Just Treats Today!

Have a safe and fun Halloween. The grand kiddies are all going to trick or treat around our neighborhood so hopefully I'll get lots of photos. Speaking of photos, don't forget Brenda's Photo Challenge tomorrow. The theme is "EMOTIONS" This one was a hard one for me and I'll probably have to go into my old photos, but it's always fun so sign up here to play along. And has everyone checked out the big Bloggy Giveaways? I think most of the giveaways are over by midnight tonight so hop on over here and sign up to win some great giveaways! Happy Halloween!

A Shoe Fairy Tale

Once upon a time in the land of terrible ball teams(Reds and Bengals) there lived a fair maiden(a fairly old maiden). She loved to run her errands in her leopard print flip flops. They went everywhere with her, to the grocery, to the bank, to Starbucks, everywhere. They were comfy and cute and since she thought her feet were the only things that looked good these days, they made her feel good.

But alas, the winds of change were blowing in the air and it became cold and her feet were not happy running errands in flip flops and she had to put the pretty leopard print flip flops away for awhile and get out the dreaded winter shoes. It was a sad, sad day in the fairly old maiden's household. :-)

THE END

TRAVEL TUESDAY ~ CHARMING INNS

I have been sadly lacking with my Travel Tuesday posts. All I can say is that I have been lazy. Putting together a travel post takes some time because I always want to make sure I double check my facts etc... Sometimes when you travel things get a bit fuzzy after awhile and you need to check out details. So anyway after reading my good buddy Donna from Cottage Days and Journeys post about her wonderful stay at the Inn at Evins Mill, I just knew I had to post a Travel Tuesday about one of my favorite ways to travel, staying at charming inns or bed and breakfasts. I usually go to two references when I am planning a trip to a B & B. The first is Select Registry, which is a list of distinguished inns of North America or one of Karen Browns guides. Both are good references when you are looking for a charming inn. A word to the wise though, some inns have shared baths so make sure you ask or read that you have a private bath. But other then that, staying at a small inn is a wonderful experience. Breakfast is usually included and so are some light snacks in the late afternoon.
So on to the first inn, the White Lace Inn. This inn is located in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin which is also in the area called Door County. This inn is located in town but alot of the inns that are located in Door County are close to the lake. My sweetie and I stayed here and really enjoyed it, the second photo is the room where we stayed. There is much to do in Door County and I have heard it compared to Cape Cod. Just follow my links to either Door County or White Lace to learn more and also check out Select Registry and Karen Brown. I am going to try and be less lazy about Travel Tuesday and contiue to highlight some charming inns, it won't be every week like I used to do but it'll be at least once a month.

Look at how pretty this is in the snow. I'm not a snow person but this looks like a picture postcard. They must get alot of snow because I do remember that their fire plugs were really tall so the fireman could find them.

Here's a photo of the White Lace in autumn. Don't be afraid to try a charming inn or bed and breakfast. Most offer much more in charm and good food than the average hotel.

Never a Dull Moment!

We had a nice weekend. We watched our two granddaughters while Mommy and Daddy went to see Fireproof on Friday night and had a pizza party for Christina's birthday last night, all of my photos turned out awful. But last week everyone met at PF Changs(yum) for lunch so I have a few photos from that. Well kind of. LOL Maddie seems to have decided she gets to pick and choose when Grandma can take pictures and she was in no mood for getting her picture taken last week. I had this idea of getting all three of our kids and all three of the grandkids in a photo but Maddie had other ideas and none of them were of getting her picture taken. LOL Such is the way of a two year old.

Cameron let me take his picture. Don't you just love hats on little ones?

And right before the girls went to bed the other night they posed for me. I couldn't get that binky out of Maddie's mouth but I suppose I should be lucky that she even looked at the camera. LOL I love how she is holding Sydney's hand. Have a great day and guess what?? I actually have a Travel Tuesday post ready for tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINA!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINA!!!!!!



Today is our daughter Christina's 27th birthday! These first three photos were taken last month when we were all in Hilton Head. We are very proud of you and love you Christina! Have a wonderful day of birth and don't forget pizza at our house tonight! :-)

I love this photo of Maddie and Christina(or Tee Tee as Maddie calls her). They were watching something on TV and were both into it.

