So fast

Tonight our Sunday dinner at Farley's was a celebration of Lauren's 16th birthday.  Lovely and brilliant Lauren, who was just a baby when Nat and I started dating.  A baby who, incidentally, loved me, even as she was terrified of her big, bearded uncle (don't worry, they get along fine now).   The world's most cooperative toddler, who happily played with a spoon while we ate out at restaurants.  The little girl who loved scrapbooking and following me everywhere.  The big sister to triplets.  The ambitious teen.  I've watched her grow up, and I knew it was coming--  But wouldn't you know, its still a shock.

It really does happen so fast. 

Tonight she took Ivy down with her to clean up the dock after dinner.  They walked off together, soft August lake-light glancing off their shoulders, and it hit me-- she used to be the baby, this tall young woman.  Somehow in my heart she is still Ivy's size, a little bit of a thing, foreign and exciting all at once to Nat and I, the first baby in our families, a taste of what might come next in our fledgling relationship.

Except we're here already, to the "what comes next."  Fast forward through life and that's MY three year old dancing across the road, not my niece.  My niece just got her driver's permit.

So fast!

And tonight Jack shared with us that he has his first wiggly tooth, and he starts first grade in a week and he is almost six years old and you should see the size of the clothes I bought for him today and wasn't it just yesterday we drove him home, with fear and trembling, for the first time? 

So fast!

Sitting in front of the yellow cottage, chatting and soaking in the evening breeze and the leisure time before dinner, it could have been 10 years ago.  But we have these walking reminders among us that time has indeed passed.

So fast.

Friends of ours have recently had devastating news about their five year old daughter.  They went on vacation, she got sick, and suddenly they are battling a brain tumor.  It is wrenching and terrifying and my heart is torn for them.  They are a truly wonderful family and they don't deserve this.  Who does?  These things should never happen to a child. 

This week, when I am not thinking about Rebecca, the little one fighting so hard right now, I am thinking about how time passes.  How life clicks along in its inexorable routine and how so often we are too caught up in it all to notice time disappearing on us.  How in the midst of laundry and dishes and bills and the ridiculous first-world problems that define our modern life, it is so easy to lose sight of what life is really about.  How we push so hard to get things done, to keep on track, on time, ahead, never asking why that is all so important. How I turn around and stop for a breath and my baby is almost 6, driving  me crazy, playing video games  and testing my patience, a wild silly thing who hardly holds still for a hug. And how I am going to miss him being almost 6, miss it like mad, when I turn around again and he's learning to drive.

So fast. 

Hold them close, the ones you love.  Memorize their smell.  Let them linger a little longer, even if you don't have the time.  Cling to this moment with them.  We only get this moment once.

Home again, home again...(the extended, catch-up version)

Real life.  I tell ya.  It's enough to make you want to go back on vacation.

Or at least shirk all of your blogging responsibilities for almost two weeks.

Sorry about that.

Anyways...

We're still here!

We arrived safely back home, two weeks ago tomorrow, run ragged but fairly unscathed by our 14 hour drive (thank you, Virginia traffic, for those extra two hours of driving).  We were met with that wonderful ennui that comes from leaving a vacation lifestyle and coming back to the mess and responsibility of day to day existence.   And, cousin withdrawl.  Our poor children, after nearly a month of constant cousin access, had to settle for only two slightly stressed parents who were trying to unpack and clean and figure out how to live in Cleveland again.  I suppose they can't really be blamed for their whining and moping and generally unpleasant behavior upon our return.

Sigh.

Into our homecoming weekend, we fit in a quick, breezy trip to our lake (I enjoyed the ocean but I am a lake girl at heart and was happy to visit Erie again) and a playdate with Ivy's new preschool class.

Then-- Nat took off for NY again. A five day trip with Jamison, a "guys week" that I don't begrudge him in the slightest.  The kids and I (with much-appreciated childcare assistance credits to Melinda, Gram, and Bec) made it through the week just fine on our own. This week certainly deepened my reverence for single parents, and my appreciation for my spouse.

The kids actually had a pretty stellar week, with playdates and dinner with friends, a sleepover at Gram's, a visit to the Splash Park and, of course, the county fair.

This picture just sums up my children.  Jack, worried and clinging to the safety bar.  Ivy-- hands up and laughing.

 The fair!  Oh, how I love the county fair!  Sadly Nat and I did not accomplish our goal of entering cookies and strange objects into the competitions this year, nor did we get time to browse the barns-of-weirdness, mostly owing to the fact that he did not come.   But Jack and Ivy got wristbands for the rides, went in a funhouse, milked a mechanical cow, and experienced some of the best of Americana. A very important part of growing up, I believe.  

The Happy Swing.  It really was Happy.  Seriously.  The operator stopped the ride and made a little girl get off who was crying.  You don't mess with the Happy Swing.  Also in the "aptly named fair rides" category:  the Fun Slide, which we have no pictures of because my phone ran out of battery.  Trust me, it was Fun. 

Jack was allowed ONE game, because he's so crazy about prizes.  Lusting after another prize selection later, he said to me, "maybe we can play that one next year."  Making me feel like the stingiest mother ever.  I did not relent.

