Guys weekend

Had some fun with the guys last weekend. Brad and Winstone came up to party. I did get the ceiling/ wall trim finally hung as well.

I still need to paint most of the interior doors, but not much else to do other than maintenance.

See ya!

Labor Day Weekend

Had a fantastic time with the family last weekend. Nothing is better than a looooooong holiday weekend. Plus the weather was absolutely fantastic!

Here is a sneak peak of a family photo from a series that will probably be used for our Christmas cards this year.

Family style

The Appledore IV tall ship was docked at Kelleys Island all weekend. We wanted to try and get a tour but we kept missing the schedule. So here is a photo of the ship all tied-off in the harbor.

Appledore IV - me and Bon

KILA Homecoming

It was the KILA Homecoming this past weekend. We were in the parade and had a great time all day on Saturday.

Anna - getting ready for homecoming!

Sophie and Neil and fox snake!

Fishing on Sunday afternoon

Family weekend

For having no major island event planned, we still had a jam packed weekend with the extended family. My mom came up to stay for the weekend and Bob and Judy Trapp came up for the annual party at their friend's house on the east side of the island. And last but not least, John, Amy and Ethan came up on their boat for the weekend.

Friday night Bon got ahold of the crossbow. She had the best shot of the night!

Later Friday night, we went out with my mom to meet John on his boat and then downtown to see the band at Bag the Moon.

John, Mom and me - Bag the moon

Neil, Anna and Sophie - marshmallow time at the Arnold's

Ethan, Mom and Neil

Sophie and Neil at Westbay Inn

Circus with friends

Last weekend was the annual Kelly Miller Circus. Big fun and we had our neighbors from home up Sunday through Tuesday.

Quiet before the storm, Bon and Anna came out with me on Saturday afternoon to see a band at the Casino.

Bon and Anna

Sunday afternoon, we went on a long hike thru North trail.

the whole crew

The little explorer. 

Anna and Sophie beach hiking and tree climbing

Circus time on Monday. The kids got to ride the ponies and the camel. Fun show as always.

Pony ride

Tuesday afternoon we were chilling out at Camp Patmos during the kids swimming lessons. There is a great view from the Patmos shoreline looking north.

Camp Patmos view

shady spot

The drain pipe extension, part 1

Finally got to extending the drain pipe in the back of the yard. This is not very exciting at all, but something on the cottage "to-do" list. The idea is to add more symmetrical grass area to the back yard while covering an open muddy drainage ditch, that the kids gravitate to making me crazy!

Since this job required major hand digging and the area is laden with poison ivy, I had to hire Winston (pictured below) to get it done.

"hell yeah ?!?"

Here is the new section of pipe installed by not back filled with dirt yet.

Lay some pipe

Pipe installed and 1/2 covered with dirt. I hope you can see the intended vision of more grassy yard by the woods edge.

1/2 dirt covered

Bonnie and Anna spent some time down town for the Island Fest representing KILA. Bon is on the ballot to become a legit member this Fall.

Bon & Anna - KILA

I found some cool mounts for the kayaks on Amazon. Here is the final product all mounted up tight on the shed. I think it looks super cool.

kayak mounts

July 4th weekend with the family

We had a fantastic extended weekend starting at Cedar Point and ending on Kelleys Island. Too many great memories to share here in the blog...

Cedar Point - here we come!

Fishing on the Kelleys Island State Park Pier

Having a fun summer so far. I need to do some work on the cottage some time soon!