Ohio Day 4 - Dinosaurs at the Zoo

  Police cars here are hard to spot.  They are SUVs instead of cars, their coloring is different and even their lights are the wrong color.  Not that this bothers me.  As a conscientious driver I would NEVER go over the speed limit, not even a little.  

I hated to wake these sweet boys

  

Who is cuter? Sleeping boys or sleeping koala?

  After dropping James off, we drove (very slowly) to the zoo.  We got there at 9:15 but as I was getting out of the car I noticed that something was wrong.  There were a few other people in the parking lot but no one was getting out of their cars.  As we got closer to the entrance I realized my mistake: the zoo didn't open until 10:00.  We were far from our hotel and I didn't know the area so we had to just hang out until the ticket booth opened.  The sky was gray and threatening but the promised rain never arrived.  At first I was grateful but as the day got hotter I began to long for a nice torrential downpour.

At the zoo

Riding and elephant

The elephants were very interested in Charlie

Jon on a slide

 The boys were really excited to see a Trumpeter Swan at the zoo.  They decided it was Louis' mother and they were hoping to watch baby swans hatch.

Louis' mom

  Once we got in, our top priority was the dinosaur exhibit.  I know, they aren't typical zoo residents but this one had a large area that was set up with tons of animatronic dinosaurs.  The boys were in heaven.  The dinosaurs moved and roared, although sometimes they were a little loud for Will.  The exhibit also featured stations where the boys could dig for fossils which was a big hit.

Charlie says hi to a dinosaur

Jon is a little nervous

digging for fossils

My little paleontologists

  As we were walking through I ran into a fellow adoptive mom and her two boys.  We chatted for a while about our stories and kids while our boys played together.  Her oldest was three and he walked up and said "hi dinosaur!" to every one.  He, Will and Jon ran screaming from some of the dinosaurs, although it was all boyish exuberance and not fear.

  Charlie wasn't scared a bit.  In fact, he kept trying to feed and pet the dinosaurs.  It was really cute.  One pair of dinosaurs periodically sprayed water and after some initial hesitation the boys had a lot of fun with them. 

Will watches the spraying dinosaurs

Charlie jumps back from the spray

Charlie tries to feed a baby dinosaur

Charlie and the T-Rex

A little afraid to turn their backs...

  And in case you want more, here is a little video of some of the dinosaurs.  The loud squeaking is my stroller which, while still my favorite, needs a little oil. 

  The rest of the zoo was also pretty cool. We saw some primates, a shark and we spent a lot of time in a tree house with a snake slide.  We were there for hours.  Right before we left, Will and Jon had the opportunity to ride on a camel.  When I asked what they thought, Will shouted, "That was awesome!!!" and Jon said, "It was amazing!  I could do that all day!"  They were pretty happy.

Will watches a shark

Monkey family

Will heads into a snake's mouth

Charlie is swallowed by a snake

On a playground camel...

...riding a real camel!!

Finally, exhausted, we left the zoo at 1:30 and headed home. Charlie fell asleep as soon as we got in the car and he didn't wake up until 4. But Will and Jon were their normal, chatty selves.  I happen to remember a particular conversation that will give you a taste of what our drives are like.

Will: What happens when all your blood is drained out of you?

Me: Well, that's called exsanguination and when that happens you die.

Jon: You become a vampire!

Will: What happens when your blood and your brain are both gone?

Me: Well, then you die.

Will: Really die!

Jon: You become a ghost!

Will: And when we are ghosts nothing can harm us.

Jon: Except the ghostbusters.

Will: Yeah, if they saw as ghosts they would kill us right away!

  After a long nap we set out again to pick up James. And right on cue the promised thunderstorms arrived.  Once we got back we decided to stay in for the night.  Our hotel is pretty awesome. Not only do they have the thickest, most luxurious towels I have ever seen, but they also offer a free small buffet on certain evenings.  But, keeping our priorities straight, we headed to the pool first.  Once again Will practiced his swimming and Jon paddled around in his float.  Charlie too stuck to his routine of trying to drown himself.  He really, really wants to swim.  But we were able to distract him for a bit by swinging him around in the water and letting him dunk me.  

Jon in the hot tub

Will in the hot tub

  It was another fun day but I am exhausted.  I have a rather unpleasant cold and my sore throat kept me up last night.  So I am off to bed in the hopes of catching up on my sleep.

Goodnight!!

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!!

Ohio Day Two - On to Cleveland

I love traveling with my family!!  I was so happy all day.  Driving down the highway blasting music, listening to audio books and engaging in spirited discussions is so much fun!  On this trip we are listening to Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett (a great author and one of our favorites on road trips) and The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.  We also discovered that Will likes Linkin Park which is a fun band to drive to.  James likes more mellow music when he is driving but I love to crank it up and listen to something fast.  Despite all the noise Charlie slept for most the car ride (he had been up late the night before) and Will and Jon found ways to amuse themselves.

