It seems like Chungus has settled into the big maple tree in the front yard.

She's routinely coming back and letting Julie feed her and maybe get a few pets in. :) It makes Julie's heart happy to have her babies around. 

Bread face on a Face Time call…

Itty Bitty looks like some kind of cartoon character in this pic… haha

I like the decorations the boys are coming up with.

A combo of family pictures an their collections of things.  Some from Janice, some of their own, and even some from my mom.  

You don’t normally see what looks like your car driving toward you on the highway…!

These cicada go great with oyster crackers…

Julie even seasoned them to make them extra yummy…. The oyster crackers that is.  We didn't eat the cicada, they just happened to be there while Julie was making the crackers snacks.  The bugs might get mounted later. Haha.

I kept driving in and out of the clouds on this trip through the hills of Kentucky.

It’s fun to have Chungus coming back to see us some days.

Here, she's resting on top of her old house.  We think she is making a home in the big maple tree in the front yard.  It's funny that she settled there after ranging all over our back yard and even the neighbors.  We hope to see her more!

It’s always weird to time travel while driving…

The map says I arrive at 9:17, when it's 9:30 already…. This is what happens when you cross into a new time zone at the last minute during your drive.

This was a fun cicada shot to capture!

He landed on my windshield when I was in a traffic jam on the highway!

It’s fun watching these guys learn and become their future selves.

Especially the engineers, but I am proud of all of them.  It's been fun talking over the common interests and experiences of college with Christopher, Johnny, Andy, Ian and Isaac already.  I'm glad I have some common things to share in with all of them.  I'm looking forward to more!

At least Julie goes easy on us…!

THIS is what a day in the life of her wildlife rehab lady looks like…!  Julie keeps it to a few squirrels at a time that can fit in a cage, at least.

Oh deer!

I came riding my ATV home from across the street and saw this beauty in the driveway.  We just stood there and looked at each other for a while until she ambled off.  I can see their beds in the tall grass of the neighbor's field sometimes.  Usually when I'm looking for where my drone "landed"… haha.

We were hunting for cicada and I got this pic.

It was nice to capture the unique coloring of these seventeen year variety.

I think my mom’s been up to some tricks…

The stickers were a giveaway;). It's fun that she'd go to such lengths.  I guess she knows I like my new kitty.

This is what happens when your kids move out…

You start getting cards "from your cat"…

Julie’s queen ant made it on Ants Canada!

 This is the channel she watches about a guy that has created many ant kingdoms in his house and on his property.  Hers is the one with the red background near the end of the clip.

Julie captured a queen ant that’s laying eggs…

She's trying to get an ant colony started.  These are the little nest setups you use in a test tube to get them going.  We don't think she's fertile, but it's a start…

We finished Father’s Day off with a trip to the pool.

Hannah's family invited us to theirs where she works.  We enjoyed some cooling off, dinner, and R&R. :)

Happy Father’s Day indeed.

Julie and I have been joking that it's actually Fatherless day…. :( But I still enjoyed the day.  I am thankful for all the memories, love and learning from my dad and Julie's dad too!  It was nice to celebrate that with Mom!  Of course, she made me feel special too with a gift of home baked cookies and a nice card.

Now we are back to real time and Father’s Day!

I enjoyed the day with a nice lunch out with the whole gang.  My two boys, Julie, and my mom.  I love being Daddy David!  It's the best!

A vacation trip wouldn’t be complete with a Lakeside video montage…

Nothing super amazing here, just a few moments we captured along the way.  The storm was video from our host cottage’s owner.

For lunch we made another stop at Slack Burger.

AND we also finished off our trip with ice cream.  No better way in my mind… :)

Then it was time to pack up and head home.  We managed to get back by 6p and have everything all put away by 8p.  We got a good night's sleep and were ready for work again.

It was great to relax, visit all the great places in the area, and make another set of special Lakeside memories.  I've been visiting there since when I was about five or six.  I plan to keep going back!

On the eighth day, I made it out to my rock at the end of Lakeside.

It's a nice little outcrop that lets me see the lake for more than a 180º view.  It's peaceful and relaxing.  A great place to have my quiet times.  This year, a lot had changed with all the other rocks they brought in, but I still managed to find it and enjoy some time there before we packed up after lunch.

Day seven and our trip is drawing to a close. But this tree…. The history, the memories of Lakeside!

The vine covered tree right in front of the houses was planted when McKinley was president.  1897 or so.  That's when my grandmother was born too.  It's amazing to think about the 200 years of people passing on the road enjoying lakeside.  

We always enjoy our trips there and the memories we've built are precious.  Heck I am closing in on fifty years of those lakeside memories myself… 

Thanks for enjoying the review of our trip with me.  I hope I didn't post TOO many pictures.  We just have half a day of the trip left, so I will probably finish posting pictures tomorrow and get back to the regularly scheduled broadcast. Haha.

