Summer came on a weekend...

...we went to a parade.*

Parade the Circle, no less.

Thankfully, there was no candy.  Just buckets of creativity wandering around the cultural heart of Cleveland.  Just a marvelous cross-section of our city's population gathered together in one festive, friendly mass of blankets and coolers and foldable chairs.  Just a wealth of food tents and craft tents and booths of information and booths of merchandise framing a green green lawn dotted with tables and children chasing balls and balloons and frisbees.  Just sunshine and steel drums and beauty.

 I love this city in the summertime.

Reality check-- it was a HOT day.  HOT.  And the parade started about 45 minutes late. And our lovely shaded spot gradually lost its shade as the afternoon progressed and we compressed our sweaty little group full of melting little children (and one very very large bag of kettle corn) onto fewer and fewer blankets...

And it was still wonderful.

This was our first year with two children who actively participated in the craft booths.  We had fun making masks and crowns and beaded bracelets, and managed to bring home both of our balloons (which are still tied to the wagon in the back of the van, giving it a very party vibe when we do errands...).  

The parade itself--they were entralled.  Jack stationed himself down by the curb with a 5 year old boy he'd met, and didn't move for the better part of 40 minutes.  High noon on a 90 degree day-- we ferried water up to him on a regular basis before retreating back to the blanket.  He was impervious.  He tells us his favorite part was "the lizard with the long legs and I liked it when he jumped around".  Ivy was a little scared of the more dramatic floats, saying "No get me!!" and "Dat one scary!" even as she craned her neck to see what was next.  She loved the drums, though, unequivocally.

A close second:  wandering the green and being spun around by daddy out in the sunshiney open of it all.  Standing in the middle of Wade Oval, it was summertime incarnate.

A delicious day, all told.

For mommy, the day had just begun:  I headed straight from the van to my car to join my sister at her friend Molly's wedding reception.  A lovely, cultured affair, it was held in the expansive  lakefront backyard of an exquisite Lakewood mansion.  Which, I might add, I was able to tour.  That plus a gin and tonic and a pig roast made for a pretty rockin' afternoon. Plus our friend and realtor was there, and she gave me a showing of a wonderful Lakewood Bungalow-- oh, the overhanging eaves on that place!  Bonus.

I came home in time to snuggle with my boy before bed  (my daughter, having decided that napping is optional on a parade day, went to bed a bit earlier than normal...) and then welcome Kate, Tiffany and Melinda over for a fire and some wine, ostensibly to discuss the logistics of our NYC trip.  What a perfect capstone to the perfect day, these beautiful friends of mine and glowing embers in the fire pit and giant marshmallows and so much laughter.  Summer is good for the soul.

But it didn't end there.  Today we went to the park to meet up with some former Parent Center regulars in town for a visit, and lingered for two hours as our children got to know some new friends, covered themselves in sand, and ran themselves ragged.  And on the way home we picked raspberries.

Cap that off with grilled steak and corn and bubbles and baseball in the driveway at Gram's tonight, and I think (if we had to) we could cross summer off the list.  Two days in and we've done it already.

What a breathtaking thought that this is only the beginning.

(*the above inside joke may be familiar to followers from Winnipeg, where the statement "Summer came on a weekend.  We had a picnic" is used to emphasize the length of a Manitoba winter...)

Kiddie Park!

 What a perfect way to kick off summer!  We spent our evening at the most magical parking lot in the world, this little wonderland of child-sized rides and very good corn dogs.  It is impossible to not be happy in this place.

 Ivy, little fearless one, tackled every ride along with Jack.  She learned the ticket routine quickly and handed hers to the attendant-- or anyone else whose attention she could get-- with great earnestness.  Jack carefully kept track and was sure to ride each and every ride. He took the front car on the roller coaster, all by his big-boy self.

But the best part was when they rode together, these two little people, side by side with their moon-eyes glowing and faces alight with joy and the 85 degree sunshine.  They shared, perfectly: Jack protective but not overmuch; Ivy at ease with her brother beside her.

I really love them.

And I really love Kiddie Park.

It only appears that Ivy is in a cage in this photo.  She is actually on the world's cutest ferris wheel, and she is giddy with excitement.  It is hard to capture the joy in her face through  red metal mesh, but I think you get the idea....

Tomorrow, Parade the Circle.  Sunday, a playdate at the park with old friends.  We are doing summer proud, already.

Bring it on.

Weekending

 It's been a full and lovely weekend.

Yesterday, our annual visit to "Meet the Trucks" in Lakewood, which has evolved into a full-on kids' festival over these past 3 years, complete with balloon clowns, bounce houses, Jungle Bob, and a dance party.  Not to mention lots of plywood trucks to pose in.

This was Ivy's first year to really climb up into trucks.  Looking at these pictures now, I think the girl was a bit overwhelmed.  But that didn't stop her from clambering up right behind Jack, no matter where he went...

Today, we'd had plans to head downtown by bus and go up to the observation deck at the Terminal Tower, but the fickle weather made us change our minds.  Instead, we took a bike ride, went to the pet store, ate lunch at McDonald's. and went for ice cream (why not go for ice cream on a cool, cloudy afternoon) then drove to Willoughby to visit Kate and Marc-- and their beach. The surf was wild and crashing, and Jack and Nat had a blast braving the waves to search out and gather a collection of rocks.  Later, our damp little boy had a lovely time cuddling Beagle and Chase, the world's friendliest cat.  It was wonderful to sit and talk to these two friends, who we've not seen in an embarassingly long time.  We've vowed to visit their lakefront many more times this summer.

Finally, a few shots from the past  week that never made it to the public eye...


Memorial Day  (What you don't see in the pictures is the frustration and the tears that came fron our boy not getting  candy each time it was tossed at the parade.  Sigh.  Our sensitive soul...)

Mommy and Ivy's "date" at the Botanical Gardens-- on a day off, I got to spend some time roaming the gardens with this enchanting one, after dropping the boy off at preschool.  Can you imagine anything better?

Hope your weekend was enchanting as well!  Off to bed now to get up strength for my last 4 days of school (I can't believe it's the last 4 days of school!)... it will be madness that will be closely followed by the madness of June... I am tired just thinking about all the packing we will be doing in June... but all that packing means its going to be a rich and beautiful summer indeed.

Much love,

A.

End of an era

How time flies.

Here is our little man (with a tiny Ivy girl!) almost two years ago... getting ready to head off for his first day at St. Paul's preschool.

One year later we sent him off to pre-K (in the same shirt, apparently).

And here is our (strangely dressed) 4 year old last week, heading home at the end of his preschool career...

Unbelievable.

This boy, this big boy who loves his sister and ninjas and pirates, Max and Ruby and chocolate and lemonade, who is so enthusiastic and free and careful...

I love him.

I'd like for him to stop growing so fast.

Yet I am so excited to see what he will become.