A Ton of Fun in 2021: Week 25 Recap

Impossible.  That is my only response of why I get so behind on these blog posts.  When I go back to read these later, I so appreciate reading them, but finding the time to sit down and write is impossible. Monday and Tuesday of this week found Jeremy and I still in Punta Cana.  I posted about all that last week, but I did forget to post about our earthquake experience. Yep, the last morning we were there we experienced a 5.0 earthquake that woke me up from a dead sleep.  It was wild, but luckily it only lasted like 20 seconds.  

Wednesday was the both kids last regular season games. I went to Isaac's and watched his team kick butt again. It's been such a fun season watching him improve every week. His fielding has improved the most. He is still a beast hitting the ball and sits 5th in the hitting lineup and has lots of opportunity to hit his friends into home.  

Another annual activity I couldn't wait to get in was heading over to Lincoln Ridge Farms and do some serious strawberry picking. I love that we can take our own containers and take our time. Never rushed and can pick until we are happy.  We love to get enough to freeze for later because these little babies are the best tasting ripest deliciousness you'll ever taste. We ended up cleaning up and freezing 14 quarts of strawberry and probably eating 2 quart before they ever made it to the freezer.  Maw tagged along with us this year and got to taste some of these delicious strawberries.  Anyone who tries them WILL be back. 

The kiddos also had their home swim meet this Thursday against Findlay.  We took lots of pictures because we finally got to see the kids compete in the pool.  While they were there last week, we were away, so this was the first swim meet we got to watch in outdoor.  Olivia did a relay and the IM, Fly, Back and Breast.  Isaac did two relays, both the 50 and 100 free, IM (where he got DQ'ed). It was fun to see them swim again. 

We have had some pretty rainy weather here in Ohio this summer, so on the days that the sun comes out, we can't wait to have some pool fun. Maw and Paw don't live too far away, so they get to come over and chill poolside often.  Lucky for me, Paw likes to get in the water and have squirt gun fight and get dumped on with buckets of water. I like to float and not participate in these shenanigans.

With all the rainy weather, it's not uncommon to find us hiding out in the kitchen cooking up some delicious treats.  This week was whoopee pies.  Yes, Arlene Allison gave me the deadly recipe after I begged that she share it and I didn't have to ask her to make me more. It has a stick of Crisco in this recipe and they're the most moist and delicious chocolate dessert I make.  

Golfing is not my sport by any means, but my family sure does like to go out on the course. I think sometimes the kids just want to drive the golf carts more than actually golf.  At any rate, Jeremy had a gift card to Hidden Creek and wanted to drive out that way on a Saturday evening to play 18 holes.  We decided to make it a family affair. I didn't golf but one time with Olivia's clubs and everyone thought it was so funny getting it on camera.  I suck at golf and I've accepted the fact that I am better at driving the golf cart. Isaac and Olivia have their own set of clubs and are pretty good at golfing.  Jeremy is of course serious about the matter and keeps score.  

 

Sunday was Father's Day. The kiddos were excited to give Jeremy his gifts. My mom had taken them shopping while we were on vacation, knowing full well I wouldn't have time or would forget with everything else going on to take them and let them pick out some gifts.  Isaac picked out a pair of swim shorts and Olivia picked out an Ohio State golf shirt. All the boys met up with Phil at the Mexican restaurant in Wapak. We didn't forget about Poppy either! Because he's in AZ we can't pop in to see him on his special day, but we sent a gift card. My dad got exactly what he wanted...nothing.  LOL.  His birthday is in a few weeks, so I'll just search for something bigger to spoil him with then.  

 

A Ton of Fun in 2021: Week 24 Recap

Well this week kicked off with a super busy Monday. Because Jeremy and I left for Punta Cana on Tuesday morning.  I tried to cram so much fun with the kids on Monday, but it was exhausting to say the least. We kicked off the morning with a trip to the strawberry patch at J&K Farms.  Not far from our house, we only picked two quart and it cost us $12.  Wouldn't say it was the best patch we've ever been to, but we liked to support local and the strawberries were delicious. 

