Date Night!

Pat and I have been trying to go on a date since our anniversary last November! I don't know how it got pushed back so far but we did finally make it happen! At the beginning of the day we still weren't really sure what our plan for the date was but I came across a newspaper article with a review of a restaurant called Forage and it pulled me in! We decided to take our chances on it and it was amazing!! I got a Bahn Mi sandwich, something I've always wanted to try and I'm so glad I did. It will be tough to decide on something new the next time we go since I enjoyed it so much. Pat got Osso Bucco and I think he enjoyed it but was not overwhelmed with joy like I was:) After we ate, we walked around Crocker Park until our movie started and the next morning we went for a bike ride together, something we never get to do! It was so great getting to reconnect. We should probably start planning our November date now to make sure it happens!

Swim Lessons-Owen Edition

Owen finished up his 2 weeks of swim lessons after Paige had hers (that means 4 weeks of watching swim lessons for me!). It was hard to see much of what was happening from where they allow us to sit and watch but I could tell Owen was working hard. It paid off because he passed Level 4! Yay!

The picture below is 3 pictures of Owen combined into one as he swam toward the wall.

Hip Hop

Paige's summer hip-hop class has ended but I had to share this adorable picture! At the end of class, the girls would gather around their instructor, put their hands in and decide on something (adorable) to cheer too. I think the last week it was Superstars! but other weeks I heard unicorns, rainbows, etc. Paige had a great time in the class and he really worked them hard! It was fun to see Paige doing a different dance style and see what she thought of it.

Baseball Playoffs

Owen's baseball team had a great season but they didn't make it very far in the playoffs this year! They seemed to get discouraged early on and never turned it around! It was an unfortunate way to end things since they had played hard all season but I think the after-game pizza and trophies smoothed things over a bit:)

The game ended after 10pm and Paige was ready for a nap!

Owen and his friend TJ celebrating their season!

Too late for pizza? No way!

Visit!

We took a quick trip to visit some families for a mini college reunion. I think we end up seeing the whole group maybe once a year so it's always nice when we can make it happen. The Shaw family hosted the weekend and I think the most anyone had to drive to get there was a couple hours. We started off with lunch at Ye Olde Mill, followed by...ice cream (of course!). Then we headed back to their house to hang out. They have a giant yard so the  kids had a ton of stuff to entertain themselves with like a zipline, playground, checking on the chickens (eggs!), playing basketball and on and on. The adults all had a chance to catch up with only minor interruptions for injuries and our own turns on the zipline. We stayed at a hotel but the next morning we joined back up with some of the families for church. Our friend is now a pastor and it was awesome listening to him run the service, not to mention how nice the congregation was! We were pretty sad to leave, Owen and Paige really bonded with the Shaw's four boys and the other kids! Until next time...

Ice Cream at Ye Olde Mill. It was melting fast!

Zipline!

Some of the kids squeezed under the playground for dinner

The whole group 

After church! Porter was on Owen's back most of the time I saw them:)

Indians

The blog has been on hiatus while the iPad was getting fixed but now we're back! And we did a lot of fun stuff while we were gone! Starting with...

An Indian's game! Pat had some tickets from work for a midweek day game. He couldn't go so that meant I had to drive into downtown for the first time with kids. I thought it wouldn't be a problem but we got stopped by a terrible accident for a long time and then came across a bunch of construction. We got to our seats a little after the first inning had started but that was ok! We made it!! We were in full sun and it was a super hot day, the kind where you have sweat dripping down your back while you're just sitting there. We dealt with it by drinking lots of water, munching on cups of ice and getting ice cream and sno cones! Normally that would be a bit much but we needed it! The Indians ended up losing but we had a great time watching and now I'm not so worried about driving!

4th!

