It's been a lovely first week of vacation around here. And I do mean lovely-- simply stunning weather AND the opportunity to sleep in every day. Can't beat it. We have embraced Vacation (capital V intended!) and jumped right into some favorite summertime activities over the past few days. In the face of this world filled with tragedy and intolerance (the Orlando shooting, the continuing refugee crisis, this travesty of an election season) we are choosing to steadfastly keep our faces in the sunshine and gratefully grab hold of this safe, secure, joyful life we've been blessed with. Gratitude builds love, and love seems to be the only thing that can help this world. And sleeping in. Sleeping in totally helps.
Friday: I had to go in to work on Friday morning so missed out on the return trip to the JCC pool:
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| Ivy and baby Sally. They are buds. |
I've determined that I need to find a way to work half days at some point in my life. Perfect schedule. A productive morning, time to run errands, get some cleaning done, read a book and walk the dog-- all before kids returned home at 4! We had a lovely, casual cookout with some new friends (well, not really new, as their daughter went to Pre-K with Jack... but we've not had them over before) in which the kids played swimmingly in the back yard and I took no pictures because I was having too much fun talking with the grown-ups. Great day.
Saturday: Hot hot hot sunshine, of course, because it was Parade the Circle day. I think I would really like Parade the Circle a lot more if it weren't always so HOT. The Oval was so festive, with booths-of-crap and food tents and lawn games everywhere...
And the Parade really was pretty fantastic, with lots of drumming and creativity overflowing. Jack got really into it this year, trying to determine the theme of each group and looking at details of construction.
Would've been more fun if not for our melted daughter, who spent most of the time looking like this:
We left about 2/3 of the way through the parade, but at least we got to see these guys before we left:
Ivy got about 20 minutes to rest and cool off before she was off to the birthday party of a school-friend. What a party! They did all the things, from silly string to craft painting to water balloons. Such sweet kids!
By evening a breeze had come up and the sun was still shining and so we went to the Lake for sunset.
Gram joined us and we had a pretty special time there, just relaxing in the sand and reveling in the waves and lake wind.
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| Mermaid tail. This was a project for a good 40 minutes. |
Sunday: Woke up to a day that looked like this:
... so I went for a 7 mile run, then we went to Cuyahoga Valley Park to picnic with friends, hike at the Ledges, and see Brandywine Falls.
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| Bubbles after the picnic. The sound of the cicadas in the woods was surreal, a humming, almost mechanical sound that underlaid everything else, including the random gospel band concert going on at the picnic pavilion. In this photo, Ivy is not wearing her fleece jacket because it was discarded, post-haste, on the other side of the field when a "scada" landed on it. So much screaming! |
Virginia-Kendall Ledges Park is pretty neat. You walk along through the woods and then BAM the ground drops away into these crags and crevices. The kids had a great time disappearing into kid-sized tunnels and then meeting us around the corner...
Nat brought along his camera.
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| The girls played an extended game of "fairy," narrating our day with details about the enchanted forest, the exact color and size of the fairy wings we were all sporting, the various mgic they could do with their pixie dust. Ivy spent the majority of the time climbing with this piece of wood-- I mean fairy dust!-- in one hand... |
After our free exploration at the Ledges, Brandywine falls was a different experience altogether, being funneled down a crowded boardwalk to a set viewing area.
But! Magnificent.
We have decided that perhaps this will be our summer of waterfalls.
Capped off the day with Rosati's custard and then a little drive to Medina to pick up a roll-top desk for Jack's room. Detoured into a candle factory outlet store, ate the best burrito ever at the medina Chipotle. and dragged our tired family home in time to go to dinner swap. 25,000 steps later-- another great day.
Monday: Not to be outdone, Monday was crystal clear and bright and demanded that we go to the zoo.
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| Becca joined us for a fun day at the crazy-crowded zoo. |
The animals were in fine form. Here the kids are watching a sea lion getting trained by a keeper.
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| Ivy's bucket list for the day included face paint and a camel ride. |
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| It's hard to see but these two grizzle bears were wrestling on their hind legs. for the longest time. Too cool! |
Becca and I took off after lunch to meet mom and get started on the wedding planning! the date has been set: June 24, 2017! It is going to be a quite a year, getting to all the things listed in this wedding planner.
Seems like a LOOONG time ago I was in the midst of all this planning excitement... but it felt like yesterday in the sweet little bridal boutique where we went to check out some dresses. Those dresses! They just get you all a-flutter! Such fun...
Came home in time to enjoy a evening with my honey while the kids slept over at a friend's. We were tourists in our hometown, with a lovely walk at Wade Oval and then an adventure discovering Euclid beach (a Cleveland beach we've never been to! Crazy!) and the Waterloo Arts District, where we had coffee and a terrific pizza before heading BACK to the beach for sunset. So much for getting house projects done while the kids were away...
Tuesday: Went in to work again, did some errands, and the day kind of disappeared. The children did make candles in the afternoon (all wholesome all the time, around here). We are trying to work in some creative play and crafting into our summer routine of chore, piano, and learning time...
In the evening it fell to me to take our two over-tired kids to piano, which went poorly due to the effects of Post-sleepover fatigue syndrome (to the extent that Jack fell asleep on Miss Kathy' floor while he was trying to calm down.) Sigh. Resolved to try again the next day.
The next day: Busy and productive morning in which we completely rearranged Jack's room in order to make room for his behemoth of a new desk. His AWESOME new desk. Finally got it in the right place and put back all of his belongings and an orderly fashion. Only took all morning...but he loves it!
Got out of the house for a while to enjoy our Botanical Gardens. Too beautiful to handle, that place. We are so blessed in this city.
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| Not only does the garden have 8 treehouses to explore, they've also got a bunch of large size "board games" and a zip line, in addition to all the usual beauty. Love this place. |
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| Best.Sign.Ever. |
Off to a good start, this vacation!
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