Our one night camping trip

Last week I decided that I was tired of being so far away from Kyle all the time so I had this wonderful idea that Lennon and I would take the tent and go camping near Columbus. That way we could have ourselves a little vacation and also be close enough that Kyle could stay with us at night. So I quickly packed up and we drove 2 hours to Alum Creek State Park. When you go camping in Utah you pack sweatshirts and warm things to wear at night because it gets cold, so I packed the same way. What I didn't think about is the fact that we weren't going to be camping in the cool mountain air, we were going to be camping in the hot muggy summer heat. There are no mountains here! It was unbearably hot. So, we swam in the lake as much as possible to stay cool and Lennon slept in nothing but a diaper. The campground was really pretty and actually pretty big, they had over 400 campsites, and tons of activities around the place. Luckily the morning turned out to be a little cooler. We got to spend a couple hours with Kyle before he had to work. We played disc golf, had a picnic, and swam in the lake before packing back up and driving back home. I had originally reserved our spot for two nights but they were nice enough to give me my money back for the 2nd night. Luckily the heat didn't seem to bother Lennon one bit, he was happy as could be the entire time. He loved playing with the rocks and dirt and driving his trucks around camp. 

Historical Tour

We had a sunny weekend! Hooray! Cleveland offers free historical tours. They are offered almost every day of the week, each one in a different part of town. I’ve wanted to go for a while but I didn’t dare take Lennon alone because I thought he might be too wild, he loves going for walks but he gets antsy whenever we stop. So, Sunday turned out to be great weather and Kyle was home so we went! I’ll tell you all the neat facts I learned but just a warning, there will be holes in my story. Kyle and I had to take turns listening. Every time we would stop Lennon wanted to get out and run around, swing from the weeping willow, blow bubbles with another little boy on the tour, things like that… He wasn’t at all interested in listening to the guide.

The tour started at Settler’s Landing which, as you might guess, is where the settlers landed! It’s right on the Cuyahoga River (and it’s also where we spent the 4th of July). When the settlers first got there they had an agreement with the Indians, white settlers could have the east side of the river and they wouldn’t be bothered, but the Indians got to keep the west side of the river. A woman dressed in pioneer clothes came and talked to us pretending to be the wife of the first mayor of Cleveland and told us all about settling the town and the struggles they had.  We walked around and learned about the Erie Canal and how it was dug by hand mostly by German and Irish immigrants who ended up settling in the area and had a big impact on the way of life in Cleveland. The canal was used to transport freight and people. All of the boats were large and flat bottom, the canal was 14 feet wide but only 4 feet deep. The freight boats were pulled along the canal by mules and the passenger boats were pulled by horse. They walked along the tow path, part of which became a rail line later on. Now the majority of the tow path is a bike/running path, which we walked along at the Cuyahoga National Park. The guide showed us some historic buildings around the area and gave the history. One of the buildings was an old Irish Pub called the Flat Iron, it opened in 1910 and still serves many of the original menu items. When the tour ended they gave us a coupon so of course we had to go. I got a Lake Erie Perch sandwich and it was the best thing I’ve ever eaten. This area is also famous for Pierogies, something I had never even heard of until we moved here. We got an order of those and they were AMAZING. Little bread things filled with mashed potatoes and topped with cheese and onions… So good. It was really the best day we’ve had in a while, we are starting to really like Cleveland, the more we learn about it. 

Flat Iron (opened in 1910)

Old B&O train bridge. Stuck open, now called the jack knife

Murals of the Erie Canal being dug

Memorial for the people who lost their lives to the Irish famine

Lennon loved the weeping willow

This wasn't part of our tour, just a place near our house. 

A little bit of sunshine

The last couple weeks have been pretty boring for old Lennon. His buddy, Brixton and his mom went back home to Utah. So now I'm his only friend. I think I'm a pretty fun friend but he's getting bored with me. Kyle is working in Columbus still and comes home every 2 or 3 nights. It's hard but we FaceTime a lot and Lennon thinks that's pretty neat. Every time the phone rings he smiles and says "hi dadda!" I've been trying to keep him busy with story time at the library and trips to the park. It still rains a ton so whenever there's a sunny day we run down to the pool and take advantage of the warmth. Sunday morning we actually had a couple hours of sun so we drove up to Lakewood park, it over looks Lake Erie and has a great view of the city. That park is actually the spot where the Underground Railroad ended. People would wait on the shore there for boats to take them into Canada. After that we drove a couple miles up the road to Rocky River. It's a cute little town with shops and access to the beach. We played in the sand and water as long as we could before the rain started coming down. Lennon had so much fun carrying buckets of water back and forth to a sand castle we were building, it was really cute. 

Lake Erie Nature & Science Center

Today we drove to Bay Village and went to the Nature and Science center. They had turtles, fish, birds, rabbits, bees, and all kinds of other animals to see. Lennon loved running between the exhibits looking at everything but the bees were his favorite. They had them in a glass case so you could watch them swarm around. He also liked the rabbits and laughed watching them eat their lettuce. 