Next we headed to swim practice in Ada.  I had signed up to work ONU freshman orientation so I needed to be at work for a few hours. Thank goodness Ann and her sweet kiddos offered to hang with the kids for the time when I needed to be at Northern. From the looks of the pictures she sent me, they had an EXCELLENT time.   

Punta Cana album can be accessed here.  With 56 photos, I'm not going to embed them into this post.  But if you are glutton for punishment and want to entertain yourself with photos for a minute, check out the link.  We call this our marriage counseling. Typically we are cruising with our friends, but since the cruise ships are still not going out, we decided to try an all-inclusive.  Here is my review of Punta Cana. Wasn't loving the rain everyday forecast before we left. Even watching the weather there is a crab shoot.  They pop up as quickly as they go away. For the most part we had sunny skies. They had a seaweed bloom. OMG- worst smell ever. You can see in the pictures or from the linked article how nasty it looks too.  We didn't spend any time at the beach.  Good thing our hotel had AMAZING pools.  I mean seriously, we spend all our time by the pools (which also had the great bar that was included, so it was all good). Pools and waterpark were perfect. Like so perfect. 

Our hotel- we booked at the reserve because it was cheaper. Because of COVID and low numbers they upgraded all guest to the newly built Grand Reserve. Our room was a junior suite on the top floor (fourth floor). The room was one of the nicest rooms we've ever stayed in. It even had a jet bath on the balcony with a sofa and a lounge chair and table. However this was a Spanish-owned hotel in a Spanish speaking country.  Very few workers at the hotel spoke English well and Jerm and I don't speak Spanish well. So...that led to frustration when ordering or trying to understand what they wanted/needed from us. Best part of the trip was a staff member trying to put up our umbrella the second day.  Jeremy kept saying we were good (cause we had no idea what he was saying). Finally he said Muy Rojo--VERY RED. As you can see from the pictures Jeremy was muy rojo and the guy was just trying to save him.  We only took SPF 15, which didn't help Jeremy at all in the sun.  He needed 50 at least, but at their gift shop the sunscreen was $45-$55 USA.  Um no. Let him put up the umbrella for you Jeremy! lol. 

The food was amazing. We really enjoyed our meals. But Punta Cana is still in COVID-mode and made us wear masks in public everywhere we went (except eating and swimming) and even had a mask-guy who was in high traffic areas handing them out to make sure everyone had them on. UGH. Since the mask mandates have been lifted here in Ohio, this was annoying. You had to wear gloves at the buffets and wear a mask unless you were eating or drinking. When it was so hot and you had to wear masks everywhere, we were annoyed. Another annoying thing is you needed reservations for everything... dinners, gym, thankful NOT the pool.  But everything was booked and there was little entertainment.  We like to party on vacation. This was not that kind of vacation.  We did find 'kids' at the pool to hang out with on the last day.  We were twice there age, but they partied with us.  We needed our friends who typically come with us.  We could have made our own party! The only day we went off the resort was to Hillbilly Island on a catamaran. Jeremy got to snorkel and we got to hang out with 300 of our closet island friends at Hillbilly Island.  The ocean looked like Lake Erie at Hillbilly Island. Not impressed at all. We got the party we were looking for, but it wasn't a beautiful place at all.  

While we were soaking up paradise, the kids were having fun at their first swim meet.  Thanks again to Ann for snapping some great pictures of their meet.  They said they didn't get to pick what events they swam, as the coach does that, so they did some events that they're not used to and maybe not their greatest. But they said they liked competing in the pool again. 

Our church hosted Camp Cotubic Summer Camp: “Camp ESPN” (Get Your Head in the Game)  June 12-14 at Camp Cotubic in Bellefontaine, OH. We were able to FaceTime them before and after camp, and our friend Nikki was the camp nurse and snapped some fabulous pictures of them while they were there. Mostly of Olivia because she was in her daughters cabin, but still great fun. They said it was amazing and are already looking forward to next summer.