And of course a birthday wouldn't be complete without some little kid photos to go with it. The top one is of my sweetie with Christina and Jimmy. And the bottom photo is of Jimmy and Christina and our wonderful Claire dog. Doesn't it look like Claire was smiling? HAVE A GOOD BIRTHDAY CHRISTINA!!

Does Your Mascara Oscillate?

Has anyone seen the new mascaras on the market yet? Lancome has a new vibrating mascara that has 700 oscillations per minute. Here's what they say about it, you will instantly see a fascinating glaze(what??); lashes appear ultimately extended, remarkably separated and virtually multiplied in number. This thing actually vibrates as you put on the mascara. So what do you think of this? For $34.00 a pop, this better work. Lancome does have some really great mascara but I'm not sure about something vibrating around my eye!! LOL Our youngest daughter Christina turns 27 on Sunday so I think everyone is coming over for pizza. I'll post some embarrassing kid photos of her then. LOL Have a good one!

Farewell to the Queen!

I didn't hop across the big pond and have high tea with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip but I am sure they are breathlessly waiting by their phones for me to call. :-) No I am talking about the grand old lady, the Delta Queen Steamboat. She made her last stop here in Cincinnati on Tuesday and we went down to the river to say goodbye to her. She is being forced into retirement because of decades old safety rules. For those of you not familiar with her, she is a steamboat that was built in 1926 and carries 174 passengers along America's inland waters. She is made mostly of wood and that is the safety issue that is coming into play. But to me she plays a part in my childhood memories. I grew up on the Ohio River and remember this beautiful boat going up and down the river playing her calliope as she cruised on by and my Dad telling all of the kids to hop in our boat and we would ride her giant waves that her paddle wheel would create. I never set foot on her decks but will miss her. She is a part of our American history and she will forever be in my childhood memories. All of the photos are mine except the last one but I wanted to show a photo of her actually sailing on the river.

We ran into my brother in law Bill, he was taking a walk during his lunch. Maddie really didn't care about the big boat.

Look at this big old paddle wheel!

Farewell to the Queen!

Weekend Getaway!

I think I might have made a record for the number of photos in one post. LOL But I just could not decide which ones to post. I am sure I have broken some sort of blogger unspoken rule of posting too many photos in a single post but too bad. We had a wonderful trip to the Amish Country. I really enjoyed the lodge we stayed at the most. The Amish Country was a bit touristy at times but still I am glad we went to see it. My Dad took the whole family on this trip, well everyone who wasn't working or out of town and we had a blast. The leaves in Northern Ohio were putting on a show and it really was pretty.

If you can't tell in this photo, this is my sweetie and he went over a wall into lots of weeds to save Maddie's favorite binky. What Papa wouldn't do for his Maddie? LOL
We tried to get the Grandkids and the Great Grandkids in a photo but by the time we remembered half the group had already gone home. There are four other Great Grandkids missing from this photo and six grandkids missing from the picture. I think, don't hold me to that number. :-)
Here's my Dad and his four girls. From the back it's me on the left then Judy, June, Gail and Dad. I'm the youngest of all of them. hahahahahaha.................
I would have loved to bring home one of these wooden rocking chairs that the Amish made. Aren't they so pretty?

We went into an Antique Store where Maddie loved these old fashion school desks. I remember these things.
Maddie also crashed a wedding reception at the lodge. She was dancing outside of the reception room so one of the girls asked her if she wanted to come in and dance with her. She had a ball. The wedding took place on the lodge's grounds. What a beautiful setting, but a little chilly.

They had a bird presentation one night and we learned about owls and this red tail hawk. He was injured and they nursed him back to health but he will never go back into the wild.
I could not figure out this Amish buggy. It look like it was some kind of bullet proof buggy, it wasn't like the rest of them.

These last photos are of the grounds surrounding the Mohican Lodge. I really enjoyed walking the trails.
This is the covered bridge at Mohican State Park.
Look at how beautiful the leaves were. Everywhere I looked there was color.
I know this was alot of photos but it really was beautiful and we enjoyed our family weekend away. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!