Things to do with Little Kids in Cleveland.

So!  It's summer!  And there are so many fun things to do with little kids in the Cleveland area during the summer.  I thought I'd list my favorites....

Wait... in case you're wondering...Yes.  I am still pregnant.  And hot.  And .... I don't want to talk about that anymore.  Instead let's talk about something wild that happened to me that inspired this post.  I took my kids to the Rocky River Splash Park and was recognized from this blog.  That has never in many years of blogging happened to me before at a non-blogger event.  It was crazy!  But apparently this post from last year has been posted on some local parenting forums.  I had an nice chat with the ladies who knew me and they told me to keep posting.  Which I haven't done in awhile.  So here we are.

ANYWAYS!

Things To Do with Little Kids in Cleveland in the Summer.

First of all my kids are 4 and 2.  So I've been solidly in the toddler / preschool age group.  I know there are a ton of other things for bigger kids (drive in's! pools! summer camps!) but this list is pretty skewed to the smaller age group.  Second of all I do show a bit of a westside bias here... Meh.  I live in West Park.  Can't be helped.

6.)  Splash Parks:  So there's the Rocky River Splash Park which is awesome:

But only open until they open up the pool next week.  So then as a backup plan there's the Morton Splash Park:

this picture is so incredibly old and yet still makes me so happy

It's supposed to be for Fairview Park Residents only but... yeah.  I've never had a problem.  I've also heard that the Fairview Splash Park in Ohio City is super awesome and open to the entire public but we haven't been there yet.  It's on my summer bucket list for this year, though!

For a bunch of other Spraygrounds in Northeast Ohio I found this post which has a full list.

5.)  Memphis Kiddie Park (here's their website):  Last summer was the first time I took my kids.  Here's my post on it - Memphis Kiddie Park.

They had so much fun!  My then 3.5 year old rode everything but the roller coaster.

My then 18 month old was big enough to go on enough rides to keep him happy all day:

This year I think I'll really be in a sweet spot age wise where both my older kids will be into all of the rides (the newborn probably not so much).  I think once you hit kindergarten it starts to lose it's shine, though.  As far as expense this isn't a once a week place - more like a once or twice a summer place.  But absolutely worth it.

4.)  Lake Erie Nature and Science Center (here's their website): This is a great beat the heat place to go.  They have a planetarium that is ridiculously air conditioned.   They even have star shows specifically tailored to the toddler age group (Twinkle Tots every Thurs at 11 and Sat at 12).  There's also a small area with some local animals that you can see.  It's small enough that even on a 100+ degree day you won't overheat - or can get back into the AC right quick.  Perfect for when your kids want to see animals but you aren't up for the entirety of the zoo.

Another extremely old picture that makes me extremely happy.

Also they have a raccoon and for awhile my daughter was obsessed with raccoons (they wear cool masks).  So that's a huge plus!


3.)  Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (their website):  No list of anything kid related in Cleveland is complete with out the zoo.  I love the zoo.  My kids love the zoo.

And have loved the zoo since they were teeny tiny:

The zoo is also our go to for when we have out of town visitors here.  It's the perfect summer activity where all ages can spend a nice day together.  Pack a lunch and it's also an extremely economical one.  Pro tip:  The wolf lodge is air conditioned and has perfect chairs for nursing a baby.  Also a good nursing spot - behind the shark tank in the Primate Cat and Aquatics house.

2.)  Metro Parks the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (here's their website):  Pretty much wherever you live in the Cleveland Area there's a spot you can take your kids out and get into the woods.

I live very close to Hogsback lane and the Valley Parkway Trail down in the valley so it's my go towhen I just want to get the kids into nature for a bit.  There's even a few places (most notably by the boat ramp in Lakewood) where you can get right up to the river and throw rocks into the water (the Dude's favorite thing EVER)

It's hard to see but there's a huge blue heron in the background.  We watched it fly down river - I think it was more annoyed with us than scared!

But the most fun places are places where you can actuall play in the water.  Here's a post I did last summer about Big Creek Reservation where we found some awesome streams for toddlers to explore:

Recently we went to the Bedford Reservation Area of the CVNP which has some great trials for getting up close and personal with waterfalls:

 And also as muddy as possible.  Funtimes.

1.)  Rocky River Park / Beach (here's the location):  This is not the biggest beach in Cleveland.  It's not the best place for catching waves or enjoying all of fun of Lake Erie.  For that try Huntington or Edgewater.  But it is absolutely the best beach in the area for taking little kids.

There's a breakwall so the waves never get too big:

The breakwall also means you can't swim out too deep.  Essentially turning Lake Erie into a wading pool.

There's sand to play in, a playground nearby (in case you get done with the sand), dogs are allowed, and there's even a somewhat clean public restroom.  Perfect spot for taking little ones!

We went last night just to get some fresh air:

belly at the beach

overlooking the lake, watching the waves

So that's my list!  What have I missed?  What are your favorite places for kids in Cleveland?  What's on your summer bucket list?  I'd love to hear what else is out there!

