Weekend in northern Ohio

Wedding shower in Avon Lake = Excuse to go to Cedar Point

Don't mind my chins :)

One of these things is not like the other....

So I haven't checked out my little garden for over a week and I found three zucchini today. Two HUGE ones and one tiny one. I made chocolate zucchini bread last time. I think I'll make regular this time. I'll probably ask for any good recipes, so go ahead and post them or email me them.

We didn't start the fire....

Okay, maybe we did. This was our first time using the fire pit. It works wonderfully and we are looking forward to many fires in the future.

Visiting Grandma Dodok

Grandma fell a couple days ago, but she is fine. We visited her on Sunday and she is just as wonderful as ever! Here she is with mom. She'll be 90 in January.

Introducing Elijah Duffy Caldwell

I snuck a picture of Jenna while she was on the way to her post-partum room.

He is so cute!

They are so happy. What a great family picture!

Eli is here!!!!!

Eli was born at 8pm (7/7/09 8pm). Jenna and Keith are doing well. We haven't had a chance to see Jenna or Eli. Keith came out to tell us that Eli has lots of long black hair and that he was 7lbs and 10 ounces. Jenna did really well. She went from 6cm to 9cm in 30 minutes. That girl is amazing!!!! I can't wait to see all 3 of them together!!! Well done Caldwell family.

No news.....

Still waiting......

Eli is coming.....please wait.....

Jenna and Keith are at the hospital right now. I can't wait to see Eli!

Photos

http://www.newagefoto.com/blog/

If you go to this site and view the video (at 2min 40sec) you will see Jenna and Keith's parents to be photos. They only show 10 seconds worth but it's still cool.

Joan and Frank Visit

Frankie is in town for a football camp for the weekend. Last night we spent the evening hanging out with Joan and Frank and Manni (their dog). Frankie is enjoying the camp so far, and Joan is very impressed with the staff running the camp. Joan is going to help Dad fix up the patio and Mom got a new grill to put on the patio once it's ready to enjoy. I'll post another picture once it's complete.

Corinne and Brook!

Corinne and Brook came over for a visit. We had a great time hanging out and going to the park.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

This one is forJason. I accidently posted the one without the picture. So I included it below.

Here are my picks for Jason's celebrity look-a-likes:

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

I love that The Rock was in my choices! Evangeline and Sofia came up for a couple other pictures of me too. If The Rock came up for other pictures I would start to worry. :)

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Free genealogy

New Car!

Well, not really new. More like a makeover, a new used car.

I had a big service coming up and needed new tires, new timing belt, and new water pump. So I dropped off the car and asked them to fix it up and give it a nice detailing job. Then I spent a week in North Carolina visiting with Jami and Tom & Kris. When I got home I had a new-ish car waiting for me! I think it looks great and it smells nice. Not that it smelled bad before.

Landscaping 101

I decided to redo the landscaping around our house. I upgrades the existing beds and created some new ones. I think I did pretty well. I still have more to do in the backyard and side yard.

Crawfish

Natalie and Chris hosted a crawfish boil this weekend. We have never had crawfish before, so we were excited about trying something new.

The crawfish arrived via FedEx Sat morning (alive and kickin').

All of the crawfish survived the trip. No dead ones in the batch.

They smelled great the whole time they were cooking. Creole seasonings helped to season them to perfection!

Doesn't it look delicious?
Mmm mmm.

It's hard work getting the meat out, but it was tasty!

Microwave This!!!!

I completed all the requirements in Toastmasters to get the award that my workplace gives out. With the money I am buying some trees for the yard and an over the range microwave. The award money was sent to me today and I immediately spent some of it on the microwave. Jason helped to install it after work today. I can't wait to use it tomorrow! She's a beauty.

It's a Girl

Jason has been brewing beer with his buddies for a while now. The latest batch is Hibiscus Ginger Saison. Today he transferred the beer to the secondary and is was pink!!!

It's a girl beer!

Comparison of Bo and Chewy

The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog as their family pet. Chewy is a bit bummed out since he was hoping they would get a Goldendoodle. Both dogs look very similar. Chewy has been mistaken for a PWD before. Below are some photos so you can compare the two.

Caribbean Vacation Success!

We just enjoyed a wonderful week in the Caribbean with friends!

Jason and I just finished a week long Western Caribbean cruise on the Independence of the Seas. We had a great time! As an added bonus, were able to enjoy it with friends.

Here are some pictures and a link to more.

http://picasaweb.google.com/christineduffy

Everyone got dressed to the 9's for formal dinner.

Jason and I attempted to climb the rock wall.
Jason got 3/4 of the way up, I got about 1/2 way up.

We attempted to boogie board, which is hard work.


Here we are in Costa Maya. We had to skip this port due to water conditions.

Here we are enjoying the Maya Ruins in Tulum Mexico.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulum

And we caught the beautiful sunset on the last evening on the ship.

Here are some pictures from the other couples that went with us.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=345815017/a=26690983_12514337/t_=26690983

http://picasaweb.google.com/schoeff

Twitter

For those of you that use (or are interested in) Twitter you can follow me at http://twitter.com/DarthStrom. I can't promise frequent updates, but I thought this would be a good place to let people know I have an account.

Restaurant Week: March 9th - 15th

I like to visit a blog called Columbus Foodie. She talks about restaurants around central Ohio. She recently posted about an upcoming event that I think sounds very interesting.

Dine Originals Columbus’s Inaugural Restaurant Week!
42 restaurants offer a special fixed-price menu for one week (March 9th to 15th), for either $15 or $30. The restaurants vary from casual to fine dining so you can try out restaurants you've never been to or visit a favorite of yours.

I think I'll try to get out and visit one of these during that week. It's highly recommended that you make a reservation if you plan to dine in. Carryout is available for some of the restaurants - confirm that yourself if you plan to try that option.