Many remember the way summer started with Thunderstorm Watch and Tornado Watch, one after the other after the other. One such storm resulted in strong winds which brought down several extremely large tree branches onto the playground of Hardesty Park below, leaving it in ruins.

While some of the playground remains in tact many agree that it’s just not much fun as it stands, including camp counselors who did not have enough time to reschedule their planned play-date to the park. “I thought it was sad. We couldn’t go on the bridge to get across. And we couldn’t play on the big playground” said Marley, 5, of Akron, after seeing the damage.

However there is hope for the future of the playground. There are plans for a rebuild in the near future, with a more complete time-line being made available in the next couple of weeks, says Akron Recreation Manager, Greg Kalail.

“We are going to replace it. We’re trying to work with the company that originally installed it to see what we can do to get this done in a timely fashion.”

While this does not include having it up and running for The Taste of Akron or Art in the Park, that should not deter you from the events themselves. The weekly Monday concerts will also continue as planned. You can get a complete list of those events by visiting the following website: akronperforms.com

I was doing the tourist thing walking downtown Nashville during the CMAfest and stumbled upon this awesome John Denver impersonator! It’s Ted Vigil. Look him up at www.tedvigil.com!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!
-Amanda Casey

We found these giant marshmallows at Pat Catan’s in West Akron. They really make me wish I had a fire pit in my backyard. Good luck finding a big enough graham cracker!

I feel like such a dork when something stupid like a coffee commercial gets me all teary eyed. For example, the new Folgers commercial is about a father and daughter and he is starting to lecture her about being out late. She says, “Well you don;t have to worry about that anymore” and the dad says, “Oh yeah?’ as she reveals an engagement ring. Then the dad says, “Todd is a lucky man……… I told him so last week when he asked for your hand” or something to that effect. Man did the tears well up. I am such a nerd. Does that ever happen to you?

With the economy the way that it is, our family has been trying to make cut backs where we can. One big change we made was to cancel our cable. In it’s place we decided to get a Netflix membership for only $10 a month. They have movies and tv shows. It just made more sense and no one seems to miss it.

Since making the switch we are saving a lot of money on entertainment and getting to explore things we wouldn’t normally get with cable. For example, the kids and I got so into The Dick Van Dyke Show! It’s great to be able to watch something so entertaining and so wholesome and not be worried about censoring for the kids.

Plus, they have such a great variety of movies. Something for everyone, literally. We can watch a ton of stuff instantly online with our computer or even the Xbox! Check it out. This could be for you too.