It's A Long Way Down

Canada

I know the title of this blog is pretty general, but that's what we call our house in Ontario- Canada. It's actually in Georgian Bay, which runs off of Lake Huron. About a seven hour drive from Cleveland. Thanks to not working, this was my third time up this summer, and I'm hoping to make it at least once more.


Last week I went up Monday through Friday with my dad, my sister, and her friend Lindsey. The weather was awesome! The water was finally warm enough to swim- it usually takes until August to get to that point. We literally just shower in the lake the whole time, it's that clean.


I am proud to say that I was quite the little worker for the first few days we were there. Actually helping with all of the work around there makes me appreciate how much my dad has been doing for the last 20 some years! I have a new found love for cleaning siding, and I not so new love for pulling 500,000 weeds on the beach.


It was great to use the new boat (well, new to me) to go tubing and run around to town, go to a friends house for dinner, and stop in and say hi to a few people. BA went cliff jumping. Not this girl! I tried it a few times when I was younger, and it's just not my thing. But it's fun to watch her stand up there and flip out for a few minutes before she goes off! Lindsey had every intention of jumping, but found that it was much easier to walk back down instead.


I also found out on Thursday what everyone has been talking about for months. I picked up Twilight at 10am, and finished it that night! I literally read all day, stopping at nothing to finish that book. I loved it! I am now a few hundred pages into the second one, well on my way to finishing the series very quickly!


Enjoy the pics from last week!

Last weekend was Bethanne's 24th birthday, and we celebrated ALL weekend!



Our local brewery here in Cleveland is called Great Lakes. I am on their email list (of course) and they send out news about the brewery, events, etc. They sponsor this event called the Burning River Festival every year, and we decided to go check it out. It was so much fun! I'm not exactly sure what our money went to, but I'm sure it was for a good cause. Hopefully it goes to keeping Lake Erie clean so it doesn't catch on fire again. So pathetic.


This year the festival was held on Whiskey Island, at the old Coast Guard station. I'm not sure if it burned, or has been vandalized, but they definitely don't use it anymore. They had live bands on their main stage, beer and food tents, and acoustic bands set up right on the water. We had the best view of downtown- not so amazing during the day, I know, but at night when it is lit up, I remember why I love it here so much.


Happy Belated Birthday BA!!

Headed Out...

I am headed to our house in Ontario tomorrow for the week- I CAN'T WAIT! This is the best time of year to head up there. The water is warm (well, kind of), people are around, and even when the weather stinks, it's still that cool thunderstorm atmosphere. I plan on cooking, playing games, swimming, taking the boat out, tubing, water skiing, watching movies, napping, reading (I'm going to start Twilight), working on the house and roof (or more like being told I have to work on the house and roof), sunset cocktailing... life will be grand. :)

America's Roller Coast

I just realized that I never blogged that we went to Cedar Point last Friday! My brother took a day off work for the first time in literally two years, so me, Bethanne, Matt and Megan hit the best amusement park in the world for the day.

Someone had told me that you could pack a cooler and leave it in the pavilion outside the main gate, so we packed lunch and "healthy" food (compared to the junk they have in the park). Not only did I eat well, I saved about $25 by not buying their food. Except fries. Had to have the fries.

The weather was perfect, and the lines were not too bad. All of the newer huge rides were about an hour wait, and the smaller older ones were 15 to 20 minutes. Matthew of course kept us entertained all day! We spent over 10 hours there, and when our legs felt like they were going to fall off, we headed home!

These people were STUCK like this on the Millenium Force for like a half hour!

Fully enjoying the swings- the old school rides are some of the best!


Officially the worst roller coaster in the world. I thought my brain was going to shake out of my head.

Charlotte, NC

I swear, I just can't sit still.


Last weekend, I switched an "un"used plane ticket to go see my friends Nick and Lindsay in Charlotte for two nights. The cost of changing my flight almost made me a little sick. On top of the original cost of my flight to NV that I didn't use, Orbitz charged $30 and the airline charged $150. So I pretty much spent the same amount of money to go to Charlotte for the weekend that I could spend to go to Europe. But hey- what was I supposed to do? Waste it? Nope- go have fun with Lindsay for the weekend!

They moved in 2006, and I have never visited. We went to dinner one night when I was on tour, but that's just not the same.

I got in on Friday afternoon, and Lindsay and I just went to her house, sat on the couch and caught up. We wound up meeting some other Cleveland friends for dinner that night too. I was so happy to be able to see everyone I know there in one night! After dinner, we went to a friend's McMansion for a little get together, which turned into a beer pong party. ???

The weather wasn't great on Saturday, so we decided to go to lunch and see the matinee of Mama Mia. I saw the movie and loved it (with the exception of Pierce Brosnan being a horrible singer), and the show was just as fun! We wound up buying tickets in two separate locations because we could get better seats that way, but we didn't care. It's not like you talk to your friends through the show anyway. After the show, we raced to the store, raced to dinner, then raced back home and they had some people over. Once again- beer pong. I swear, they love it down there! I haven't played that much beer pong since high school. I mean... college. :) They have folding beer pong tables from bpong.com that they keep in the back of the car and take to parties. Too funny!

My flight on Sunday was later in the day, so Lindsay and I went to a great place to get pedicures. It was a "nail spa". Heaven. VERY inexpensive, with free wine, and the best massage chairs we had ever seen! We literally sat their for an hour after our pedi, in the chairs, talking. Then we went to Flemmings for an early dinner, and I was off to the airport.

I wish I could visit more often, because it was so great to catch up, and such a fun weekend!