Camping at home

We had the best intentions of going camping this summer, but it just didn't work out. With the start of football practice and Mom working on her Master's Degree, we just ran out of time! We did spend the night camping at our house - complete with cooking hot dogs over the open fire, smores and all three of us sleeping in the tent (in our basement)! We did have some different ways to pass the time - like playing the Playstation! :) Next summer, we're planning a camping trip early in the summer before all the craziness happens! Ryan did enjoy the tent in the basement - we kept it up for about 3 weeks!

Smores with the Carmers

A few days after Josh came back from his deployment, we had the family over for smores! The kids - the bigger and smaller ones - loved eating smores! Ryan's $3 yard sale find has been so much fun! It is definitely a tradition of ours to enjoy smores throughout the summer!

Football Camp in July

Ryan went to the University of Dayton Football Camp for three days! It was an awesome experience for Ryan. His favorite part of the UD Camp was hitting the tackling dummies! The next week, Ryan did the Beavercreek High School Camp. He won the Pass, Punt, Kick Competition for 2nd Grade!

Ryan and Stella

This is Stella, Ryan's new best friend! She is 1 year old - we are going to celebrate her birthday on 4th of July! She is a German-Shepherd Mix. She has been with us for about 3 hours now and is adjusting nicely. Once she found our loft, she wouldn't leave that room. She eventually worked her way out to other rooms upstairs and came back downstairs. Stella listens very well and is already doing better on a leash with Ryan.

On Saturday...

On Saturday, we went to the Ohio Caverns! It is about an hour drive north to West Liberty. It was neat driving onto the property, on a hill, knowing the caverns are underneath us. This was Ryan's first Cavern visit and our third. Jeremy and Diane saw the caverns in San Antonio, Texas and Carlsbad, New Mexico.

We loved walking through and learned alot from the tour. After the tour, Ryan had the chance to gem mine. Gems are one of Ryan's favorite things to collect. He has been collecting rocks since he was around 1 or 2. It started with our visits to the Boonshoft in Dayton. He loves picking up rocks from the different places we visit. He has special rocks from our camping in Red Canyon, Utah and most recently, thanks to Grandma Orwat, our trip to the beach in California.

We ended Saturday, looking at a German Shepherd Mix to possibly rehome as our 4-legged friend. We all thought she was a great dog so we ended up calling the owners later that day and said we will love to have Stella join our family. Stella will be ours on Monday! Stay tuned for pictures and stories of our new addition!

The Perfect Ending to a Perfect Day

We ended the beginning of our 4th of July weekend with a fire in our backyard! We roasted marshmallows, the guys caught a frog and had a great time enjoying the beautiful weather! We only had one marshmallow casualty - Ryan had a marshmallow slide off the fork and into the fire!

A Fun Start to Our 4th of July Weekend

Our 4th of July weekend started out great! Ryan and Jeremy went fishing at Bass Lake! Ryan caught 2 fish and Jeremy caught 3 fish!
Later on Friday, we went for a 12 mile round trip bike ride to Xenia and back to Beavercreek. We rode for about 6 miles, then stopped for dinner at Wendi's in Xenia. Then rode back to Beavercreek. Ryan was showing us how fast he could go when he lost control and landed on his elbows and belly. Luckily he was just scared with a few scraps on his elbows and a nice bruise on his belly. He did a great job riding back!