princess comes. We always try to have a dinner and then the kids play. This time, we had chicken kabobs, corn on the cob, salad and strawberry shortcake! YUM! 

 I had set up the "leaner" pool yesterday, so the water could get warm for the kids to play today. I ended up having to drain all but four or five inches of water so it wouldn't collapse. It ended up really working out, because they could jump in and out of it themselves on the leaning side. They had a BLAST! Parker is so brave, he just tosses himself right down in that water and has a ball. They had so much fun just splashing, and jumping and falling in the water. It was such a hoot to watch. They were both exhausted by the end! It's so fun watching the kids grow up together. 

There are two photos of the day because I couldn't pick a favorite one. 

The first is the super splashers....

The next is just cuteness overload....

Swimming and Bouncing - 197/365

Wow, what a heat wave. It was another scorcher today!

 Nana, Reagan, Brinkley and I hit the Kirk Road trail again this morning. We of course, were a sweaty mess, so we decided to go and take a dip at the Tippy Pool. Neither one of us had been in that pool since I was in High School, I bet! It was so refreshing and we had the whole place to ourselves! There were a few people finishing up a lesson when we got there, but then finished up and left. It was so nice! Reagan just loved it! We'll have to do that more often for sure! 

When were were done there, we grabbed lunch at the club and ran a few errands. 

When Jim got home, he took Reagan to Austintown Bounce for a little bit. It was a nice air conditioned activity to blow off some steam. He said there were actually a lot of people there. Some of the kids were older than Reagan, but she kept right up! 

When they got back, we went on a little stroll around the neighborhood...it was HOT!

 I had decided to fill up the pools for the next day, while they were at the bounce around. When we got back from our stroll, I realized I had set up the "leaner" pool! We're keeping it for Brinkley, but I hadn't marked the good vs. bad pool. I was sad to lose nearly 300 gallons of fresh water, and my flowers happened to need watering, so I shuttled water from the pool to my flowers. What a chore that was! But, at least I got an extra little workout in! LOL! I got the water level low enough that the pool was not leaning as much and we still should be able to play tomorrow. It's going to be another hot one! 

The photo of the day is Reagan hanging out at the Tippy pool all alone...

The extra, is Reagan peeking at daddy from the bouncer...