A tale of two weekends

A two-for-one deal, this weekend!  We all went to the lake-- but in two different directions...

For me: west to the Lake Erie Islands for a Hiram Ladies weekend away.

For Nat and the kids, east to Cayuga to join family at Farley's

For all of us:  sunsets and lake breezes and fresh water and relaxation in the hot summer sun.  

Here is a photo summary of each of our weekends (with a little more narrative for my own.  You know, because I was actually there...)

Nat, Jack, Ivy and Corydon:  New York

Packing up!  Ivy insisted on wearing her glittery black party dress to celebrate the special occasion of going to Farley's.

 Time to play at Lulu's house..

Exploring the grey barn...

Swinging, of course...

This sign has been hanging on the wall of the barn for 10 years ... 

 And, off to settle in at the cottage...

Fireworks have started already!

Quintessential Farleys: Gin and Tonic, taco dip, and chatting around the little red table.  Nat sent me this make to me jealous.

The little cottage:  home of wholesome pursuits and quiet play...

New deck, plus new bistro set and our new Adirondack chairs = perfection.  Can't wait to be there.

Now for the really crazy part--  Nat left the kids there.  Just left them and drove away.  They are (lucky for them!) safely in the care of their Lulu, who moved in to the little cottage to keep them for a week (well, 6 days, really) until Nat and I return on the 3rd for our "long stay" at the lake.

In the interim, we are going to Chicago together for our 10th wedding anniversary (also crazy!) and missing our babies.  The house is quiet tonight.  This will be the longest I've ever been apart from those two cuties.

We are bound and determined to make the most of this "kid free" time, though. I got started a little early, with a trip west on I-90 and back in time...

Amanda:  Kelleys Island with the "Loud Ladies of Hiram"

Whittled down from 120-some photos-- a batch of selfies, me and my treasured Hiram girls, getting up to no good on the Lake Erie islands....

On our way!  This van is packed to the gills with 6 friends and more food and alcohol than you can imagine.  And, high spirits.  3 more friends drove separately met us on the island.  

Spent Friday evening gathering in our home-away from home.... a cute little place on the west end of the island, right on Lakeshore drive ( the ring road around the island) with the tiniest kitchen, terrible lawn chairs, plenty of space for hanging out, and one terrific view.  

There's the house behind me...  This was taken on "our bench," which I am pretty sure was a public bench right across from the house, on a tiny spit of land sloping down to the rocky lakeshore.  Big old sign on the back telling us to be kind to the water snakes.  Um, Ok.  We did quite a bit of sitting and standing around this bench while we talked.

 Most of the weekend was pretty much a variation on that theme, with us gathering, and talking, in pretty locations....
Also, drinking a lot of beer and margaritas (interspersed carefully with water, of course, because we ARE almost 40 and we DO know how to do this properly...) and playing some pretty raucous card games.  And taking a lot of selfies.   Because we are all very beautiful...
(That may be the best thing about a weekend with friends.  So. Much. Affirmation.  These women are so great.) 

This picture just sums up life at our Island house.  Lake.  Perfect sky.  Golf cart.  Lawn chairs.  Fire pit.  Some of my favoritest people in the world, scattered about the property in various states of repose.  Not pictured:  fiber crafting.  There was lots of fiber crafting going on...

Saturday was our adventure day.  Meg and I started the day with a 5 mile run around half of the island, and came home to freshly made breakfast.  Life on the island is AWESOME.

Then, the group headed out to the state park. 

Here we are at the glacial grooves.

 And here is the beach.  It was a great beach.  So small and clean and all that calm water.

 We found ourselves a shady spot and settled in. A little swimming, a lot of talking, people watching, some knitting/crocheting, some reading, some napping, lots of tortilla chips.

 Home for a siesta and some afternoon beers, then 4 of us decided to make a foray to the big island, and all the fun of Put-in-Bay on a Saturday night.

 Well. a Saturday late afternoon, anyways.

I took this picture accidentally.

View of PIB on the approach, from the ferry. 

 Here we are at the Perry Monument.  We had a super fun time in the national park gift shop, where we made it in with 4 minutes to spare and then befriended the young ranger (Steven) who let us stay a good 15 minutes longer, enjoying the A/C and buying the stuffed catfish you see below.

Hagrid, the catfish, became our mascot and we set out on a mission to take photos of strangers with the fish.  Bonus points for getting them to do "jazz hands." To understand why ANY of this was fun for us, it may help to know that "jazz hands" were also tied to an inside joke from the aforementioned raucous games, and that we spent the afternoon sharing two bottles of "sparking water" that I kept in my purse.  Because this is a *family* blog, I will not go into any more detail...

Suffice it to say, we were entertained by Put-in-Bay.

Came home to a bonfire and talking til late with smart, funny, beautiful friends.  It was a super day.

Sunday:  A "stay on the island" day.  We beat the heat by shopping in the (adorable) downtown on Kelley's Island, having ice cream for lunch, and then walking to the Winery.  Not the *best* decision we've ever made, considering the 90 degree heat.  But we survived, and really enjoyed our wine tastings!

 Spent Sunday afternoon drinking and napping, then watching a storm, then watching a sunset, then watching a silly-fun movie.  Another great day.  Because it turns out that just about ANYTHING is entertaining with my friends.

