Cleveland Aquarium Visit

So we took our family to the brand-spanking new Cleveland Aquarium:

It's located in the old Powerhouse in the flats.  We actually had our wedding reception at Windows so I have a bit of an affection for this place:

And lived at the Bingham in the background.  Funtimes.

The powerhouse is a really interesting building and I was excited to see it used in this way.  It's been a million and a half things since they redid it as an entertainment complex but I think this is by far the coolest:


The exhibits were really well done.  My kid especially liked the "Kitty Fish" (any fish with whiskers) in the Ohio Lakes and Rivers exhibit.  And we watched the stingrays for a long, long, long, long time.


One of the neatest things about the aquarium is how they use the building.

Tanks are tucked in underneath brick arches:



Exhibits are arranged around long, vaulted passageways:



And they give you peeks at the iconic smokestacks:

Lobsters?  In the smokestack?  I don't quite get it but it looks cool so I'll run with it.

The interactive tank was impressive but also super crowded.  I'm going to guess that will get better with time:

My kid:  I touched alot of things.  A spiny thing.  And a bug thing.  And... I didn't pet a shark.

But all of it was leading up to the grand finale.  The shark tank:

It was HUGE.   The sharks were HUGE.  And had TEETH:

The shark tank (and all of the tanks, actually) was really, really cloudy.  I'm told that it will get clearer with time but I'm glad we got to experience it while it was still murkey.  Made the whole thing seem unreal and extra spooky:

My kid before bed that night:  "I liked the sharks but I was a little afraid that they were going to eat my brother."

The last thing before exiting through the giftshop is the underwater tunnel:

It goes on for-ev-er.  In a good way.  And while everything was still murky so we couldn't see much we did have a school of stingrays swim directly over us:

How. Cool. Is. This?!

My biggest complaint* is that it wasn't what I was expecting based on my knowledge of the building.  I wanted to see fishtanks set against sweeping views of the river and the flats.  Like the logo depicts:

 But that never happened.  I also expected some ridiculous spaces in terms of vertical volume but that never happened either.  Everything was pretty much one story, in the basement.  They made the decision to use the old Rock Bottom Brewery as the snack shop and didn't claim any of those spaces for exhibits.  I was picturing tanks where the old brew kettles were.

Why are there not giant tanks everywhere in here?  It would have been so cool!

But I'll give them a pass considering that I know nothing at all about the requirements for aquariums.  When I had an algae bloom in our sad little home setup the first thing they asked me was "is it near a window?"  So I'm guessing that on this big of a scale natural light and heat need to be really carefully controlled.  Probably not possible in a space with sweeping views of downtown.

Bummer.

Overall though it was a really cool place.  We ended up buying a membership (it pays for itself in 2 trip) and I plan on taking the kids again soon.  

I liked the fish.

*Not the stroller controversy.  Seriously, people.  Not everywhere can accommodate strollers.  There are narrow hallways and big crowds.  It is not an affront to families or anti-children.  It is simple math.  Although it would have been nice if they had a coat check.  Or even the ability to run out to the car if necessary (they have a no-reentry policy).  As it stands most of the parents there looked like pack-mules (kids in carriers!  Diaper bags! Coats for everyone!  We have to carry all of the things!).

Project Runway Recapped by a Toddler

Ok so.  This weeks installment of What My Toddler Thinks about Project Runway is admittedly much less fantastic than last week's amazing.  She was out partying too late last night and is a bit cranky today.  Plus I made the error of allowing her to see some of the sewing room portion of the show.  Which meant she was no longer interested in watching dresses because she wanted to make one of her own.


This mainly involved cutting up pieces of yarn and then holding them up to her stuffed animals saying "What a pretty dress"

The second the show was over she begged me to go upstairs to my studio where she wanted to draw and then sew.


My sewing machine may be a toy but I can out design any of you people.  Have you seen my squirrel-y dress?

Anyways!  On to her commentary:

..... (She had nothing to say about this dress whatsoever.)

It's kindof a Malificent dress... kindof... I don't like this dress.

It has alot of lines.

Where's the rest of her dress?

 That's pretty silly.

I don't like this dress.

Oh wow!  Look at her Hat!  (and then she went and put on a tutu)  It looks like a hat!!!

That dress has some things on it.  I like her crown.  That's a beautiful crown!

