Ohio Day Three - Playing in Cleveland

  I wish I could remember to write down everything on the day it happened but I always seem to be a little behind.  That said, here are a couple of anecdotes from yesterday.  Will and Jon are convinced that Ralph the mouse (from the Beverly Cleary books) lives in our hotel.  They have been on the lookout for tiny motorcycle tracks and Jon says that he found a mouse hole in our room.  I love that books really do come to life for them!

Also, while Will was writing in his journal yesterday he called out to me, "Mommy!  I know how to spell pool!  It is P-O-O-L!"  "That's great!", I replied, "How did you know that?"  "Because I know Deadpool!"  Yeah, our boys are getting a super education.  :-)  As an aside, almost everything the boys say (particularly Jon) is said in a tone that conveys "This is the best and most awesome thing in the world!!" which hopefully explains the abundance of exclamation points.

But enough about yesterday, let's talk about today!  We started out early because we had to get James to his class by 8:30 and we weren't sure how long it would take to get there.  Charlie was the only one happy to be up, both Will and Jon usually sleep until 8 so they were a bit cranky.  James and I are rather silly when we're tired and we spent the whole drive laughing and laughing.  After dropping him off, I took the boys to a really great playground just around the corner from our hotel.

Three boys ready to play

Digging up a fossil 

Will and Charlie play

Charlie chases Will

Running on the ramps

This playground had everything.  Buildings where kids could practice breaking and entering...

Climbing out of the window

Charlie climbs in the window

 
...and then spend some time in jail!

Jail!

  Seriously though, this playground was amazing.  And really, really huge.  It was impossible to keep eyes on everyone so I just followed Charlie around and periodically checked in on Will and Jon.  Luckily no one else was there so it was easy to hear them.  Plus, all the boys were wearing very visible shirts.  I took some super cute pictures of Charlie which, alas, I can't show you.  The playground was built to be wheelchair accessible so it had some great ramps that the boys ran up and down on.

Balancing act

Will and Charlie play

My boys

On the tire swing

  It was very hot today and by 9:30 I was dying.  By 10:00 I called it quits and we all went back to the hotel for a rest.  Charlie slept for a couple hours and the rest of us lounged around and read.  The boys voted to go to the Children's Museum this afternoon instead of the lake because, as Will said, "It is too hot outside. We need to go somewhere with air conditioning!"

Buzz!

Reading time

  

  The Children's Museum was small but perfect for the boys.  It was designed for their ages and they loved every minute of it.  I've been to a number of Children's Museums in the last couple of years and I think this is one of the best.  The exhibits were simple but fun and even kids with short attention spans (Charlie!) could spend a long time in one room.  We were there for a couple of hours and I was ready to leave well before the boys got tired.

Charlie drives the bus

Jon plays the drum

Will uses an old sewing machine

Charlie feeds his "Sheepy"

He refused to believe that he was riding a horse
and not a "Sheepy"

Jon writes out a train ticket

   At the lower level was a water table and a place for kids to do the weather report.  I had Charlie set up at the water table and I turned, for just a second, to watch Will report the weather. When I turned back I caught Charlie with one foot in the water trying to climb in.  When I scolded him he just gave me a huge grin and splashed the water, soaking his shirt.  I am a sucker for cute two year-olds.  :-)

Jon Revere

Will works at the store

Charlie drives a car

Will in a canoe

Jon at the top

Jon plays the violin

Will writes a note

  After the museum we still had an hour to kill before we went to pick up James so I drove to another part of town where we could get some ice cream.  Allow me a second to brag...  I successfully navigated a strange city by myself with three kids!!  And I didn't get lost!  Ok, there were a few times where I didn't know where I was, but when I kept going I ended up where I wanted to be so that worked out.  

  But back to the ice cream. We live in New England and I feel that my standards for fantastic ice cream are pretty high.  So I was surprised at how amazingly great this was.  We have to go back with James before we leave.

Enjoying ice cream

  After dinner Will was bouncing off the walls so James took him and Jon out for a run.  I don't know how they still had any energy after today but they all enjoyed the evening run.  In fact, that was the subject of the boy's journals tonight.  Jon drew a picture of himself running up and down the hill and Will made sure he wrote down who got the gold medal.  He also drew one of the running hazards, a Canadian goose that was on the track.  

Journals

  Tomorrow I think I'd like to just do one thing but we'll see what happens.  But for now it is time for me to get to bed.  Goodnight!!