Showing posts with label Potter family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Potter family. Show all posts

Sunday, September 9, 2012

I Know What I Did This Summer

Lately I've been lamenting everything that we DIDN'T do this summer.  It seems like the summer went by so quickly.  But when I really think about it, we do have some sweet summer memories. 

- Tom & I went camping with our friends, the Langers, in Hocking Hills.  (That's not a peace sign I'm holding up - it's to signify that we were on day 2.  Note that I'm still smiling....)



- We ate lots of fresh fruits and veggies, courtesy of our weekly CSA deliveries.  I made delicious vegetable soup with kohlrabi, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, onions & peas.  Honestly, it was better than it looks in the picture!

- I went on a girls weekend trip to Washington DC with my BFF and her middle daughter.  Because there's no better place to celebrate your 8th birthday than at the American Girl Doll store in DC with your mom and Auntie. 


- We went fishing.  Yeah, that's right.  I have a license and everything.  I don't enjoy fishing.  Never have and probably never will.  But my husband digs it, and it's not always all about me. 
- We discovered (thank you, Groupon) a local dairy that makes fabulous cheese!  Blue Jacket Dairy in Bellefontaine.  It's a really small company, but they are so nice and have a million samples!
- I had dinner with the sweetest boy in the world.  Just me and Jacob, who proclaimed, "Auntie, that was an excellent dinner"!  (Seriously - how could you not love that?)    You may be thinking, "What's so special about dinner with a four year old?"  Well, let me explain.  Jacob is the youngest of 4.  And the older girls usually occupy my time, so I have never (ever) done anything with just me and Jacob.  He was so cute and well behaved the whole time.  I loved every second of it!


- Tom rode 30 miles in the Tour de Cure.  Like a boss.

- We had a visit from my BFF's oldest and youngest girls during the Fourth of July week.  (5 and 9 years old.)  I love it when I get the kids all to myself for a week!  Festivities included seeing "Brave", lots of shopping (of course) and fireworks with friends.



- We spent at least several weekends at the lake.  With family.  With girlfriends.  My sister makes killer margaritas.


- We had a patio put in, so we enjoyed eating dinners outside without the table and chairs sinking into the grass.
- We turned up the radio and sang like crazy fools any time we heard our summer theme song, "Summer Breeze". 
- We went to a Cincinnati Reds game with the parents, and saw the Reds retire Barry Larkin's number.  Amazing day.
- Tom & I went camping again.  This time with my sis and BIL (again at Hocking Hills).
- I did lots of reading.  When we were younger, we were always allowed to buy books before our family vacation.  Our parents took us to B Dalton at Eastland Mall, where we loaded up on books.  It was awesome.  And probably the reason why I will always associate summer with big time reading.

- We gave the office a mini makeover by recovering a chair (thanks, mom) and backing the bookcase with fabric. 


Now that's a fun summer, right?  With that being said - I'm soooo ready for Fall.  Bring on the football, mums, sweaters, pumpkins, apples, and all things Fall!  Happy Fall, ya'll!


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Road Trip

The week before last, Tom & I went to North Carolina to see my favorite southern family, The Potters. I usually go visit them in January, but this year the date was planned in advance because it was Paul's 40th birthday. 40. I can't believe that all of my friends are turning 40. I didn't know the crowd I hung with was so old. Anyways, it was a super long drive because it rained the entire trip. And by entire trip, I do mean the ENTIRE TRIP. My poor hubby drove almost the whole way (what a guy)! We had a great time planning for the surprise party. Paul is exctremely difficult to trick, and I suspect he knew more about the party than he admitted to, but it was a great time. Lori's friend made this super awesome cake (pictured above), while Lori & I were responsible for the suckers and hot tamale display. We were pretty darn proud of ourselves, and think they turned out pretty cute! Most of the time in NC was dedicated to party prep, but Lori and I managed to squeeze in some shopping (of course). The party was Friday night, and on Saturday the adults were able to sneak away to The Melting Pot for a birthday dinner for Paul. (Thank you, Gagi!) The kids were somewhat grouchy on Saturday, probably becuase they were all up so late on Friday night. Poor Jacob refused to leave the party and fell asleep on Daddy's lap while we were playing board games. So, as you can imagine, it was nice to leave it all behind for a few hours and have a nice dinner with Lori and Paul.
We left first thing Sunday morning, with Emma & Lily in tow. They spent the entire week last week with us, and we had a blast. More about that, though, at a later time!