Time is flying away from me. We spent two weeks in Cleveland and have been back home in Brooklyn long enough that I already went out of town for 2 nights for a good friend’s bachelorette party. Cleveland was great, but a bit too long away from home. We were happy to get to spend a lot of time with family, though, and to see people multiple times rather than feeling rushed to squeeze in visits. Cleveland is fun in the summer so it’s nice to have the opportunity to experience that aspect.
Some of the highlights… we went to my niece’s high school graduation party and got to stay at my sister’s house two nights, which we never do. We stayed with Yia Yia and Papa Hankie two nights when Daddy was briefly in town with us. The remainder of the time we stayed at my Mom’s on the westside, which we also never do. Many days were spent relaxing in her yard by the pool, playing with the slip n’ slide, bike riding and scooting in the yard.
Theo had a few one-on-one days with Grandpa Joe. One where he got to go to a medieval festival, ride on a real! elephant and see “mermaids” swimming in a giant tank. Theo visited the Great Lakes Science Center with Grandpa Joe and also toured the USS Mather and the USS Cod submarine, which he absolutely loved. We took him again this year to the Memphis Kiddie Park with a friend, had friends over my Mom’s for a pool party, visited an awesome new splash pad and were able to catch one Wade Oval Wednesday at the Cleveland Museum of Art outdoor concert.
Ruby did really well being away from home actually, and napped well all week and was generally a happy gal. She still woke up a lot at night so my sleep was very fragmented, but we survived. She got much more used to the car and on the way back was able to take longer naps in the car seat. She is pretty much fine now in the car, I’m happy to report.
The drive was tough. It took us 10 hours to get there, and I think almost 11 hours to get back to NYC. Mostly we had to stop often to feed Ruby, but Theo was also pretty antsy. More antsy than he had been driving in the past. “When are we gonna be to Cleveland?” and “It’s further than I remember!”. Audio books were a good addition to our drive for Theo. He had his own little headphones and he loved that option, but this time he wasn’t helpfully distracted by watching episodes or movies that Jay had loaded onto his old phone. Needless to say, I’m not trying to do that again for awhile. And I mean a LONG while.
I’m always so happy to visit everyone and get to really spend time there, but at this age for the kids it’s so hard for us all. It felt so wonderful to get home and into our own beds. When we got home Theo was shouting, “I missed this door, I missed these steps!”. It was very sweet. He missed Daddy so much, too, and that was really hard. Next year I will not forget that 2 weeks is just too long! 7-10 days max.
Home sweet home!
(More photos to come! I’m currently having an issue importing photos. Stay tuned.)
Aww, glad you guys had fun, though I hear you on the travel. Not sure I could deal with that long of a drive, and we only have 1!