Bowling!

We headed to the bowling alley tonight with Ilona to toss a few games. We got some pizza, shoes and bowling balls and had a ball! Emma sure wanted to play and I didn't bring my A game...or B or C.

Check out the pictures by CLICKING HERE.

NYC Trip

Laura and I headed to NYC for a couple nights and stayed with Ryan and Melissa in Astoria. We ended up going all over such as Central Park, Upper East Side, Bryant Park for some ice skating, Greenwich Village and Brooklyn for some Peter Lugar.

It was a good time.

Check out the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Big Cook Out Party

We have a bunch of our friends over tonight to enjoy some grill cooked meat, Corn Hole, fire pit with s'mores and good company. We ended up having 23 people here and it all went very well. We didn't get a ton of photos, but here are a few.

At the Park With Ilona and Moriah

Kaden and I met the two girls and their dad at the Ottawa Metro Park today for some playtime and melon. After about ninety minutes, everyone was ready for some lunch so it was off to Mickey D's.

Last Club Arrow Flight - Erie, PA for Breakfast

I'm quitting the flying club for money saving reasons and to try some new and different things. I'll still be flying, but it won't be in a Piper product anymore. I had some pre-pay money still on account that I needed to use up and was able to schedule a breakfast visit with a buddy. Conveniently Greg M is going to school in Erie, PA which is the perfect distance away to "burn up" the remainder of my money.


I woke up at 6am and was out the door by 6:30. I took off around 7:15 and was in Erie, PA by 8:45. What a time machine! The weather was beautiful and I cruised over at 7,000' with only a small head wind. I popped in and out of a few puffies in PA (to log the elusive IMC) and landed at ERI where Greg was there to head out for some Panera breakfast treats. After the nickel tour of Erie, he dropped me back off at the airport to go study.


The flight home was a little bumpy down at 4000, but I had a great tailwind pushing me to 145-150 knots. Sweet. I was rerouted from the DJB VOR to the SKY VOR which put me over the water more than I wanted, but I was never more than 8 miles or so from land.

It was a great 3.2 in the Arrow and I'll miss that airplane. As I was shutting the hangar doors, I felt a little sad to know it was my last flight in it. Maybe sometime in the future. I was home before 1pm.

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Flight Aware track going to Erie, PA
Flight Aware track coming back from Erie, PA

Flying With Chris

Chris L and I flew the Arrow to Urbana for some lunch and pie at the Airport Cafe. It was busy, busy but we reserved some pie and by the time we ate it, it was gone. Good thing. Getting back to the airplane, I hit the fuel pump and mixture and I think I flooded it. It took a good 15 minutes and a few attempts to get it going, but luckily I got it before the battery went dead.

Coming back to Bluffton, there was a tree trimming helicopter (another, longer video here) parked there at the edge of the ramp. We got an up-close look at it and those blades are pretty impressive.

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Back To Flying

I have flown twice now since Asheville. It isn't much, but I'm just glad to get the chance to get in the air. Last week I took Tim B with me to Urbana for some night flying and dinner. The highlight is always the Airport Cafe pie and that was no exception. Nice night and good company.

Today I took my mom, John and Nikki up in the Arrow for .6 on the Hobbs around the area. We flew around Lima and Ada and I pointed out some sights. We did a touch and go at AOH while passing through.

No pictures, unfortunately.

Dave and Egg Visit for Lunch in the RV-6

I headed to the airport and saw the new Cessna 172 with G1000 parked on the ramp. Pretty! At $125/hour, it's a little rich for my blood to cruise at 110knots, but it would be neat to get some G1000 time someday.




Dave G and Egg flew up in the RV-6 today for some delicious lunch at Skyline Chili. Since Laura has damaged taste buds (i.e. she doesn't like Skyline), I don't get to eat it very often, so any excuse is a good excuse. They flew in after a fuel up at MadCo and did a pretty nice (fast) fly-by and then a perfect, squeaker of a landing. (I couldn't tell looking through the view finder.)




We headed to Skyline and watched a little bit of the OSU v. Wisconsin game (OSU ended up slaughtering them). After filling up on cheese, noodles, hot dogs and chili, we headed back to the airport where Dave and Egg fired up and blasted off into the beautiful skies of Ohio.




Thanks for visiting, you two!

Gwenny's Birthday Party

Kaden and I showed up to Gwenny's 2nd Birthday Party tonight with some stickers and a card in tow. They had hot dogs on the grill, loads of toys (powered and not) and a huge cake. A great time was had and Kaden and I stayed for about 90 minutes.

Happy Birthday!

Fort Wayne Zoo

While I was in California (or Vegas or somewhere out west), Laura and Kaden went with a group from church to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo in Indiana. After a quick round-up at the church, Laura and Kaden headed over in caravan style with Kristen and Savannah as travel mates. I didn't get many details, but Kaden apparently enjoyed the train and brushing the goats. (Who wouldn't?!?)

Lunch and Golf in Toledo

I headed up Toledo today to meet Corey T, my sister and Corey's wife, Kelly, for lunch. I had some things I wanted to talk to Corey about, so why not do it over a sandwich? We all met up at his office in downtown and got a tour of the new digs. Nice! After deciding on eating at Diva Restaurant, we all four walked over there to find they aren't open for lunch. Oops. The food looked fantastic.

After a quick location check by the locals (Corey and Kelly), they decided the best choice would be Focaccia's Deli just a bit down the street from Corey's office. Wow. The food was awesome. I ended up taking the recommended plate of Reuben and waffle fries. Greasy and good. After eating, Whitney and Kelly went their ways and Corey and I went back to his office to find a golf course that was open for public play. He found Detwiler Golf Course having a special of 9 holes and cart for $15 each. Done. After a surprisingly good round for both of us, we ended up with scores of 43 and 45 (mine and his, respectively) for the back 9. Sweeeeeeeeet.

Morning Golf

Matt and I went out for 9 holes of golf at Sugar Creek GC. We tried to hit up Hawthorne Hills GC, but they had an event going on and we'd had to have waited about three hours. Nope.

It was a great time and only cost $15/person including cart. Nice!

Here was my shot on #6 off the tee. Pretty close to a hole-in-one! I ended up with a birdie.

Cook-out With Friends

We headed to the Wright's this evening in Bluffton for some food, fun, fire and friends. (The drought we've been having lately lent itself to great fun with dry grass fires.) After some steak and shrimp shish kabobs on the grill and then more food than I should have had, we headed down to the fire pit for some pyro fun. Within five minutes, I was putting out grass fires with a log and everyone else was scrambling for some water or a better view. (You know who you are!)

It was a VERY fun night and can't wait to do it again. All the kids had a lot of fun with sparklers, marshmallows, water balloons and ice cream.

View ALL the photos by CLICKING HERE.






This is a little photo series of Kaden tackling Ethan and then you can see him trying to be nice and then finally helping him up. I kept snapping photos and it's funny to see Ethan's face during the ordeal - from mad to glad. (Click to enlarge.)