50 Years Young

Tony turned 50 this year so I wanted to make it special for him.  I talked to one of the women that he works with and she helped me out.  I took all the stuff to her at lunch the day before his birthday and she and another co-worker did all the decorating.  Here is a small sampling of what was done at the office for him.

 I did everything in black and white.  I made post-a-note pads with covers on them for all the people on his team, and had candy kisses with a sign that said  "Kiss Youth Good-bye".  I also made him  a candy bar bouquet.  There were lots of  "old"  signs around, a birthday banner, and balloons.

 The other women did the area outside of his cubicle.  They decorated with all the things they knew he loved.  Gardening (with potatoes of course) and golf.  They put up lots of festive birthday things.  These pictures don't come close to showing all that they did.

They also added some things about Idaho.  I love the Shelley sign.

Since I was going to leave the next day (for a month) to go to Idaho to be with Mom for her back surgery, I wanted to make the even special as well.  I was pretty excited to find black and white flowers at the store.  We grilled stake and had beets and salad for dinner.  I have the most amazing husband and am so grateful for him.  He make my life complete.  Happy 50th Tony!

Idaho

 On Wednesday the 30th of August we found out that the Behrend Family Reunion would be held at our (Idaho) house Saturday the 2nd of July. We arrived home Thursday night August 31. It was a mad dash to get everything ready in one day.   Thanks to a good brother things went pretty smooth.  Reed dropped off tables, chairs and an awning before we arrived home. I got all the grocery shopping done Friday morning and Tony got the yard work done.  Tyler was a big help and had gone over earlier in the week and done some of the yard for us. Saturday morning is the Behrend golf game.  Tony went to play and the kids and I got everything set up.  I have wonderful kids, Tyler, Brianne, and her Tyler came early and helped get everything done!  (Mike, Jess, and ShanTay were not able to be there until late Saturday night)  I didn't get pictures of the day :(  (to busy running around making sure everything was taken care of)

Hannah flew home with us.  She did pretty well, but it was a really LONG day of flying.  We had two lay overs, but we had to hurry to catch our next flights.  Of course we had a long way to go each time.  She had so much fun playing with all the other kids at  both the Behrend and the Miles get togethers.

Sunday July 3 (Mikes birthday) we had two get togethers to attend one at Tony's mothers and one at my mothers. Here is how the day went...up early to prepare food, get everyone ready to go, (fast) drop off food to Grandma Miles house,  go to Grandma Behrends house, (Tony left earlier to help with cooking at his moms) eat , talk, enjoy family, off to Grandma Miles, finish getting ready for meal, eat, talk, enjoy family, (Sunday no annual water fight this year) clean up, head home, DROP.  I don't know where my head was but sadly I didn't get any pictures of this day either.  It is a crazy weekend but I can hardly wait for next year.

  

Saturday morning Brianne thought that she need an apron, that is when she saw Hannahs in the closet. It actually fit her better than I thought it would.

  

When we got home Tyler showed what he had found earlier in the week.  A Killdeer nest on the side of the garage.  They hadn't hatched yet, but Saturday afternoon bam! there they were, all hatched.  The mommy wasn't very happy with us for finding her babies.  We tried not to bother them to much, but it was hard not to go look.  She finally moved them , but it was not a good spot right in the drive way.  I was worried that the would get run over so we tried to move them.  Not a good idea they just started running out in the road.  We kept and eye on them for a while and the mom finally got them all together in a safer place.

 Monday the 4th we went to Wolverine.  The one thing that Hannah said that she wanted to do while she visited us was go fishing.  We just went up the narrows and enjoyed some quiet family time.

 

The guys just hanging out in the shade.

 Hannah fishing in the stream.  We did see one fish.

 

Cooling off in the water....Until they saw a snake.

  

 Fishing wasn't any good , but playing in the water was.

 

While Hannah was in Ohio we shopped for  things to put in her fairy garden.  When we got to Idaho we went to the greenhouse and got the plants and container and this is her creation.

We also went to Craters of the Moon while everyone was there.  I am pretty sure that I took pictures because I bought a scrapbook kit, but I can't find them anywhere. 

