Hot times, summer in the CLE

 Another week, another swim meet...

 It's been a hot summer weekend in this city, and we've been out melting ourselves in it, pretty much nonstop.  Can't let a bit of summer excitement pass us by!

Saturday's meet was a doozy, extra long because of the nearly 200 (!) swimmers on the Chardon team.  Plus it turns out that a concrete pool deck does nothing to reduce high heat and humidity in the blazing sun.  We were all well fried by the end of our 4 hour stint at the Eastlake pool.

 High heat led to good times with swim caps full of water...

And our boy won all of his individual events again, as well as a relay.  His times in a few strokes (50 Fly, :48 and 50 Breast, :51) are in line for Junior Olympic qualifying times for his age.  So there's that. 

We had planned to drive out to Hale Farm for a music festival, but by the time we got home we were so fully melted that we all crashed in the air conditioned bedroom for an hour instead.  

Because Cleveland likes to schedule alllll the things on the same weekend, we did managed to rouse ourselves and enjoy two of the 4,000,000 events going on in our neighborhood.  We let the kids pick which one they wanted to go to, and they (of course) each picked a different one.  And that turned out to be the best plan, actually.  It was really lovely to spend focused time, at a special event, with just one kiddo at a time.   Enjoying them without having to constantly referee. 

Event 1:  Comic book day and Flea market at Peace Park.  A tiny little event but adorable.

 Ivy and I found a crafting opportunity, of course. 

 And Winter found a puppy friend, of course!  She even got her "fight scene" posted on Facebook by the Old Vaudevillian group.

 Next up:  MOCA exhibition opening with this boy.

 A few neat installations in the museum but the real attraction was this giant silver hand.

 And crafting opportunities, of course! So much focus as he worked on making a foil replica of the hand...

 And I so enjoyed watching this energetic MOCA worker create magic with all the children...

 We finished the day with a relaxing dinner at Melinda and Will's.  Pizza, beer, and a slackline. A perfect end to a hot, sweaty, lovely day.

 This wall hurts my eyes.

Sunday's adventure:  The Great Lakes Medieval Faire!  We decided it was more like an Old-e Tym-e Whimsy Faire-- kind of a safe space for any type of magical or fantastical cosplay you could come up with.  It was also completely delightful.   And hot as blazes. If not for the heat, we probably would have closed the place down.  As it was, we spent more than three hours wandering the woods and discovering fun things.

 Winter met her first stilt walker and tried to jump up and greet her. Friendly baby.

We spent an inordinate amount of time at this "Horns and Tails" stand, where they kids were entranced with fairy wands and demon horns....

 Of course there was a "Mother Goose" tent.  (see what I mean about whimsy?)

 Ivy tried on about a gazillion different headdresses and looked perfect in each one.  I could have spent my last dollar on pretty things for her to never wear.

 We met the yarn fairy in Fairy Glen! 

 And an alpaca.

 In a day of firsts, Winter also met her first Alpaca.  She was quite confident and ready to play with this new "dog"-- until it stood up.  Her demeanor changed quickly to polite submission with a little bit of  "What the actual WHAT is that??"  Of course she also decided that the alpaca was her newest best friend and tried to pull over to it again when we walked by later....

 Ivy gathered treasures from the fairies and was given her fairy name.

 Here she is after learning that her fairy name is "Dust Bather, keeper of chinchillas"

Melty people get lemonade and listen to Irish music...

 Sadly we missed the joust performance... next year!

 Another funny dog story-- she was given a rather large dog biscuit at one of the tents.  She excitedly walked away with it in her mouth, than began to skulk towards corners... following her lead we came to a pile of leaves where she proceeded to thoroughly bury that biscuit.  So much that the kids could not find it when they went to grab it to take home for her!  I've never had a bury-er before.  It is so funny.  At least for now when she's not doing it in the middle of our yard.

 Winter's first vikings.

You know we had to buy some of those horns.

 This is what two kids look like after a Medieval Faire in the 90 degree heat.

 This is what a dog who had the best day EVER in the 90 degree heat looks like.

 And now we have demon horns and our lives are that much better...

We finished the day with a quick visit to the pool where we ran into two of favorite couple -friends and made a date to visit a brewery together next week. Poor Jack who came along was abandoned to bob about on his own as the grownups stood in the water and discussed all sorts of things, from tattoos to childhood romances to PTA work and the state of our schools today.  What a fun, unexpected hour with our friends.  That sort of thing makes me love where we live all the more...

This coming week Ivy is off to Techie Camp and we will hopefully find a few things for Jack to do that are NOT in the basement.  Summer vacation continues...