Donut Day!

There are fantastic things that happen in neighborhoods everywhere I'm sure. But there's no way you have this magical day that we do. It's Donut Day and it happens one fine day every fall. It's hosted by a family that actually owns this awesome donut making machine. 

You have to keep your eyes peeled for this sign that gets hung the week before letting you know that Donut Day is coming!

The story that I've heard, and it's not quite complete, is that this man used to read a book to his children about a donut machine that got out of control. They loved it and eventually one day bought this for their dad, Tim and Donut Day was born.  This kind family hosts fresh donuts and toppings for all their neighbors and serves coffee and cider too! And by neighbors I mean anyone that stops by. It's so kind and generous and they are delicious! 

We walked down with our buddies that actually live on that street now. They were good to the last drop of cinnamon sugar! Thanks neighbors, you've created memories for a lot of people.

Just the Mama.

Well after two and a half years I finally had a full on weekend on my own. JJ had a fun boys trip to Chicago which left all of the mamas in Cleveland with the kids. Anticipating it made me nervous which is a funny thing since he's my kid. But the feeling of being alone for days at a time with my own child freaked me out, no buffer, to tag team, what was I going to do?! I know that I'm lucky though, he's a good kid and there a so many amazing people that do it alone out there. 

 

We were just fine. We played with friends, stayed up too late, went to the market, played so more, ate waffles, and you guessed it...played so more!

On Saturday morning he told me in an annoyed voice that "he was taking the train to Chicago." As if to say, I'll find that Papa. We checked out a new playground and found this cool map. He wouldn't listen long enough to show him where Chicago was.

I feel lucky to have such a cool kid and lots of friends to hang with when the husbands take off. I hope they do the same when we all leave next month because it certainly makes things easier. Happy Friday, I hope you have a great weekend! We have a wedding and birthday parties so it should be another fun one!

Adventure Day.

Saturdays are our Adventure Day. We'll do anything from taking a walk to the farmer's market to riding the train to the West Side. This Saturday we took ourselves out the Patterson's Fun Fest. We made a foolish mistake of calling it a "donut hunt" from the moment that we woke up. So our punishment was getting asked every three minutes where the donuts are. So once we got ourselves out there we had to get some stat or else the meltdown would get ugly (worse). 

Just look at that happy donut eating boy. Crisis mostly averted. The day couldn't have been more beautiful. The blue skies were unreal. However, allow me to warn you that on the weekends the entrance price is double plus there are several activities (face painting, pony rides, etc) that require more money. Lucky for us this guy is too young to notice such activities when there are tractors to ride and corn mazes to run through.

The best part of the morning was by far the giant slide. He raced down and ran back up to stand in line. He even talked about it all weekend. So I guess the price wasn't too bad if you take that into consideration. Hope your weekend had a little bit of adventure to it! Happy Tuesday!

Parade The Circle.

Happy Monday! We had an action packed adventure filled weekend so I'm starting the week off with a Parade the Circle photo dump. We hopped on our bikes and rode down to the parade Saturday morning to meet up with friends and have a picnic. Riding bikes is the best way to get down to University Circle when there is going to be a crowd, there was a complimentary bike valet that made it so easy to get in and out of there quickly! 

The parade was kicked off by this veteran followed closely by the Parade the Circle balloon arches that mark the sections off. The boys oohed and ahhed at this giant blue man and the creatures that followed behind.

These giant Playskool toys were so awesome! Do you recognize them? I loved the chattering teeth too.

The sailors with the pop-up Jaws and Giant Squid were SO awesome and definitely my favorite! They pulled a huge lighthouse too and every so often closed up the boards to reveal these giant creatures of the sea.

This parade is a Cleveland classic and I love to see how creative and colorful these volunteers can be. The music is a lot of fun and the boys loved the dancers and drums. I love the people watching too! The Botanical Garden's Glasshouse makes for a perfect backdrop for photos. 

The Dads championed the big hill home with trailers and the boys quickly (and uncomfortably) fell asleep on the ride home. It was a great day! Happy Monday!

On Saturday.

