Fair Weather

Summer is winding down.  Free moments are dwindling and all of them full.  The rush toward fall begins... this transition never does get easier.  Not that its all bad, this return to school, to structure, to routine.  Our children are in dire need, that's for sure.  There is a lot of whining and general getting-on-of-nerves around our house these days, and I think, despite how hard we are clinging to our unending time together, we will all benefit from time apart in our own spaces.  And there is a certain excitement to the beginning of each new school year, even in the face of all the stress and the too-little-time.

I would just like one more week of summer, that's all.

---

On Sunday we embraced the last moments of the season with the quintessential summer pastime: our annual visit to the county fair.

The season made sure to assert itself, with some of the hottest weather we've had.  We baked ourselves into puddles on all that hot asphalt, and spent an inordinate amount of time looking at bunnies, I think in large part because the barns were a good ten degrees cooler than the midway.  But in spite of the heat we persevered, got our money's worth out of ride wristbands, watched a demolition derby, ate junkfood, and soaked up all the Americana we could handle.

This one got her wristband's worth and then some!

Three big girls!

Selfie in the cow barn...

Happy Swing!  The boy sure looks big these days...

Lillian hams it up...

Here is jack, studiously refusing to have fun on rides.  Luckily his attitude improved-- once we promised to not take any more pictures of him...

Grrr.  Time for some car crushing action!

The end of summer is tough.

Elephant ears make it a little easier.

See you on the other side...

Pride

This week we are welcoming the 2014 Gay Games to Cleveland.  This is pretty darn cool, for so many reasons.  Not the least of which being that we beat out cities like Boston for this, putting in the ranks with San Francisco (a surprise there, I know), Montreal, and Cologne.  And, our city is beginning to be overrun with groups of attractive international athletes, jazzing up our streets with their innate fabulousness.  Also, I am singing with the Community Chorus during the opening ceremonies, so that's neat.

It's been a hoot to sing with this choir.  I've never been in a group where the sopranos are ridiculously outnumbered!  The great thing is that I get to sing as loud as I want. :)  And enjoy the sound of 50 talented men singing behind me-- not to mention the raunchy jokes and and innuendoes that punctuate rehearsals and real live "jazz hands" incorporated into our routine.

An unexpected benefit of this little singing gig?  It's gotten me downtown three times in the last two days, with two more visits to come.  I am falling more in love with my city each time.  Cleveland on the edge of a resurgence is a pretty neat place to be.  Busy sidewalks full of people from all walks of life, new restaurants popping up around every corner, our gorgeous new Mall by the Convention Center anchoring Public Square to the lake...

Tonight that centerpiece shone brightly, hosting the AHA! Cleveland Light Festival, a welcome of sorts, setting the stage for the Games.

What a great night to be out in Cleveland.

The three light installations ( a giant rainbow that actually made an arc over our heads, a very cool giant projection on the side of the Justice building, and the "pond" of light-changing lily pads on the grass) were supplemented by a giant outdoor yoga class and a night bike ride across the Cuyahoga river.  A few food trucks and a guy flying a couple of drones rounded out the attractions.  As far as festivals go, this was pretty minimalist.

It was just right.

I loved watching the unison yoga, 600 hands reaching up in the sun salutation together.  It would have been neat to participate but in a way I was more grateful for my spot as a spectator, watching unity at work.   The hill behind the stage gradually filled in with people as the light fell, with the Pond acting as a magnet for all the families with kids.  People dropped onto the grass in relaxed groups, or gathered near the rail to watch the sun sink over the lake.

Everyone was smiling, easy with each other.  Happy to be there.

Across the mall, giant letters across the top of the Federal Reserve Building read "Welcome".  I could feel that welcome radiating everywhere around me, in the lights and the music and the gathering of friends and strangers.

Magic.

Here are a few pictures of the rest of the afternoon:

Here's our Choir up on the Jumbotron athe Q Arena, during today's rehearsal.  I had my doubts about doing "Choral-ography" as our director has dubbed the jazz hands dance moves, but I have to say it looked pretty neat up on the screen.

We are singing backup for a couple of celebrities-- Andrea McArdle, the original Annie, and Alex Newell, who was in the show Glee. Alex has the most amazing voice.  They are both pretty funny and seem to be thrilled to be a part of the Games.  There is a  grand sense of purpose and community among all of the participants.

To kill some time between my rehearsal and the lights, we restaurant-hopped around the Gateway district.  Here are our funny kids enjoying pizza at the Arcade, playing video games while Nat and I ate wings at the Greenhouse Tavern, and being goofy and having a cookie at a coffee shop...

We enjoyed the art installations in the Public Library Garden-- here are the sillies pretending to be "just born"..

#selfiesatfestivals

Feeling proud to be a Clevelander tonight...

Wild West

We've been there and back again, a wonderful trek to the west to spend time with Grandpa and Vovo, and soak up some delicious Wyoming air while we were at it.  It's a banner year, with two Wyoming trips in the space of 6 months. We were thrilled to bring Nat along this time (can I tell you just HOW MUCH EASIER it is to travel with two parents??? It is SO MUCH EASIER.  SO. MUCH.). The kids and I have gotten used to seeing Guernsey and its white rocks and magnificent skies on a regular basis and it was fun to see it all through fresh eyes.  Sometimes I forget just how different Wyoming is.  Like no place on earth, as Nat reminded us often.

