Weekend getaway ~ Day one

This past weekend we went on a family trip to Hocking Hills in southeast Ohio. Aside from the ungodly heat and humidity, and the carsickness (route 664 was obviously created by the devil and should be called route 666!!) it was a really nice weekend!
We went with my husband's parents and brother and family, ten people and two dogs altogether. The (air conditioned!)cabin was great, lots of room and a nice kitchen. There was also a fire ring, grill and hot tub outside.
We arrived Friday afternoon, settled in, ate dinner and headed out to "Old Man's Cave," where we hiked through beautiful trees and rock formations. I was still feeling queasy from the car ride, so I lagged behind a bit, but my girls went ahead with the others and found a waterfall and natural pool to play in!

The light was awful for pictures ...add that to the queasiness and sweat/glasses fogging up... and you get pretty crappy shots.. but I have better ones coming up!

Home improvements

I've been on kind of a home improvement kick lately. It started with the bathroom, which had been stark white with horrible ivy border and shiny brass hardware. Now it's warm and pretty... thanks to a cute new border and taupe colors ... I still need to get some new hooks and towel bars but it looks a million times better!
I digress... The front door used to be dark red, a color i LOVE. It was fading quite a bit, so I decided to freshen it up. The red, while really pretty, wasn't very practical for someone who has a wreath for every occasion, it either clashed or blended in with them.
I found this color and knew immediately it would be perfect for the door! It's dark, slate gray with just a hint of blue. So far, my egg wreath and my carrot 'welcome' sign (I didn't make the carrot.. but isn't it CUTE!?) look great against the more neutral tone.

Now... what else can I cover in paint? >:)

Flowers... 'nuff said!

Did you ever look at rural areas on google maps or google Earth? The way the farms and fields look from above is so cool, they spread out like a quilt in various shades of green, yellow and brown. But wait... if you think that's pretty to look at, do yourself a favor and look up 'tulip farms!' You will be amazed at the incredible patchworks these fields create! Every spring, I become a bit obsessed with them... thinking about how cool it would be to live in Holland near one of the farms, fill my entire yard with different colors of tulips or, at the very least, have a few beds or pots of them! I always forget to plant bulbs in the fall, but this year...yes THIS YEAR I will remember (I added it to my phone's calendar... victory!!) For now, though, I will continue to look at photographs and live vicariously through the Dutch.
Here is a link to some of my favorite flower shots I have taken over the years. It's always nice to browse through these when it's rainy and gray outside!

Enjoy!

P.S. Yes dandelions ARE (in my eyes at least) flowers! <3

Easter fun!

So, a few years ago, I discovered Geocaching. If you don't know about this awesome hobby, you MUST go to www.geocaching.org and check it out! Basically, It's a worldwide 'treasure' hunt with GPS coordinates and clues to help the player find the prize... which is usually a small box filled with little trinkets to trade. The real prize is working together to find the cache, discovering new places to hike and play, getting fresh air and exercise, and, for some, being the FTF (first to find)! I was really eager to start geocaching, but my girls were still young and not quite as interested.... YET! Fast forward to this spring... my girls and I have been geocaching fools! We have so much fun taking long hikes, exploring super old cemeteries and figuring out clues together.
The Easter Bunny seems to be on the same scavenger hunt kick we are on this year! He left the girls clues hidden in eggs to help them find their hidden baskets. My older daughter, who is *cough* slightly OCD, was a little put off when she realized her basket wasn't where it has been in years past. I believe her exact words were, "this Easter isn't like the other ones." Her worried face eased and she was laughing and enjoying the hunt in no time!
Here are the clues for our hunt, it was fun trying to make up rhymes and come up with different hiding places.

Since you are both older now and much smarter too,
I thought I would make up a fun game and leave some clues for you!
You need to follow the clues to get your basket prize,
Pay attention, use your best spying eyes!
Inside each egg there will be a clue,
and two little gifts, one for your sister and one for you!

Clue # 1 : To find the first egg you must go DOWN three stairs then take four steps more,
you will find the egg somewhere on the floor!

Clue # 2: Now turn around and head back in the house with the egg you got
and go to what looks like a window.. but is NOT!

Clue # 3: Are you hungry? You can get a snack later in the day,
but why don't you go see what's in the fridge anyway?

Clue # 4 : I know you have a cozy bedroom
but where would you sleep if you were a SPOON?

Clue # 5: Now take a little walk down the hall
and find a set of stairs hanging on the wall!

Clue # 6: The next egg you should find is hidden away
behind mommy and daddy on their wedding day!

Clue # 7: To find the next egg, you must go
where mommy likes to sit and sew.

Clue #8: The next egg has a nice view of the front yard!

Clue #9: The last egg is one you might see,
when you are in the living room watching TV.

Clue #10: You found all the eggs!
But there's one more clue to read.
Your baskets are where you go to get your body clean!

Happy Easter!!!
Love,
Easter Bunny

They moved too quickly for me to take many pictures, but here's what I was able to get!

Spring Decorating!

This year, my case of spring fever is worse than ever! I'm sure I'm not alone...what a winter!!! Step two of spring decorating (step one was taking down all Christmas decor *cough*) was to make an Easter egg wreath. This proved to be more difficult than I could imagine!

First I used my beloved hot glue gun and connected the eggs in a circle, adding pink polka-dot bows.  Yeah, that looked adorable...until i picked it up! It promptly broke into seven pieces.  Next I tried some stronger glue, again it looked lovely...but when I moved it, *grumble grumble* ....

Not about to be defeated by some cheap plastic eggs, I thought and thought about how to make this wreath a reality. Then I remembered my mom making holes in them I was younger. She made ornaments for the trees in the front yard by poking through the ends with hot nails.

A-HA!

I took one of gazillion wire hangers from the hall closet and straightened it out, lit a candle, grabbed my bag o' eggs and got to work.  Holding one end of the hanger in the flame for a few seconds made it hot enough to push through the ends of the eggs. I then threaded the eggs onto the hanger and shaped it into an oval, twisting the ends together to make a hook at the top.

I really like how it turned out, originally I planned on a circle shape but the oval shape is cute!



Here's a tip for making the holes: open the egg and lay it on a flat surface, with both ends pointing up. This will keep the egg stable while you poke at it!

found hearts

One thing I get excited about is finding hearts, whether man-made or natural. I love coming across them and almost always snap a picture when I do. Here is my 'found hearts' set on flickr.com. It makes me happy!

FOUND HEARTS