The "Final Five" (4 friends had to leave early at various stages of the adventure) on the ferry ride home.  Back to reality. 

 I think Kelleys Island is actually magical, a space out-of-time, literally separated from reality by this magnificent ring of water.  I mean, and this is going to sound really hokey, but you could just watch everyone's worries melt away while we were there, faces and bodies relaxing, laughter bubbling out.  Every detail of the island made us crazy-excited and happy.  The architecture!  The trees!  The birds that attack your heads!  The golf cart drivers!  That hammock over there!  The stone quarry!  This little road through the trees! Ooh, a sunset!  Look, lawn chairs!  Seriously.  I think we were kind of drunk on being there.  (Certainly the alcohol we brought along had NOTHING to do with it.  We are responsible wives and mothers, after all.  Very responsible).

Reality greeted us on the mainland, as various members of the group faced minor adversity (dead car batteries, sick kids, getting locked out of houses -- that would be me and it was my own fault because I am a ninny--) just so we wouldn't be confused and think we were still on vacation.

But there was no adversity on our trip!   Because that place is magical.  And that magic is all safe for us, there on the island, just waiting for the next chance we have to leave reality behind, turn back time, and share another "Loud Ladies of Hiram" weekend together....

 I have the BEST friends. Truth.

Summer 2016, week 2: Sunsets, playdates, carnivals, and basketball madness

More fun this week!  Gearing up for the rest of the summer (AKA living out of suitcases!) and simultaneously trying to fit in All of the Cleveland Fun into these few days...

We'll pick up the saga a week ago:

Thursday: Day-long playdate with some friends.  Weather was dicey so we mostly stayed home.  Shown here:  the wholesome moment during which no one was on a screen.  Finished out the day with a swim at the JCC and dinner out. 

Friday:  Ivy had her "spa day" with Aunt Becca so we took advantage of time on the West Side to visit one of our favorite places.

 Windy, rough lake but a great way to start the day!

 While Ivy was off getting tiny jewels applied to her toenails,  Nat and Jack and I visited several estate sales (we are now the proud owners of a large box of paintbrushes and scrapers, a galvanized metal bucket, and a lovely dragonfly necklace.)
For the evening we headed south to Melinda and Will's house for a dinner-swap-leftover meal, backyard time, and a visit to to the St. Barnabas Carnival, which was going on literally across the street from their house.

 Ferris Wheels and games of chance and all the Americana you can handle, all in a church parking lot.  

 Saturday:  We can't stay away from Alumni Weekend.   We squeezed an 3 hour visit into our busy Saturday and it was SO worth it.

I mean, we got to take a picture with the Terrier!

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 And visit our old dorm...

... and catch up with profs and several good friends from the class of 1996.

 We just love this place.

 Headed home and straight to a birthday party for sweet Juniper,

... and then straight from there to Ohio City, where I ran a 5k while Nat and the kids headed to the beach.  I tacked 2 more miles onto my run so I could meet them there...

Sunday:  Father's Day!  Which means we got to torture Nat by participating in the Dad's Day run.  He bowed out of participating this year but Jack and I each ran.  Two races in two days=more than I want to do again any time soon.  Jack pushed himself so hard in his mile that he had a hard time breathing when he was done.  He had a personal best of 7:30 but it was a competitive field so sadly no trophy for our boy.  

 Ivy was thrilled to pieces with her participant ribbon, earned by placing second to last in her kidsprint heat.  She was so excited about that 100 yard dash.  My earnest little honey.

We went home to have brunch and gifts with Nat...

 ... then the kids and I spent the afternoon at the pool to give him his real gift-- time to  himself!
Ivy ran into a friend from school and swam nonstop the whole time we were there, thanks to her friend's dad who stayed in the water with them in the preschool area.

Jack spent the majority of his time lounging and reading.  He knows what pool time is all about!

 We attempted to take in sunset and the strange snail sculptures at North Coast Harbor, but there was a little final championship game going on and the city was jammed with people heading to the watch party.  So we settled for a little bit of Edgewater pier...

 ... then I joined my mom and sister to watch Game 7 at Bec's house.

 It was a hoot to get all into the game -- and it was (in my untutored opinion) a pretty exciting game.
Miracle of miracles-- Cleveland won the game!  First championship in 52 years for our city.  People were a little excited.  Fireworks going off everywhere, people honking and yelling.  Everyone in the city was you friend and there was an amazing sense of joy and camaraderie.

Here's what the city looked like!

Monday:  Hot.  And I think we are getting a little tired from the intensity of summer fun.  Spent the day relaxing at home.  Took my girl to a movie (Jungle Book, a little scary so LOTS of snuggling) and then Nat took them to the pool in the evening.

Tuesday:  Bowling playdate with Will, the girls, and Will's grandkids.  Nothing like 7 kids bowling.  There was SO. MUCH. EXCITEMENT in that bowling lane.  So many high fives!  So much squealing!  So much jumping around!  Wow.

After supper we headed to the West side for the Solstice Party at Lakewood Park.  While the event itself had pretty much petered out by 8:00 when we arrived, the main attraction-- sunset on the longest day-- did not disappoint.

 Perfect, breezy 75 degree weather.  Crowds of happy people all facing West.  Pretty nice.

I think maybe we are wearing this one out...