The view fromt the top of the hill.

So I"m 37 and a half weeks pregnant and I spent a good chunk of Tuesday in Labor (it stopped before I progressed far enough to actually have a baby, obviously.  But progress was made!  And according to my doctor it will be "days not weeks").

You know when you get on a roller coaster and you're all  WHOOO HOO!  THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!  And then you start clicking up that hill and you get more and more nervous because this is a lot higher than it seemed from the ground, and wow we're still going up, and how can we still be going up?  Then you get to the top and that first car goes over and you have a moment of sheer panic because like it or not you're going over and AAAAAAAAH.

Yeah.  That.

But!  As panic-y as I am about all of it I am finally starting to feel like we are ready.  There's a ton of logistical nonsense to do still - the carseat isn't installed, the bottles aren't washed, the baby's room is a pile of mess, and our baby swing is broken (anyone have any recommendations for a super cheap one?  or better yet have one we could borrow for a couple of months?).  But!  More important than any of that these two are READY:

And that is calming me down considerably.  These guys have stepped up and grown up so much in the last few weeks.  It's been pretty amazing to watch.

Happily watching a movie together.  I found them like this when I got out of the shower the other day.  When I got into the shower they were both asleep and Matt had already left for work.  Who needs parents!

Things with them have gotten.... well... I don't want to say easy.  Because that's certainly not right.  And I'm not naive enough to think that any phase of parenting is any easier than any other.  But I have to say that not having to meet every single base need of every single person in this house has been kindof amazing.  Even just simple things like the dude climbing up into his own car seat have made a huge difference in my day to day life.  

Just in time to do it all again!

Haaaaa facedesk. 

But I know that the reason that they have stepped up is because we are about to do it all over again.  We've pushed them in that direction knowing what's coming.  We've encouraged independence every step of the way and we've set up our house so that they have many play happily together options:

New playhouse in the backyard.  Also look how nice our lilacs looked this year!

This sounds crazy but my real "It's all going to be ok" moment came while running errands this week.  The thought of dealing with even mundane tasks with THREE OF THEM OMFG is daunting.  Especially when I'm used to having some preschool time making it possible to grocery shop etc with only one kid.

Last day of preschool.  Great sadness ensues.

And it was fine.  Better than fine. To the point where their behavior was complimented at the BMV - somewhere that I think it's technically impossible for even adults to behave like human beings.

So, yes.  The logistics of 3 will be tricky.  It will be hard to get out the door.  It will be hard to physically manage all of it.  It's not going to be easy.  But the bottom line is that these are good kids.  They aren't going to stop being good kids just because there are more of them.

 This hill is crazy high.  Bring it on.

The Baby Dude's Room.

So!  It occurred to me as I was taking some pictures of all of our new house stuff that I never posted any pictures of the last round of redecorating that we did.  So I thought I'd take a pictures of the Dude's nursery because I really loved it.

We painted the walls blue b/c we knew he was a boy so why not.

Then my aunt made him this quilt with some pirate fabric so we devised a loose pirate/ocean/water theme from there.  It worked out perfectly because the dude's favorite thing in the whole world is water:

Some stuff was pilfered from gizmotopia - like the red mirror and the changing table stuff.  I refused to have 2 changing tables in our house even if we had two in diapers.  I stand by that policy and am repeating it again.  If it sucks for the older kid to get their diaper changed in a baby's room well, good.  More motivation to potty train:

Some stuff was new.  Like the rug (bought cheap from Target), the shelf organizers for diapers,  and the wooden blinds.

Then I added some personal touches like these pictures.  All of them are kindof ocean-y.  The top one is of Shayne's Boat in Boston, the middle Uros Islands in Peru, and the bottom Bar Harbor, Maine.  It was super fun when he reached the age that he noticed them and would point at the monster and react to it:

But my favorite thing about the room was the map.  I loved the map:

It's a full on national geographic map.  I had the idea because his name means "Man of the World" of doing a map... but all of the kids ones were too... kid like.  So we went for it.

But!  All of this is throwback.  Because shortly after I took these pictures this happened:

BIG BOY BED!!!

So proud of his new bed!

He did pretty well with the adjustment.  There were a few nights of putting him back in bed repeatedly a naptime or two where this happened:

He brought every single car, his car ramp, a pile of books, and some other nonsense into bed with him before passing out on top of the pillow.  Like you do.

But overall he handled it very well.  So last weekend the BIG move happened.  The one I've been anticipating/dreading since we found out about #3.  Last weekend we moved the dude into his sister's room.* 

I had to dig up a picture from 2011 - right after we finished it - to actually have a good picture of her room.

It... well.  It hasn't been nearly as bad as I worried it would be.  Actually they really love sharing a room.  A little too much.  The biggest issue has been that they keep each other up because they make each other laugh.  The first night (once we convinced the dude to stay in his bed) it would get real quiet and he would yell out SHARK ATTACK!!! and they would both dissolve into a heap of giggles.