Having everyone together is so much fun and I miss this sooooo much!  The time went by far to quickly and soon everyone was off home again.  Tony and the kids left before I did.  I got to stay for a few more days. :)

 This is a beautiful double rainbow that I saw one afternoon before I headed home to Ohio.  You can't see the double in the center picture, but it was there. I had to take the picture in the front yard the back to get it all in.  Idaho has great weather....sometimes.

A visit from Hannah

 

We had alot of fun things planned for Hannahs visit.  We got most of them done.  We went to Greaters Ice Cream Factory.  They make all the ice cream by hand, 2 gallons at a time.  There was also a fun play place where Hannah made some new friends.

 Cars came out while Hannah was visiting so...of course we had to take a night and go see it.

 Another big day was the day we spent at the Zoo.  It is suppose to be one of the best Zoos around.  They have many different exhibits, by regions.  We did alot of walking and were pretty tired by the end.  It took swirl ice cream to help us make it back to the car.

 

We got to go right in with the kangaroos.  We could have touched this one.  He was the oldest one there.  The polar bear exhibit was really neat.  Hannah liked this one best.  We also got to go into a cage with birds in it.

 

 We spent another afternoon at the Franklin Conservatory. So many things to see here inside and out. they have beautiful gardens and fun things to experience.

 

 Here is Hannah posing in the Brides Garden.  This is one of my favorites.  They do hold wedding here.

 

Pictures of the Brides Garden from the roof top.

 Hannah was very interested the glass blowing demonstration that we attended.  They have many different blown glass sculptures around the conservatory.

 The main reason that we went to the conservatory was to see the butterflies released.  Every couple of hours they release about a hundred butterflies into the inside garden.  Butterflies were everywhere and they would land on you if you held still long enough.  Hannah couldn't hold still that long, too much to see and do.  They only live a few weeks.  We couldn't get a picture of our favorite.  When his wings were closed they were brown for camouflage, but when he opened up his wings they were a brilliant blue.

The conservatory receives about a thousand chrysalises a day. I think they said there were about a hundred different species.  We were able to see the butterflies hatching and drying there wings. We also saw how they hang up the chrysalises.

 

  We had a great afternoon exploring everything. 

 Hannah got to spend a day at the little girl spa for a make over.  She had a date with grandpa later that night. I don't think she was to sure about the whole experience at first, but by the end she was loving it all!  She got to choose here hair style from some pictures they had.

 

Here she is getting her pedicure done.  It was really hard to let her choose any polish that she wanted.  She chose red with black polka dots on the edge.  We had gone shopping earlier so she could pick out her out fit for the special occasion, and she had chosen a green and brown out fit.  She also got a red toe ring.

 

 She is finally starting to like this girly stuff.  She chose silver sparkle nail polish and a green ring.

  

 After she was all done getting beautiful she was able to play on the runway.  She really liked running through the beaded curtains.

 

Here she is all dressed up for her special night with Grandpa.  She was sooooo excited for this date!!

 

Tony let her choose where they went to eat and she chose a barbeque place called Hoggies.  She was such a pleasure to have and we miss doing fun things with her on a regular basis.  We are looking forward to many summer visits!

Summer

 We went to the only whistle factory in the United States. I was surprised how small the plant was.  But then whistles are not that big.  We were not allowed to take pictures of any of the equipment, or the processes of making the whistles. It was quite interesting.  We each got a whistle at the end of the tour.

Since Tony and I had such a good time in Hocking Hill we decided to take Mike, Jess, and Hannah there.  The water falls were not as impressive as they were in the spring, but it was still very beautiful an green.  Hannah was able to skip her first rock. 

 

Mike and Jess went back to Phoenix, but Hannah got to stay with us for another 2 weeks.  We had such a great week with them and miss being able to see them more often. 

Summer

 On one of the days that Tony had off we went to Cedar Point. One of the largest roller coaster parks.  It is located about 2 hours from Columbus, in Sandusky OH on Lake Eerie.  Tony and Mike had to try all of the  scary ones.  Hannah was pretty brave for a 6 yr. old.  It was a long day, but we all had a great time.

 And for my Children that were not with us, Yes I rode on this roller coaster.  I had gone with the Laurel class a few weeks earlier and they talked me into going on this coaster.  I should have know that it was worse than they told me when it was the longest line that day and the signs said to take off ALL jewelry. I know I'm a little slow.

