America's Roller Coast.

The Junior Gemini.

....around again.


Always in trouble.

Lolly-pop, Lolly-pop....I love this picture.

Sleepy head #1.

Sleepy head #2.

Nervous for the ride.

Excited for the ride.

On the ride!

More spinning.....

Everybody had fun...and we went again!

Yes! The frog hopper...

...and the helicopters...

...and the air planes!

Waiting for the Demon Drop.

Here goes.....


Gotta love the yearly trip to Cedar Point. (The kids just said they wanted to go there this past winter...in February, with a foot of snow on the ground!) Ashton was able to ride the Gemini with Ryan this year...and the Demon drop with me! The only ride I was scared of as a kid. Brave boy he is. Another fun day with the family.

Vacation.

Headed into the Dino Caves...

Some "friendly" dinosaurs

Digging for bones

...On to the "tilted" house

Walking through this felt pretty strange

The kids loved it ...Carly was all over the place!

Ashton defying gravity.


This was one of the stops on our stay-cation last summer. We headed to Port Clinton to a science exhibit that is only open in the summer.

"Nihon e youkoso!" (nee hōn eh yoh--koso) *

Here we are in Crystal hotel saying good bye, the day before her and Jeff head to Japan for three years:

With Uncle Brandon.

Carly and Kaity(Brandon's girlfriend).


With mama.


Lovin'.


Here we are saying our final goodbye a and wishing her a safe trip to Japan(it was an emotional time for all):



Crystal and her boys....giving hugs.


Owen, so sad to say goodbye, she is SUCH a good aunt.

Ashton does not want her to go either...he loves his Crystal.

The hugs were not enough Owen had to call to talk one more time.


All the emotions wore him out...

...and him....

It was such a hard emotional time to say goodbye. Crystal is a huge part in the kids life and the miss her as soon as we drive away as it is, so knowing that she was going so far away was hard to grasp.

Well, Crystal has been in Japan for about four months now and we miss her everyday. The kids talk about her all the time and ask when she will be home. Luckily she will be visiting this summer and we look forward to that day! Skye is a wonderful thing. It would be much harder to have her gone if we could not see her beautiful face. Now if we could only do something about that darn 14 hour time difference.

Crys, I hope you are enjoying yourself and gaining many memories and experiences. You have always been a free spirit and I admire that so much. I know that it is hard some days when you miss your friends and family, but when the time is through you will never regret your decision. And you may have it you chose not to go. We miss you so very much and the kids are so lucky to have such and amazing aunt, who care so deeply about them. Thanks for being you. I love you.

*Translation: Welcome to Japan.

I love this girl.

"Fix me up mama........"

Carly's "Flup Flops" are her all time favorite shoe.


How cute are they!!!!

How cute is she.

My little flower child.

Family, fireworks, and fun.

On a nature walk.

At the nature center.

Ava trying on some antlers.

Carly's turn.

All decked out in red, white and blue!


Waiting for fireworks.
<

Cutie.

I'm one lucky mom!

My boys.

Ash, Mason, Uncle Tim and Ava.

Beautiful Kaiah.

Best buds.

Tim and Jess.

My beautiful mom.

Patiently waiting....

Look at those eyes!

My dad, his grand-daughters and his mom. Precious.

We had an awesome weekend at a place I have been going to since I was a kid, Pokaghan State Park. And everybody that I love was there. My entire extended family got rooms at the inn and we had an amazing time catching up and catching some rays. We had fun tubing and skiing on my dads boat, playing sand volleyball and exploring the park. It does not get much better than a weekend like this.