We're still here!

Along with many, many visitors this weekend! The past few days have been a wonderful whirlwind of cleaning and visiting and eating and drinking and watching little ones play together and it has been grand (if exhausting). A part of me wishes the weekend would go on forever, or at least that we could do this every weekend. And the rest of me is very glad to be going back to our routine tomorrow!

We started the weekend on Friday with a second Henderson family reunion, when my cousin Steve and his family visited on their way from California to their new home in Maryland. Steve (who is the son of my mom's brother Ed) and I have managed to never meet each other before now. About time! Turns out, the hypothesis that Hendersons are pretty cool people, still holds true. We had a wonderful time getting to know Steve, his wife Eileen ( who is a house buff like me! ) and their charming children Gavin and Ada. Gavin is just over 4 so Jack was in seventh heaven, with a friend-in-residence here for 24 hours. The two boys bonded instantly and played so well together. Ada is adorable and spent a lot of her time giving a "baby" (a small stuffed dog who looks like a Springer Spaniel) to Corydon. She was pretty insistent that Corydon have this "baby" with her at all times, in fact. So cute. Ivy enjoyed following the crew around and being a part of the action....

Gram-Gram (aka Steve's aunt-whom-he-had-never-met) joined us for a wonderful dinner and a bottle of wine from their home in Napa and later we stayed up til midnight just chatting. Jack and Gavin were back to playing the instant they awoke the next morning. Oh, what a happy boy we had!
Sadly our little girl spent the night fussing and not sleeping much at all and awoke Saturday morning with a fever and a runny nose. Sigh. Luckily Little Miss Sunshine is a trouper and with the help of regular doses of Ibuprofen and a lot of tissues, she made it through the day smiling.


The people she is smiling with? Our next 2 rounds of visitors, who arrived before the Henderson crew had even left. First, we went for a wonderful lunch at Melinda and Will's, to spend time with Steve, Laura, and 2 year old Noah. Laura, most impressively, had just completed a one mile open-water swim in Lake Erie. They came for that but stayed the rest of weekend just to visit, and it is wonderful to have some our our Hiram family come back to town because they act as a magnet for everyone still in the area... it felt so right to be sitting in a circle of some of my favorite people, eating hot dogs and cookies and watching the next generation play together in the yard.

We only tore ourselves away to return home and welcome Fiona and Anthony, and their daughter Keely, who came for the sole purpose of visiting us. Aren't they grand? We had this magical bit of time where we lounged in the front yard, little Keely happily wandering, Jack playing quietly with grass and sticks, just enjoying the shade and each other's company (Ivy was napping at the time or that wouldn't have been possible. Love my daughter, so much, but there's no such thing as lounging when she's around!)

Steve and Laura and Noah, along with Kate, joined us at home for dinner. That picture above is us being smart and feeding the kids first; the adults had Melt takeout later on. Once again, our house had "4 under 4" playing and toddling about, but we had enough adults to balance it out and we all floated back and forth from kid-duty to adult chatter and it was lovely. S'mores and campfire with Noah and jack capped off the evening, along with an early bedtime for Ivy-the-sniffler and her tired mommy...

This morning we continued the theme. Steve, Laura and Noah spent the night so once again Jack was thrilled to find a playmate-in-residence when he awoke. And by that I am referring primarily to Steve, who really is a pied-piper around the little ones... After a leisurely morning here, we al trekked to Willoughby and spent the day at Kate's house, enjoying each other's company and Kate's lakefront access. I have no idea why we don't do that more often. Jack and Ivy both loved hunting rocks on the little beach and getting sprayed by the waves on the breakwall. The day was gloriously bright but the beach was shaded and breezy and it was a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon...

A happy, happy weekend indeed. Thanks to all who traveled to Cleveland and helped to fill our home with the love and happiness of children and family and friends. I think the whole place is glowing from it all. Or maybe that's all just spilled apple juice and cheerios. Either way, it was perfect. Here's to a wonderful week to come...

