October rain

The arrival of fall has brought rain, more rain, damp chilly days, clouds.... and early bedtimes for this momma who apparently depends on a little sunshine to get her through the day.  All has not been a complete "wash" however.  We've had some lovely times in the midst of the rain.

Thursday last week, thanks to the glory that is having-Jewish-holidays-off-school, I enjoyed the gift that is a mid-week free day.  Nat's in crunch-time mode with the dissertation these days, so I took over the kids and left him to write.  We three had a wonderful adventure.  We took the train.



We hustled out the door by 8:15 to make the 9:00 departure for Peninsula on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic railroad, and had a great 40 minutes ride to the bike shop, where we got a new tire for Jack's bike.  Most expensive, out-of-the-way tire replacement ever, I tell ya--- and totally worth it.  Both kids loved the train.  Jack remembered his last trip, amazingly as he was only 2 1/2 at the time.  It was Ivy's first time and she thought it was grand to be able to clamber about as we moved along.  They were remarkably well-behaved children, actually, throughout the whole adventure, which also included a walking trek through downtown Peninsula, in the drizzle-mist, where Jack only moaned about being tired about 4 times.  Not bad.  After a lovely ride home during which time Jack got to hold beaver and coyote pelts, we topped off the morning with lunch out at Yours Truly.  I think this may have been my first time taking the two into a sit-down restaurant by myself, and it went so nicely it may be opening up a whole new, expensive but delightfully easy, world for us.  A tired momma brought home two napping children at 2:30.

We spent the evening enjoying pizza and good company with friends Erik and Sarah, to welcome their new baby boy Jonah.  The baby boom continues.  We enjoy Erik and Sarah (and their wonderful daughter Claire) for many reasons, but one of the prime reasons continues to be just how real they are.  They share our attitudes about parenting so well-- the admission that having children is NOT and easy thing, the assertion that yes, we do in fact remember our lives before children... An evening of the easy camaraderie born of a shared journey was complimented by the fact that the three non-newborns played together perfectly the whole time.   Ivy girl is suddenly one of the kids.  And while there is something wonderful about the soft pliant weight of a newborn in arms, and a part of me certainly enjoyed soothing little Jonah to sleep with that bounce-sway gait that is second nature to me, it was reassuring to notice that, really, I am happy enough to not have a tiny one in our house any more.  I like having kids instead.

Sunday was Greg's birthday party, a much-anticipated event around here.  Jack was most excited about his buddy turning 4.  He was also excited about cupcakes.  It was a really nice party, chock full of babies, 12 littles age 5 and under in attendance.  Another wonderful reminder, all those little people laughing and clambering and making messes, of just how blessed we all are.


The "big kids" pretending to be dinosaurs as they ate their pizza...








Life is good.  Even in the rain.