A Weekend in Cleveland, Ohio

Last weekend, we went on a weekend getaway to Cleveland, Ohio. This wasn't my first trip to Cleveland, but it was my first trip to the Cleve where I actually got out and saw the city and did some fun stuff. Cleveland is compared to Detroit a lot. And it really did remind us of our own Motor City. The downtowns are of similar size and look, but Cleveland has been more successful at developing its lakefront with the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, the Great Lakes Science Center, Browns Stadium, other attractions, and hopefully soon an Aquarium (if they raise their funds). Driving away from the city center, you see similar sites as you see leaving Detroit - blighted neighborhoods mixed with some working class neighborhoods. You also see some very industrial areas - huge areas, for as far as you can see. They look just like Zug Island in Detroit, only they're not just contained to a one area, they're set down low in the valley and cover a vast expanse of land surrounding downtown. But once you get past that, it starts looking like the suburbs of Detroit again - lots of nice areas and some more areas hit by blight. Overall, though, its a nice city and surrounding area.

We decided not to stay downtown, which we were very glad about once we got there. Cleveland isn't a place you can go and not have to drive everywhere, so it didn't really make much sense to stay downtown... plus the downtown hotels didn't have pools. So we stayed out in the suburb of Richfield so that we had easy access to the highways and were also very close to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

We arrived in Cleveland early on Friday afternoon. We headed straight to the Great Lakes Science Center. We got in for free with our Impression 5 membership. What a cool place! And its huge! Three levels of fun exhibits, from bubbles to a huge ball pit to doorways filled with fog to flight simulators. We spent a few hours at the science center checking everything out. All three of us found lots of super cool exhibits to check out! Carson kept wondering when his buddy Vayla was going to show up in her purple coat since we normally go to the museums with her. :)







After the GLSC, we headed out to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park for some waterfall finding and hiking. We found the Brandywine Falls, which are the largest in the area at 60 feet tall. Carson was so excited to see some waterfalls and thought they were so cool! He has been talking about waterfalls for the last few weeks, so we were excited to be able to show him some in person. We did a good bit of hiking on Friday, as well. Carson LOVES hiking and just being in the woods. He keeps asking us to go on a good hike every day. Then we headed to dinner at a local mom 'n pop type restaurant. After dinner, we headed to the hotel to check in to our jacuzzi suite (also free using some of our hotel points). We headed straight to the pool for some swimming. Carson is still a fish and did very well at remembering the things we learned in swim class last fall. He had a blast and did not want to get out, even after swimming for almost an hour.






On Saturday, we headed out to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Rainforest first thing in the morning. When Carson heard we were going to the rainforest, he asked if it was the Maui Rainforest in Hawaii. He said that's where he wanted to go. :) But he was okay with it when we told him it was only at the Cleveland zoo. We were able to get in free with our Potter Park membership. It was quite a large zoo (we were there from the time they opened at 10am until about 1:45 and didn't end up seeing quite everything). It also involves a good deal of walking up and down huge hills with pretty decent grades. You definitely get a good workout! We got to see lots of animals. Carson loved them all. He is still talking about all the animals he saw and about how he had "never seen a camel before."





We took a drive when we left the zoo so that Carson could get a quick nap in. We headed east over to the North Chagrin Cleveland Metropark Reservation. We just drove through it for awhile and then parked near Squire's Castle and waited for Carson to wake up. He was so excited to see a real castle and walk through it once he woke up and saw it! This was another free thing to do. We then did some hiking in the woods near the castle for about 45 minutes. Then headed back to the car and over to the Buttermilk Falls. From there we took another hike (for about an hour) and found the nature center and lake. Carson had so much fun on this hike - and yes, he actually does the hiking, too... he only asked to ride on Sara's shoulders for about 10 minutes... not bad for such little legs. Carson got to climb down by the river under a huge fallen tree and stand on the (dry) river rocks. He thought that was so cool. But he also had just as much fun finding sticks and going fishing for leaves in the woods. He just loved it!












