Birthday Boy

So, this kid turns 10 tomorrow.

 One decade of being his mama!    It is unbelievable.

From this...

...to this, in just 10 fast years!

(Hasn't changed a bit, has he?)

I just love this kid so much. At 10, he is a lanky collection of limbs, all arms and legs and giant feet.  He's only got a few inches to go to top my height, a fact of which he reminds me frequently.  He is sarcastic and irreverent and loves to push the limits of acceptable behavior.  He gives huge, wraparound hugs and absolutely melts around small animals.  He lives to pester his sister-- and is the first to comfort her when she is sad.  He's got a brilliant mind but reticent to try hard work. He loves to read, as long as he's immersed in a great series.  A man of fickle passions, he is really really into all things Nerf right now-- but a week ago it was Pokemon and the week before, all about saving money for an iPod.  Regardless, his happy place is at the computer, headphones on, watching Youtube videos about his passion of the week.  He is 10 going on full adolescent. He has the same sensitive soul and huge emotions as always, and transitions are still tough for him. But he is tall and confident and growing into himself, too, learning how to get himself out of his sad moments.  He is also learning how to do his own hair, and is suddenly concerned with how it looks.  How did he grow up so fast??

Yesterday we celebrated with a few of his friends.  One of our smallest, and most laid back parties, as Jack was pretty certain he wanted to do NOTHING for his birthday up until about a week ago. 

Turns out, you don't have to go crazy to have a nice little party, and a very happy Birthday Boy. 

 Thanks to Nat's hard work overseeing the games, 7 young men and 2 younger sisters had continuous Nerf battles in the backyard for about 3 hours.  A few streamers, a bit of cake, and bowls full of Jack's favorite snacks... and it was a party.

 With a few re-fueling stops....

 It was a great day.

Day Off

Sunday started like this....

My two kiddos, making my favorite kind of mess, during the 37 seconds that they actually played Calico Critters together.  37 seconds to hold on to!

...and ended like this...

Nat, the pool shark, about to dominate during our first and only win of the night...

...with a whole lot of wonderful in between...

Gram took the kiddos for the night and they got to enjoy a day at her friend's resort-like pool...

..while Nat and I took off, just the two of us, in search of the elusive west-side beach...

We worked our way along Lake road from Lorain to Rocky River, passing at least 8 parks, stopping at 3 of them, and finding an actual (new to us!) beach to explore at one..

Our first attempt (Shell Cove Park), a glorified overlook, did not even merit a photo.  Our next stop, Miller Park,  afforded this lovely view of the power plant from behind the fence blocking our way to the closed beach.  The non-existent beach, as it turns out, due to the high lake water.  We did meet a very sweet 6 week old puppy, though, so it was totally worth the stop.

 We found what we were looking for at Columbia beach.  Down an unassuming flight of stairs, a stretch of beach hid against a shale cliff, offering shade, sun, friendly dogs everywhere, a city view, a WATERFALL of all things...

When you give someone in our family a waterfall, they are going to try to build a dam on it.

... and even-- I kid you not-- lucky stones.  Real, honest to goodness ones just like at Long Point.   Got to be a sign.

 A new favorite place, for sure.

 We stopped for a lovely dinner out at Forage, an trendy little "eat local" place with a great patio, and then it was off to the Fair!

Two times in two days!  Yes indeed.

You do what you have to do for Demolition Derby Finals night.

We joined our friends there-- they've been child-free for almost a week thanks to their kiddos visiting an aunt in California-- and proceeded to drink beer, cheer for cars, and generally pretend to be in our 20's for the next 6 hours.

 Riding the Ferris Wheel at sunset, looking at weird collections, and cooing over bunnies with our best friends?  Can't get much better than that.

Unless maybe you close down the fair and then go to a townie bar in Berea to play pool and drink Budweiser and let the night linger while you talk and laugh together, the conversation and the night easy and warm and free.

Sunday was a pretty good day.

Monday: Adventures in Mansfield!

We had quite the day today.

A spontaneous trip to Mansfield, of all places, took us from this...

 ...to this...

 ... and back to this....

... and 10 hours later, we are home and can't wait to go back and explore this area some more.

When we went to pick up our kids at 10 from Gram's house, we'd not yet decided what to do with our day.  We managed to come up with some options on our drive out.  The beach, of course-- blue sky day called out for it-- or maybe Nelson's Ledges, which is always a good time.  And, for some reason-- not sure how this one came up-- the Haunted Reformatory in Mansfield.  Decided to put the choice to the kids.  And when your seven year old enthusiastically shouts, "The Haunted Prison!  Yesss!", well, that's where you go. 

We decided to stop at Malabar Farms on the way.  A favorite haunt of my mom and dad when I was little and we lived in Mansfield, I have a few shadowy memories of being at this place.  It was an idyllic spot, white and green buildings nestled in the verdant hills.  Timeless. 

Also, there was this parrot. 

 The only thing it said was "Hello," but that was enough to completely charm us.

We did not get there in time for the house tour (I'm sure the kids were ok with that!) but did wander the grounds for a bit.

 The butterfly bushes were absolute magic.  We need one for our front yard, I've decided.

Ivy loved the army jeep and I enjoyed telling her about the one her grandpa had.   Looking at Louis Bromfield's jeep-- and indeed all of his property-- I felt like I got to know my dad a little better.  I am pretty sure Bromfield was one of his idols.  I wish I could have had him as my tour guide at Malabar today.

 Of course we loved the petting farm. (County fair, redux!)  Ivy had no qualms about opening up this hutch to snuggle bunny inside.

 This goat is my favorite.

 Then, a wagon tour of the farm.  Pleasant, if not very exciting.  We got a sense of the property, identified a few places we'd like to come back to (the butternut trail and the caves), and decided we didn't need to take the wagon tour again any time soon.

 Then, off to the Reformatory.
We had no idea what to expect going in-- and we got more than we bargained for.

The first part of the tour was like a glimpse of an abandoned mansion-- the warden and deputy warden quarters.  Huge rooms, high ceilings, peeling paint.  Gorgeous 1906 construction and wood work and detailing under the cracks and decay.  Turret rooms and secret nooks eve-ry-where.   And the tour was self guided so we could poke in wherever we wanted. Delicious.

 Our girl-- little miss "The prison!  yess!"-- decided she was going to be "little miss scared" the whole time.  I think she was having a bit of fun with it.  And of course her brother was having a blast trying to scare her.  It was a bit of work to keep the ensuing whining to a minimum but on the whole, the kids had a blast and were fascinated with the place.

I am not sure what is going on with Ivy in this picture. 

So we went from the once-grand apartments, through a maze of smaller quarters and classrooms, into the great open space of the chapel-- a church made of steel.

Then, through a metal door on one side and into another world...

The view of Tier 6 of the East Cell block.  A tower of 100 steel cages in a cathedral of stone and peeling paint.  

 Crazy.  Terrifying. Surreal.

 Even more so when we learned that this prison was occupied by over 2000 inmates until 1990.  Ninety-four years, the majority of which were spent overcrowded and not living up to its name of "reformatory" very much at all.  Horrifying conditions hidden within a castle of an exterior.

What an experience.

 We decided to decompress a bit before driving home and stopped at Kingwoods Gardens.

We promptly fell in love.  

 Complete magic, this place.  Garden opening on to garden, secret behind hedges.  Little patio tables and fountains and statuary nestled into nooks.  A broad lawn opening up before the mansion.

We will definitely be making a return trip to this little slice of heaven.

But for today-- time to take two tired little adventurers home for rest and a quiet day near home tomorrow.

Maybe.

You never know what we'll get up to on a nice summer day.