Back to Farley's...

... for a few more pictures! We DO go back, for real, in just a couple of weeks, which is a wonderful thought on these hot, humid, land-locked days. This morning's run was swamplike and difficult, not because of cardio-vascular effort but simply the effort of slogging through the water-choked air. I felt like I'd just gotten out of a (tepid, salty) shower when I got home. Yum.

On the upside we did get to see a bit of sunset over the water tonight, via the East 9th Street pier, as we were downtown for "An Evening with Bill Maher". Another of Nat's NPR wins, and probably the best yet. An hour and a half of wonderful, irreverent stand-up comedy with a crowd of raucous middle-aged white liberals loving the fact that this man can stand on a stage and say all those things we think to ourselves but never have the guts to say aloud. I laughed so hard I cried a few times. Oh, if only that mass laughter could create the change we wish to see in this country!

We left the kidokes with a very-happy-to-see-them Gram Gram and enjoyed ourselves a little night out. The past few days have been home- and kid centered, with hours spent doing cleaning, organizing, chores while kids play, and then one of us taking the troupe out for an afternoon event while the other gets alone time. Today was my day to take the kids and we had a hot, sticky, glorious time in the Hershey's Children's Garden. What an enchanted place! All those child-sized arches and little secret paths, stepping stones over creeks and a treehouse and a hedgemaze and statues to discover in the woods. Most of our time was spent in the water-pump and samdbox area where Jack eventually joined in with an industrious group of children who created quite a lake in the sandbox, and Ivy walked around with rakes and played with stones. We came home sandy, tired, happy messes.

With no further ado! Here are some shots from the rest of the Farley's trip:

From july 2011 farleys 3 keepers

Jack and ALex heading off to the park. On their own. Quite the independent young men of the world. Jack was so proud and so confident.


I love this shot because of everything you can see reflected in the sunglasses...


At Long Point for the annual Morehouse Family photo shoot.



The "kids table" on Claire's porch.


New family picture!


Both kids! Smiling! At the same time!




Funny face boy.


Oh! The hair!


And, they're off..


There he goes, that grown up boy. Can you believe he'll be 4 in a month? Oh my.

Things I am loving right now...

These summer storms. Delicious rain and wind and actual cool air blowing in our windows, breaking the oppressive heat. Was it sublime to have two solid weeks of sun for our vacation? Yes. Am I loving this rain now? You bet.

Target brand sugar free peach iced tea mix. Make some of this stuff up in a Bell jar with as many ice cubes as you can fit, and you feel like you are having a decadent treat. Not too many treats at the moment as we are attempting to atone for our " desert every night " madness in NY. Sigh.

Alone time at home. I probably shouldn't admit this sort of thing on a "Mommy's Blog" which seems to exist only to glorify my children, but oh, I do love a little time at home without them. Sensing that I needed a sanity break, Nat stole them away to the Natural History Museum and I had 2 glorious hours in which I did some schoolwork, puttered about, cleaned the playroom, organized toys, and wasted time on the internet. It was great. And, I was truly happy to see them come home, which was even better.

Going for a walk, half a block behind my boy because he's racing ahead on his bike. He's a man obsessed, putting on his helmet first thing when he wales up. It's all we can do to get breakfast in him before were off. Ivy in the stroller, Cor ambling along beside us, through our sun-strewn neighborhood. It's a picture postcard, really it is.

Ivy's funny voices. She does this gutteral little chortle, and babbles on and on in a voice that can best be compared to a joking dinosaur. And babble she does! She has so much to say right now, if only we could understand it all.

Her curls. Can't keep my hands out of them. I am always reassuring her that she is more than just a nice head of hair... but I love that hair as much as the rest of the world, it turns out. And all this humid weather we've had, only makes her curls better.

