Thursday was Carson’s first day of school and Riley’s first day of school at her a.m. Kindergarten. Another first day meant I got to buy her another first day of school dress.
She picked this flower for her teacher.
Carson ready to go. Note the cooly slung backpack.
Helping his sister find the way.
I think this may be the cutest back to school picture ever.
Monday: Riley’s 1st day of kindergarten. I am now the parent of two school aged children. No more babies, no more toddlers, no more pre-schoolers. It’s bittersweet, but I am so proud of my big girl. She has been waiting for this all summer and was thrilled to get back to her Montessori school where she will be attending in the afternoons. Public school, all day for Carson and mornings for her, starts on Thursday.
Ready for her big day.
Superstar
Yesterday, I started my new job in the Elementary School library. So far, I love it. I’m just getting to meet the staff and teachers. There are so many names to remember, but I’m sure I’ll get them all eventually. You know, with the limited amount of brain cells that my children have left me with.
Carson, who has always been more of a fringe sports fan, has been very into the Olympics this year. He gets so excited cheering for the U.S. Team and especially cheering for Michael Phelps. After Phelps’ swim tonight I was screaming “How did he do that? How did he do that?” Carson looks at me and says “Mom, he swam faster.” Well, why didn’t I think of that?
First, we learned that I had been given some false information on whether or not Dragonflies have legs. Then I become even more confused when bug sculptures and damselflies got thrown into the mix. Now I fear I’ve made some enemies in the dragonfly community and they will not rest until I pay for my ignorance. Well it’s either that or I’m incredibly clumsy. I will let you, my intelligent and good looking readers, decide.
My mom, Carson, and myself met my Aunt Nancy up in Geneva with plans to bike the path along the river. It was a beautiful day, not too hot with a nice breeze. We headed north from the Fabyan Forest Preserve. The bike path is curvy and it weaves in and out of the woods and runs right along the Fox River. About 2 miles up the path I hear a buzz near my ear and see a large dragonfly by my head. I feel it hit my hair and I assume fly away. About a minute later I hear an even louder buzz and realize that the damn bug is stuck in my hair. The logical thing to do would be to lightly apply my brakes, get of of the bike and remove the bug from my hair. I choose a different tactic. I freaked the hell out and started swatting at my head while still biking fairly quickly down the path. When I realized the swatting wasn’t helping I slammed on my brakes. This caused me to fly from the bike and land hard on the ground. No permanent damage to me, a few bruises, sore shoulder and a cut or two but I will be just fine. My bike did not fair as well. It’s alignment is wonky now and I broke some plastic near the gear shifter dial and I broke of a reflector.
After the crash we biked back to the car so that I could rest for a while. My mom and Aunt rode some more while Carson and I took a tour of the windmill at the forest preserve. We took the tour right as they were beginning operation of the mill for the day and it was really interesting to see how an old mill operates and all the work that goes into catching the wind properly. All of my life I thought a windmill turned or it didn’t, I didn’t know that they have brakes and could be turned to maximize the potential. Since we were planning on biking the whole day I didn’t bring my camera along. While I’m sorry that I missed some good photo ops, I am glad it wasn’t on me when I crashed the bike.
After the tour I was feeling stronger and we biked with my mom and Aunt 1.8 more miles down to an art fair in Batavia. They had a bike check where we were able to leave our bike in a secured area while we wandered around the fair. The art fair featured a lot of the same artists as the show went to in Genvea a few weeks ago. I enjoyed looking around, especially at the photographer’s works, but there wasn’t much in my price range at all. My price range is from very, very cheap to very cheap. When we finished walking around the fair we grabbed some lunch and took the path up the other side of the river back towards the car. About .5 a mile from the car it started to thunder a bit and rain. By the time we got the bikes loaded on the rack and into the car it started to pour. Our timing could not have been better.
While in Cleveland I made it a priority to visit with some friends old and new. On Thursday, Carson, Riley and I went to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo to meet up with an online friend of mine and her two boys. We had such a great day, hanging out, chatting, being exposed to copious amounts of monkey genitalia. You know, zoo stuff. The kids all got along great and had a wonderful time exploring and learning about the animals together.
Carson’s favorite part was the Animal care center where they have glass windows and he was able to watch a veterinarian and his staff preform some basic procedures on a small animal. He was fascinated and still is talking about how cool that it was to watch the doctor work.
Lounging Leopard
Lunchtime for Tortoise
Inside the butterfly garden.
I almost walked right into the branch that this guy was sitting on.
Anyone know what these are? They were hanging from a tree and I thought they were so cool.