Despite a few hiccups in the day, Saturday turned out to be a lot of fun. We biked to our very favorite place to pick up some essentials for the week. Thank goodness the Donut Lab truck was there because O had really been missing them. We sat in the grass and enjoyed a grape limeade and some donuts while listening to music and watching some (slightly wild) big kids play. Look how lovely that chard is!

Our peonies are in full bloom and I'm taking full advantage by clipping some and bringing them inside when they get too weighted down. They smell so nice and are just beautiful! We've never had a sunny yard before and I'm excited to have to flowers growing!

We finished off the day at a graduation party where O made two new friends. One of the was the guest of honor and is apparently his new number one. He spent most of the evening saying "Where'd Charlie go? Oh there he is!" I hope you had a nice weekend and have a very happy Monday!

A Day Out.

Sunday was an exciting day. I don't know what you did but we headed out for a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine! I know, we could hardly contain ourselves. The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad is just 40 minutes away and well worth the drive. The rolling hills are so scenic and a good distraction from the two 2 years olds in the back seat. 

 

We told them where we were headed but when O actually saw Thomas he squealed with delight! It was so so cute to hear that little scream and see his face light up! We boarded the train and the conductor was kind enough to stop and pose with any child that wanted to snap a picture. Serious business like boarding Thomas requires a serious face.

We had a bit of a wait once we were on but the boys happily jumped on seats and discussed "Tommy" amongst themselves all while being very cute and appreciative. Thanks for the kiss!

The only other activity that we did was watch the model trains that circled round and round in the tent next to the boarding station. We could have stayed there for hours they were so mesmerized! But with minimal tears we were able to leave and wave goodbye to our cheeky friend Thomas, and thankfully avoid all the merchandise in the gift shop! Thanks for the memories!

Derby Day.

How was your weekend? Ours was filled with fun and sun! And a little bit of Derby, and not to brag but my horse won!! My guys donned two of my favorite new bow ties for spring! O is wearing the seersucker, JJ is wearing the chambray and they both looked oh so handsome! We decided last minute to have a few folks over to enjoy the new house and to watch the race. 

These days it seems that the children outnumber the adults and they do their best to rule the roost. The fun part of having kids with your best friends is that even if you aren't in the room you know they are being looked after. They will get that extra serving of food if you didn't hear the request, and they will be told no when it's appropriate. I have no concerns that my friends will pick the correct option. They lighten the mood when things get tense and share silly stories about the hilarious life of a toddler. There is nothing more affirming than hearing that someone else's child did the same (totally frustrating) thing just the other day. But when you look at these ice cream covered youngsters there is nothing but joy to share. Have a good Tuesday!

Three Things.

This three things post is dedicated to yesterday. We had such an awesome day enjoying friends, the weather and new things! I am lucky to say that so many of my friends are close and in town and the best part is the O loves their kids! We checked out the new Acacia Park in Beachwood/Lyndhurst and it's just awesome that the Metro Parks bought that space and kept it green for all of us to enjoy. 

I know I've talked before about the wonderful brightness of yellow (now currently O's favorite color) but the dandelions in our new back yard are so cheerful and I love it. We played with a new yellow bubble wand too. Then our bike trailer arrived so we got to take an inaugural ride (after at least an hour of shared frustration...). Happy warm weather!

Camp Happy.

This weekend we took a whole gang load of kids camping. I have to be honest when I say that I was doubtful of this trip for two reasons, the weather and sleeping. But I was wrong. The weather was perfect and the sleeping was a breeze! 

O spent a good hour inside the tent when we got there. He just loved it so much and needed to inspect it.

We did a little hiking and found a river to dip our toes in. The kids just played their hearts out with bubbles and dinosaur chases. It was so much fun!

We finished the evening off with a very long and very serious marshmallow roast. These boys couldn't have been happier. It's such a simple treat that really made their night!

I do not take any credit for the ease of this trip as we were with some seasoned family campers but it really was so easy. The site was nice and secluded but the cars weren't far away. Between the six families we had each other covered, bubbles, trucks, a kids only tent...it was a great weekend. I hope you had a good one too!