Our friends. We had the most delightful evening yesterday, fishing up a 98 degree day (4 hours of which were spent at the mall. yep. We were those people...) with dinner at Melinda and Will's. We were going to grill out and run children in the sprinkler but a storm came along and kept us inside. Turns out, that was perfect because through some miracle of planet alignment, all 4 children played and wandered quietly for the better part of an hour as the adults carried on a real, live conversation. I'd almost forgotten what that felt like...

Picnic season. In full lake withdrawl today,we headed off for a dinner picnic at Rocky River Beach, 30 minutes of driving for a 45 minute stay as a rumbly storm moved in moments after our arrival. We managed to fit in some wading for Jack, some sand exploration for Ivy, plenty of swimming for Cor, and even a picnic, albeit a somewhat abbreviated meal due to the fact that we packed up at the first raindrops and raced home ahead of the deluge. We finished our meal back at home on the front porch, watching the rain fall. Jack danced around in his shoes, undies, rain coat and duck umbrella. Ivy wandered the porch and exclaimed in her funny voice about the bikes. We drank peach iced tea. Summer is good.

Home again

We've arrived back in Cleveland to enjoy the 90 degree temperatures and humidity that this fair city of ours has to offer. Thankfully the house is a bit of a sanctuary of (comparative) cool and calm. Thankfully we cleaned before we left. Best. Decision. Ever. We have decided to only unpack items as we need them so as to keep the chaos of travel contained in the van and not sullying our home. Not just yet, at any rate.

It feels like we have been gone much longer than two weeks. We've all been a bit out of sorts since our return, a lot of wandering around and looking at random things, some manic hyperactivity on the part of the kids, followed by the very wilted little boy watching Miffy in his chair right now. Corydon seems to have transitioned back the best, seeming utterly content to be sacked out on her couch again. I would expect her to miss the lake terribly-- but with how tired this spaniel has been the past few days, I wonder if it isn't a relief to her, that she is not compelled to swim and play with the neighbor dogs. Jack and Ivy, too, seem happy to be back and I hope that Jack in particular does not go into cousin-and-Farley's withdrawl tomorrow. At least not too badly.

It was a wonderful trip, to answer your question. We have just shy of 200 pictures in our Farley's 2011 album. And those are the "keepers!" I have my work cut out for to summarize our two weeks in a photo book. For now, a few things I want to remember about our stay...

Jack embracing "Farley's Freedom," feeling so very comfortable at the point, riding his bike so fast, around the circle, to the castle. Heading off to the playground with his cousins. Playing quietly in the yard, floating in an innertube out to the raft, climbing on his own into the boat. Jack asking for more time with his Lulu and telling us all about his cousins. Asking questions about how car engines work and electricity and boats and and and... He wants to learn about everything and talk about it all and I wish I had a tape recorder going for all the things he says, the way he says them, his little voice and inflections and earnestness and the surprising vocabulary he has soaked up. He has grown up, tangibly, in the space of these two weeks. I truly forget he is still only a 3 year old...

Ivy trying to put shirts on her head-- enthusiastically wrapping them around the back of her neck and walking around with her proud face on. Learning how to wave at each passing car and at each passing boat. Carefully moving gravel from one place to another, or moving Corydon's dog food a kibble at a time, to the mortar-and-pestle doorstop. Walking, nigh-running, over every type of terrain. Loving the slide, ready to climb herself right up to the top and walk herself right down. "Friendly and fearless," she was described at the Chapel family reunion. That's her to a T and she has come into her own with that fearlessness on this trip. It's going to be a great trait for her, it really will, but it may be the death of me first...

While Ive continues to be a motor-driven little girl, charging around the world, she is beginning to say a few recognizable words. In addition to "Hi" and "daddy" and "Jackie" she is saying "dog" (or deegoo or owie or a "panting" sound, any of those can refer to a dog, reminiscent of the way Eskimos have many words for snow...) and cat. She quacks for a duck and makes a pretty cute monkey sound. She signs, sometimes, for eat, more, all done and help, though her preferred way to tell us what she wants is to point at it and make a "mmmm, mmmm" sound.

