While in Cleveland I made it a priority to visit with some friends old and new.  On Thursday, Carson, Riley and I went to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo to meet up with an online friend of mine and her two boys.  We had such a great day, hanging out, chatting, being exposed to copious amounts of monkey genitalia.  You know, zoo stuff.  The kids all got along great and had a wonderful time exploring and learning about the animals together.

Carson’s favorite part was the Animal care center where they have glass windows and he was able to watch a veterinarian and his staff preform some basic procedures on a small animal.  He was fascinated and still is talking about how cool that it was to watch the doctor work.

Lounging Leopard

Lunchtime for Tortoise

Inside the butterfly garden.

I almost walked right into the branch that this guy was sitting on.

Anyone know what these are? They were hanging from a tree and I thought they were so cool.

Riley the roo

After the zoo I dropped the kids off with my mom for dinner at Red Robin and I headed off to Mayfield to see Lisa, Corey and Lisa’s mom.  While at their house I got to play Guns & Roses Pinball, a Japanese Speed Racer slot machine and Rock Band for Wii.  It was a blast, I did suck ass at the drumming portion of Rock Band but had fun none the less.

Lisa and I then headed off to get pedicures at a nail place near her home.  We both chose the same color nail polish which when applied was much brighter than anticipated.  I ended up with Smurf Toes.  That’s okay because the pedicure itself was relaxing and it was wonderful to be able to sit and talk to Lisa and not have to worry about anything else while getting pampered.

No trip to Mayfield would be complete with a trip to Pizzazz Pizza and getting a salad and a chicken and vegetable calzone.  We met back with Corey and had a fantastic dinner.  I have been ordering the same thing at Pizzazz for almost 20 years and it is just as fantastic as ever.  Their calzone crust is like nothing I’ve been able to find or replicate myself.  It is garlicky and wonderful.  The only thing that has changed is that they no longer have bleu cheese crumbles available for the salad.  In addition to great food, we had fun laughing, talking and catching up.

That day Lisa and Corey just found out that they are going to be having a baby boy and it was wonderful to get to share in a bit of their excitement.  They are so cute, so loving and so excited.  I couldn’t be more happy for them.

My good friend and neighbor, Michelle and her family went on vacation this week.  We had the joy of taking care of their two miniature dachshunds, Bella and Izzy.  They are the sweetest, most adorable dogs that you could ever meet.  I would have them teach Reese a thing or two but he is terrified of them.   Yes, my giant lab is afraid of two mini doxies.

I took some pictures the other day while I had them outside.  Are they adorable or what?

Bella

Another of Bella

Izzy - she is a bit timid but so sweet.

Looking splendid in the grass.

Tracy B, crack researcher and good friend from Illinois writes,

Ok I have done my research and both dragonflies and damselflies have 6 legs.  Dragonflies actually hold their prey in their legs and eat it as they fly.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

There you have it folks.  Tracy, you are good enough, smart enough and gosh darnit people like you!

Every Saturday and Sunday night the Arboretum closes off the roads through it to car traffic and opens it up completely for the bikers. Since my mom was in town and has become quite the biker lately we decided to go check it out. The two of us, Carson and his friend John took a ride around the main loop which took about an hour.

There were a lot of hills and let me tell they don’t seem nearly as steep when you are riding in a car. I’ve barely ridden a bike at all the past few years but managed to do the whole ride. I had to walk the bike up a few of the steeper hills but I am proud of myself today. I really enjoyed the downhill portions of the ride, careening wildly out of control is always fun. The only lingering effect is there are parts of my body that hurt that I forgot I even had.

Yesterday was Father’s Day and my Dad’s 60th Birthday.  We made a whirlwind trip to Cleveland and had a surprise golf outing/birthday party for him.  It was so much fun.  It was great seeing relatives and friends and my dad seemed truly surprised by it all.

Tony, world’s best brother and blog commentator, did a fantastic job grilling steaks and asparagus for the crowd.  Not just anyone can grill 30 steaks and manage to cook them all perfectly to order.   I know I couldn’t and I love to cook.  It was impressive to say the least.

I golfed for the first time in over eight years and I have to say I didn’t do quite as poorly as I had expected.  I managed to get some good shots in and even parred a hole.  I ended up shooting 125, it could have been worse.  Our foursome included me, Tony, my Dad and my dad’s sister, Patty.  It was so much fun with a lot of laughs.  I should also point out that I have some mad golf cart driving skills.  I didn’t even flip it once!

While we were in Ohio, my friend and neighbor, Michelle, took care of Reese.   She is the best and I am so grateful she took it on for the weekend.  You can see how well it went on her blog.  We need to hook him up to a dog sled.  I will make a fortune winning the Iditarod.

Riley and I are off to the arboretum today but I’ll be back later with lots of pictures from today and from the weekend.

My best friend since high school, Lisa, posted this scrapbook page on her blog yesterday.

Check it out if you want to see my sweet ride from the early ’90s. I can’t believe she had those pictures. I don’t even have a picture of that car. We used to drive all over NE Ohio listening to music, trying to get lost and stalking bands. You could fill the tank for less than 10 bucks and not need to fill it again for at least a week. Seeing that page brought back so many memories of good times and great friends.

While on the topic of nostalgia, I’ve been working on a project over the weekend and as a result I have been going through a lot of old pictures. This picture is of my parents and myself when I was about 18 months old. Don’t you love how very 1973 this picture is? My mom was a such a cute little hippie back in the day.

I took these pictures a few weeks ago and never got around to posting some of them.  Carson and John were having a good time jumping on John’s trampoline and I happened to be there trusty camera in hand.

I took all of these using the action setting.

I wanted to post a few more of the pictures that I took while lurking around Michelle’s yard. She has the best landscaping in the neighborhood and works her booty off for it to be that way.

During my teen years in Ohio we lived on a huge lot with lots of tree and shrubs.  Included were several lilac bushes, huge mature lilac bushes.  One was right outside my bedroom window.  Every May and June my room was filled with the scent of lilacs.  To this day I love that smell and it instantly takes me back to my room decorated with various posters and pictures of Trixter, Skid Row and other bands ripped from Metal Edge magazine.

Last year, I planted a lilac bush in my yard.  It has gotten big but so far no lilacs. I hope that we see some blooms next year.  Michelle has some beautiful lilacs in bloom at her house and I was able to go over and get in a few sniffs and a few pictures.

Summer on The Ridge means bicycles, playing, jumping, digging for bugs, running through sprinklers and Ice Pops. We love the Ice Pops around here especially the big ones they sell at Wal*Mart. Cherry, grape, banana even mango. We have not had a chance to sample Bob’s Pickle Pops just yet, but maybe one day. A girl can dream.

Who wants an Ice Pop? Come and get em!

Refreshed?

Sugar rush!

All good things must end.