After our hikes in North Chagrin, we stopped for a quick dinner and headed back to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We made quick drive through the Bedford Cleveland Metropark Reservation. We stopped to see the Bridal Veil Falls and did a short hike. Then we took the Scenic Byway drive through the National Park. We made a few stops along the way at scenic overlooks and such and for another quick hike. We ended at the Blue Hen Falls and took another longer (and vertically challenging!) hike. Carson did it all and refused to be carried! Then we headed back to the hotel for some swimming and relaxing.





Sunday morning we got up with plans to ride the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Train through the National Park, but Carson had other ideas. He just wanted to swim, lounge, and relax. So that's what we did. It was nice! We'll come back in the fall sometime and bring our bikes to bike the Tow Path and ride the train to see the fall colors.

After our relaxing morning, we headed out to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for a quick visit. We took a drive through Rockefeller Park on our way - what a beautiful park! Lots of amazing bridges and great gardens that are probably fabulous in May or June when things are blooming! We spent a little time at the museum (again, it was free with our Impression 5 membership), checking out the dinosaur skeletons and lots of other cool stuff. We grabbed a quick lunch and then hit the road for home.






It was a great trip! And it was just what we needed - a weekend away - since both Kevin and I have been having very busy and stressful weeks/months at work lately. Cleveland is a perfect weekend getaway. Only 3 1/2 hours away and a perfect mix of city and wilderness! There is something for everyone! You could definitely just do one or the other and there is so much that we didn't do. I'm sure we'll go back sometime in the future. And we'll definitely take our bikes next time!

Easter 2010

We celebrated Easter this year by going to Good Shepherd Christian Reformed Church with Kevin's family in the morning. We then headed over to Sara's parents' house for dinner and a family party. Carson, Mackenzey, and Cayden all got to go on a fun easter egg hunt and got lots of goodies in their eggs. The weather was perfect and it was so nice to spend the day outside. We even had a family softball "game"... more just hitting and throwing the ball... no bases or anything.

MSU Gardens

On Good Friday, we met up with all of the Hollebooms in East Lansing at the MSU Butterfly House and Children's Gardens. We went to celebrate all of the March and April birthdays - there are a lot of them... Mary, Anna, Justin, Joel, and Rebecca. There weren't a ton of butterflies - for one its early and secondly, they didn't receive as many cocoons this year as they normally do because of the colder weather Florida has been having. It was still pretty, though. And the kids all still had a lot of fun checking everything out. The weather was perfect while we were there, too. Actually, it felt hot, which is strange for the second day of April in Michigan... but it made for a great day!

Strawberries!

We borrowed a book from our library about a giant strawberry, a mouse, and a bear. Every time we read it, Carson would ask for a strawberry. This went on for a few weeks and I still had not bought any strawberries. I finally bought some a few weeks ago now and Carson was in heaven when he saw them and got to eat them! He was so funny! Just had to share a few pictures of his dramatic strawberry eating. :)

A Growing Little Man

Since Carson is now 2 years old and his age is not measured in months anymore, I've stopped doing the monthly updates on his life. But I will still be keeping you updated on his developments through random posts. They just won't be as regular. Hope you enjoy them! :)

Carson sure keeps us laughing. The things he comes up with are just downright hilarious sometimes. He's on this kick where everything is the biggest, longest, tallest, shortest, smallest, shiniest, etc. whatever that he has ever seen. Here are a couple examples of how he has used this phrase lately:

The other day, we were playing outside, enjoying the beautiful weather and digging holes in the flower garden. Carson dug up a worm that was about 2 inches long. Immediately upon seeing the worm, he exclaimed, "Wow! That's the biggest snake I ever see!" He was determined that the worm was actually a snake and refused to accept the fact that it was, indeed, a worm. And 2 inches was huge to him! Hopefully he'll get to see some real snakes during our trip to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Rainforest in a couple of weeks. I'm sure he will just be amazed!