We biked to the north east corner of the island and walked until we found Buckeye Island.

It was a nice stroll along the shore.  If we were really brave, we would have waded over to check it out.  We were pretty well worn out by then and still needed energy to make the 3.5 mile bike ride back. Haha.

Day seven was a nice, sunny, warm day to head to Put-In-Bay

Hannah, Andy and I grabbed our bikes, boarded the ferry and headed out to sea.  We enjoyed biking around the island, walking the shore, and a nice fish and chips lunch!

We even had time for these two to pose in front of the monument.  

Are you tired of all my lakeside pictures yet?!

Day six draws to a close.  So we only have a few days worth left to go. ;) 

I enjoyed the beauty of this sunset without the sun visible any longer.  There is just something about sitting on the shore that makes watching the sunsets better!

We enjoyed watching the blue jay that lived in the courtyard of our cabin.

Day six and we ALL played a round of putt putt golf!

This is an important Lakeside tradition.  I'm still the reigning champ, but Andy is chomping at my heals.

We only have Johnny until dinner.  He needed to get back home and get started with summer classes at college.  So we decided we better make the most of the remaining time. :)

And then it was time to head back to lakeside for the rest of day 6.

It sure was a nice to be able to visit a couple weeks ago!  I heard they even opened the dock yesterday (after repairing it from the storms).  That makes me want to head back for at least a day or two. ;)

It was fun to chill on the rocks.

I like how you can just make out the lower lighthouse window.

Of course, we had to make it to the lighthouse to get a picture with it!

Andy is ROCKING those knee socks!  Hannah brings some sanity to the picture. Haha.

Andy’s largest “attempt” at rock skipping…

He decided that if he actually TRIED to skip it, the rock would end up hurling HIM into the lake… haha.

Day 6 started by riding bikes with these two weirdos to the lighthouse

 

I ended day 5 with a nice walk past our old cottage while the sun set :)

NOW you know why we brought an extra bike…

Hannah was excited to join us for a day or two at Lakeside.  That gave us something to look forward to on day 5.

It looks to me like Andy is stuck in the middle of it all! :)

Mr. Cool Customer found a hat and sunglasses to help with all the sun

They make a decent fashion statement too. Haha.

The fourth day turned out to be not as rainy as predicted.

We had a nice evening out for ice cream and enjoyed the vibe in the "Walnut Plaza" as they call it now.  Funny, I remember when it was just a street. ;)

Another good activity on a rainy day, go to Cheese Haven and bring home dinner!

I found a book set in Lakeside and sat in Lakeside to read it :)

I can't really vouch for the book since it seems to be a free-living murder mystery kind of story, but it's interesting reading it knowing the setting so well.

Day three of our Lakeside vacation=RAIN!

Otherwise, our weather was perfect for the other seven days.  And it wasn't a problem on Wednesday.  We played card games, shopped for books, and read.  We even added the boy's friend Ivan to the mix.  He drove up just for the day.  Here we are playing one of our favorite games… The Game That Shall Not Be Named. :)

It’s just so fun and peaceful to sail!

It's fun that Johnny enjoys it with me too.

Credit to Andy who sat at the shore and took all these great shots with my camera.  He seemed to enjoy it and did a good job too. :)

I like this sequence of me helping Johnny learn to sail.

In the top shot, I am clearly explaining the mechanics.  In the bottom shot, he's figured it out and he is sailing! :) It's always fun as a dad to be able to pass on stuff like this.

Only problem was the sail ripped right in the middle of our fun.

But I figured out how I could hold the sail with my hand and we made it back in.  Luckily we had a backup plan since I had been able to use my watch to call back into shore to alert them to come get us if we ran into trouble getting back in. :)

I almost forgot to include the sailing from earlier in our week at Lakeside.

Johnny picked the perfect day to go since the wind and the weather were just right!

We ended the third day with a really pretty sunset in the storm clouds.

 

And here’s Andy checking out a view of Canada.

 

On Kelly’s Island we found this shore with an infinite supply of skipping rocks!

Here's Johnny giving a try.  It's fun for all of us boys to skip them together.  I hope you're enjoying the review of our trip from Memorial Day week.

The sun during our Kelly’s Island ferry ride made a magnificent display!

Here’s another break from our Lakeside trip highlights. Back at home, Julie and I have been enjoying the 17 year cicadas.

 We found this tree where we could walk under and be surrounded by the sound!

And then we explored about half of the northern shore of Kelly’s Island too.

We really had the place to ourselves.  LOTS of great skipping rocks too. :)

The boys and I explored this abandoned train station on Kelly’s Island.