More S'more

On Memorial Day, we finally accomplished something that had been on our To-Do list for several years.  Dusty and I built a fire pit in the back corner of the yard

It's been cool for June and Rachel had her friend Alexandra over so it was a prime opportunity to roast up some marshmallows

We even upgraded our chocolate to Dove's (per our neighbor Brian's suggestion) and included some Reese's peanut butter cups.  We had all the goods!

At one point in the evening Aaron went into the house to get something and asked if anybody wanted a drink.  He got more requests than he bargained for and then snarkily added, "You want me to put on a little outfit or apron."  We got treated to this when he came back out.

All in all a great addition to the backyard!

Camp Memaw 2017

This year Rachel spent a week with Memaw and Papa over in Sullivan, IL.  I heard it was a jam packed week of fun activities plus a hefty amount of garden work.  There was plenty of driving around in the wide open spaces on this...blades off of course.

A trip to Springfield to the Lincoln museum and historic home

Rounds of mini golf

Along with picnics...

....and fireworks!

Rachel had a great week making memories!  And as a bonus, we determined that the Tasty Freeze and its 30 flavors of soft serve is halfway between our homes....making for a yummy treat when we make the transfer.

Historic Madison

After our day-long hiking adventure we cleaned up and headed out to see the historic Madison area.  What a treat!  I spent a ton of time in the evening just driving up and down the streets looking at the buildings.  The next day we spent hours just walking around the area taking in all the details.  

The streets were full of historic homes that had been restored and finished beautifully.

The downtown store fronts were full of details.

I mean...look at this door!

I kept thinking how wonderful this area would be for photo shoots.  The details, the colors, the textures...everything that would have made for some incredible photos!

I'm thankful for our home, but our modern suburban cookie cutter homes are rather blah compared to these.

Thanks for the great time Madison...we'll be back!

Clifty Falls

With Rachel at Memaw and Papa's for the week, Dusty and I decided to take a couple days for a quick fun trip.  The destination - Clifty Falls State Park.  I had never visited this park and had heard that the hiking there was good so off we went.

Clifty Falls.  There were 4 waterfalls in the park.  None of them had a lot of volume but they were fairly tall

Cake rock...because it looks like a wedge of cake

This was the entrance to the tunnel we hiked through.  It was a man made tunnel that was constructed over 160 years ago in an attempt to bring a railroad to the area.  The project was abandoned when it was deemed too hard to complete.

Getting dripped on

Yes, I am a person that will stop hiking for a few minutes to photograph bugs

We came across these rock stacks in the creek bed.  I decided to build my own and picked up a rock.  Dusty said, "be careful".  Looked down and was greeted by this guy!

So of course I spent several moments photographing him.  Clifty has 10 trails.  2 are marked easy or moderate.  The rest are rugged/very rugged.  This is a trail...

This also is a trail.  Trail 2 is simply "hike back up the creek"  Thankfully I didn't twist and ankle.  That in itself is a small miracle...I'm accident prone in that area!

I estimated we hiked at least 5.5 miles...all on the rugged trails.   I figured we got our fair share of exercise, the benefit that we promptly blew on pizza and ice cream!  

Illinois Weekend

 Popped over to Illinois for a quick Father's Day weekend visit.  Got to see both of our fathers on Father's Day and left this one in Illinois with Memaw and Papaw.  It's a little hard to tell in the photo but Rachel dip dyed her hair with Kool-aid (with permission) while staying with a friend last week.

We also managed to snag 4 more geocaches in the area.  I think we have completely cached Flora at this point.  This one was off in a rural cemetery.  Had to drive through some cornfields on a dirt road to get this one.  

   

Got to see Carson tear it up in T-ball.  It's non-competitive at this point, but sure was a hoot to watch these little kids sliding into home as if they were about to be thrown out.

And a visit to Tropical Sno.  

Fluttering with the Butterflies

Rachel and I decided to pop down to Cincinnati for the day.  In addition to our usual stops at IKEA and Jungle Jim's we planned to go to the art museum.  We arrived at 10:20 only to find out that the museum didn't open until 11.  A kind worker at the museum suggested the conservatory in the park that was also hosting a butterfly exhibit.  Sounded better than waiting around for the museum to open, so off we went.  Rachel and I both decided that we enjoyed the butterflies a lot more than the art museum.  It was a little crowded with so many enjoying the nice day, but we had a great time!

This little guy was so mellow.  He rode around on Rachel's shirt for quite a while.

In addition to the butterflies we were also treated to beautiful flowers and bonsai trees

Fun times and I continue to be impressed with what Cincinnati has to offer

Shades

Fun Sunday afternoon out at Shades State Park.  Hiked sections of trails 4 & 5  (rugged sections, of course)  Finished up with a quick geocache and an ice cream cone.  Right now I'm just hoping that the decision to trek into the woods for the geocache doesn't land me with poison ivy.