Maple Fest

Sunny, chilly, lovely Sunday.  We headed out to Chardon for our festival of the month-- the Geauga County Maple Festival.  We managed to completely avoid any contact with maple products, while riding All The Rides.  Yep, we got wristbands for the kids for the first time.  And it was worth every overpriced penny to get to say "yes!" all day.  We saw bathtub races, had a picnic lunch of corn dogs, people-watched, and scarfed down a funnel cake in the middle of the road two feet from the stand.  

It was a good day.

Light

I ran my first 10-mile race today.

It was totally awesome.

I just may detail my mile by mile experience for you over on Thirty Days, lucky you.

Suffice it to say, for now, that I beat my time goal by 4 minutes and felt really great the whole way.  If a bit sweaty.

The day was tailor-made for a run, breezy and fifty and brilliant, bits of lake view flashing perfect blue between the houses on Lake Avenue.  Delicious.  And inspiring to be out with a thousand other crazy people using this beautiful morning to push ourselves, test our limits.  We put one foot in front of the other and moved towards our goals.  

That felt really good.

I've been in this mood recently, to just grab hold of all the good in life. It's seemed really important to do this lately, in the face of a lot of not-so-good that's been happening to some people I care about.  I know, maybe that seems inappropriate.  Maybe a little rude, like I'm flaunting my good luck to make others feel worse.  But I don't think of it like that.  I feel like I am fighting sorrow with joy.  Naively holding on to happiness because that's what we do to keep darkness at bay.

This weekend the light of joy has been strong in our little world.

Here, I'll share some with you.


Thursday night walk around the block.  Chilly but sunny.  My girl can really scoot these days!  And the boy has a great new haircut.  And my children have this thing about clearing moss out from the sidewalk cracks.

See what I mean about joy?

(but lets keep it real.  my two beautiful ones, upon arriving home quickly disintegrated into puddles of whine and exhaustion and the sunny evening became a bit...well...long...)

Friday night out with the girls.  A stolen moment with some marvelous friends.  We ate lots of cheese, drank expensive wine, and even got Bananas Foster made tableside.

Before and after shots of my 10-miler.

Told ya it was sweaty.

The race started and finished at Edgewater park.  The view of our wonderful city from here... priceless.  Also the lake breeze was much appreciated.

I mean, really, we live in a wonderful wonderful city.

We took the kids out into it again this afternoon.  Couldn't get enough of this lake.

We had a wonderful visit to Whiskey Island.  Its this forgotten bit of green, complete with an abandoned Coast Guard station, off-lead dogs, and fascinating views of city skyline juxtaposed against industry and highlighted by bridges.  I love this town.

Soak up the light, everyone.  The weekend's only half over!

More to come...

April wonderful...

This past week has encompassed: an aquarium visit, egg dyeing and egg hunts, campfires with friends,  Easter celebration, a water park vacation, a four-day weekend, and seventy degree days of sunshine.  The grass is brilliant, defining the essence of green.  Trees are in bud.  April is wonderful.

Superheroes invaded our yard this week...

Friday morning we celebrated a day off as a family with a visit to the Cleveland Aquarium.  I'll work on posting the  awesome video trailer that Nat made of our visit.  In the meantime here are some shots of the kids hanging out in the neat "exploration station" on the second floor.

My little reader!  He just sits down with books!  Everywhere!  Its. So. Awesome. 

We dashed from the flats to the heights, stopping at Kan Zaman for takeout tabouli on our way to Melinda and Will's, for a delightful lunch date complete with dyeing eggs, quiet play, and pizza.  And tabouli!  

Friday rocked.

(no pictures of the actual egg dyeing.  there is far too much action going on these days with our crazy crazy egg makers dipping everything in sight...)

Friday night, I drove back west to have dinner with my mom and Bec (delicious Cuban treats, what a grand food day it was!!) and go to Good Friday service at Trinity.  Memories of my youth there... its a good place, Trinity.  They are most likely selling the church soon.  End of an era.

I can't remember when we took this little walk around the block but look!  She's riding Jack's razor scooter!  When did THAT happen??

Saturday:  Annual Egg Hunt at the Gardens.  And then a mad dash to Jack's soccer game.  And then a moment to breathe and clean and pack.  And then we had friends over for an after-dinner campfire. Because why not?  It was so grand we might have to make it an annual tradition.  The Easter- Eve campfire, good stuff.

Magic in the Gardens

The glasshouses were magic. Absolute magic.  They must've released extra butterflies.  And extra good-smellingness.  it was heaven in there. 

Campfire!  Marshmallows!  Wonderful friends!  It was really cold but no matter.

Easter...

Easter Eve is like the new Christmas Eve, I tell ya, what with the staying up late wrapping, the little notes, the sneaking about.  The surprise was almost blown when Jack woke up at 6am to peek at the baskets (at least those were ready!) before I'd hidden the eggs.  Got him back in bed hid 18 eggs in a hurry and no one was the wiser.... one more year of believing in magic: check.

We ran off to the lake for a moment after church.  Because we had to.  Because the day was perfect, the water glassy calm, the children in their Easter best.  

Finally-- off for our first overnight at a water park.  Things couldn't have gone better.  The little water park at Maui Sands was just the right size for our little family, the kids were in love with the hotel room and slept like a dream, and everyone got along.  We threw in a little time touring Sandusky, a tiny "just-us" moment for Nat and I, and a dozen donuts on the way home just for good measure.   While I don't think that we'll be running off to the water parks on a monthly basis, it was worth the trip this time, and might be a fun treat again sometime...