A Week Off

Last weekend Cameron worked Friday,Saturday and Sunday nights and this weekend he is working the same shifts. It somewhat stinks that i'm hanging out alone the whole weekend, BUT it did mean that he had Monday-Friday OFF! I didn't have to work this week(or ever again, since they already found a full-time replacement for me at the dentist office and didn't bother to tell me until about an hour before I was supposed to be there Monday...nice, I know). So I am back to having no job and not a lot to keep me busy. At least it is sunny and warm out now so I can walk to the library or a few different stores that are close if I want. The other plus side of not working is that Cameron won't have to worry about taking the bus downtown if we work on the same days anymore. Anyway, since I didn't have work and Cameron had the whole week off we had a good time just hanging out together and doing a few fun things as well.

We (and when I say "we" I mean Cameron), spent one of the nice days working in the yard...Mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, and planting some more flowers. Here is Cameron hard at work.

Our pretty back yard

This is how I spent the day outside...watching Cameron work, trying to get some sun on my nasty white legs, and reading Tuesdays with Morrie for the third time.

The next day we took a walk down to the awesome Metro parks by our house. The Metro parks are like a big Central park and Centennial Trail in one. They are over fifty miles long and do a big loop around the city of Cleveland. They have hiking and biking trails, places to fish and camp and have picnics, and lost of just big open park space. We walked for a bit on some of the trails and then remembered a little cafe place that is part of one of the golf courses in the park. We decided to stop for lunch and check it out. The prices were really reasonable and the food was great.

This is my meal. I got the BLT with a berry smoothie, it was delicious.

Here is Cameron's. He got the Polynesian salad with a berry smoothie also.

Waiting for the food and laughing at the funny things some elderly gentlemen were saying as they waited for their Tee-time.

This is me, looking oh-so pregnant, on our walk back after lunch

Thursday we headed down to an Indians baseball game. We totally missed the boat on going to a Cav's game, which would have been fun, but we'll try to go next season.

Good seats right behind home plate

Progressive Field...next time we will go to a night game. I hear the fireworks are awesome.

Us after the game. It was a really warm and sunny day. Oh, and we are now official fans with our t-shirts to support the team.

And last but not least... I took this picture this morning. Cameron's work is just minutes from an AWESOME and huge market that has everything you could want. I especially love the delicious fruit assortment and it is cheaper than at a grocery store. Anyway, Cameron surprised me today and stopped by the market on his way home. He got a 1/4 of a watermelon, some grapes, strawberries, a chocolate covered pretzel and a chocolate covered strawberry. He blamed the chocolates on his work buddy. He said he forced him to try them and they were good so he brought me some. It was a great surprise, I am always glad to have fresh fruit on hand.

We had a great week and enjoyed just hanging out and spending more time together. Sometimes I feel a bit spoiled to have such large amounts of time off like that, but then we go back to the LONG 12-hour night shifts,(which are really like working somewhere around 20 hours since Cameron has to sleep at some point. So he works for the 12-hour shift and then comes home and has to sleep for a good 8 hours during the middle of the day. He usually works at least two nights in a row, so he gets home from one shift, goes straight to bed, gets up in time to shower and run out the door for the next shift) and I don't feel so bad.

I had to throw this in here too. The baby has been kicking like crazy lately, but I have never been able to document it. I just happened to have my phone by me the other day when I was obviously annoying him by having my hand resting on my stomach as I was watching a movie. The best kicks are right at the beginning so watch close!

Our First Visitors!

This past weekend we had our very first visitors to see us out in Cleveland. Tyler, Nicole, and Katelyn were headed to Arizona from Boston for the summer, so it was conveniently on their way to stop by. They got in Thursday evening. We ordered some pizza and just hung out until Tyler's dad flew in around 11pm. Early Friday morning Tyler and his dad got in the car and started driving to Arizona. They drove 16 hours a day and made it all the way there in just two days, crazy. Meanwhile, we got to have Nicole and Katelyn spend the weekend with us, then they flew to Arizona on Monday.

Here are some fun pictures from the weekend:

Katelyn just hanging out Friday morning.

Friday afternoon we decided to venture out and go check out Little Italy in downtown Cleveland. After looking around for a bit we stopped for lunch at some good-looking restaurant, I don't remember what it was called. Cameron had spaghetti and meatballs. He said it was the best he had ever had. Nicole and I both had different kinds of ravioli and that was really good as well.

Cameron with his spaghetti and meatballs.

Katelyn after eating her carrots.

After eating lunch, we found a delicious-looking bakery that we had to stop at.

Katelyn REALLY wanted to be eating our Gelato and mousse, that's why Cameron is having to hold her back from grabbing it in this picture.

Cameron with his cannoli.

Dancing around with uncle Cameron later that day.

After her bath...look at those adorable little cheeks!

Saturday was pretty cold and rainy so our plans of doing something outside were shot. We decided to head over to the rec center that we belong to. It has a really fun pool just for kids. There was a lazy river, slides, and toys. Katelyn was obviously too young for most of that, but really enjoyed just floating around and kicking her feet in her baby raft.

Drying off in her robe

Saturday night after we had put Katelyn to bed we decided it would be fun to make pizza for dinner. We have our individual pizza pans which were perfect since we all like different toppings.

Here is Cameron rolling the dough. We made it in our bread maker which made it really easy and was way good dough.

Nicole starting to make her pizza

Just before going in the oven

Nicole and I with our pizza creations

Sunday was Mother's Day and Cameron woke me up said there was breakfast waiting for me downstairs. He had gotten up extra early and made a big breakfast for Nicole and I. He made eggs, bacon, pancakes, juice and fruit. He also had a cute little place setting for both Nicole and me. He had picked flowers from out yard and wrote nice notes to each of us. It was a great surprise and fun to have Nicole there for it also.

Katelyn loved uncle Cameron

Happy girl

Nicole packing to leave the next morning ):

I had to include a picture of all the awesome gifts that Tyler and Nicole brought as well. They got the baby two cute pairs of pj's, a big set of cloth diapers, some ring toys, and an adorable little outfit with kaki shorts and a super cute striped shirt. They also gave us their car seat which was SO SO nice. We can't thank you guys enough, we love all of it!

We were so sad when we had to take them to the airport to leave Monday morning. We had such a fun weekend and loved having them here. We can't wait to hang out again when we go home in June and to the family reunion. Thanks for coming!!!