Lions and Tigers and Bears... oh my!

So, we have been very busy lately. We have been spending lots of time with Joe's sister, our brother-in-law, niece, and nephew (and of course Joe's parents, too)! They were in town for the week.. so there was lots of quality time together! Between playing Frisbee, picking peas, catching lightening bugs, grilling, the zoo, playing Wii, bubbles, and so much more... we had tons of fun!

Here are pictures of our too cute niece and so handsome nephew!Andrea with Luci and Joe with Toby!
We went to a so-called zoo on Saturday.. that is in the country not too far from Joe's parents' house. It was called "Heaven's Corner". They had all sorts of animals - porcupines, a Bengal tiger, a white tiger, black panther, bobcat, wild boars, lynx, crocs, wolves, all kinds of snakes, leopard, mountain lion, bear, turtles, etc. We really enjoyed the white Siberian tiger (it was hilarious - the tiger would not come out due to not liking the stroller, as soon as we hid the stroller - the tiger came out). The best part about the trip to the "zoo" was the fact that a guy gave us an unexpected tour and told us all about the animals and let us ask questions... and the best part... I got to hold a snake!!!! Here are some pictures from the "zoo".

The white tiger... and me holding a snake! It was a milk snake, even though it looks like a coral snake!

Uncle Joe with Luci and me pointing at a python... I did touch it through the grate...

Leopard and tiger... it was so neat how close you could get to the animals.. as you could probably notice. There were only 2 fences in between... which was neat and a bit scary at the same time. The guide even got us some pictures without the fence (he was able to get between the first and second fence and then took our cameras and took pictures)!

Curtis (brother-in-law), Michelle (Joe's sister), Toby (he's 2), and Luci (6 months) all went back to North Carolina today. We were very sad.. and it feels quiet around here. We had such a great time with them and Joe's parents! Hope you all have a great 4th of July!

Fun with family!

Joe and I have been having so much fun recently! Joe's sister, bro-in-law, niece and nephew are in town. They live in North Carolina, so we don't get to see them much. We have had such a great time with them so far!

On Sunday, we had a great time traveling to Springfield, Ohio to our cousin's baby shower. The girls went to the shower and the boys went boating. After the wonderful shower, the girls joined up with the guys and we got to go boating. It was so much fun! Joe and I got to go tubing around Buck Creek State Park. We are still quite sore from tubing! We really enjoyed catching up with family and having a blast!

Aunt Donna and Luci (our niece) at the baby shower!

We will have to add some more pictures later of our cute niece and nephew... hope your weeks are going well!

Nature.... baking.... random fun!

So, we have been busy lately with ministry appointments with Campus Crusade for Christ and such.. but otherwise our lives have been pretty boring. So, that is why I haven't posted in awhile. I thought I would share with you are brief moments of fun and excitement this past month.

We have been one with nature lately. In the last post, I wrote about the friendly little yellow finch out the window. Fun thing is.. that was almost a month ago.. and the little cute bird is still around. Also, we visited Andrea's parents in Lima and really saw a different site. I (Andrea) was glancing out the backyard and noticed a bunch of bugs flying around. There were so many I had to get a closer look.. so I went out on the screened in patio. What I once thought were ladybugs, were thousands upon thousands of honey bees. They were swarming immensely and there were so many of them that you could hear the buzzing even though they were a decent distance away. They began swarming a pine tree.. and gathered there. They eventually left and actually hilariously moved to the front yard to a small branch. The thousands gathered on the branch.. and we were able to get a few pictures.

A picture of my parent's tree from their yard. We found out the bees were protecting their beloved queen and in the meantime "scouts (other bees)" were out looking for a permanent place for the new hive. Pretty interesting...

We decided on a quick whim to go to Cedar Point one day. We had free tickets and picked a day with great weather. Both of us hadn't been to Cedar Point in quite a few years. When the park opened we ran all the way to the back of the park to the new coaster "Maverick"... we didn't have to wait long in line and actually waited to ride the front car. Our favorite ride of the day was the "Top Thrill Dragster"... I think it blasts you at 120 mph up 340 ft in the air... it lasts 17 seconds. We rode it twice we loved it so much!

Cedar Point!!!!!!

Last but not least... we have been baking lately. I really had wanted to make an apple pie... so I did.. and Joe made strawberry shortcake today (inspired by an appointment we had last night).

Apple pie... are you thinking the crust is beautiful.. yah... that's probably because I didn't make the crust. Joe's mom did and she is stellar at crusts and bread. It didn't seems to take so long since Joe's mom made the crust and I did the other part.

Anyways.. that an update on our busy, but somewhat boring lives. We are having some excitement today though.. Joe's sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and niece are coming in town today. We haven't seen them for a year.. so we are so excited and can't wait!

Our niece and nephew... Toby and Lucy! They are so cute!