A walk in the Cleveland woods: Chicago 2013

My brother lives in Cleveland, which is only a short drive if you are already in Chicago. One of our goals is to have our children see their cousins in their homes, so we decided to make the trip, even though it would be short. When we left Neuffers Tuesday morning, we started our drive to Cleveland. There was a LOT of rain that day (and flooding--but it didn't affect our travel). There was water almost the whole way, lightning, and tons of road construction. Not the fastest anyone's ever made that trip for sure.

Sarah coaches Emily's softball team and we were hoping to watch their game. It was cancelled due to weather, which ended up being a good call, even though we were disappointed. We walked to their neighborhood park but had to run home as the next shower started. We enjoyed an impromptu "Music Night" by my brother. He invited everyone who had musical talent to share it, even though we are amateurs in his presence. He went from one instrument to the next, and at one point he played guitar & harmonica at the same time. He is amazing--the real one man band. He made us a CD of songs he's working on and we listened to it twice on the way back to Chicago. The quality of this video is actually awful. If you want to hear it, it's me on the piano, Danny on the string bass, Bryn & Emily singing.

It was pretty late when we all fell asleep, but Danny had the day off work, so we didn't have to move early.

In the morning we planned two things: a walk in the woods and a trip to the swimming pool. I only brought my camera to one . . . .
The woods were a short drive from their home. Completely shaded, so lush and green--that's what all the Tuesday rain did.

We debated swimming in Lake Erie since we could, but decided against it because of the storms all day just the day before. Their neighborhood pool is great, though. They have a waterslide and diving boards (features ours doesn't), and I used both of them. I'm pretty sure it's been 20 + years since I've done either one. Great fun.

Sarah made dinner for the kids and then the adults went out to MELT, which is not far from their home.
The wait was SUPER long, but it was great food. I've never had celery on a sandwich before, but I liked it!!!
When we planned it, we knew it would be a short time. It was worth it, though. Their family usually visits the west in the summer but are not planning to this year, so it was nice to see them. We left early the next morning.
Thanks, Parks fam!