Happy Birthday Hubby!

Dear hubby is on the other side of of his 4th decade this weekend...

Chocolate cake with chocolate icing served with chocolate ice cream were his request.  

Rib eye steaks on the menu for dinner...

My life has been blessed with him by my side.  

A great marriage is not when the 'perfect couple' come together. 

It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences. 

 - Dave Meurer -

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

HDP

Fall Family Day

Today we took a day trip for our annual "pilgrimage" to the pumpkin farm.  We took a hayride out to the field and picked a few pumpkins for the front porch.  While we were there, we also went through...

 a 12 acre corn maze carved out in the shape of zoo animals.  Luckily, they handed out maps for those who weren't brave enough to get lost. 

:-)

We also went to Fort Ancient, a state park and museum.  We've been studying about Native Americans in Heritage Studies and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to tie in the history of Ohio's Indian groups.  It is in the same area as the pumpkin farm and it was a gorgeous day to be out and about.

The trails were beautiful to walk through, our feet crunching the fallen leaves and the sunlight making pretty dappled shapes on the floor of the woods.

There are ancient Indian mounds throughout the park.  Some of the mounds form the walls around the site and others are burial mounds for the Hopewell Indians that lived there many, many years ago. 

Any way you look at it, it was a wonderful Fall day and time spent with my little family. 

A day to be thankful and count the blessings in my life.

HDP

Fall Road Trip

This past Friday, we headed south on a fall family road trip...

It was a beautiful day for traveling and as we headed into downtown Cincinnati, I caught the above photo.  The building with a crown is officially the tallest building in Cincinnati and has just recently been completed.  

On our southbound journey, we were able to spend some quality time with my father and to take our son to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Museum. 

The Space Center is home to many artifacts from moon walking...

to space travel...

and exploration...

We had beautiful weather our whole trip and it felt like early summer instead of October.  

 We are home now and I'm getting caught up on the laundry from our trip and unpacking suitcases...

I did get to crochet a little while in the car and during our trip.  I'll share my progress with you in the next couple of days.

Hope your weekend was out of this world!  

:-)

HDP

Whirlwind of a Week

This week has been a whirlwind.  My mom has been here, visiting from out of town, to help celebrate the little one's birthday.  We've had some form of activity every day that she has been here...

Monday, we went to an apple farm and bought some orchard fresh Cortland apples for applesauce making.  Nothing like fresh applesauce still warm from cooking.  Wouldn't you know, dear son likes Mott's better (go figure).  

Our adventure on Tuesday took us to SunWatch Indian Village just south of Dayton.  

It is an historic Fort Ancient Indian village that has been reconstructed based upon archaeological artifacts they have recovered from the site.  It was interesting to see the movie, walk through the museum and tour the village. 

All along through the week, I tried to capture some pretty color from the flowers...

to the changing leaves in the trees...

Of course the big day, was the birthday, where we started out the day with a hearty breakfast at Bob Evans...

then to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens (one of our favorite places to visit).  Where there is always something interesting to see, do and learn...

We wrapped up the day with a little party at Chuck E. Cheese, the children's paradise, with games, rides, pizza, favors and birthday cake.

Happy birthday to my little one...

who isn't as little as he used to be...

Until next year...

HDP

End of Summer Field Trip

This past Tuesday, dear husband took off from work and we all headed to Kentucky to the Creation Museum.  This is the first time we've been there and since we are homeschoolers, we were able to take advantage of their Fall homeschool rate.

Even though the little one is enamored with all things dinosaurs...

I got the most pictures of their beautiful botanical gardens...

The day was gray and cool, but there were still late flowers in bloom.

The garden had pretty ponds...

and streams...

just a peaceful place to relax and enjoy.

At the other end of the beautiful gardens was a petting zoo for the little one to explore...

It was a fun, end of summer day, with lots of opportunities to learn.  

HDP

Exploring the "New World"

Last week, dear son and I spent a good portion of Social Studies learning about Leif Ericson (the Viking explorer)...

So this afternoon, we donned our Viking helmets and went out on our own "New World" expedition.  :-)

It was a beautiful August afternoon with low humidity; which isn't typical in Southern Ohio.  

We haven't had a lot of rain, so the creek bed was mostly dry... 

While the "boys" turned over rocks looking for little creepy crawlies...

I was out looking for some pretty wild flowers to shoot...

These parts have been "founded" for some time...

but, you never know what you might discover...

in your own "back yard".

Wishing you a wonderful Sunday and an upcoming week of exploration and discovery.

Blessings to you and yours.

HDP

Taking Time to Smell the Roses...

or, Queen Anne's Lace anyway...

It was a tough decision as to what to do this afternoon...go to the "Y" for swimming or take a scenic bike ride on one of our local trails.  

Since our humidity has dropped a bit, I voted for a bike ride...

so off we went!

We took a different trail that ended up being more sunshine than shade...

but the trail was dotted with pretty Queen Anne's Lace...

and, if we were closer to home, I would have picked a big bunch to put in pitcher for the kitchen table.  

Dear son didn't last too long in the hot sun, but it was nice to get out and get a little exercise

and

afterward....

reward ourselves with a cold treat.  

We are now relaxing in the cool air conditioning and I'm contemplating something quick and easy for a light dinner.  

Wishing you a Sunday filled with rose smelling moments.

HDP

Heat Wave Roadtrip!

With heat indexes in the 100's, we decided to take a family day road trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. 

All I can say is wow!  It was awesome!

We had never been there before, but I'd heard lots of great things about the museum.  It was just a bit over a two-hour drive from our home; I'm so glad we made the trip!

There was so much to do and see!

We saw a mega transformer...

Hokusai's Great Wave done in JELLY BEAN! mosaic form...

Dinosaur skeleton fossils...

An impressive tower made of hand blown curly glass pieces...

A ginormous stuffed polar bear...

Beautiful and colorful dragons...

 Ancient terracotta warriors and horses...

But most of our time was spent in the "hands-on" areas...

Where the little one helped rebuild a "gorgosaurus"; went on a dinosaur dig; helped move "rocks" from an ancient Egyptian tomb; "swam" with scuba divers hunting for "sunken treasure"; learned about the beautiful sky in the planetarium; and had fun with "Charlie Brown and Friends" in a musical play...

WHEW!  

Come closing time, we were ready for our final stopping place for dinner, before heading home...

Oh, and by the way...

if you have an electric vehicle, it's only $2.50 to charge it...

:-)

What a fun and exciting day!  

We will definitely go back again sometime to see all the exhibits we didn't get to see this time around.

What an adventure we had!

HDP