Home and away

It's been a hot and sticky summer weekend in Cleveland.  The city is booked solid with festivals and we're just dreaming of air-conditioning.  We've spent the weekend finding a balance...

The hammock is up.  Summer is more official than ever.

Yesterday morning brought mommy-only trip to a resale event and the Lakewood Arts Festival before meeting my family at the Lakewood library, where the children played fishing with Auntie Bec in the gorgeous playroom while Nat and I went down to the book sale.  We capped the morning off with lunch at Aladdin's and then walked out of the restaurant to find a drum circle in progress there in the middle of Detroit Avenue.  The children were drawn to it like bees to honey and joined right in.  Jack would have stayed all day.

Home we went in time for an impromptu party. The glories of modern technology (read: Facebook) meant that a Friday night thought (wouldn't it be nice to have some people over tomorrow and just sit around in the yard watching our kids play?) effortlessly became a reality.   A wonderful conglomeration of college and parent center friends gathered in our yard, bringing food and beautiful children who streamed in and out of our house in ever-changing groups.  Jack and Max tied rope and gathered buckets in a great insect-hut.  Sam played with every toy in our playroom.  Ruthie and Rebecca giggled in the hammock.  Ivy brushed baby Josh's hair, oh so gently, with a whisk broom.  The sun traveled across the yard and the grown-ups gathered at the table in the lawn to drink wine and talk.  It was perfect.

 Today the kids and I went to the garden center to get hostas for our new back garden (I say "new" while patently ignoring the fact that we actually designed and dug this bed three years ago...) We wandered the greenhouse in the drizzle and the children each picked their own plants to put in.  Then it was off to lunch in the food court at the mall.  It was quiet there on a Sunday at 11:30, and the children ate well, and there was this carousel, which the children played on happily while I got the food, and then rode twice.

Some days, the mall is the perfect thing.

Jack and Nat and I spent the afternoon digging in the plants and setting stones, with the added happiness of a surprise visit from Mike and Barbie.

Quick showers and a snacks for kids and we were off to downtown for the Warehouse District street fair.  Summer light slanted between buildings and each intersection gave glimpses of rivers and bridges and the lake as we ambled down West 3rd, petting dogs along the way.  The prime attraction?  The dunk tank.  Jack loved it and even tried his hand at throwing a few balls.  Thanks to a generous handicapping system in place for little ones, he was able to dunk the bikini-clad server.  Twice.  He thought that was pretty much the best thing ever.  Except maybe for playing cornhole.  Or sitting in the drivers seat on an RTA bus. Or throwing his Dollar Bank swag frisbee. Or the magic show we stayed for at the end.   It was cool and shady in amongst the old brick buildings, with a just-right crowd of happy people wandering through the booths-of-crap, and the smell of street food drifting through the air.  Street fair at its finest.  We walked back to the car craning our necks to inspect the skyscrapers and watch planes overhead, answering Jack's questions  and soaking up the evening sun. 

Sometimes I just love this city.