Green Thumb

Say Hello to Mrs. Green Thumb over here!  This was the Summer I learned how to garden and got very involved with all our gorgeous floral and landscaping!  YAY me!  I potted, planted, made flower boxes, made a floral door basket….. and what a workout all that was! But so therapeutic and rewarding. All those itty bitty flowers I planted in the ground and designed within the flower baskets, I nurtured and groomed and loved them to bits as if they were my babies!  I brought them back to life too when they began to dry out, ha!  Gardening is a lot of work, but it quickly became my hobby and I'm looking forwarding to challenging my ability each year!

Porch flower baskets….. they started out small and grew LOOOOONG, wow!

My handmade flower basket!

Our new outdoor dining table on the back deck….. where we had plenty of dinners and BBQs.

Our front door/ porch welcomed all our friends and visitors during the summer!  I love how vibrant the combination of pots and flowers turned out.

The new furniture on our front deck/ porch.  Perfect for sunset viewing and entertaining.

The flower box down at the boathouse

1 of 2 flower beds I planted

The Last Bit of Summer & Dinosaur Convention

This Summer was jam-packed with visitors and a crazy amount of entertaining and playing, but we still managed to get to Midway State Park!  A vintage amusement park that Brad literally grew up next to…. it was right behind his house!  Since we didn't get a chance to go last Summer at all, we more than made up for it this year with 2 visits.  This year the boys were big enough (and BRAVE enough) to go on all the rides, since the rides are all geared for the younger kids.  You could see Taj still a wee bit timid on some of the rides, while Jax rode everything with a huge fearless grin.  Definitely represents their personalities!

Our last official weekend of Summer (right after Labor Day)…. first weekend of September and before school started was a CRAZY one.  It was hot hot hot, and the sun was a glowy orange!  Could have been a full moon for all we knew!  Brad and I grabbed a sitter last minute, and met up with our friends in Lakewood for some adult boating sunset drinks and dinner.  What we didn't know is that the night got away from us, we were having such a wonderful evening…. and well, the Perfect Storm rolled in and we almost got stranded in the middle of a wild wavy lake in the dark and without gas.  Good thing we have good friends who helped us put more gas in the boat!  The end of the night was like out of a movie…. Brad and his buddy taking the boat back home over rough waves (as big as the ocean), soaked to the T, in pitch black, underneath the largest thunder and lightning.  It was a scary ride for them, and I'm so glad he made it back safe!!! (I was given a ride back home via car.)

Then there was the DINO convention in Buffalo!  RAWR!  The boys were in dino-love, everywhere they looked they saw dinosaurs…. and even got to ride them!  Lucky boys!  We love bringing their love for certain things to life, and giving them the hands-on experience.  Such fun to see the awe in their eyes!

Taj's VIDEO:

IMG 2583.MOV from jana grover on Vimeo.

Jax's VIDEO:

IMG 2584.MOV from jana grover on Vimeo.

Love our little paleontologists at work!  They are obsessed with everything dinosaur related!

Niagara-On-The-Lake, Canadian Overnighter & our 6 year Wedding Anniversary

Right in time for our 6th year wedding anniversary, and a couple days before August 23rd, Brad and I went away to celebrate in Canada!  While our awesome baby-sitter Kaitlynn stayed overnight with the boys for the first time, Brad and I drove just under 2 hours over the Canadian border to Niagara-on-the-Lake….. a charming and romantic little town.  The beginning of this year (1st of January) we embarked on our first 2-night vacation without the boys to Miami (while my parents stayed with them), and this summer we went out of the country for the first time without them. LOL  They were angels (of course!), and Kaitlynn can handle anything!  It also helps that her parents live down the street and we have many friends in the neighborhood.

On our anniversary night-away, we did a little wine-tasting on bikes, dining, relaxing, strolling through the town, sleeping in, and shopping!  It was perfect!

When we returned, the following night on Saturday (our actual anniversary day) we made plans with our friends, the Churchills, to dine at the fabulous French restaurant, La Fleur.  We like go to La Fleur every summer, it is a neat dining experience, and they are only open during the summer.  For the occasion I surprised Brad by wearing my wedding rehearsal dress!  Good thing he recognized it, ha ha! I love this dress, and if there's any excuse to be able to wear it again, I am glad I still can!

We cruised over to CHQ on the Churchills' boat, had sunset cocktails, and when we got to CHQ a trolley was waiting to pick us up and take us to the restaurant.

A few pics from our dinner...

                                     Going down memory lane….. some of our wedding pics….

Biking: Another Family Favorite

Through the forest, by the lake, a bike riding we will go!  We love to go on bike rides!  Thanks to the I-Bert bike seats the boys have been enjoying bike rides since they were both 6 months old.  Its been a 4 year long hobby of ours.  And now, I'm proud to announce that Taj is riding his own big boy bicycle (with training wheels) when we bike ride as a family.  He has outgrown the I-Bert.  

During the Summer we ride almost every other day, and during the Fall we try to get out a few times a week if weather permits.  We ride in the forest through Long Point State Park, we ride to the village to get ice cream and swing by the coffee shop.  We ride to the playground when we meet out friends.  Taj has even ridden his bike to school (with Brad accompanying him.). 

IMG 3801 from jana grover on Vimeo.

IMG 3808 from jana grover on Vimeo.

On a warm "Summer'-temberish weekend, I even got the idea to bravely and strategically put my bike and Taji's in my car and drive over to Presque Isle for an awesome bike ride around the island.  Wonderful bike ride and beach time we had (while daddy Brad was playing in a bocce ball tournament.)  I keep saying we need to get that bike rack installed so we can just throw our bikes on it and go to different areas to bike ride.   I foresee many years of fun bike adventures as the boys learn to ride their own bikes.

Jax hasn't quite mastered the balance bike yet, and still prefers to ride his tricycles.