Are you for SCUBA?

I thought that our blog wouldn't be complete without a post about SCUBA Diving...


James biggest passion right now (besides his wife of course)- is SCUBA Diving. He was interested in Diving before we started dating and went SCUBA Diving occasionally.

Now James has gotten more involved because he is a Certified Technical Diver- which means that he breathes a special tri-mix of gases and can dive 300 plus feet deep (crazy- I know).

The best dives in our area are in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan where he can dive Ship Wrecks. He goes diving at least two weekends a month and has been included on SCUBA dives helping to locate many newly discovered Ship Wrecks within the last year (here is a picture of James on Lake Erie in his dry suit).

Because it's too cold to SCUBA Dive in Ohio in the winter, James learned how to Cave Dive.

Here is a picture of a Cave in Mexico where he went SCUBA Diving. I wasn't able to go on this trip to see the caves- but it looks incredible. Cave Diving is very dangerous- and probably the most scary for me. James actually SCUBA Dives through tunnels in the cave under the water.



Even though he is very careful- there are many things that can wrong and there is no easy way to surface.

Because I love spending time with James, I also learned how to SCUBA Dive and got Certified in November 2005. Here is a picture of us SCUBA Diving together in Curaco (South America).

I enjoy spending time with James under water- seeing fish, coral, crabs and eels in their natural environment. James and his friends call me a 3/80 SCUBA Diver- which means that I like to Dive in 80 degree temperature, 80 feet of visibility, carrying an aluminum 80 tank... sounds good to me!

Even though I don't have the passion to dive as deep as James (300 plus feet) or SCUBA Dive in caves, I love that we have a hobby that we can share and something exciting that we can do together when we go on vacation.

ABBY IS FIVE

It's hard for me to believe- but my niece Abby turned FIVE!!!

Her birthday was actually on June 15th- but because she had her tonsils removed, Lisa decided to delay the Birthday Party a few weeks... which ended up being a great idea.

James and I bought Abby the "Chair-a-go Round" which was a big hit. Here is a picture of James and Abby riding it.

The cool thing was that it went up and down like a teeter-totter, but it also flipped around like a merry-go-round... quite the dangerous toy!! All the kids played on it for a while- and no one got hurt... yet!

Here is a picture of Abby blowing out all of her Birthday candles after we sang to her. She had all of her friends surrounding her.

Every time she wants to do something (dangerous or otherwise)- she says now "But I can do it because now I'm FIVE"

Here is a close-up picture of the cake... I had to include the detail because Lisa did such an incredible job!

As you can tell- Abby's Birthday theme was "Candy Land"

Lisa made the game board on the cake using Starburst Candy, she used suckers, peppermint candies and chocolate to create all of the different little candy lands along the board.

It was the coolest kids cake that I've ever seen.

She also did a great job with the decorations- by using Candy Land Boards all around, suckers and she found Candy Land beach towels to use as tablecloths.

Lisa always has everyone pose for a Group Picture too. We each had to hold a sucker and smile big!!

James and I are right in the middle- near the back.

Abby is in the front row- a little to the right.

The weather was perfect and the day was a great time!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY ABBY!!