After the Nature center we had a picnic at the park, or attempted to have a picnic I should say. Lennon does not stay in one place. By the time I had our blanket and food set out he had already discovered a group of singing daycare kids and was on his way to hang out with them. It was all I could do to get him to sit and eat his lunch without wandering off. I need to get him a leash... We're so happy to finally be having some nice weather and be able to do things outside again!

National Park/Lennon

It has been a pretty rainy couple of weeks which means we haven’t been doing very much so today I thought I would just tell you about our fun trip to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and then a little about what Lennon’s been up to.

The national park is only a 30 minute drive from where we live, and it’s a really pretty drive and there are actually a couple ski resorts there! The hills are like bunny hills from what we could see, it was pretty funny.  Inside the park there’s a path that follows the old Erie Canal, this is the path the donkeys used to walk on while they pulled the boats down the canal (the tow path). We were planning to walk up the path about 4 miles and ride the Cuyahoga Valley railroad train back, but once we got there we found out that the train rides had been cancelled for the day because of all the rain, the bridges were flooding! We ended up just getting some ice cream and walking up the path a little ways so we could see the canal. It was really neat to see the canal and all the old houses and farms along the sides of it. We drove around the park after that and saw a cool covered bridge and Brandywine falls. The ranger said the falls has never had so much water coming down, it’s really crazy the amount of rain we’ve been getting out here.

Enough about all that, let’s talk about Lennon. My little guy is 16 months old!

He loves to read books, play with cars, and his giant lego set. He likes to watch all the bugs and birds he sees outside. He will spot an ant on the ground and follow it around saying “anch, anch” which is his version of “ant”. He likes to watch trucks, tractors, motorcycles, airplanes, anything that makes a sound. One of his favorite things to do is go on walks and just watch and point at all the cars he sees. He’s been really cute lately, he’s starting to really laugh hard. The other night he was laughing so hard in the bathtub he had tears rolling down his face. It’s so fun to see him become this little human with a real personality.  

Parade the Circle/Downtown

This week has been really fun! Saturday Taylor and I took the boys to an event called ‘Parade the Circle’ put on by the Cleveland Museum of Art. It was a huge parade and all of the entries were just local people who dressed up, played instruments, danced, wore stilts, decorated their wheel chairs, carried a trampoline with an acrobat on it, whatever they could create. It was awesome. I wish I could’ve got some better pictures but there were a ton of people and we were pretty far back. 

Girl on stilts riding a really tall tricycle 

Sunday the 3 of us went exploring downtown. We saw the Indian’s field, the Cavalier’s stadium, and the Brown’s stadium. One of the Cavaliers playoff games was on Sunday so the whole town was wearing maroon and there were Cavaliers flags and signs that said “ALL IN” everywhere. So, besides all the Cavs events going on, Cleveland itself is really cool. I bet we’ll go back and spend a little more time there if it ever stops raining.

(Don't mind my snapchat screen shots)

Indoor shopping center

"King James"

Playhouse Square

Last night Lennon and I were able to meet up with Aunt Dawn, Uncle Dick, and Margy’s cousin Diane. Dick and Dawn were travelling through on their way home from a wedding and Diane lives in Akron so we all met there for dinner. It was so fun to see some family!

Today we drove two and a half hours to Columbus where we will be staying until Saturday. Hopefully I have some fun Columbus things to talk about in my next post!

Nature Trail/Cedar Point

It’s been a couple weeks since my last update. Lennon and I have been keeping ourselves pretty busy. His friend Brixton got a little blow up pool and we have been over there a few times to swim.

We’ve spent a lot of time going for walks along the nature trail. Lennon especially likes to walk down to the river and throw rocks in. Every time he throws one he says “doh!” I think he’s trying to say “throw”. It’s pretty funny to see how excited he gets when he actually throws a rock far enough that it lands in the water and makes a sound. He points at every squirrel, bird, and deer that we see. He has a good eye for spotting them too, a lot of times he sees them before I do.

Sunday we got to go to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky. Kyle’s sales team won an incentive from corporate and they paid for all of us to go. The first ride we went on was the ferris wheel, it was huge and so windy at the top. It was neat because the park is at the end of a peninsula on Lake Erie so from up there you can see the huge lake on all sides of the park. Lennon wasn’t that impressed with that ride, he ate a peanut butter sandwich and waited to get down. The next ride we let him go on was the little airplanes, his first solo ride! When the worker said he was old enough to go alone I was pretty nervous, I wasn’t sure if he would try and stand up or if he would get scared but we buckled him in tight and he just sat still the entire time. After that he got to go on quite a few rides alone. Kyle and I got to go on a couple of rides. One of us would stay with Lennon while the other would go on a roller coaster and then we would switch. After the rides we took Lennon to the splash pad, his favorite part of the day. I have never seen him so excited over anything before. Kyle posted a video on Instagram and Facebook if you haven’t seen it already. It’s really cute. 

Here are just a couple of random pictures. 

Downtown Cleveland.

Playground at the mall.

Lennon loves playing in the shade tent in the living room.