The "Man Cave".

These are who we refer to as the "regulars" of what we affectionately call the Man Cave. First, I'll explain the Man Cave, and then I'll introduce you to it's members. When we bought our house last April (wow, almost a year ago now) it was a brand new house built on an empty lot in a nice, friendly neighborhood off Cleveland Avenue in North Canton. We were blessed to be able to buy a new house that over the next few years would require less maintenance than having bought an older home. And, with a newborn at that point, it was the smart option. But our nice little brand new house wasn't completely devoid of all forms of older character. Oh, no no. There's a second driveway to the side of our front driveway that leads to a second garage in the back. It was the only thing that had ever been on the property and was built years ago and used for storage and as an office. Inside the garage is what we call the Ron Burgandy office (If you've seen "Anchor Man", you'll get the reference.) It's an insulated, carpeted, wood-paneled room that takes up the back right corner of the garage. It has orange and brown shag carpet, dark brown fake wood panels for walls, 70's light fixtures, etc. Ryan put a round table and chairs in there and it's sort of a guys poker room now. The rest of the garage is now filled with tables, chairs, old recliners, a grill, other random stuff that we store in there, and a TV that we run a cable to from our bedroom window. During the spring/summer it's used for many cook-outs and hang-outs. Come fall, it's used every Sunday throughout the entire football season- from the very first game in August to the Super Bowl in February- for game watching. (It almost gets year-round use, minus maybe a month or 2.) Everyone brings food and we grill out, hang out, and watch football. When it gets extra cold, we close the garage door and use a few space heaters to help the cause a little bit. We also have a fire pit that we can use to roast marshmallows, make s'mores, and help keep us warm. All of that together makes up the "Man Cave". It was named that due to the fact that it's certainly not a nice, clean, comfy space that most girls would enjoy. Instead it's a place where the boys can go to be boys (that's not in my house so I don't have to worry about keeping it clean!), but that us girls are allowed to join if we please:) Actually, if I think about it, the male/female ratio is about half and half when it comes to the regulars.

Speaking of the regulars, from left to right in the picture are: Jess Crawford, Trisha and Nate Busch, Kylan, Ryan, Steve Barnes, and me. These are the devoted people that rarely miss a week. But, on any given Sunday, (or any other time for that matter) there could be a number of other friends/family of ours who stop by. It's certainly not exclusive and anyone/everyone is always welcome!