More Summer Fun

Unfortunately Tony had to work part of the time that Mike and Jess were here.  One of those days we went up north to a hardware store called Lehmans.  This place was massive!  We spent several hours going through this place.  They had every imaginable thing from antiques, to toys, to kitchen items, to tools and everything in between.

After spending several hours in the hardware store we had lunch at this little pizza and sandwich place across the street.  We were able to see the Amish buggies go up and down the street while we ate.  The store is much larger than the picture shows.  It has been added onto many times.

That eventing we went to play miniature golf.  We had a great time although none of us played that well.  This became Hannah's favorite thing to do and so we went several more times during her stay

After playing miniature golf  Hannah gave the batting cages a try.  She was such a trooper.  She got her finger smashed between the ball and the bat but she kept on trying.

Summer Fun

On June 11 Mike, Jess, and Hannah arrived in Columbus for a visit.  We were really excited because Mike and Jess would be staying for a week and Hannah would be staying another two weeks.  She would then be flying to Idaho with us for the 4th of July.
Sunday we went to church and then went for a drive around Columbus.  We drove out the the temple and then down a scenic route.  Everyone slept except Tony since he was driving.

Sunday after our drive Mike and Hannah played hot wheels, building different ramps for the cars.

Later that afternoon we went to Inniswood Park.  This park is a 123 acres of streams, woodlands, flowers, and wildlife.  There are many different gardens, rose, hosta, herb, rock, white, and  a sisters garden.  The sisters garden is for children and is full of many adventures.

In the sisters garden there is a maze that has a Native American legend carved in the paving stones. We enjoyed reading the legend and following the maze.

                                  

That evening we had fun playing Kenix before bed.

Hocking Hills

We took the opportunity to visit one of the mountainous areas in Ohio. Hocking Hills is exactly that. A region of hills that the Wolverine area hills would dwarf. But the scenery was beautiful. It made us feel like we were walking the Elven paths in Lord of the Rings. Green and lush with ferns and hardwood trees surrounding us. We went in Mid May so the spring water flows were still high. The waterfalls were amazing.

The first four pictures are from Old Man's cave. The area is sandstone and the caves have been carved out by the stream. We took Mike, Jess and Hannah with us a month or so later and as Hannah can attest there are allot of stairs.

Upper Falls are about 20 yards from the parking lot. You could miss them if you didn't know they were there. We started at Old Mans Cave and walked the entire loop and were surprised by how close we were to the truck at the upper falls.

Bath Tub. It truly looks like an old fashion round bath tub. It looks friendly enough but the sign says that it is deeper than it looks and very dangerous.

This is the trail to lower falls. There were many bridges and as you know Mom likes bridges. The moss covered allot of the stone work and the bridges were a little slick. But very cool.

Below is the trail to the rock house. Rock house is a small cave, Well about the size of our apartment. This was one of the scarier trails. Several of the carved out staircases did not have safety rails.

Inside the rock house

Inside the Rock House looking back down at the trail we had to climb to get here. Many people have carved their names in the sandstone. Many crazy people did it very close to the edge.

Conkles Hollow is supposed to be one of the best fall color spots in all of Ohio. There are two paths. One is handicap accessible and the other is one of the most dangerous walks in the park. As we had been walking for two days straight we took the easier path. It was amazing. There were so many ferns. It reminded me of the Redwood forest and the trip our family took several years ago. There were waterfalls along the way and a waterfall and pool at the end of the canyon.

Cantwell cliffs were Dad's favorite hike. We took pictures of fat ladies squeeze which is a narrow stair case at the start of the hike. Dad's favorite part was that he and Mom were the only ones on the trail for most of the walk. It was so quiet and peaceful. And of course he was with his favorite person.

As stated above there were many bridges and Mom got pictures of them all.

You would never believe it but Mom loves to see wild mushrooms growing. She would stop and take pictures. Have to admit they were pretty cool. The middle photo on the top row we called the outdoor toilet seat. It even had a soft cover. This is really a fallen tree stump with moss growing around the rim.

This is one of the many, many, many staircases in the park. I believe this is called the stairway to heaven. It is part of the trail in Conkles Hollow that is so dangerous. It takes you around the rim of the canyon. Every year people fall from this trail to the canyon below.

It was an amazing weekend. Our legs were very sore for several days after because of the many, many staircases. But the next weekend we wished we were back.