Riley the roo
After the zoo I dropped the kids off with my mom for dinner at Red Robin and I headed off to Mayfield to see Lisa, Corey and Lisa’s mom. While at their house I got to play Guns & Roses Pinball, a Japanese Speed Racer slot machine and Rock Band for Wii. It was a blast, I did suck ass at the drumming portion of Rock Band but had fun none the less.
Lisa and I then headed off to get pedicures at a nail place near her home. We both chose the same color nail polish which when applied was much brighter than anticipated. I ended up with Smurf Toes. That’s okay because the pedicure itself was relaxing and it was wonderful to be able to sit and talk to Lisa and not have to worry about anything else while getting pampered.
No trip to Mayfield would be complete with a trip to Pizzazz Pizza and getting a salad and a chicken and vegetable calzone. We met back with Corey and had a fantastic dinner. I have been ordering the same thing at Pizzazz for almost 20 years and it is just as fantastic as ever. Their calzone crust is like nothing I’ve been able to find or replicate myself. It is garlicky and wonderful. The only thing that has changed is that they no longer have bleu cheese crumbles available for the salad. In addition to great food, we had fun laughing, talking and catching up.
That day Lisa and Corey just found out that they are going to be having a baby boy and it was wonderful to get to share in a bit of their excitement. They are so cute, so loving and so excited. I couldn’t be more happy for them.
I was directed to Pandora last night and it is a fantastic website. You enter the names of artists or songs that you like and it builds a radio station that plays similar types of music. You can indicate whether or not you like the song it has selected and it will adjust future selections accordingly. I’ve discovered some cool new music already that I may have never heard about otherwise, it has also played many of my favorite songs that I haven’t heard in a while. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Just practicing because starting next week, pending final approval by the board, I will start working in an elementary school library. YAY!!! I have wanted to work in a library for a very long time and this is basically my geeky dream job. I can’t wait for school to start. I think it was when I gushed about my love of the Dewey Decimal System they knew they had found the right person for the job.
Well after our hike and castle exploration was rained out we decided to do a little shopping . We hit a bike store where I promptly fell in love with this. And no, it didn’t cost THAT much at the store. I stopped dreaming about a blue and brown bike and we he headed for lunch.
After lunch the skies had cleared up considerably and we decided to visit the Arboretum. In all of the years that I lived in the Cleveland area I never once visited the Arboretum there. It turns out it that is a very nice place with many hiking trails lots of activities and areas to explore. We hiked for a little more than 2 miles and took a tour in an electric tram car. With so much to see there we were only able to see a fraction of what the facility has to offer.
Waterfall in the Butterfly Garden @ Holden Arboretum
Pine Reflections
The Butterfly Garden was in full bloom.
More flowers
Carson hiking map and walking stick in hand
A large part of my day was spent trying to get a decent bee picture.
Trying...
and trying once again.
We finally capped the day with an 8.2 mile bike along the Maple Highlands trail starting in Chardon, OH. It was fun, I thought I would die around the 3 mile mark but I pushed through and actually enjoyed the last half of the ride.
Last Tuesday, the kids and I kissed Matt good-bye, packed up the car, and headed for Ohio. We got into my parent’s house at 8:30 and we were all exhausted. Believe me when I tell you the backseat of a VW Jetta does not have nearly enough space for two siblings who like to bicker on a 7 hour drive. I really should install some sort of shield between the two of them.
After a good night’s rest we planned a day of fun and exploring with my mom. In the morning we headed off to Squire’s Castle, which is a cool old building that was originally meant to be the gatehouse of a large estate that was never built. The castle is now a part of the Cleveland Metroparks and visitors are free to wander about the rooms while the park is open. In high school, I went to Squire’s Castle many times to take pictures for photography class and now I was back almost 20 years later taking more pictures as I rediscover my photography hobby.
We planned on visiting the castle and then taking a long hike around the grounds but the weather had other plans. As soon as we got there it started pouring. We hung out in the castle for a while and waited out the rain. Once it seemed to clear up a bit we heading off on one of the paths. Five minutes into the hike and halfway up a large hill the skies opened up once again and we got drenched as we tried to make our way back as quickly as possible to the castle and cover. I did manage to take some pictures between the raindrops. Next time I’m in Cleveland I want to get back to Squire’s Castle under much better conditions.
Carson
Riley
Side view of Squire's Castle
Squire's Castle
This wasn't intentional, but I like the effect.
The rest of the stories and pictures are still to come.
As part of my catch up plan I’ll post the rest of the pictures from our visit to Geneva, IL at the end of July.
The Japanese Garden @ Fabyan Forest Preserve
Through the gate
Part of a rusty iron gate
Brick wall with shuttered window
Random bald dude in a hammock pondering a windmill