And today, she added "Ah-meee" to her vocabulary. Its a whole new world of love now that the girlie calls me by name...

Off to download and sort and upload and, eventually, post the latest round of pictures. Our internet access was spotty the last few days at the lake so I've gotten behind. Though there is something to be said for being unable to spend my evening hours on the internet. I was forced to sit by the lake and read a fluffy novel instead...

Sunny Days.

You know, it still hasn't rained on our vacation. We've had two days where winds came up and some drops fell-- for about 3 minutes. Not even enough to wet the ground thoroughly. The grass is looking a bit brown around here. But oh! The lake is blue! I will take this sun, thank you. There is nothing like waking up to the sight of the glittering water peeking through the porch windows, the other side of the lake a hazy shadow and the tips of the waves alight.

In order to not take this weather for granted, we gave our sun-kissed offspring a bit of a solar break yesterday and spent the day inside, at the rather phenomenal Strong Museum of Play. Amy has been taking Lauren and the triplets to Rochester daily this week, so Lauren can attend a flute camp there. While the trio's been having a grand time at a few different museums, Jack's been missing them terribly. So we joined forces yesterday and it was wonderful watch the crew enjoy this amazing, stimulating space together. Jack, of course, became the 4th triplet and ran off with his cousins, who are all so wonderful with him and seemed to take great pleasure in helping him explore the museum. Miss Ivy Jane kept up pretty well, though her favorite activity seemed to be taking off at a near-run in some random direction, and even faster toward stairs or ramps. I was particularly grateful for a few areas designed for small ones her size, with accessible, simple activities, low stairs, things to open and close, and most importantly, a wall around the outside!

Here are a few visuals from our trip to the Museum:




And, in other news on the point-- Jack has finally started riding his bike! I know, he was riding a bike months ago. But then he fell one time and didn't want to ride again, didn't like the way the training wheels wobbled... (hmmm, sound like anyone else we know?). And, since we've been here he's stuck to the scooter and continued to avoid even the little blue bike. But last night-- off he went. Just like that, in classic Jack fashion, chasing after his cousins. He's been a bit obsessive about it since and is getting quite good. Here's some footage.



And, to close, a few more pictures from the point.
Jack and Hannah out for a boat ride.


Our walk up Great Gully. Love his face here.



Pretty.


Bob, Grant, and baby Kyle.


Emily, Stephanie and baby Isabella (with me).


What a place to enjoy an ice cream cone.



Jack and Alex.



I love him.



Ivy, making a run for it with Daddy's cell phone. The two large bruises on her cheek aside, she's really walking amazingly well.


Cousins at play. Beautiful to watch this.



Just plain beautiful.


I am off to enjoy the full moon over the water for a bit before bed. Goodnight all.

Picture time!

A little photo tour of the past few days on Farley's Point. Today's been a hot one and Ivy and I are whiling away some time on the porch waiting for the wind to blow in the rain it's been threatening all day. Hasn't rained since our arrival so it is about time...

An inordinate number of our photos seem to be of Ivy and Corydon on the kayak. They ARE pretty cute. Here's a sampling.



More of Ivy and her popsicle..


Ivy loves to give!

Stealing beads from Lulu...


Enjoying corn on the cob...


Just look how blond she's getting! Not wearing a hat'll do that do you...

With cousin Kyle, just 3 weeks younger.



And, just being a cherub.



And a few of the boy-- by day

fun random fact: his swimming noodles match the raft paint this year. Exactly.



And by night


He adores the speedboat, as he calls it. Last night Nat and I went out for a quick sunset jaunt just the two of us, Ivy in bed and Jack playing with cousins. When we came in to shore he was waiting on the dock so we went back out with him too. And that was just as wonderful.