Jonny covered in robot eyes

  Today we had to cover over three hundred miles on the same road which can be rather tedious.  But we made good time so after we passed Buffalo we stopped for lunch at a little playground.  The boys enjoyed the chance to stretch their legs and spent a lot of time running around.  They didn't want to spend more than five seconds sitting for lunch so they carried their sandwiches and drinks around with them.  

Jon at the playground

Will on the swings

Running on the baseball field

  We couldn't bear to get on the highway again so we decided to drive along Lake Erie for a bit.  We followed a promising sign that directed us to a scenic route where we hoped to get beautiful views of the lake.  However, after just a three minute glimpse, all we saw were the walls and gates that guarded the lakeside mansions.  It was rather disappointing.

  We arrived at our Cleveland hotel in plenty of time for a long swim in the pool.  Will declared us a Merfamily and we happily played at being Mermen and a Mermaid.  Jon spent the whole time swimming back and forth in his tube and shooting us with his squirt gun but Will spent most of his time in the shallow end swimming under water.  He really is a fish!  And Charlie fits right in, he is such a water baby!  Charlie was only briefly content in his tube, most of the time he wanted to be held so he could be more fully in the water.  Of course, towards the end he decided he didn't need anyone and kept trying to push away from me so he could float freely. Silly boy.

Charlie and Will in the pool

Playing in the pool

  

  Our hotel room is gorgeous.  We have two very spacious rooms complete with a decent kitchen.  I love it!  Plus (in theory) we can put the boys to bed while we stay up and enjoy some kid-free time (OK, we'll be working on the blog and studying.)  

  Speaking of hotels... I just remembered two stories from this morning.  As we were going down to breakfast Charlie bolted out the elevator just as the door was closing.  Luckily James was fast and managed to stop the door before it closed completely.  Clearly we have to hold his hand everywhere and all the time!  Then as we were eating breakfast the weather came on and Will shouted "Oh!  The weather!!" in such an excited voice that everyone around us laughed.  My mom's been watching the weather with him and apparently it has become an important part of his day.  I love all the energy and excitement my boys have for such little things.

  Will and Jon did have a chance to write in their journals tonight and Will drew a nice picture of us all in the pool.  Jon swears that his picture isn't of Rapunzel (because she has purple hair!) but of a girl he saw on the other side of Lake Erie.

Journals

  For some reason the picture is uploading wrong and I can't rotate it.  But I'm too tired to fix it so I'm off to bed,  

Goodnight!

Ohio - On the Road Again

  You've read about our trips to Germany and to Puerto Rico, now come join us in our exciting vacation to... Cleveland, Ohio!!  Actually, I am pretty excited about this trip, it has been too long since we've been on the road.  The boys are excited too, last night Will couldn't fall asleep and Jon spent an hour in the car this morning as we were packing.  I told him to get out because we weren't ready yet but he just replied, "But I AM ready to go!"  

  This isn't exactly a vacation for all of us.  James has to go to Cleveland for business and since we always travel together, the boys and I are coming too.  We even have one extra boy, two year old Charlie who we are fostering is also traveling with us.  While James is working it will just be me and the three boys touring the city.  I'm not sure if I'm excited or nervous about that...

Jon shows off his bubble blowing skills

  Our trip started out well even though we are all out of practice with long car rides.  (The boys were a little disappointed that we weren't flying...)  We chose a route that took us on smaller roads through New Hampshire and Vermont and we were rewarded by beautiful views of the countryside.  On the New York border of Vermont we stopped at a nice little restaurant to stretch our legs and enjoy some ice cream.  The boys particularly enjoyed splashing in the nearby stream.

climbing on the rocks

playing in the stream

Shooting at me with his new gun

Wading in the stream

  Even though we could have made the trip in one day we decided to take it slow and spend the night in Syracuse, New York.  We packed cold cuts and crackers so we wouldn't have to stop for food (well, except for ice cream!) and that saved time.

  The boys are each keeping a journal of our trip and tonight they both drew a picture of the most exciting thing they saw today... Rapunzel's Tower.  I'm not sure what it was that we saw but it certainly sparked a long and detailed discussion and story.  

Working on their journals

 Bedtime has been a little difficult this first night. Will and Jon are always hyper when we get to a hotel, I think it is a combination of excitement (they love hotels) and sitting too long in the car.  Charlie had a really hard time falling asleep since he is used to sleeping in his own dark and quiet  room.  But he finally settled down and now Will and Jon are almost out.  I'm off to bed myself because we have another day of driving ahead of us and hopefully a little time in the pool!  

Cuddling in bed

Goodnight!