The Summary

I periodically compose blog posts in my mind and assume that I actually posted them online. 

Somehow it never ends up miraculously written with every detail remembered as I would wish. It has been such a whirlwind but we have been trying to fit in lots of fun things along with the crazy.

We have been to Sara's Diner at Presque Isle and have enjoyed delicious American fare 

and silly tourist photo opts, it is a great little place to go after a stop over at the lake!

We made it to the Crawford County Fair and had a wonderful time trying out all the yummy food while watching all of the interesting people; the animals were amazing too! We especially loved the horses,  Spencer thought it was wonderful watching them go around the arena. The poultry section was wonderful as well, there was a great moment when the turkeys flipped out and sent all of the birds into wild hysterics. I was lucky enough to catch it on video, though I missed the part where Zach jumped out of his skin.

The prize winning pheasant- Gorgeous!!!

Labor day weekend was fantastic, we celebrated my 38th birthday and Spencer's 2nd birthday! On Saturday we took a drive, went to see the land lighthouse then we kept on driving and ended up somewhere in New York. We drove through Welches' grape territory and since it was only a few days before harvest, you could smell the scent of grapes in the air. The weather was perfect for us and we nearly hyperventilated from over-sniffing, we embraced the aroma as we stopped for some ice cream and shakes. Obviously our lives revolve around food- I think we have all gained a bunch of weight, we have had such terrible eating habits over this last little while, we really look forward to being settled. One day it is going to happen! 

Land lighthouse with the Minions and Waldo!

After our drive we went to Waldemeer which is the amusement park at the entrance of Presque Isle. It is a fun little family friendly place and it worked out famously that Eli was just tall enough to go on all the big rides and Spencer was just tall enough to go on all of the little kid rides. 

It is a shame that we didn't get any pictures of Eli having the time of his life on the log ride, we went on that a million times mostly towards the end of the night, soaking wet and savoring every minute. Eli especially loved it because his dad was just as excited to go on it with him. (Joe doesn't delight in amusement park rides- poor lad, motion sickness isn't fun at a place like that- but log rides he can do!) 

I also wish I had a picture of Izzi when she threw up in the car as the the roller coaster ride came to the end. Bwahahaha!!! Honestly we all felt like that, she just followed through with the deed. We now know that we will never ride that one again, even if it does go over the road and has an amazing view of the lake from the very top. I took all of the big kids on that one while Joe took Spencer on the train- they definitely had the better ride! Glad Joe missed out on that one- he would have been doomed.

Spencer adored all the little rides, Eli tolerated them, but was a good sport to go with him!

Sweet Becky, who we are staying with got us an ice cream cake to celebrate our birthdays. This is the only picture we have of the moment, but Spencer enjoyed the blowing of the candles!

Last weekend (a week ago saturday) while Zachary went canoeing with the scouts at Presque Isle, we took the kids to the zoo since they were celebrating 50 years and admission was $.50, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to go. Spencer called the alpacas "bawk, bawks" which is funny since that is what he calls the seagulls. We love seeing the Amish people at these random locations, drinking their Cokes and Orange Crush. We also saw a whole bunch of them at the beach one day, which was a surprising sight, mostly because it was at a beach where there was a wedding taking place.

Other news here on the home front... Zach and Kaija have joined the marching band at Fairview High School. The band director is fantastic and wants anyone who would like to participate to be able to do so. Zach is still playing trumpet and Kaija is playing vibes and piano (and the symbols in the stands). They have made some good friends there which I am grateful for.

Isabella has signed up to do fencing, and hopefully they get enough students to make it happen. Her favorite teacher is the coach, so she is anxious to try it out.

Eli and I are already on the 2nd Harry Potter book since school started. We read for a while between dropping Bella off for school and when he has to go. It is our favorite part of the day!

We spend time at the beach periodically and have been checking out the different beaches- we like certain things about each of them, we like the lighthouse beach, but most recently we have spent some time at Beach 1 with the cool crooked dock and great skipping rocks.

Perhaps you guessed that not only do I like sail boats, but I enjoy light houses as well!

And the major news is that we finally signed on the house. I will post some pics on that later!