Jack is not a fan of the Scrambler.  Ivy had no problem going on by herself...

Jack begged and begged to go in the Funhouse.  He'd been thinking about it since last year.  It was mostly underwhelming until you got to the turning cylinder at the exit. Which was hilarious and impossible to manage and totally worth the price of admission.

A few other moments from  last week:

Ivy and classmate Ruby playing restaurant at the St. Paul's playground.  

Ivy with her prized clip on earrings from the Dollar Store.  Which she lost the next day when she insisted on taking them to the fair.  Now both kids want to get their ears pierced.

 We went to Forest Hills park on Monday night to meet up with the Perry's at Tiffany's softball game.  Lots of children chasing each other, and Scott.  He's a good sport.

What?  You don't wear YOUR fanciest dress to softball games???

Friday we finally made it to the South Euclid Splash park.  I love this place.  Nicely fenced, plenty of variety, happy wet children....  This visit was made even sweeter by the fact that Nat met us there on his way back into town.  No better place to wait for your honey to come home...

Nat came back to us all a week ago and we've been busy embracing as much summer in Cleveland as we can fit in around my tutoring schedule.  Cleveland has obliged: the weather has been cool and sunny and the museums and parks have beckoned to us.  Jack is busy counting down the days to his party (8 as of today).
On Sunday we put up a calendar on the fridge and we are filling it with all the fun we've had as we wait.

Lake Farmpark, Wade Oval Wednesday, Uptown Thursdays, scooter and bike riding, swimming, doing rubbings at Lakeview, playdates, and Kiddie Park.  Not to mention our very own carnival midway, recreated at the base of the stairs so the kids could win prizes.  I love us.

Here, in absolutely non-chronological order, is a photo tour of this past week.

Lake FarmPark, this past Sunday. Perfect day, calm and quiet and just-right sun...

Lakeview.  This cemetary is such a treasure.  Nat took the kids to do rubbings.  I met them there on the way home from work. Lovely way to greet the evening.

While I was working this week, Nat kept the kids busy with time at Horseshoe Lake Park and Wade Oval, feeding ducks, climbing, scootering, soaking up summer...

Wade Oval Wednesdays!  Wonderful as always.  Ran into some friends we've not seen since last summer, met their new puppy, remembered how much we liked them. Ivy met this creepy, creepy cat.  It was great.

Uptown Thursdays.  Its a new thing at the new development by the new MOCA on Euclid.  It was fun.  We found 5 of the Play Me, I'm Yours pianos, and enjoyed informal lawn games on the plaza and greenspace.  It was very quiet, perhaps owing to being a new thing, perhaps to the fact that Thursday was the first night of the Feast in Little Italy.  Either way, it was just our speed.  Oh, and dinner at Chipotle followed by ice cream at Mitchell's didn't really hurt either.

The kids were fascinated by this fire hydrant out of its socket, and the hole-to-the-middle-of-earth it left behind...

Our boy is becoming quite the Frisbee player.  WHen did he get so coordinated?

Our area of town is getting pretty cool...

Other randomness..

Ivy and I checked out the Cleveland Flea, a "pop-up urban flea market" that takes place in Slavic Village once a month.  It was pretty awesome.  There were a gazillion dogs there.  Corydon scored two different frozen treat samples. Ivy and I made upcycled crafts.  We felt almost hip.

Jack and I did a photo shoot to try to get a picture for his birthday invitation. I might just make it after the party.  While he finally cooperated for some photos, he would not go outside or wear just one earring.  And so we have for you:  the world's prettiest pirate posing in front of art.  

And today.  A gorgeously perfect summer day, spent at Kiddie Park, the magical parking lot.

We took along Jack's friend Claire, to give her a fun outing in the midst of the arrival and homecoming of a new baby sister.  Also, it was really great to have her along.  I loved listening to the two almost-sixes sitting in their booster seats in the back, just talking and talking away.  Jack, the expert on all things, expounded upon fishing, allowance, and just how many hours of downtime there would be, between Claire's and his birthday parties (which always seem to fall on the same day...)  We met M and W and the girls there, and had a jolly time despite the crowds.  Apparently everyone else in Cleveland also thought today was the perfect day for one last Kiddie Park hurrah.  And thinking of last hurrahs.... Jack is almost above the height limit for most of the rides.  It is his last real Kiddie Park summer.

Sniff.

At least there is always mini-golf.  Nat said that Jack and Claire played like two six year olds who know school is starting in a week and are trying to get everything they can out of summer.  That is to say, serious. And fast.

M and W and co. joined us for dinner tonight, too.  There was a lot of worm catching going on in our backyard for a while.  It was perfect.

Tonight, we are packing up to head to Farley's one last time.  Never fear, though.  We are going to hit Canine Fun Days on our way out of town tomorrow.  It IS one of my favorite days of the year, after all.

We'll return in time to bustle about for 2 days, prepare for the school year, and get ready for a little boy I know to turn six.  Six!

There is so much I need to write about.  My almost six year old.  The things Ivy says.  My gratitude for these little ones. Reflections on all this whirl of a summer has brought to us.

Summer is so good.  I don't want it to end.  But I am ready to take a breath, too.

More to come from the lake, summertime friends...