Sparx in the Hyundai

This morning dawned dismally.  Gray light and pattering rain greeted me as I pulled myself from a luscious night of sleep up in my "nest" (the bed in my office that Nat encourages me to retreat to, once in a while, when Ivy's night wakings and my early mornings combine to make me a very droopy camper).  Pattering rain and a grey day are not in and of themselves the worst things. At the right moment, they can both even be lovely.   

But you see, today was supposed to be one of my favorite days of the year:  the Sparx City Hop.  One wonderful day full of people touring about Cleveland in trolleys, congregating in wonderful hidden neighborhoods, discovering galleries and restaurants, spontaneous art fairs and flea markets and car shows springing up around the trolley stops.  Its fabulous.  

And this year, it was rained out.

We'd talked ourselves into braving the threatening skies and trekking out, Kelty and McClaren in tow, when we discovered the event had been cancelled, in its entirety, due to weather.

Sigh.

But it turns out that even the most dismal day can be entirely redeemed.  Here's the story of today.

A grumpy mommy took over the kiddos at 8am so Nat could go to Starbucks and get some work done.  Jack and I played our own version of Bakugan for a while (which involves dice and comparing quantities up to 6, of course) and I tried valiantly to get some food into my reluctant eaters.  We spent the usual inordinate amount of time getting children dressed, packing snacks, and running around the house to find shoes, toy cars, and other items we had forgotten.  Finally at 9:30 we headed out the door and went to the J to check out the recently renovated Family Playroom.  

The kids had a great time, clambering on the foam shapes in the gross motor room, and playing kitchen and garbage truck in the toyroom.  Ivy was a hoot.  She discovered the two dolls, the doll stroller, and the doll highchair and spent her time shuffling back and forth with one doll or the other clutched to her chest, trying to wrap them in blankets, patting them, and alternately placing them emphatically in the stroller and in the highchair. I wish I'd been able to get a video, of her concentration and her funny little posture, and the way she tried to push that highchair ALLLL the way in to the table.   I haven't laughed that hard in quite a while. 

Redeeming of the day, underway.

We detoured on our way home for a stop at a local thrift shop where we scored two pairs of shoes for the kids ($1 each! Keens and Skechers!) as well as a milk crate jam-packed with Hotwheels track, loops, starters, connectors, and a wild assortment of cars, planes, transformers and one very strange amphibious vehicle with a lot of propellers, labeled a Rescue Unit. 

Add in some consumer therapy.  Day is getting better.

Jack and Daddy and I assembled track and raced cars and folded laundry (well, OK, that part was mainly me) while Ive napped in the car.  We discovered the Great Cancellation during this time but that disappointment aside, we had a lovely rainy-Saturday hour, the three of us.

When Ivy awoke we took a break for some lunch and then, somehow, Nat got the kids going on Ring-Around-the-Rosy.  And apparently, this is the game Ivy has been waiting for her entire life.  She couldn't get enough.  Nat and I took turns walking in circles in our dining room with giggling, flailing children clinging to our hands until the whole thing just dissolved into laughter.  I think Ivy would've played all day.  

Watching our children play together and laughing til our sides hurt = not such a bad day after all...

So, as the understanding dawned on us that we would either be spinning in circles all afternoon or dealing with a very disappointed toddler if we didn't distract her soon, we decided to head out into the world.  Cancelled Trolleys be damned.  We would have our own Sparx City Hop.  Sparx in the Hyundai. 

We drove around through midtown til we found a few of the places we'd stopped at last year (a little glimmer of home but no cigar) before heading to our telos:  downtown, to visit the Arcade. 

And we had a most lovely visit to our fair city.  By the time we parked near the Public Library, the sun was shining and it was a glorious fall day.  We meandered through arcades and pedestrian malls and gardens for the better part of 2 hours.  We saw a religious fanatic preaching his message on his own personal PA system, a large contingent of homeless people, and no fewer than 8 wedding parties. We may be memorialized in a number of photo albums.  Our children posed for pictures on walls, ran down sidewalks, splashed in puddles, and had a snack at the soldiers and sailors monument. Ivy tried to do a somersault in a puddle of water.  Jack was a ball of enthusiasm.  We visited Starbucks and the sun glinted off of everything. It was rather a magical afternoon; we felt as if we'd gone abroad.  

Day, all of a sudden = best I've had in a while.

From there we went to Edgewater.  A boy wanted to wear his new Keens in the water.  We were going to take a McDonald's picnic but the skies were threatening again and we didn't want our son's choice of activities to be rained out. Quick, quick into the swimtrunks and down to the beach we went, where Jack spent a few moments standing in 2 inches of water while Ivy did everything possible to keep her feet out of it, before we turned our attention to the giant sandbox that is the beach, with Jack and I building a sand ship and Ivy alternately digging in the sand and trying to get it off her hands.  The sun glanced down from between the shifting clouds and the post-season beach was calm and clean and our children were easy and content.

We left for dinner before the day could lose a bit of its "Can't get much better" magic.

We'd promised McDonald's so McDonald's it was even though picnic plans had changed.  Instead we ate-in and it turns out, we kind of like McDonald's.  It seems like we always have a nice meal when we eat there.  Something about the combination of greasy food and cheap, novel toys makes our children very happy, and tonight was no exception.  So we decided to take it all the way and end our meal with ice cream.  

Today, it seems, was sublime. 

I hope your day was, too. 

*I think I ought to note that all of the preceeding pictures were taken with Nat's phone.  Freakishly good camera in that phone.  When we went to download today's treasures, we accidentally imported all the pictures on the card.  All 1100 of them.  Ranging from winter 2010 to today, all those blurry and odd and perfect photos, snapped in the "where's my camera when i need it" moments.  Beautiful. I am working on a plan to get the 250 pictures I deemed worthy collaged into 20-some pages because what a interesting view of our year that would be....