Another 2011 pic.  She still had her cast!  Crazy.  This corner held her play kitchen for a long time.  Now the kitchen is in the basement and her brother lives here.

Then, last night Matt was at work so I was on my own.  And I had been trying to follow his "leave them alone.  Eventually one of them will fall asleep if you don't go in there and poke at them" advice.  But they were laughing SO HARD.  I had to find out what was going on.  As I approached the room I hear my daughter say "Here comes Mommy!  SSSSSSSHHHHHHH!"  I go inside and everyone is quiet so it takes me a moment to notice.... they had switched beds.  Like full on brought their blankets and stuffed animals with them SWITCHED BEDS.

I'm not going to lie it was pretty hilarious.

So. Yeah.  If those are the problems we're having - that they have too much fun together - I think we're doing ok.  Now to finish sorting/washing/preparing all of the baby gear and setting up a new nursery!

Which pile of newborn clothes will I be using?  Pink or Blue?  Can't wait to find out!!!

* (haven't done a foot note in awhile.  figured not everyone would want to hear all of our rationalizations)  We decided to put the two older kids together in the bigger of the two rooms.  It seemed like a better plan to me than trying to have someone share with a baby who wakes up every couple of hours.  And they are 2 and 4.  It doesn't matter if they are sharing with someone of the opposite sex.  I figure in a year or two when the baby is sleeping through the night / ready for a big bed we'll reassess.  And also consider BUNK BEDS OMFG!!!!!  We also decided that we were not going to repaint any of it.  See the girl was all upset about the room situation.  Which took me awhile to figure out b/c she was super excited about having her brother in her room with her but was then upset but was happy but upset but.... Yeah.  Turns out all of the upset was because she wanted her room to stay purple.  It mattered SO MUCH to her.  And her brother could give two shits.  So he gets to live in a purple room for awhile.  Maybe at some point we'll convince her, maybe not.  But either way it was a small concession to make to have both kids happy and adjusting!

Cincinnati an some catchup.

So!  Another couple of weeks went by in a blink.  Renovating! Organizing!  Scrubbing! Painting! Driving out of town for weddings!  Work!  Trying to figure out where to put a baby!  Everyone is sick! GAH!

But!  As I'm writing this the kids are playing happily in their new and damn close to finished playroom.

Matt is out at home depot (again.  trip 100,000 of this renovation).  And it's crazy the amount of uninterrupted time this playroom is giving me.  Seriously I've been sitting here for an hour thinking they are going to need me for something any minute.  They haven't.  So finally I went and got the laptop  (I don't think they even noticed I disappeared) and downloaded a few weeks worth of pictures.  How about a quick photo rundown?  I'll post as much as I can before a kid needs me... and... GO!

(Edited to add:  I got exactly 0 pictures posted before my kids needed me.  As soon as I wrote that I would have time I cursed it.  NEVER POKE THE DRAGON!)

So we went to Cincinnati last weekend for a friend's wedding.  We debated but ended up bringing the kids.  Figured we might as well get in one last trip as a family of 4 before travel once again becomes a BFD.  I'm so, SO glad we did.  The kids were great:

Our kids at a random park in Columbus eating Wendy's.  Because that's how we roll.

The drive was surprisingly easy both ways.  The kids have finally reached an age where we can explain what's going on and they get it enough that travel isn't horrifying.  The dude spent the whole way down just looking at trucks.

We stayed with a friend's sister and left our kids behind while we went to the wedding.  It's nice to make new friends:

And spend some time with old ones:

The next day (after breakfast with some other good friends and their adorable baby girl) we met more friends at the Newport Aquarium:

I've never been but it was pretty cool.  Much larger and with much more variety of creatures than the Cleveland Aquarium:

These things can grow up to THIRTEEN FEET.

The jellyfish room was awesome and also the stuff that nightmares are made of.

The dude had so much fun he was asleep before we left the parking garage:

But we wanted to show our girl around the city that we use to live in.  And also check out a project that Matt worked on:

Somewhere on Vine close to the no longer super-ghetto Kroger.

Matt's rendering.

Of course we had to swing by our old stomping grounds:

I lived here for 3 years.  Matt for 2.  Also we are both charter members of the Rabirius chapter of this fraternity.  And he wouldn't let me randomly knock on the door. BOOOOOOO.

And I'm not sure what nonsense went down while we were gone but DAAP is GRAY:

Um WTF.  Also Crosley is still standing.  How many rumors did I hear about them tearing that thing down?

We were told later on that the pastels will return.  They are re-cladding the entire building in metal panels.  Much better than the EIFS monstrosity it used to be.

Construction pic of the DAAP courtyard courtesy of my friend Mark.

Also in the WTF category they've clad one of the 3 sisters: 

  But Wilson Auditorium is still standing there unused and falling apart. Some things never change:

Seriously, UC.  We did a studio on adaptively reusing this mofo 11 (!!!!!) YEARS AGO.  Get it together.

And with that we headed home.  Our girl was asleep the second we were on the highway and done with fun things to look at.  She is her father's daughter through and through.

Yay for a fun trip and good friends!