By the time the 4th rolled around, we were tired out but we had one more day of celebrating!! We relaxed for most of the day and then when I was cutting up some fruit for a party I realized I had found the cutest watermelon in the world! Exciting:) We joined our friends at a party around dinner time and had been hanging out for a couple hours when it started raining and just wouldn't stop! We walked home eventually in the mist thinking fireworks would be canceled and everyone could get to bed early. When we realized fireworks were still happening, everyone but Paige was ready to skip them. We ultimately decided to make it happen for her and walked back to our friends house because they had a close spot they watch from. The whole scene was comical, random strangers and friends sitting on the front lawn of a family who was out of town (but who we know and had given neighbors permission to watch from their house) trying to watch fireworks that, because of the direction of the wind were mostly blocked by the smoke of the fireworks:) Everyone was exhausted and it didn't take much convincing to get the kids in their beds!

Heart Watermelon!!

Owen and his friend TJ appointed themselves guardians of this tasty taco dip and would only leave the table one at a time so nobody could get too close to it! :)

We sent Paige and her friend Jocelyn on a photo scavenger hunt. Here they are completing the cars-on-the-head challenge!

Festival

I thought we'd head home after the parade but we ended up stopping at the festival and stayed until almost 10pm! Oops! The kids wanted to try the zipline that went over the lake and they loved it, even requesting to go again! Instead, we went and checked out the rides with some friends and then got "dinner" and a funnel cake. We ended up walking home in the dark with two exhausted kids!

3rd of July

Lisa and Alex invited everyone over for grilled pizza on the 3rd so we got to hang out in the beautiful weather with everyone before we headed home for our city's parade!

Swim Lessons

Paige just finished her 2 week summer swim lesson session! She was in level 2 this year and even though she wasn't super excited about participating, she learned a lot and became a much stronger swimmer. She was even one of the few kids that passed onto the next level! I was very proud of her hard work! Owen had soccer camp for one of the weeks so he's taking his turn next session. Hopefully his weather is warmer than Paige's! For the second week of lessons he would bring a book to read or join a friend on the playground to keep himself entertained.

Paige is in the pink goggles, swimming during free time

Paige and her friend Jaina, bravely pretending not to be freezing on the last day

The gate swung shut and locked Owen and his friends out so I took a picture:)

Visitors!

One of my favorite things about summer is getting to hang out with people we don't normally get to see! Julie, Amanda and their son Derrick came to visit us last week. It was our first time meeting D and he was an awesome kid to hang out with. We took them to our local splashpad and we had some Boca Loca by the lake for dinner. Then we stopped by the playground before we headed home for some ice cream. It was so much fun to hang out and chat but we were sad to have to say goodbye! Hopefully we can have another visit soon!!

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Party

Paige's friend had a birthday party over the weekend with a Star Wars theme. So funny to see little kids in the swimsuits running around in Stormtrooper and Chewbacca masks!

Crew

We took a last minute trip to Columbus last weekend when we realized it was our only chance to get to a Crew game this summer! As usual, we stopped at Easton for some food and shopping and general sight-seeing. We got to the game, made a sign and found our seats. Pat was smart and made sure we got tickets on the side of the stadium that would be in the shade! Some friends of ours were also there and Paige and I randomly ran into them when we were in line for some ice cream! The Crew ended up tying the game with a last minute goal which helped bolster the crowd a bit. We contemplated leaving early to beat the traffic out of the stadium but ultimately decided to stay and watch the fireworks show. So glad we did! It was great and Pat found a magic way out of the parking lot that allowed for a quick exit.

Fun wall at Easton

Posing before the game

Paige and I made this sign before the game. Go Crew!

I think this was right before the fireworks?

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Veg

It's CSA time! We've been getting bags for at least a few weeks now but haven't tried a lot of new recipes until now.
First up-Baked Zucchini Fries. These were mediocre. They didn't have a ton of flavor and they were super messy to put together. They breading did come out pretty crunchy though, which was nice. We ended up dipping them in ranch dressing to add some flavor.

Grilled Cauliflower-I currently can't find the recipe I used for this, which is a shame because everyone but Paige liked it. You slice a head of cauliflower, then make a marinade out of...lemon juice? parsley? something else? After you grill it on each side for 5 minutes you sprinkle parmesan cheese on it and grill until melted. Yum!

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