Connor's special day with daddy!

Connor has been a Green Bay Packers fan for quite some time. Specifically he loves Aaron Rodgers. So when Jack had the opportunity to take Connor to see the Packer's play against the Bengals, he took it. He knew he needed a fall game as Jack's not a fan of sitting watching an NFL game in freezing weather so we pulled Connor from his own game that day and surprised him with this special trip with his Dad! Because the camera queen of the family wasn't in attendance at this game, the photos are limited but here is our sweet Connor making some amazing memories with his dad! They had perfect weather, fantastic seats three rows back on the 40 yard line and a tight game. Unfortunately the Packers lost but the memories are forever there!

Another birthday...another wrinkle...

What started as a simple day ended celebrating with the people that matter most! And I'm happy to report that my new goal starting this year was to be ok with whatever Jack bought me. Instead of my frequent response of "But I don't need that!", I'm slowly learning to just enjoy the mementos that he and the kids give me. They never disappoint, are always lovely and from here on out I'm going to be more gracious about accepting! This year Jack and the kids surprised me with a beautiful bracelet which meant even more once Jack explained the steps he had taken in choosing it. Of course my birthday wouldn't be complete without my favorite....angel food cake. I also feel grateful for all the wonderful voice mails, notes, lunches, and flowers from dear friends and family! I felt very loved.

Five on wheels!

Although we don't have as many cool attractions to see around here as we have in other places we've lived we have learned that we do have some beautiful bike trails and when you combine nice trails with nice weather, you get one beautiful way to spend a Saturday! Apparently the Little Miami bike trail is known for being the fourth longest paved rail trail in the country. After doing a segment of it with some friends and enjoying it so much I decided it would make a great family activity but this time I chose a segment that would include a nice pit stop midway through...Miranda's ice cream shop! Not only does the trail follow along the Little Miami River but we also passed by a small lake which the boys loved hiking around. I was nervous about how well Sage would do on an extended ride but she did great. It started a little rough when within the first five minutes she had a wipe out when her front tire caught the edge of the trail and she over corrected but after some prodding and reminding her that half way through the ride we'd be stopping at an ice cream shop, she was determined to make it. By the end our sweet girl had made it ten miles and was all smiles!!!



So here are a couple shots from when me and my girlfriends went! The photos don't do the trail justice as it was so much prettier in person!

Look who came to town...

It had been a while since we had seen Grandma Roddy but finally we were able to get our schedules aligned and get her out here for the Labor Day extended weekend! Being that there isn't a whole lot of tourist stuff to see here we were only left with our good old standby for those visitors that come during the summer...Kings Island/Soak City. So off we went for an afternoon at Soak City. I'm sure she'd tell you the highlight was trying to get on the raft in the lazy river...  definitely a missed photo op!!! After visiting with us for a few days we rented her a car so she could take a road trip to Pennsylvania to check out where she grew up and do some genealogy. She was very excited about this and we were happy she got to do it as it was something she had been wanting to do for some time.