Waves and dolphins

We woke up on day one to the sound of ocean waves - our bedroom faces the ocean and we had the door to the porch open to enjoy the sound. After getting ready and having a bowl of cereal, we went out on the first floor porch. Imagine our delight when we saw dolphins swiming by!! This vacation thing is really great so far!!

My first soccer game

I was so proud of K when she started back playing soccer in the spring. I watched her games and they seemed to have a lot of fun so I decided to give it a go.

This Saturday I had my first game and I had a blast. It's much harder than I thought it would be but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to many more games.

Farmer's Market, Swimming, naked front door & Some Like It Hot

We got up early on Saturday morning to go to the Worthington Farmer's Market.  We really enjoy walking around and seeing all of the fresh produce and organic meats.  We ended up getting fresh blackberries and raspberries, zucchini, a basil plant, fresh raw milk cheddar cheese, purple tomatillos and some tomatoes.  When we asked the "tomato guy" for some info on the tomatoes, he explained that the ones we were purchasing were called "grandpa's tomatoes".  He explained that his wife's grandfather brought the seeds over from Italy when he came to the States.  I love the Farmer's Market!!   Oh yeah, and we shared a fresh key lime bar :-)

We dropped our wares off at home and then went to the gym to go swimming.  I don't usually pay much attention to how far we go but M figured out how many laps we needed to do to make a mile so we did it.  My arms were pretty tired when we were done but it was nice to finish a mile.

We took the front door apart and stripped the paint off of it.  When we switched the door handle, we were hoping to only have to sand a small spot on the door and paint it.  Our luck was that there were so many coats of paint and that one of the middle layers was goopy that it just wasn't going to work.  We spent the afternoon taking the paint off and sanding.  We put the door back on the hinges with no paint on it as it was time to go out.

One of the east suburbs (Gahanna) was showing "Some Like It Hot" in a local area park.  www.creeksidegahanna.com/index.html  We invited some friends (C&B) to go with us.  B agreed to bring white wine, hummus and pita crisps.  We brought red wine, homemade salsa (from the Farmer's Market tomatillos) and chips.  They got there first and called to tell us that it was in more of a brick plaza than a park.  We didn't have chairs so C went to the nearest Kroger and picked up four chairs - whew!  It was very cool - so great to watch the movie on the blow up movie screen.  Funny movie if you have never seen it.  What was even funnier is that in the building behind where we were watching the movie, the third floor was a reception hall with a lot of windows and we could tell it was a wedding reception.  We got to see the first dance, the father daughter dance, YMCA, and Hang On Sloopy (O-H-I-O).  It turns out that the plaza had an amazing fountain and a restaurant overlooking the fountain.  It is now on my list of restaurants that I want to try - if for nothing other than the atmosphere.  www.mezzoitalian.com

The long drive home

After a wonderful weekend in Boston/Martha's Vineyard/Sturbridge, we were very tired from what my cousin called "circuit training".  We walked ALL around Boston, biked around Martha's Vineyard, and swam, water skied, sailed & rode bikes in Sturbridge.  

Google Maps said 11 1/2 hours home.  We decided to stop for both lunch and dinner and although it made the trip longer, I am sure it made the trip less confining.  Thirteen hours later - it was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I took a short nap while M drove and he took a short nap while I drove.  We talked about how much fun we had on the trip and read some articles from "O" (Oprah) magazine.  The good news is that we survived the drive and are willing to do it again next year!

Look for more blogs with fun stories from the trip.

Retiring at 60

Well, after 9+ months, we have run off 60 pounds (about 30 each) wearing these old sneakers.  We decided it was time to get new ones.  Go team!

Special note: these were purchased to tread many miles around Italy.  Who knew just how far they would go!

Expired Medicine? Eh, it's still good.

When we were kids, the medicine cabinet at the beach house was always filled with really old medications.  Grampa and my Uncle were both doctors and we always  had some old looking bottles with old labels in there.  Anyone remember the red spray stuff that was some sort of bactine type thing?  Ooo, I hated that stuff!  It always stung and you had to blow on it to make it feel better.  Needless to say, the bottle was clearly NOT new.  What was the pink stuff that you put on poison ivy?  Caladryl?  I think they make that in a clear gel now... but we had the super old pink liquid version!  Needless to say this is one of the things I learned from my parents, "eh, it's still good."  When M moved in with me, I was convinced to change my way of thinking.  So I always smile when we have expired medication and M throws it out.   It reminds me of my parents and the old medicines they kept for ever.  It reminds me of the 500 count aspirins that my father used to buy - he always had aspirin.   I now laugh that M and I always buy the little bottles because they would expire before we would use them all anyway.  It makes me smile that something as little as throwing out expired acetaminophen brings back so many memories.

P.S. KEW - if you are reading this, it's for you.  Since you are one of the few people that I think actually read our blog, I want to keep it updated and interesting for you :-) 

1, 2, 3... Splash

When we were kids, my Dad and my Aunt used to swing us on a 3 count and then throw us into the pool.  They used to throw us sooo high!  We would line up - all seven of the cousins - and just keep getting in line until they got too tired to throw us anymore.  

This past weekend, we saw a new generation continue the tradition.  My brother and my cousin were swinging the kids, 1... 2... 3... splash.  It was so fun to watch and it brought back so many fun memories.   M took four picture of our "niece" and photoshopped them together to make one picture.  You get the idea of how the throwing goes.