 It looks like a touchdown (football jersey).  She has some boots on!  She needs a coat and a hat on.

That's pretty awesome.  It's so shiny!  I like this dress.

She looks like big bird!

So the shiny dress was her clear favorite.  And I'm just going to go ahead and say that her lackluster commentary was because of the lacluster dresses.  Nothing was all that amazing this week.  I actually did like Mila's dress as a dress but now that my daughter has called it a football jersey I can't see anything else.  The fabric completely looks like football jersey fabric.  Crazy that.

Making Friends.

A blog about blogging!  And facebook!  What could be more intersting?  And when I tweet the link to this I will have created a turducken of social media!

So I"m doing this thing via the Secret to Success is Support Girls called 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.  I'm only on day 4 but so far it has inspired a few changes around here.  Meaning... drumroll...

I actually, finally have an About Me page!

Crazy that.  I also have added some fancy tabs at the top to try to organize my content like a grown up blogger would.  They need some work.  The blogroll especially needs some help.  But it will get there.

Also fun an exciting and all of that....

Life in Cleveland now has a facebook page!

Not sure what I'll do with that yet.  Probably just post updates there when I update here.  In case you like to get your blog feed on that way.  Please like me?

Speaking of begging people to like me... The day 3 challange was to find a blogging buddy.  I'm a little fuzzy on what that means but I'm guessing it's someone who you can hang out with and watch crappy reality tv.  Or you know... help promote each others blogs.  One of the two. And then I realized that the latest post up on my blog - the first thing all of these new people who were assessing if they wanted to be friends with me or not would see - was a post about me making a drunken fool out of myself and then getting food poisoning.

Right.  I win at social media.

Fortunately 3 bloggers wanted to play along with me.  So in the spirit of being a good blog buddy here's a little bit about them:

First is Amanda over at Raising Miss Mommy.  She blogs about raising a baby girl.  Her latest post about a parenting bucket list really got me thinking.

Next is Billie over at The Unexpected Mother.  She has two little boys and considering that she mentions Kaluha in her About Me paragraph I have a feeling we're going to be BFF's.

Finally is Kisha over at Untagged Seeds.  This blogger freaked me out because SHE IS ME.  No seriously.  There are two of us.  She was an architect, went on maternity leave, and then never went back, has a fiber-related Etsy site, was a charter member of APX at her school, and lives on a Great Lake in the rust belt.  I read her profile outloud to my husband and he thought I was talking about me.  Yeah. 

So Yay for making new friends!  And double Yay because tonight is Project Runway.  I can't wait to see what my kid thinks of it!

She wants me to make her Madeline doll a fancy skirt.  Seriously.

The last 48 hours.

So.  Wow.  Where to begin.  The last 48 hours have been insane.  How 'bout I start at the beginning.

Sat morning we decided to take advantage of the snow and take our kids on a sledding adventure.  I crowdsourced twitter for ideas on where to go and the overall recommendation was the Westlake Recreation Center.  Done and Done:

I also found this awesome website for all of your Ohio sledding needs.

Superfuntimes sledding.  But as things go we left the hill with both kids completely melting down and hungry.  So we made the grave error of stopping at KFC for some quick 'n easy lunch.

Bad Idea.  But I"ll get to that.

So we ate our lunch, laughed at how much our daughter went crazy over the popcorn chicken (clearly she is not very familiar with the ways of fast food.  I intend to keep it that way), and went on with our day.

Later we dropped the kids off at my parents house for a night of fun with the grandparents.  And I got to dust off (literally) my cocktail shaker and make myself one of these:

The Perfect Citron Cosmo.

Matt was feeling a little under the weather but I gave him the SERIOUSLYMANUPWENEVERGETOUTEVERAAAAH. Speech and away we went.  Bad Idea #2 but I'll get to that one as well.

So we met up with some of our friends at the Church Bar - which, totally recommend if you're looking for a "mix" bar in Cleveland.  Superfuntimes.  Couple of thoughts:  If you order a Citron Cosmo with the disclaimer "I know this is SO 2005 but..." you will make fast friend with the bartenders.  Also watching Tebow get his ass handed to him was extra super fun at a "mix" bar.

