Not over yet!

Another week of springtime gloriousness.  Or at least, another weekend.  We're just going to ignore the snow that was on the ground on Wednesday and Thursday.

Snow?  What snow?  

  

No snow here!

 It was a busy week for our family, as per norm.  PARCC testing and the ensuing schedule changes made for some long and tiring work days for me.  Ivy was back to school after two weeks of spring break and so she was pretty tired herself.  Which made for some long and tiring evenings for all of us.

Some good times in the midst of a long week...

A visit to Coventry Park...

This dragon sculpture seems so much smaller this year... thanks to my giant boy who can climb it like nothing.  Seems like just yesterday that this playground seemed entirely too big and unsafe for my children... now they are the masters of this place, independent and confident.  What has happened to my babies!

A phenomenal sky over the city during our Tuesday lake walk....

Despite my longing for spring to linger, I was happy to see Friday this week.

So was this girl.

We had a fun and spontaneous outing to Wade Oval on Friday.  Climbing the giant seeds; sneaking up on robins, ninja style; cookies and coffee and wandering at the Art Museum.

We are refusing to let continued chilly temps keep us from enjoying spring. We filled today right up to the brim with outdoor activities.

This morning-- the official start of the 2015 race season for me, with the Hermes Cleveland Ten Miler.  What a great race.  Nothing like starting and ending at the lake.  The first half mile, in sight of the water, easy-pacing with a crowd of 2000, the camaraderie and the glistening water working together to plaster a smile on my face.  And then, mile nine. My favorite.  You're trudging along the edge of traffic on Detroit and West 78th, the least scenic part of the route, exhausted, depleted, no more water stops to look forward to... Then, the mile 9 marker, and a turn, and there! the lake!  a downhill! And instead of feeling empty you are floating and free and all-powerful, full of breath and life and endless reserves of strength.  Of course, that feeling fades in about 10 seconds when that first downhill levels off-- but by then, the end is in sight and you can do anything for a mile...

I think, maybe, that mile nine moment is the whole reason I like to run.

Finished in 131, 47th out of 178 in my age group.   I am feeling pretty good about this.

After soccer (where Ivy played for both teams and the Comets suffered their first loss despite jack playing some killer defense) we decided that the sunshine called for a little Daffodil Hill.

And then the Lagoon at Wade Oval.

Gotta catch those cherry blossoms while we can.

Spring.  It's such a high pressure season, you know?  So many flowers, so little time....

Update:  It's Sunday now.  Turns out a ten mile run, even one that felt pretty great, followed by a non-stop day of flower chasing, and an evening socializing with friends, equals falling asleep while typing the blog at 10:00pm.

Finishing now, after another amazing day.

I think I am really starting to get attached to this spring.

The kids had the best time climbing and jumping off of the giant pile of sand and sticks on the end of the beach...

I rather liked this shark Jack drew...

Today:  a lovely stretched out Sunday.  By completely ignoring household and school related work of any kind, I had time to go swimming at the JCC with the kids, spend 3 hours at a Mama Speakeasy brunch, and still fit in a visit to the lake.  Topped off with dinner swap at our house, this day is leaving me content.  Wishing for more, yes.  But so grateful for all this weekend has given us.  

Spring is not over yet.  I am so glad.

Spring in all its glory

Springtime has arrived in a rush of glory, almost to beautiful to stand. 

In just the last 24 hours, the spring green tips of leaves have appeared on every tree in sight.  Magnolias are in bloom and daffodils are near their peak.  The world is greening at an alarming rate.  Squirrels and birds are noisy and joyful and days warm and sunny.  It is as if Cleveland has decided to apologize for its behavior this winter.  It is doing a bang-up job. 

When life is this good, you just want it to stay that way, you know?  Let this moment in my life linger.  Stop time right now, with the leaves not yet burst forth, the sunlit grass a too-bright green, my children little, a free Sunday stretched before me, my life full of people I love and too much to be grateful for. 

There is something about all these new, tiny leaves, their terrible hurry to grab the sunshine, that is making me acutely, achingly aware of how fleeting this moment of my life will be.  Before I know it, my backyard will be blanketed in the deep green of summer and we will be complaining about the heat of this glorious sunshine.  Before I know it my children will be grown and the landscape of my life will be unrecognizable because time will pass and things will change and people will come and go.  And I know, I KNOW that there are good times to come.  That there is much to love in the shady green of full-summer trees, that getting older isn't the end of the world, really.  Whatever the landscape in my future brings, I will be grateful and find joy in it, too.

But this moment, right now, this springtime air and the smell of my children's skin-- it takes my breath away.  

Almost too beautiful to stand. 

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And now for a less melodramatic picture post of the past week.  Otherwise titled:  "Can you see why I want to freeze time right now?"

Ballet is back!

These three are back in ballet together.  As a life lesson to melodramatic Amanda-- two years later, our little ballerinas are longer and leaner but still just as stinking adorable as they were at age 3.  And now, they talk enthusiastically about their hairstyles together and head off to class with an independence that is stunning.  Growing up is ok....

An evening at Edgewater.

No better place to appreciate the perfect weather in Cleveland than by our Lake.  Nat and I had a date night on Friday and spent the whole darn thing at the park, picnicking and spending time with our wonderful friend Keith.

This city really grows on you.

We had the best time with this little boy and his dad.  This photo does not do justice to how gorgeous this child was, thick ringlets and light eyes and caramel skin in the sunset light.  He loved Corydon and threw stick after stick for her, while his dad provided the most hilarious running narrative of it all.

Everyone we met at the park that night was friendly and happy and ready to talk.  Embracing community and sunshine after a long winter.  Glad to see one another and to breathe fresh air.  No one was in a hurry, and everyone seemed to share this look of slightly confused wonder as they ambled.  Cleveland in the spring.

Soccer continues...

Ivy is officially on a team!  Team Dynamo held their own on Saturday despite our daughter's insistence on walking into the crowds of kicking girls and trying to pick the ball up.  Seriously. No less than 5 times.  Jack spent her whole game enthusiastically watching for this behavior and yelling out to her "Don't use your hands, Ivy!!" in an increasingly frustrated tone of voice.  (To his credit, he also patiently coached her goalie skills during halftime, and observed with slight surprise, "Her team is better than I thought they'd be...")

Still, as a friend observed, it's not about whether you win or lose, its about how cute you look in your soccer uniform.

For some unknown reason, the coach of this age 5-6 girls team was given only one size small shirt.   So here's our girl, rocking a Large. 

Time for a snuggle after the game.  It was hotter and sunnier than we expected and we had two tired little players after three hours out there....

Jack also had another fine day with the Comets. After a bit of a frought beginning to the game, where the Comets were down by two, they brought it back with two late-game goals for a tie.  One of those goals being scored by our son.  His love affair with the sport continues...

Birthday Parties and big kids...

We spent the rest of the day at a lovely birthday party for baby Pete, one of the youngest of the Hiram crew's offspring. He's two now so I guess he's not baby Pete any more.  

The rest of them aren't babies anymore either. 

I love these kids, the way they play together so well, looking out for one another, being so kind.  Plus they're all gorgeous, no?  These are some pretty spectacular children by any definition, but the fact that they belong to my friends who I love so much puts them right over the top.  Best kids ever. 

A parting shot of our front-yard daffodils at their peak.  Our new "Tiger Nation" sign has been placed.  Went to Kindergarten Information night for Ivy this week and it's crazy to think that when these spring-green leaves turn red, we'll have two Heights Tigers living at our house.  Whew.  Time and the way it flies!  I tell ya.