4th of July FUN!

I know I'm late with this post, but I wanted to share some pictures of our 4th of July fun! 

Depoister/Hose Picture

This year we watched the Vincennes Parade with the Depoisters and even got to sit with my sister and her family!  Unfortunately we sat close to the end of the parade so the kids didn't get much candy, but it was still fun to sit and relax with some friends and family. 



Courtney, Addie, and I enjoying
the Vincennes parade!

A not-so-pleasant surprise was that a rotten egg fell from the building and splattered all over the sidewalk right in front of some of our group...oh my word!  It smelled SO bad.  Yuck!  (It was definitely a smell we will all remember!)  Jason (my bro-in-law) sprayed some Lysol on the sidewalk where the egg was, and that helped tremendously!  Yay!  Jason, our hero!

David and the Swanks waiting for the
Vincennes fireworks to begin!

Next, we went to a new pizza place in Vincennes and met up with our friends, the Swanks!  This was the first time we have gotten together with the Depoisters and the Swanks!  It was so nice to hang out with both sets of friends at the same time!  Isn't it great that God sends us so many good friendships in life.  I am super thankful for the time David and I get to spend with friends.  I think it is important for young married couples to have good friends.

David and his little buddy, enjoying
the fireworks...she kept saying, "wow!"

After supper we all went to the river-front to watch the fireworks!  David's family met us there so we could all watch the fireworks together, like we try to do every year!  It was so nice getting to hang out with so many people this 4th of July!

I know it doesn't sound like our day was very glamorous, but we really enjoyed the day (minus the stinky egg) with our friends and family!

Cincinnati 2013

We have been blessed with GREAT friends over our married years.  Well, this year we decided to go on a Memorial Day Weekend Trip with the Depoisters.  You may remember reading about them from my past posts.

We had a full and fun-filled weekend...and had a blast!

Friday: 

We left after work and stopped in Louisville at the Cheesecake Factory.  Then we checked-in to our hotel and played some euchre.

My thoughts on the Cheesecake Factory:  over-rated and VERY over-priced...their cheesecake wasn't even as good as the hype...Sweet Stuff Bakery & Cafe in Petersburg, Indiana is WAAAAAYY better, in my opinion...and much more affordable...here is the Sweet Stuff Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Stuff-Bakery-Cafe/115441976407?fref=ts

Saturday: 

Our main plan for our first full day in Cincinnati was to go to the Creation Museum.  The Creation Museum is actually in Kentucky, but super close to Cincinnati.  It wasn't as interactive for children as I thought it was going to be...there was A LOT of reading to do throughout the museum.  There are a few different theaters/presenters throughout the day.  They also have a petting zoo (I even fed a duck out of my hand...it was such a weird and frightening experience), camel rides, and a really cute outdoor walking trail.  New this year they will have a zip-line course, but it wasn't open yet when we were there.  I really enjoyed our trip to the Creation Museum.

Next year they are supposed to have completed a FULL-SIZE replica of Noah's Arc.  Oh, wow!  I can't wait to see this!

My husband and I, as well as the Depoisters, like to be frugal so rather than eat at the museum we decided to drive a couple minutes down the road to eat at Skyline Chili, a staple in the Cincinnati area.  It was really good!  I LOVED how much cheese they piled on top of everything we ordered...it was heavenly.

Saturday evening, we went to Taste of Cincinnati...it was a street festival in downtown Cincinnati where we were able to try more awesome Cincinnati food.  Some of my favorites were:  Fried Cheesecake, Bread Pudding (it was different than every other bread pudding I've ever tried before), and my favorite...Fried Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich!  It. Was. So. Good.

Sunday: 

Sunday we went to the Reds/Cubs Game!  We were there cheering on the Cubs!  When we first began our planning for our trip, we thought about visiting Chicago and going to Wrigley...but remember, I mentioned being frugal?  It was MUCH cheaper to watch the Cubs play at Great American Ball Park...and our seats were really great!  That ball park was really nice!  They even let you bring in your own snacks AND drinks!  I took half of my leftover lunch in the game with me!  Also, they have a $1 stand where you can get child-sized hotdogs, sodas, and peanuts. 

Oh, and before you assume they didn't...the Cubs DID win!

Monday: 

This was our travel-home day.  We stopped to have lunch first at Tom & Chee.  Oh. My. Goodness.  This was BY FAR, my favorite place we ate the entire trip!  We definitely saved the best for last.  It is a grilled cheese place.  It has even been featured on Man V. Food!  Their specialty is a grilled cheese glazed donut!  Hey!  Don't knock-it 'til you've tried-it!  It was surprisingly delicious.

After Tom & Chee we got ice cream from Graeters, which is an ice cream shop in the Cincinnati area...I got Mango Sorbet...it was fabulous.

We had such a great time getting away from the OC area, and really enjoyed spending time with our besties!  < Am I too old to use that term??  Oh well. 

As I most often do, I will leave you with some pictures from our trip...I took tons, so I will try to pick only my favorites!

 

Office Fun

I am SO very blessed and thankful to work at Oakland City University, my Alma Mater.  I work in the Campus Life Office as the Administrative Assistant.  I LOVE my job, and especially love my co-workers.  It seems weird calling them co-workers though, because most of the time they seem like family.  David and I actually just returned from a vacation with my office mate David D. and his wife Megan D. (Megan is a blogger too!  Her page can be found here:  thedepoisters.blogspot.com Over the past few years, Megan has become one of my dearest and best friends!)  A big reason I love our office, is because it is such a fun and most of the time a very pleasant place to work.

Last week, our boss (the Director of Campus Life) was in Honduras leading a group of OCU students on a mission trip.  Well, we...being the loving office people we are...decided to pull a little BIG office prank on him while he was gone.  He goes on this trip every year, and last year we really wanted to do something but chickened out/ran out of time...SO this year, we decided early-on we would be dedicated! 

We decided to wrap his office in newspaper...



Panoramic of the whole office!



SEE no evil, HEAR no evil, SPEAK no evil...