Last night, Sharon and her family got here just as the storm was beginning. It was crazy- hail, wind, rain coming down in buckets... We got everyone in safely, S&K left and I got the kids in bed. Bill had a crazy long day and said he'd be home around 9. I had been calling him to make sure everything was alright and his phone kept going straight to voicemail. 9:30 rolled by and I hadn't heard from him. I waited til 10 and called the pro shop- no answer. So I do what's natural- panic. I called my mom (crying)to have her look up some numbers, then I called his parents (sobbing by this time) who were in bed. They jumped in their car and went to trace where they thought he would have driven. I called Rattlesnake back and tried a few different extensions and finally got the grill room and asked if Bill was there. He was- he picked up the phone and I blurted out,"Where the *&^% have you been?!?!?" (which, in retrospect, was kinda a stupid question). Long story short, he got home around 11, called the inlaws and apologized, and went to bed. The limb in the second picture hit my car and dented the back end a bit- could've been much worse. And to top everything off, we had a house showing today at 2:30, so I spent the kids rest time hauling limbs and trying to make the outside presentable. I'm going to take a nap now! :-)

We were at the quarry and Noah, Charlie, and Annika were petting a cat. I thought it was a sweet picture :-)

Because we'll laugh about it later...

Everything in our house seems to be going wrong. Our sump pump wasn't working for some reason, the sink in the basement stopped draining, the fountain in our little pond quit on us, our lawn mower seemed to be slowing down... and of course at Bill's busiest time! So Bill's dad came over (love the in-laws!!!) and helped fix the sink so I could use the dishwasher. While they were there, the dishwasher quit working. Luckily, that was still under warranty. Unfortunately, we still had to pay a fee to get them out. So the repair man comes out to look at it and he's stumped. He says we need to get an electrician out (thank goodness was still covered under the fee). The day the electrician was supposed to come out (between 3 and 4), I had plans to meet Shan and Kristy at the dog park in the evening. He calls and says he won't be there until later, so I was hoping it would be a quick fix. He finally gets there (when I'm supposed to be leaving), takes off the panel, scratches his head and says he better look at the wiring. We look under the sink and he says he's never seen a dishwasher wired like this (great.) can he look in the basement? (certainly) We go down to the basement and he starts laughing. (what the *** could possibly be funny???) Turns out that while Bill and his dad were fixing the sink, the dishwasher was unplugged....
We had to get a repairman and electrician to help us plug the darn thing in.

That was a bit more long-winded than I intended, but I had to get it out.

Anyway, I better get cleaning and organizing. I have a sleepover at my house tonight (with 2 nephews and a niece)! Hopefully the weather is nice. We're planning on going to the fair that's in town and having a pool party(just a little blow up pool in the back yard- so must poop scoop as well!). Our house isn't exactly kid friendly for if it rains (I'm thinking Chuck E. Cheese if the weather is bad). Also, we got a new patio set! I put it up yesterday and have been sitting out here with coffee and my computer all morning! It's wonderful! Okay, off to be productive!

Sharon and Karoly took their youth group to Cedar Point and invited me to tag along. We spent Sunday at the park. We got "lost" on the way there- and the reason lost is in quotes is because we were going the right direction and turned around! The lines were short and the weather was beautiful! The kids were great- one of the nicest groups of kids I've ever met! We got to ride everything we wanted to except for Top Thrill. That was closed for a good portion of the day. Sharon and I ate a late dinner and noticed that there was NO line for the Raptor on our way back to the hotel, so after a big dinner of hamburgers and waffle fries, we rode. Surprisingly, neither of us puked, but I sure thought I was gonna after the ride! Not the smartest thing we've ever done.
We stayed at the hotel on the beach and got to get in the pool and walk on the beach the next day. That was very relaxing and fun! The whole trip was a nice mini-vacation!

Swimming at Grammy's house!

I came to my mom's house to help her watch my nephews and niece for a few days. They're such nice kids and so funny. My niece, Annika (Rachel), is such a little character. On Thursday, we let the boys make their own mini pizzas. Annika was hungry before they were so she had already eaten. While the boys were eating, she kept telling papaw that she was hungry, so back up in her chair for lunch #2. We all finished eating, and while grammy and I were cleaning up, she climbed into Charlie's chair and started eating his leftovers (lunch #3). She was so proud of herself! You would think we never feed this kid!

I took this picture leaving Rattlesnake Ridge. Isn't it neat?

Bill had the day off and took me to the zoo! We had such a good time. The animals were (for the most part) up and active! I had so much fun taking pictures of the animals!

The thinker...

This guy was pretending- he kept peeking through his fingers at us! Super cute!

We took the boat ride :-)

I thought this was so cute- he was out!

I love manatees!

These goats were sleeping on the walls really high up!

new friends

RAWR!

We got to see the baby elephant! It's so cute! It was also a miracle he didn't get stepped on- he stayed right under his mom's feet and was trying to nurse while she was trying to walk...

"Mom! Wait up! Momma! Mommy! Mom!"

This rhino was getting his teeth brushed. He seemed pretty happy to be getting it done!

Clean teeth!

There was a cage with a family of monkies- the mom, dad, 3 year old son, and new baby. They were so active, swinging and chasing eachother around and the baby was adorable!

So much fun!

So I sent Bill out to theh car to get some groceries and a few minutes later, find him FROZEN on the walkway. I ask him what's wrong and he can't even talk. It was a garden snake. Now, I do have to admit that when the snake started thrashing around, it was a bit alarming, but I suppose it's supposed to be.

This is the snake chasing Bill around the corner.

My garden- I planted tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers (bananna and green), eggplant, basil, mint, lettuce, snow peas, corn, zuccini... I think that's it. I planted one that was labeled a zuccini, but my grandpa and mom say it looks like a cucumber (which I hate). I really need to weed, but will get to that this coming week(now that science camp is over). I found 2 little tomatoes today!!!

We (Annika, Sharon, Me, Nicole, Mariah, and Lindsay) ran in the Jack Roth 5k on May 31st. I'm getting closer to my goal time :-)

Columbus Museum of Art with the sister and nephews

Shan and I took Roscoe and Brin to the dog park. We all had a great time!











































She wasn't really in time-out, it's just cute!