Today we drove way the heck out into the wilds of Ohio to find the Ohio Caverns. This is certainly not a place you would stumble upon accidentally- out past Marysville, not quite to Bellefontaine, winding country roads, backing up because you missed the tiny little sign marking the county road number. That being said, they did a great job of making it a picturesque destination. Several tidy buildings perched on a hill with well kept, park-like grounds and a big picnic shelter. And it was decently crowded- there were about 30 people on our tour. The tour starts by walking down what look like basement steps from the Visitor Center. Since Will is rarely allowed in the basement (Grandma told him there were bears in hers) I wonder if he now thinks there are caverns in our basement. 
The walk through the caverns was neat. It was fun to hear about how they were discovered. They've been leading tours through them since the 1920's. Will liked looking at all the cave "teeth". And though we saw no bears, we did see a bat!
Tonight is the first meeting of the next round of our Card Club. This is the swap I'm taking. I was hoping to use one of the stamp sets from the new Stampin'Up catalog but unfortunately our orders took a little longer to come in (no doubt because everyone ordered tons of the wonderful new stamps and accessories). So I pulled out a stamp set I've had for a while. I really like the quote. And I got to use my Stampin' Pastels which I don't use enough.Susan is hosting tonight. I'm really looking forward to seeing my crafting buddies after the break we took this summer.
Grandma and Grandpa made a quick overnight trip to Ohio this weekend to go to a lobster bake with us. It was really lovely. The lobster, the salads, the corn, the potatoes, the salmon, the desserts were delicious and enjoyed by everyone... except Will. Although he did try the lobster, he most decidedly didn't like it.It's funny how many lobster bakes we've been to since we've moved to Ohio. The Rotary in Bedford has one every year that we try to make it to. We've also been to a few oyster roasts with my parents and their friends Ken & Carol. Even when I lived in Boston and went to Maine pretty often, I didn't eat lobster as often. Huh... Ohio. Now that I think about it, there was a guy stationed with us in Iceland who was from Boston and had some lobsters flown in by one of his pilot buddies. It's amazing what you can do with some dry ice and a jet.
Hooray! The first ripe tomato from our tomato plants. Mere moments after I snapped this photo, Will took a big bite out of the tomato. I wonder if that is some kind if primordial, caveman instinct as in 'If I bite it, it's mine'. At any rate, we took it into the house, sliced it up and ate it with dinner. Wow- I had forgotten how good real tomatoes are.
Last night was the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Grove City. The weather seemed absolutely lovely to me but was apparently a little windy for balloons, so they didn't launch, but they were still fun to see. We were entertained by a band called 'British Invasion' who played mostly Beatles covers and some Rolling Stones and Animals tunes. They were pretty good- and they even had groupies. Hee hee. 
Will's favorite part of the evening was "kicking dirt". The balloons were set up in the infield of a dirt horse racing track. We would say, "Do you want to go see the balloons?" and he would say, "No, I want to kick some more dirt." Kicking dirt seemed like a popular pastime for many of the children there.
After the sun set, there was a Balloon Glow where the balloon pilots light the propane burners and make the balloons glow. Beautiful!
On Thursday, Rick took Will to Lima, OH to introduce him to the democratic process and see John McCain. Will came home with a McCain button and a fistful of Ohio flags. I tried to post the video of Will on the news, but the best I could do was the link:http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid992398979/bclid1028788754/bctid1717903166Rick and Will are at about the 27 second mark in the video.
Today we drove down to Cincinnati and went to Jungle Jim's International Market. I wish I had taken my camera. The best way to describe it is to say that if there were a supermarket at South of the Border (that place on I-95 at the border of North Carolina and South Carolina) it would be Jungle Jim's. It is not a shopping experience for the weak-spirited. You enter past an enclosure of cement giraffes and elephants spouting water, into a gigantic warehouse which contains a dizzying array of meats and cheeses and produce and live fish and singing soup cans and a life-size fire truck perched atop a display of what must be every single hot sauce produced in the world. We spent the most time in the international foods section and brought home ginger beer from Bermuda, paella rice from Spain, finishing salt from France, and lingonberry jam from Sweden. The best find was the sugar-in-the-raw sugar cubes that I used to buy in Iceland.I won't give away the surprise about the restrooms; I'll just say this - their bathroom has apparently won awards.You can check out their website at www.junglejims.com.
This week grandma and grandpa got to take Will to Gymboree. The theme for this week was making a pretend pizza. From all reports Will participated a little more than usual- Rick says he usually runs around like a maniac with a tail made from a scarf. Grandpa said it reminded him a little bit of 'Where the Wild Things Are'.
Today we drove way the heck out into the wilds of Ohio to find the Ohio Caverns. This is certainly not a place you would stumble upon accidentally- out past Marysville, not quite to Bellefontaine, winding country roads, backing up because you missed the tiny little sign marking the county road number. That being said, they did a great job of making it a picturesque destination. Several tidy buildings perched on a hill with well kept, park-like grounds and a big picnic shelter. And it was decently crowded- there were about 30 people on our tour. 
The walk through the caverns was neat. It was fun to hear about how they were discovered. They've been leading tours through them since the 1920's. Will liked looking at all the cave "teeth". And though we saw no bears, we did see a bat!