Somewhere during the night Matt decided that he REALLY wasn't feeling well (DANGER, WARNING, DANGER) and left me to fend for myself / make lots and lots of new friends.  And Oh did I have a ball.  I got to find out what a "mix" bar was from the manager  ("A bar where everyone feels welcome." "So, like, a bar."  "Well more welcoming than that."  "So one with alcohol?"  I am a bit slow sometimes), challange the bartenders to their cosmo making skills earning myself a free one in the process, and compare iphones with a group of gay men (Grinder.  DUDE.).  Which resulted in many of these:

I consider it a monument to my self restraint that I only posted one random filmstrip of my new BFF's  to facebook.

Eventually I made it home.  The second I walked in the door it hit me.  I remember at one point thinking 4 martinis in 5 hours does not equal worshiping the porcelain god drunk.  It equals thinking you're fantastic drunk.  And I am too fantastic to be this sick.  Plus why is Matt puking in the other room?  There's something wrong with this picutre.

I'll spare you all of the puking in stereo details of the next few hours but suffice it to say both of us ended up in the hospital with a serious case of food poisoning.  And my poor parents got to relive what it's like to have a sick and puking toddler. Luckily the little dude was spared the horrors of the situation.



Which means 2 things:

It was the popcorn chicken.

And I will never, ever, EVER eat KFC ever again.

So yeah.  That happened.  Thankfully we're all on the mend now.

What a crazy weekend.

My 2.5 year old's thoughts on Project Runway

So since our plans were cancelled I declared today a SNOW DAY.  Meaning same rule bending as a sick day - lots of movies!  picnics in the living room!  All of the craft supplies out at the same time!  Mommy in a tutu!  It's crazy around here.  Anways before I let my kid put in a movie I wanted to watch the last 15 min of Project Runway Allstars that I had fallen asleep for the night before.  I figured she'd at least be partially into it since the challange was couture (or as described by one of the contestants "prom dresses turned up a notch")  I explained the concept that they would pick their favorite dress and send the worst dress home.

She made me rewind and watch the runway 2 more times.

Don't let the monkey jammies fool you.  This kid knows her couture.

I typed up her reactions to the gowns for your amusement:

Looks like a Sleeping Beauty Dress!  Why she have a bib on?  Is she eating some lunch?  I don't like the polka dot bib.

Ooooh I like that one.  Looks like the hair movie (Rapunzle).  It's very sparkly.  But she doesn't have long hair.  No.  That's my favorite dress.

I don't like a dress.  What a pretty neck-a-lace!    It's very sparkly.  I have a sparkly neck-a-lace but not SO sparkly.

LOOK AT THOSE SHOES!  Mommy, LOOK AT THEM.  I need some shoes like that.  They are very tall.  I will be way up a sky!

(this designer kept referring to her dress as a Cinderella dress) That's not a Cinderella dress.  It has too many colors for Cinderella.  I like the purple and orange.  Cinderella does not like purple and orange.

She looks like a birdy.

 That dress has sparkly kitty fabric!  It's fantastic.

She should go home because that dress looks like my tent.

(unsure of this one) Do you like this dress, Mommy?  I like the arm tights.

I'm tired of this dress.  (when I asked her to elaborate she explained)  It looks like all of the dresses everywhere all the time.

 The stepmothers ripped that dress apart!  It's not very pretty because they ripped it all up.

It's a Malificent dress!!!  They wouldn't send Malificent home. No.  She has horns!

Her clear favorites were the Rapunzle dress and the Malificent dress.  I can't say I disagree with her.  And based on this commentary - and the fact that Miss Piggy is the guest judge next week -  I see lots of mother/daughter viewings of Project Runway in our future.  I love this kid.

Proof I love my Husband.

So big Christmas wrapup post coming... along with some fun knitting stuff.  But all of that got put on hold because today the Steelers are in the playoffs.  Which meant that today the kids are wearing the new gear they got for Christmas.  Which means that I had to try to take a picture of them in their adorable matching outfits.  As I've mentioned before, my daughter does not usually wear matching outfits.

It went exactly as well as you would think it would:




My kids are crazy.


I"m glad I didn't fight the battle of the hair tie with my daughter.  Crazy hair is the least of our problems here:


Although it's certainly not helping anything.

I did catch a couple of cute smiles.



And a few shots where neither of them looks deranged:


Nothing amazing but good enough to print for Matt's desk at work.


I am not in any of the photographs because I do not wear Steelers gear unless they are in the Super Bowl.

Go Browns! (and Steelers too, I guess)