With no further ado, a trip through our trip...

A smooth trip to Denver was made more exciting by a tornado warning just as we arrived at the rental car building, where we were ushered into the break room with about 30 other travelers to wait out the storm.  That was interesting.  Even more so because of the fact that we'd been hunkering down during a tornado warning not 24 hours before in Cleveland Heights.  Maybe its us....

We stayed the night with Nat's cousin Ashley and her girls, and we all thoroughly enjoyed our time in their lovely home.  Ivy and Riley became fast friends within seconds and were too sweet together. Our kids are so lucky to have such wonderful cousins everywhere they go...

We broke up our drive the next day with a stop in Cheyenne at the the wonderful Children's garden, and of course a little shopping at Sierra Trading Post...

In Guernsey we split our time between the Guernsey pool (the kids' favorite place by far) and the Castle at the Resevoir (parent's choice), with some time out to play disc golf and some quality time watching TV, playing Wii, and chatting with Grandpa. We had a few adventures outside of town too, spending one morning at a County Fair Parade in Torrington, and another exploring Laramie Peak, the mountain range just to the west of Guernsey.The mountain air was so intoxicating that day, it definitely has me dreaming of a trip to Dubois and the Wind River Range.... one of these days!  I went for a few high-altitude runs along the river; time by myself under the Wyoming sky, the smell of juniper and the pure air in my lungs reminding me how much I enjoy being out west.  Wish we could make this country a little smaller in the middle so we could visit more often...

Disc golfing in the rain...

Making homemade Italian bread with Grandpa

We love the golf cart!

Fishing at the slough...

"Worm girl" in action!  Jack, like me, prefers not to deal with night crawlers.  Lucky for us Ivy has no such qualms...

Ivy's photography skills continue to improve...  after dinner at Lira's restaurant in Lingle..

Torrington Parade!  The kids got SO. MUCH. CANDY.  Seriously.  It was out of control.  I need to locate some of the pictures that show the giant handfuls being thrown mercilessly at us from all directions.  Their bags together must have weighed more than 5 pounds.  They were so happy.  Jack has already asked if we can go to this parade next year...  

Exploring the trading post in Fort Laramie. This insanely cute little group of log buildings also contained a pretty nice antique shop...

...and these really creepy mannequins.

Castle time!  Best picnic shelter ever.  The kids were crazy about playing hide and seek on each of our visits this year.  It's like they designed the place with hiding places in mind.  Jack got himself into some pretty impressive spots...

Me and my daddy!  #selfiesatthecastle

Up at Brimmer Point Overlook...

Checking out Sandy Beach...

Sunset over the Guernsey hills.  I had to stop running about 15 times to try and get pictures of it.  None of them do it justice at all...

 The Guernsey pool-- an excellent spot!  We spent about 3 hours a day there, for most of the trip.  Nothing says vacation like hours spent lounging in warm water, reading in the sun, and of course, going down the waterslide...

Ivy was crazy about the waterslide and even went down a few times by herself, with Nat catching her as she shot out the bottom.  She also jumped off the diving board and swam like a little fish between us or back to the wall.  She's really coming along and will certainly be an independent swimmer next summer.  Jack, the big fish of the family, is just amazing.  He learned to do a handstand in the water on this trip, and its impossible to count how many times he did that waterslide, up and down all on his own, chatting with other kids at the top.  When did my baby grow up???

 Our Mountain Adventure to Laramie Peak:  Nat dubbed the day "Wildlife Friday" to get the kids interested in scoping out the scenery as we ascended the twisty mountain roads.  It worked, and it was highly successful, as we spotted 16 species over the course of the day:  turkey vultures, cows, antelope, deer, bison and a crayfish to name a few...

Bison on the road!!  I am sorry that we didn't get any pictures of the group of mama bison nursing their bison babies on the hill, only a few feet from us.  We were too busy watching in amazement.

We stopped at a pretty little picnic spot by Horsehoe Creek, where Jack was thrilled to get some real stream fishing in.  Its the best spot to fish in the whole world, he says, because there were so many fish.  Indeed, he had a school of  about 15 tiny little Brook trout following his worm as he watched, and he even managed to hook a few of the two-inch babies (who were, of course, released).  Even more excitingly, he caught two crayfish, who grabbed right on to his line...

Three generations of guys I love, in the mountains.  Perfect.

 We were thrilled to welcome Anna back home from Brazil on the 2nd, and enjoyed a visit back to the Reservoir with her, visiting the spillway for the dam, and of course the Castle..

A few more pictures to come tomorrow once we finish getting our lives back together.  We are slowly adjusting to the time change and our real lives, mostly unpacked, catching up on laundry and trying to accept the reality of being back from vacation.   We have the mad rush of the last two weeks of summer ahead of us, full to the brim with fairs and festivals and last-chance summer fun squeezed around work and prep for the new year.  Sigh.  I'd rather be lounging at the pool.

I'll leave you with a vista that can get us through it all..