Cleveland Botanical Garden - Part 3

This is the last installment of our trip to Cleveland.

It was a great trip to a great city.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cleveland Botanical Garden - Part 2

This was Jed's favorite part of the botanical garden - the children's garden. I could totally understand - it was a magical place, full of fantasy and whimsy and little hidden places of delight. Not to mention an awesome tree house and a pond complete with ducks.

Cleveland Botanical Garden - Part 1

This was our last, and finest, day in Cleveland. I absolutely loved the botanical garden, for many reasons, which is why this will be a 3-part series.

Can you imagine such loveliness surrounding you every which way you turn? And it wasn't even in the full bloom of spring - the leaves weren't yet out fully on the trees.

I would have loved to see this in the summer.

His Indian Name is A Whiter Shade of Pale

I have a confession to make. Although I puffed up immensely at the success of Jed's Halloween costume, I really didn't have to do much to achieve that success.

I wasn't that lucky this time around.

We weren't planning to attend our homeschool group's Thanksgiving party today, but things changed on Wednesday and so Thursday afternoon found us at Goodwill trying to find the makings of a Native American outfit.

You can judge for yourself how successful I was with that.





Jed was positively scandalized that he was wearing a ladies' top. And his moccasins are several sizes too large which caused him to continually step out of them despite the multitude of cotton balls stuffed into the toes. He made the headdress himself, out of pipe cleaners and skeleton leaves cut to look like feathers (in a very stylistic sort of way), which he insisted on wearing low on his forehead so that it resembled a unibrow.

The real clincher, though, was the make-up. I'll admit I was a little concerned about how white he looked in that shirt, especially around the chest, but I wasn't going to do anything about it. No need to worry...while I was getting dressed so we could leave in a few minutes, he was busily painting his skin with magic marker. A good idea, no? No. It looked like a beaver had built a lodge on his face.

So, instead of being on time to the meeting, we were at home trying to blend together all the hash marks he had made, amidst semi-loud protests of the physical abuse being endured. Apparently the spreading around of magic marker is irritating to the skin. Who knew?

Thankfully he took more magic markers with him in the car and applied his war paint. This prevented anyone from mistaking his Native American skin color for the jaundice that it more closely resembled.






The saving grace in all this...adorable turkey cookies!












How cute is that??

Ice Skating, Part 2

Doesn't this picture make Jed look like he really knows what's he doing??

He doesn't.

I don't know when it happened or why, but sometime during the previous week Jed apparently decided that ice skating is too hard and too risky.



That reminds me of the quote from Henry Ford, "Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right." He was bound to be right...he fell three times last week, and he fell three times this week in the first five minutes.




Oh well. He kept his smile about him at least. :)







When he wasn't sticking out his tongue in concentration, that is. :D

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Although it loses a bit of the impact now that it's November, these blossoms were a sight for our sore eyes back in April, since we hadn't seen anything like them in Maine yet. It was a sweet way to start our day at the zoo.

I'm not a big fan of zoos in general, but this one was nice....lots of "natural" habitats, beautiful trees and vegetation, and interesting walking paths.

And check this out - the equator goes right through the zoo!

Jed was quite disappointed to learn that he's not as tall as a baby giraffe.

Beautiful tropical birds.

Don't see too many of these around here.

Mad Skillz

I gotta tell you, I know I might not be the best photographer around, but at least I don't charge anybody.

Can you believe a Sears Portrait Studio wanted me to buy this picture?? Who takes a portrait with the subject just standing there, squarely facing the camera?

I gotta learn how to work my camera! And get some backgrounds and lights and an assistant. :)

Meanwhile, we've been up to our ears in the mass production of Christmas cards and ornaments. It looks like we're on track to have our Christmas preparations completed by the end of November.

It would be so nice to actually enjoy the month of December!

Ice Skating

Jed took his first skating lesson yesterday!

Unfortunately, next week will be his last lesson...and he's in need of way more than two lessons. :) But these were offered free to our homeschool group, and it was a nice chance to see if he likes it.

He does!

The rink has public skating every Friday from 12:00-2:00. I'm seriously thinking of giving it a whirl myself.

Tower City Center

I can count on less than one hand how many times I've been to a mall since we moved to Maine. They're just not around. I don't miss them that much, but it was fun wandering around one in Cleveland...and Tower City Center was really nice.







Located on the Huron Road waterfront, Tower City is full of musical memorabilia (including a Hard Rock Cafe)...





...and gorgeous windows.
























Jack is a friend from Missouri who was attending the same conference as Tracy. Jed had so much fun playing with him, he sent Jack a sucker when we got home.

I'm sure Jack was impressed. :)

Great Lakes Science Center

Another awesome place in Cleveland!

Museum of Natural History

This place was gorgeous!













I love big cities...so many great places to go...especially great in the winter. :)










We spent most of the day here, wandering around the outdoor exhibits when the weather permitted.










The view from our hotel, overlooking the Cleveland city hall (center), the Browns stadium (on the far left), and Lake Erie (blue stuff in the background). hehe









Sunset over Lake Erie (and the Cleveland Browns stadium).






Stay tuned for Day 3...

The Children's Museum of Cleveland

I've run out of photos to post - yahoo! Finally, something I'm caught up on. :)

Not to fear, though, dear readers (all 6 of you!)...I saved photos from a trip to Cleveland we took right after we moved, back in April.

I know what you're thinking...how could I have taken a trip to an exotic locale like Cleveland and not mentioned it before now??

I'm just nice that way...didn't want to make anyone jealous. :)

Our first day was spent at an awesome children's museum, with lots of things to play with, climb on, and pretend.








This ship's masting was so very cool.
















A cute snaggletooth grin, no?












Tracy volunteering to be the patient just so he can lie down for a few minutes.












Dinner with Keith, a good friend of ours from Missouri that lives in Cleveland now.












The sleeping diva.




Stay tuned for Day 2....