It has been another beautiful week here at the Governor’s Residence. And we have been traveling around the state, too.

On Tuesday I accompanied Mike to Ottawa County, to a location close to Lake Erie, near the Marblehead Lighthouse to dedicate the land just acquired by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, adding on to the Lakeside Daisy State Nature Preserve. The land was covered with beautiful yellow Lakeside Daisies in bloom. Lakeside Daisies are an endangered species, and this is the only place they grow in the whole United States. It was amazing to see them growing in this very gravelly soil, where little else would grow. And as an added bonus we could see an eagle’s nest, and the beautiful eagle soared around the field!

I also travelled to Perry County this week. I met with a wonderful group of FFA students. They have the second largest chapter of FFA in the U.S. I got to see and hear about the beautiful old barn that is being fixed up to showcase all their new projects with animals and gardening and farming techniques. I saw kids in the grade school packing bags of food so that children who needed it could take the food home for the weekend. I went to the library and met some very young children who were taking part in the library’s 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Program. It was very impressive — especially to see the little 5-year-old girl give her presentation to me! She had written out on paper her own speech. And she couldn’t stop talking about the books she had read!

Today I went to the Ohio Department of Education School Breakfast Challenge Awards Luncheon. I love seeing all the different ways schools are working with kids to make sure they get breakfast. Kids learn more, feel better, behave better, and perform better on tests if they have had a good breakfast. I was happy to see Baker Middle School in Fairborn got an award for their Innovative Breakfast Program!

The highlight of the week was my mother’s 93rd birthday party! We hosted it here at the Governor’s Residence on Wednesday. And as always, Mother had a great time, surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We had quite an assortment of good food. My sister Cindy made Mom’s favorite cake for her. It is a cake Mom used to make all the time with a box mix and the addition of some mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple. It’s refreshing for a beautiful Spring Day!

Mom’s Hummingbird Cake

1 box yellow or white cake mix

4 large eggs

3/4 cup oil

1- 11 oz. can mandarin oranges with juice.

Mix well until oranges are in small bits.

Bake at 350 degrees in two 8 or 9 inch pans for 20 minutes.

Cool cake.

Icing

1 large box instant pudding

1 large can crushed pineapple

1 9 oz. container of cool whip

Blend well. Cut each cake horizontally and frost each layer. Chill overnight or longer.