Shining Days

It has been a most glorious weekend here in the CLE.  The kind of weekend I want to bottle up and keep forever.  The kind of weekend I cling to desperately, wishing it did not have to end.   The kind of weekend I am immensely grateful for.  So full of gifts.

And, swag.  Lots of swag.

We visited not one but two Expos at the new Convention Center Saturday-- the Pet Expo and some sort of general health expo.  Expo, as it turns out, is a fancy word for "booths full of people handing out free crap with their company logo on it."

We totally love free crap.  We had a great time.

Our children are crazy about spinner games.  They don't even care what they win.

The Pet Expo was a bit overwhelming thanks to poor acoustics in the concrete-clad room-- so much so that it was difficult to enjoy the plethora of beautiful dogs in attendance.  We had better luck meeting new canine friends out in the carpeted hallways.  Corydon was good as gold at her first Expo, and got to experience her first escalator, and her first trip into a public restroom.  

We had thought about taking the train to Peninsula as our Saturday event, but the early part of the day was grey and uninspiring.  Hence the excuse to hang out inside the Convention Center for two hours. 

We were surprised to emerge into a picture-perfect afternoon, and we thoroughly enjoyed our walk back to the car.  Downtown is looking so great these days...

The day was feeling so fine, and we were so close, that we decided we had to take a trip to the lake.

As we approached we noticed there were a lot of kites up.  More than one would expect on a random Saturday.

 Turns out, we'd arrived in time for the tail end of the Cleveland International Kite Festival.  I know, right?  Who knew we had an International Kite Festival?

It was pretty neat.

While the kids worked on flying their kite (which we just happened to have in the van), Corydon and I snuck off to the beach for some quality dog-and dog-mom time together.

 I really love my dog.  And the lake.  And the sounds of the waves on a windy day.

The beach, closed for the season but still groomed, was a calm oasis.  I found myself loving everything about it, from the exuberant German Shepherd leaping the waves to our left, to the Muslim family gathering stones, to the quiet couple snuggled together on the breakwall.

Everyone I saw, in fact, seemed to be intensely... happy.  Lake Effect happiness?  Or, perhaps, it was the kites.

We decided we had to go back today to find out for sure.

We brought reinforcements.

I do love me a full van.

And the weather brought these skies.  Fluffy clouds and all.  Calm and mild, seventy-four degrees of sunny September bliss. 

Why not go fly a kite?

So these were amazing.  They swooped and dived like synchronized swimmers in time to music, each kite controlled by at least 6 strings. 

The happiness?  Definitely due to  the kites.  Or maybe the giant bubbles.  Or perhaps all of the well-mannered dogs out enjoying the festival right with their humans. (There were so many dogs we decided perhaps the name of the event ought to be changed to "Things on Strings" in order to be more inclusive)  Or maybe it was the sheer quantity of joyful children, faces turned, glowing, up to the skies in wide-eyed wonder.

Again today, everyone we saw was just... happy.  I think it would be impossible to grumble for very long on a day like this, in a field like this, with colors streaming all around.

It was a nearly perfect festival.  Simple but vibrant.  In stark contrast to Saturday's events, no one was trying to sell us anything.  There was music,  there were performances, there was always something new to notice.  The whole thing was one giant children's game.  There were ever-plenty of happy, friendly people milling about, but no crowds whatsoever.

I think the Kite Festival may be one of Cleveland's best kept secrets.

The kids were excited to participate in a craft (making kites, of course) that actually yielded a pretty terrific product.

These kites literally flew themselves.  Jack and Ivy were so very proud to see their creations up there alongside the colorful giants and stunt kites.

They were also really happy to have ice cream.

We finished off the afternoon with a visit to the pier, where the girls performed ballet and the dog charmed everyone she met and the lake glittered to perfection.




Shining days indeed.