October warmth

On this day a year ago (or so my FB feed tells me), there was a significant hail storm in Cleveland, allowing us to have a short lived snowball fight.  

Today we spent the evening kicking a soccer ball around Wade Oval in 70 degree sunshine.

Crazy weather this year, but we are enjoying the heck out of it.

This week was marked by highs-- the weather, time off of school-- and lows-- a sick little girl and changes of plans-- with plenty of regular life thrown in between. 

A sample for you:

Tuesday riding lessons.  The kids did a grand job trotting.  So very independent.

 This video was taken moments before Ivy's first ever fall off her horse.  Buster spooked at a noise from a combine and shook her right off.  She tumbled gracefully and was just fine-- but it certainly took some doing to get her back up in the saddle.  She did it, though!  And by the time she curried Buster and put him back in his stall, they were back on good terms.  Our kids are learning perseverance and courage at these lessons, alongside the horsemanship.  What a deal!

 Wednesday:  a quiet day off for Yom Kippur.  A little girl who slept in late and then spiked a fever meant we stayed close to home for most of the day. But we couldn't squander the weather entirely!
We spent a quiet, sunshiney hour at Rocky River beach, where both the air and the water were so warm, we wished we had our suits!

It's challenging to get a good selfie with your dog.   This girl just loves the beach so much!

Fever or no, Ivy meticulously placed each of these tiny stones around both walls of our sand castle.  I love her eye for detail.  Jack had an irrigation system worked out in his fortress.

Gorgeous weather continued through the week, but poor Ivy girl ran a fever for 4 days, which kept us home and resting for much of the time.

Poor pathetic baby tucked herself in like this on Thursday evening. She's a trouper when she's sick.  No complaining... just found herself a warm spot to combat her chills, and fell asleep.  Little love.

Saturday soccer-- we all went to cheer on our boy, while Ivy sat this one out.  The brilliant trees were the only indication that this is FALL soccer, what with the 80 degree temperatures!
We have finally settled in to the soccer routine, seeing our time at the field AS the event of the day rather than an obstacle to other events.  That, or the frenetic pace of festivals and other scheduled events has finally slowed enough to let us not feel double-booked all the time...

 ... just SOME of the time, anyways!  This week, it was straight from soccer to a birthday party at Skyzone for our boy.  Little sickie was not up for a planned overnight with her Gram, but she managed to do alright for a quick visit to Lake Farmpark...

Doing the Hay hurdles at this year's Olympic-themed corn maze....

 We had a great time spoiling this girl with attention.

 She's a delight.

 "Apple and Pumpkin Weekend" at the farm is pretty great, too, it turns out.  Not just the corn maze, but a ton of crafts and activities, a bucket train, Halloween tents and decorations galore, and even a mini-donut truck!

 We fit in as much as we could in our hour and a half...

 ... then soaked up a bit more of the perfect day at another pretty place, on the way to pick Jack up...

 Two wedding parties, one wedding actually happening in the castle, numerous people posing for photos in costumes.... and us.  Laying around in the grass.  It was great.

 Yesterday-- a full day for me, with a 5k race in Forest Hills to start the day, a West Shore concert at CSU in the afternoon, and sunset at the harbor to close the evening.

All weekends are well that end well, right?  We are on the mend around here and the weather is STILL grand and no little viruses are going to stop US from enjoying life.

Sunsets, snails, and soccer on Wade Oval this evening.  Monday nights are the new Saturday around here...

I love these people.