Packed a ton of stuff in this weekend. Took the day off work on Friday and headed down to Columbus for the weekend. Friday we started out stopping by the field of giant corn in Dublin. We stumbled on this oddity a few years ago during a winter trip to the Columbus area and decided that we had to visit during this trip. I would say the giant corn is right up there with road stops such as the world's largest ball of yarn and the world's largest frying pan.

After the 5 minutes at the corn field, we went on a shopping expedition. We went to both Tuttle Crossing Mall and Polaris Mall in the never ending quest for pants for me. I guess I'm a bit picky about my pants. I have to have cuffs, they have to be pleated with at minimum two pleats and I don't want to spend more than $25 on each pair. I finally found my pants at J.C. Penny. Unfortunately, I had to hit two different stores to find my size. After our mall trips, we headed to the hotel and checked in. We stayed a a Doubletree near 23 and 270. The hotel was comfortable but nothing special.

Giant Corn

Lisa and the Giant Ear

We then headed out to Inniswood Gardens. The Gardens were once owned by a couple of sisters that loved to garden. They eventually donated their land to the Metro parks. The draw of this particular park, keeping on the theme of larger than life objects, was the giant bug art on display throughout the gardens. The park was really nice; beautiful (no, I haven't turned gay!). The bug art was pretty cool too. I would definitely go back with or without the bug art!Inniswood Garden

Giant Assassin BugDragonfly

Bee (actual size)

We then headed out to Marc's in Westerville and then more shopping at Kohls. Finally we ended up heading to German Village and eating at Schmidt's. Unfortunately, it was too late to do much site seeing in German Village and the food at Schmidt's was just fair but the beer was outstanding! What else would you expect me to say about the beer?

Bad Picture of me but Great Beer Shot!

Saturday morning, we headed out to the world renown Hineygate festivities. Where else can you find a couple thousand people drunk as skunks at 9am on a Saturday morning? Lisa and I had a couple of beers and then headed toward the Shoe to watch the band and the cheerleaders as they filed into the stadium. Since we didn't have tickets to the game, we headed toward High Street to find a place to watch the game; we didn't have any luck. The new BW3 was packed and there was a line around the corner with people waiting to get in. We did get into Panini's but the crowd was a bit young and we felt like a couple of senior citizens. We ended up heading back toward our hotel and watched the second half at BW3. The best part of hanging out in Columbus watching the game wasn't the fact that OSU stomped on Youngstown State but it was watching Michigan get their butts whipped by another division 1AA team!

Brutus and a couple of Nuts

After the game and a change of clothes, we headed to a new concept store for Kroger called Kroger marketplace. I wasn't all that impressed with what may be a new concept for Kroger but not a new concept at all. The store was similar to a Meijer or a super Walmart without clothes or the electronics. We then headed down to an area of Columbus called the Short North. The Short North is just North of the Arena District and seemed to be a pretty happening area of town. We first stopped at a bar call Adobe Gilas for a bathroom break but I had to have a couple of beers because it was happy hour ($1 domestics)!

The Short North had a bunch of activities going on this Saturday. First there was a Greek Festival at a church and the Gallery Hop was taking place. No one told me that The Short North was actually code for large population of men who love other men. Needless to say, we walked the mile on both side of the street, browsed several artsy stores and got out of boy's town without incident. Lisa and I were getting hungry at this point but couldn't agree on where to eat. We ended up at Donato's pizza in honor of Lisa's brother Brad's craving for their very thin crust pizza. Pizza isn't really on my diet but nothing over the weekend really was. The pizza was good Brad!

Short North Activities

Art?

Sunday morning had us looking for someplace to eat breakfast. We stumbled on this neat little restaurant in Worthington called, very appropriately, The Worthington Inn. We ate outside on the front porch and the food was very good. I think it will be an annual stop for us during our OSU weekend. My favorites were the smoked salmon, cheese risotto and the turkey thingy (not sure what it was but it was good). We then headed to Easton and spend an hour or so walking around before we headed home.

Today, Shawn and met up with his Nana and Papa at the Mudhen's game. It was so hot that we ended up watching most of the game from the Club lounge area. Came home and cut the grass and caught up on some of my yard work. All in all, a pretty busy weekend.

I just got a call from the doctor with my cholesterol screen results. My total cholesterol (they want below 200) dropped from 180 to 131! My triglyceride level (they want under 150) is 45! Looks like the 45 pounds I dropped worked. My blood pressure went down too; it was 122/88 and now it's 130/70.

This weekend was pretty uneventful for the most part. On Friday Lisa, Katelyn and I went to Ikea while Shawn spent the weekend with his Nana and Papa's house. We drove through some pretty nasty thunderstorms in the Ann Arbor area that generated a few tornadoes but escaped unscathed. We didn't find anything to buy and ended up as some really crappy steakhouse for dinner. You know the kind; steak overdone, nasty ribs and horrible service.

