A girl's best friend

Ten years ago when I was picking out my wedding ring, I made sure to pick one that would look good with some additions. :)

I also made sure to pick a man that understood the importance of DIAMONDS. :)

Well, all that hard work paid off ;) and here's my first addition...


You all should know by now that I'm the world's worst photographer. I have no idea how to use the settings on my camera. I often end up with drabby pics, but the good news is that diamonds ALWAYS look good no matter how bad the photographer is!!! Here is how my little addition was presented to me...



15 princess-cut diamonds!!!

Man, I taught my boys well! Jaden had to give his mom an anniversary present. It was all his idea, and he totally picked it out himself. He knows that girls LOVE flowers, so he got me some calla-lillies that I can plant outside OR inside! He was so excited to give them to me!

I think I have some keepers!!

Put-in-Bay!!

Trevor and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on July 28, 2010!

10 years. That makes me feel old... just remember that I got married very, very young! :)

It was my turn to plan something for our anniversary, so I surprised Trevor to a night at South Bass Island/Put-in-Bay!



He had no clue, I didn't tell him until the night before. His response was, "But you have to work tomorrow..." and then "what are we doing with the kids?" and then "where is Phoebe going?". Come on Trev, you think I didn't get those things taken care of??

Jaden and KynnLee got to spend the night with their cute little friends Evan and Ellie. A big huge thanks to Bridgette and Dustin for watching our kiddos! I was afraid my kids wouldn't want to come back home... they set up a tent in the backyard for the boys to camp, took them to the library, took them to the Science Center, swimming... yeah, I think they were pretty much spoiled!

Phoebe got to stay with the Nebeker's and make friends with Paisley (their dog). I wasn't sure how that would go over, Phoebe is weird about other dogs, but she liked Paisley. A big thank you Julie and Keith too!!

I believe this was the first time I succeeded in keeping our anniversary plans a secret. Trevor accuses me of not being very secretive, but he is just SNOOPY! I can't help it if he saw the charge on our bank account, or if he saw something in MY email. See, he's snoopy. I just got lucky this time around. :)



We had about a 1hr 20min drive to catch the ferry to Put-in-Bay. It was strangely quiet on the drive. It was nice to carry on a conversation without being interrupted! Nice, but strange.



There was this cool little race track where you could race each other in these remote control cars with steering wheels, pedals and all! It was hilarious! We didn't race, but we had to stop by and check it out.

This cannon reminded me of the one that was at my grandma and grandpa's when I was growing up. I had to take a pic because I knew Jaden would think it was cool.


I think this store was my favorite! We had a blast trying on all the different hats! Plus I got a new toe ring here... (pic of that to come soon!)

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial was established to honor those who fought in the Battle of Lake Erie, during the war of 1812, and to celebrate the long lasting peace between Britain, Canada, and the U.S. We didn't make it to the visitor's center, but we walked around the memorial.

Here's some pics we got inside Perry's Cave. Here is a little bit about Perry's Cave...

Perry's Cave is a Natural limestone cave steeped in historical tradition. The cave lies 52 feet below the surface of South Bass Island in Lake Erie. The discovery of the cave, in 1813, is credited to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the battle of Lake Erie. The cave is 208 feet long by 165 feet wide. View stalactites, stalagmites and cave pearls on the cave's walls, ceiling and floor created by heavily encrusted calcium carbonate deposits from centuries of water dripping from the ceiling.

A rare Underground Lake is also located in the cave. The water level rises and falls with that of Lake Erie, indicating subterranean connections. Recent findings reveal that after Perry's men became ill, they used the fresh cold water from Perry's Cave Lake to drink. The luxurious Victory Hotel, once the largest hotel in the world, also used the water from the cave's lake. The hotel burned in 1919 and its ruins are visible at the South Bass Island State Park.

Our last stop before leaving the island was The Chocolate Museum.

Trevor would make a fantastic Willy Wonka!!!

Of course we got some tasty chocolate treats for the trip home.

Farm Park

Trevor took his first set of boards on July 7. What a relief!! It was hard on the whole family, but I can't imagine what it would be like to study for that kind of test. There's just SO MUCH information. We won't hear the results until the first or second week in August. Keep your fingers crossed!!

You might notice there is no 4th of July post, sadly that's because we didn't do anything. That blasted test had to be scheduled AFTER the 4th to help ruin our holiday. I was supposed to work on the 4th, but I got called off, which was good so Trev could get in a few more hours of studying. I did take the kids swimming with some friends on Saturday the 3rd, and they had a blast!

We took the kids to the Farm Park in Kirtland for a Hooray-boards-are-over-let's-do-something-fun day!!




One of the first things the kids got to do was milk a cow! Jaden was disgusted (hence the nose holding), and KynnLee was all for it! They liked the calves too...


So Jaden waited in line for his turn to milk the cow. When he got up there he actually did let go of his nose and grabbed the udder! He thought it was pretty cool, but he was pretty eager to wash his hands and get out of the stinky barn.


Then KynnLee decided she wanted to do it. She was all eager and ready to go, but then she got up there and didn't want to touch the udder, so she pet the belly instead!

Ha ha, KynnLee is such a poser! I LOVE it!


They had some displays of toy horses, barns, doll houses, etc. and of course KynnLee LOVED it!

After the cow excursion, we jumped on the tractor-drawn-wagon and took a ride to the sheep and ponies, etc.

They got to pet the sheep....

See some turkeys...

See some GIANT horses...

a galloping pony...


and try their hand at riding a horse... or in Jaden's case a bucking bull. :)

Then we went over to visit Skippy the pony!

Sadly, mom didn't make sure the camera was fully charged and it died before I got a pic of KynnLee riding Skippy. She LOVED it! She kept talking about Skippy for the rest of the day, it was definitely the highlight!