Birthday Fit For a Queen

We enjoyed salad, soup and a wonderful assortment
of yummy treats.

We celebrated my mother's 80th birthday today by going to "high tea" at the "First Ladies Tea Room" in town. It was a very special day; we just missed having my California sister here to help us celebrate. Debbie, here are some pictures of our afternoon.

Dad's birthday

My dad recently had his 82nd birthday. We went to a favorite restaurant in Amish Country, then back to our house for birthday cake.

One never outgrows birthday presents!

Happy Birthday Todd!!

Forty two years ago, something pretty wonderful happened in the Draa household.
Happy Birthday Todd!!!

Happy Birthday Steve!

Happy Birthday Steve!!!
I wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

This was in Toronto at the NHL Hall of Fame

Rick and Steve at Cracker Barrell

Bundled up for a Cleveland Browns game

Steve and his buddies, Elizabeth and Jacob

Mill Creek Park

We had a wonderful Saturday. The temperature was perfect for exploring. Through some of my "Flickr" friends, I heard about a park near Youngstown, "Mill Creek Park". It turns out that Rick and I had gone there when we dated ______ years ago. I didn't actually remember much about it, other than we had rented a canoe. (I'm lucky that I remembered that much). We were surprised at how beautiful it was, and how uncrowded. We hardly saw anyone else there. The park is huge and has a wonderful 36 hole golf course which is open to the public. We spent several hours hiking and taking pictures. Here are a few of them...the rest are on my "Flickr" link.

Fall Weekend

We had a beautiful weekend. It was cool, sweater weather. So we headed up to one of our favorite hiking spots, Cuyahoga National Park. It couldn't have been more perfect. Here are
a few of the pictures we took.

There are more on "my flickr" photos. There is a link on the blog.
Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

Our granddaughter Elizabeth has a birthday this week. She will be 11 years old, which seems impossible to me. It seems like only yesterday that she came into our lives. Our prayer is that this will be a better year for her than the last one. Thanks to all who have been praying for this family. A cousin told me recently, "as much as you love your grandchildren, God loves them even more". What a comfort that is!

Through the years

We all know how important the date 9/11 is. We all know what we were doing when that horrible thing happened 7 years ago. We were on a trip through Canada with our family when we saw the news on TV. Rick and I were babysitting the grandkids while the "big kids" were hiking to the top of Whistler's outside Jasper. We saw those images over and over and over again. So I know how terrible that date is for so many people.

Forgive me, though if I go back a few more years (43 in fact) to Sept. 11. My husband and I got married while we were still teenagers. We met at a wonderful little church camp, Hollow Rock, on the Ohio River. Rick grew up
going there and I started in the 4th grade. So, while I want to pay tribute to the people who perished on Sept. 11, 7 years ago, I also want to remember Sept. 11 as the most wonderful day of my life, 43 years ago, because I married my best friend!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
I LOVE YOU RICK !!

The first of 88

We have 88 counties in Ohio. In honor of the bicentennial a few years ago, one barn in each county was chosen to be painted with the Bicentennial Logo. I would love to be able to take a picture of each of the barns. Here is my first one. Unfortunately as we were driving, I didn't make note of which county we were in.

If anyone knows which county this is in, please let me know!

Not one of the 88

This is not one of the 88 bicentennial barns.

Guess Where???

I put this up for my husband's boss who, I think, likes this particular chain of restaurants.

Here's for you, Jay!

A Trip to Yoder's Farm

We've driven by here many times, but decided to pull into the driveway this time. You can visit an actual "working" Amish farm, take a buggy ride, visit a school house, and actually go through the farmhouse where they are baking bread. Unfortunately, we arrived too late for the tour, but not too late to take pictures of the yard.

Next time, we'll be on time for a tour.

My Favorite Time of Year

We happened to make a drive to Berlin Ohio on the day they were having their Fall Festival. All the stores were decorated for fall. I'm wondering what happened to our summer? That's ok...this is my favorite time of year.

Lunch with good friends

After living only an hour and a half away from Hermitage Pennsylvania, we finally made it over to visit with Ellis and Irene Stewart, good friends from Grace to You. We enjoyed lunch and a wonderful afternoon with them.