Hey friends. Happy Monday!!! We had such a fun busy four day weekend. With only two weeks left of summer before school starts, we have lots we want to do. Knocking out some more items on our Summer Bucket list and a few parties mixed in.
On Thursday we had a surprise for the kids. Brian left early and showed one house then came home and we hit the road for there surprise. We get there and didn't realize they didn't open until noon, and it was like 10:30. (Brian was in charge of the planning for this surprise) This made for an impromptu trip to a nearby park.
We went to Coe Lake park in Berea. We had previously taken our family pictures here back in May. Once we arrived we realized some of the park was under construction. Austin was in heaven starring at bulldozers, backhoes, dump trucks, and huge rocks. He honestly stood at the fence three different times for at least a total of 20 minutes. He also got the dump truck driver to honk the horn at him twice.
With time to spare we decided to let the kids run around the walking paths. I knew that Austin would be cooped up in the stroller once we got to our surprise. Fresh air, and getting rid of some of his energy in house he would have a good nap later.
I love the peacefulness, family friendly lots of trails that Coe lake has to offer. There is also a fountain that is in the middle of the lake, a gazebo, a pavilion and a Pirate ship play area.
Every time we go to Coe Lake after playing on the pirate play area, Ella has to have a picture with this cement seal.
Noon finally came and we took the kids back to the surprise, the fair. Ella keeps asking to go when the fair isn't going on. We normally go to one of the local fairs every summer. My favorite part is always seeing different animals.
This year in the back of one of the barns, there we ladies spinning wool into yarn. One nice lady asked Ella if she wanted to help her. Ella made yard for a good 5 minutes.
When she was finished the made a quick bracelet out of the yarn. I told Ella she was just liking Sleeping Beauty and the spinning wheel in the movie.
I had no intentions of doing any rides at the fair. Growing up I never did the rides and we don't normally take the kids. Especially after the death and the Ohio State Fair, and an injury at one of the local festivals. Ella had other plans. She finally talked Brian into paying and going in a fun house with her.
As you can tell they both had a blast. I honestly have never done a fun house.
One of Ella's favorite parts is seeing the honey bees. She hates them at home but loves to look at them through the glass. This year I also let her buy 4 different flavored small little honey tubes.
While wondering the vendors we found a booth that had face painting for $2 (WIN, compared to another one was $10) and princess halo's for $3. She was the happiest batman princess in the world.
After the fair we just had a relaxing evening until her father came and got her. Brian and I ended up going for a walk that night with Austin.
Friday was a relaxed day. My back was bothering me and we had no real plans until the evening. Brian was scheduled to play in a softball game, Lakewood Police against Lakewood Fire. Ella wanted to watch him play so we got a babysitter for Austin. We got to the field to find it out was cancelled due to water on the field. Instead we decided to have a mother, daddy, daughter date night.
The field we were at had a tall playground, two stories high that scared the crap out of me. We let Ella play there for a good half an hour before heading to Lakewood Park. Picture above is from Lakewood Park with Cleveland skyline as our backdrop.
Lakewood Park recently put in "solstice" steps. They overlook the lake to watch boats, the sunrise and the sunsets. Ella enjoyed climbing up on down the steps.
We sat down for a little bit to watch the sunset.
Had to get a picture of us too.
Then we ended the night with Ella playing on the playground at Lakewood Park. There is so much different and fun areas of the playground. She played for a good 45 minutes.
After leaving the park we went and found some ice cream at a local ice cream shop in Lakewood. I fell in love with Ice Cream Joy with all the vegan flavors they offered. I am not vegan but I try to avoid cow milk based ice cream, it doesn't agree with my stomach and I prefer not to be in pain the rest of the evening. They had 6 different vegan flavors to choose from. I went with Mexican Coffee which is made is avocado. OMG it was amazing. Ella got "Pixie Dust" ice cream that was vanilla ice cream with pixie sticks in it. Brian got Blueberry and Brie, it had pieces of Brie cheese in it. Brian's wasn't bad I had a small taste.
Saturday morning Ella and I went to support our local North Olmsted PTA at their fall resale. I got Austin a few things. Ella got a Monster High doll, a zebra monster high hair clip, and a new sweater.
Later Saturday afternoon we celebrated my girlfriend's sons, Alex 2nd birthday.
While all our 6 kids were playing we played the Heads-Up game on one of their phones. (It is free to download on Android, but costs on an Iphone) We also took one good picture. Misty just doesn't listen to show your teeth.
Saturday night since no one really wanted to cook we tried out Mission BBQ. OMG it was delicious. I am not a big fan normally of going out for BBQ, but this place changed my mind. Also the kids both got mac n cheese, which was homemade not Kraft they ate all of it. I got a pulled pork sandwich and green beans, both were amazing. Brian got brisket, ribs, and beans. The ribs were to die for, we weren't impressed with the beans or the brisket.
After dinner we decided to put up the tent I got for my birthday and try to sleep outside. I put down all the workout mats we had, sleeping bags, blankets...
We also had our first family fire. We have lived here for a little over 2 years and finally had a fire. Brian and the buys had one last year one night. It was a gorgeous mostly clear night to see stars. We also roasted marshmallows and made smores.
We lasted in the tent until about 430-5. Austin had crawled over Ella to sleep next to me. Ella woke up then woke me up. Then Brian woke up cause he realized Austin wasn't next to him anymore. Then I had to get up to go to the bathroom. When I got up I really felt the pain in my back from sleeping on the ground. That the determining factor of us going in the house. Ella had then decided she wasn't tired and stayed up for a little bit and watch Mickey Mouse then went in her room and played for a little bit. She eventually said she was scared and lonely and I went to sleep with her in her bed. Minus the pain from sleeping on the ground sleeping in the tent went a lot smoother than I had anticipated. Now we can try actually camping, but getting an air mattress first.
Sunday we had Brian's uncle's surprise 60th birthday at a local American Legion outside pavilion.
Austin enjoyed running around. His favorite though was playing in the boat coolers with all the ice. Ella also enjoyed running around and playing with her Aunt Leah, their dog Frankie and just being a kid.
This was Uncle Jim's fishing cake (sorry picture is sideways).
Overall we had a fun busy four days. We got a few things knocked off our summer bucket list. Lots more fun planned for the weeks ahead.
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