Saturday I went to my eye appointment and as usual they tried to talk me into Lasik. I told them to give me a call. Depending on the cost, I may actually consider it this time. After the eye doctor, I decided to start and finish a project that I've been putting off. I headed to Lowes and bought 2X4s and 4X8 plywood, air compressor and pneumatic nailer (insert tool man's bark). And I ended up with an industrial sized basement shelving unit. It won't be big enough for all the garbage we have generated but it will be a decent start. Here's a picture of my handy work:

Saturday we went to breakfast at a new diner that opened near our house which as just okay but the menu looked promising for lunch or dinner. Went to Monnet's Market for corn ($1 a dozen) and tomatoes (49 cents a pound) and of course I couldn't leave with just those two items. $40 later, we headed home. When we were at the market one of the SOB owners of the market was barking out orders to all his employees while he was on his cell phone and a woman was sitting there opening husks of the corn to check them out. The SOB was going to mark up the price of the corn for anyone that was husking them before buying. The lady looked at me and said I can't believe that he just said that. I looked at the ladies cart and she had about 10 dozen ears of corn; I think he was just pissed that she was going to buy up all the corn.

The rest of Saturday was spent by me cutting the grass, cleaning the grill and Lisa cleaning up the house and vacuuming. Lisa's Mom and Dad came over for dinner (chicken, ribs, corn and my homemade salsa) and dropped Shawn off.

Katelyn is turning into a spoiled little beeotch! If you walk away from her for even 15 seconds, she starts crying and moaning until someone sits next to her. You don't have to be talking to her, holding her or playing with her; she just doesn't want to be alone.

Here are a few of Katelyn after she's done eating taken a week ago:

Hysterics

Should I cry or shouldn't I?

Shawn did well at his dentist appointment today. They filled two cavities and he has to go back to fill the other two. I, on the other hand, seem to have cracked a tooth sometime in the past month or so and I have to get it fixed to the tune of $875 before insurance. I have to stop twisting off beer caps with my teeth!

A lot has been going on lately. Seems like we are always on the run and there's never much time to update. Shawn started 1st grade last week and so far seems to be enjoying himself except for the one meltdown that occurred on Monday. The meltdown was probably due to the bad parenting displayed by his rather dumb parents in the fact that he was an hour late going to bed the night before.

Katelyn is doing well. She just broke her second tooth and is sitting up by herself fairly well. Shawn just can't get enough of her. She is saying "Da Da" a lot but I thing she is actually calling the dog and not me!

Shawn has the great pleasure of getting his first three cavities filled this afternoon; I'm sure this is going to be a great adventure for me. I drew the short straw. I get to take Shawn to the appointment because it is immediately following my dentist appointment. I'm sure he will now have the lifelong fear of the dentist!

Speaking of Shawn, he has been collecting the Simpson's toys from Burger King. The quest for the figures has basically become an obsession of his and unfortunately he was missing 4 of 16 of the little buggers. Well he entered a drawing for one of the "rare" golden Homer toys and low and behold, he got the call last night. Shawn was the proud owner of the coveted golden Homer. I have never seen a 6 year old more excited about anything. He wouldn't stop screaming for nearly 5 minutes and he jumped around like a kid possessed! I wish I would have captured it on tape to post, it was classic.

A couple of weeks ago we rented a cottage in the Hocking Hills area in southern Ohio along with some friends of ours. The scenery was beautiful but not too relaxing with three kids along for the ride. Thankfully we were smart enough not to have brought Katelyn. It seemed like at least one of the kids was having a crisis at all times. The kids hated the canoe trip we took them on, Shawn decided to breakdown during our hike at Old Man's Cave and I think I heard "I'm bored" enough for a lifetime. The cabin was a bit rustic but was comfortable. It had 3 bedrooms, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, living room, game room complete with pool table and dart board as well as a 6 person hot tub.

Lisa, Shawn and I made a stop at OSU on the way back from our Hocking Hills adventure and spent some time walking around and visiting the bookstore.

Last weekend we went to a couple of cookouts. And tried to catch up on the housework and shopping. This week I have a dentist appointment, doctor's appointment (physical/cholesterol check) and an optometrists appointment. Not sure what the weekend has in store for us other than more catch up around the house.

Lisa and I are tossing around taking the annual OSU football trip during Labor Day weekend. Columbus has a bunch of things going on that weekend. Probably go in on Friday and spend time at the Greek Festival, go to pre-game festivities on Saturday, watch the game at BW3 and then hit the Clippers-Mudhens game on Saturday night. Probably spend a few hours at Easton on Sunday before heading home.

Here are a few pictures that we took over the past couple of weeks:The Cottage

Deck of Cottage

Old Man's Cave Scenery Shots

Skylar, Shawn and Logan

Jill, Skylar,Logan, Lisa and Shawn