Another example... We were shopping a week or so ago and we saw little boy with rather big hair. Carson pointed to him and said, "That's the tallest hair I ever see, Mama." It was hard not to just burst out laughing! Thankfully we were out of earshot of the boy and his mother.

Carson is also very sensitive lately. He gets his feelings hurt so easily and will just want to hug and cuddle while telling you, "I'm sad, Mama. I'm SO sad, Mama." He gets sad when he sees sad things on TV having to do with pets, too. Whenever that ASPCA commercial with the Sarah MacLachlan song playing comes on TV, he hears it where ever he is in the house and comes running and actually cries while saying he's so sad. He just gets so upset by it. He gets sad when he sees one of the Little Einstein shows where they have to say goodbye as they put their music pet on the train, too. That makes him cry, as well. It seems he has a big soft spot in his heart for animals just like his Mama and Daddy do!

Carson is also very loving. He loves everything these days. Many times a day, he'll be in the middle of something and will stop and come up to you, giving you a big hug and kiss while saying, "I love you, Mama/Daddy/Grandma/etc." It is the best thing ever. He also quite often picks up his blankie, or a toy of his, hugging it, and saying "I love my blankie/yellow teddy bear/ball/train/screwdriver/etc." And he tells Jet and Denver that he loves them daily, as well. It's so cute.

Carson is just soaking everything in still. He continues to love books and is memorizing many, many of his favorites. He loves to read them to you - he is so proud. We are still learning our letters and try to do some fun activities that have something to do with the letter whenever we can, as well. Carson is very good at picking out letters and telling you some words that begin with that letter. He still loves his numbers, too. He loves to count, both forwards and backwards. And loves to tell you how many are in a double/both, triple, quadruple, etc. We are going to start working on counting in French and Spanish now, too.

We have now entered the "mine" phase. I was hoping we'd skip this one. I really don't know how/where he picked it up. He's not bad about it, at least. He just claims everything as his... my house, my couch, my book, my blankie, my tv, my remote, my dog, my bushes, my trees, my window, my mailbox, my dirt, my yard, my fence, my gate... everything is Carson's now. :) He hasn't really started the part of grabbing something you have and saying "that's mine," at least. He just points at it and says it. I know this is just a phase of development that every 2-year old goes through, but I do hope we pass through it quickly. At least, we're starting to leave the "No" phase behind a bit. He's more likely to say "doesn't like this" or "don't like that" instead now.

I could keep going, but that's enough for now. We are just having so much fun and are so blessed to have such a fun-loving, sensitive, funny, hyper, smart, and sweet little man!

Kids 'N Stuff Museum, Albion, MI

Today we went to the Kids 'N Stuff children's museum in Albion, MI with our friends, the Chapmans. We had never been to Albion before. Its a cute, little old town with a pretty cute main street. Although, one of the first things we saw upon driving through town was a big drug bust going down - cops blocking off the street and the SWAT team van in front of some house. That gave us a good chuckle. :)

The museum was really cute with lots of fun stuff. It was larger than you'd expect for such a small town. Carson and Vayla had a lot of fun together, as always. They shopped in the grocery store, played in playhouses with different countries as themes (Mexico, India, France), played on an indoor play structure, played with a train set, jumped on huge pillows, tried rock wall climbing, played musical instruments, did some messy art, pretended they were pilots of a single-engine airplane, veterinarians in the play vet clinic, and doctors on the life-size Operation game themed table, played with legos, played in the kitchen and post office, and just ran around having a great time. Carson was so excited to see Vayla this morning and he is still wanting to just go "play at Vaya's house." They have a lot of fun together.

After the museum, we had lunch at a local restaurant, Cascarelli's. We split a really yummy pizza and an order of breadsticks. The food was delicious! By the time we finished lunch, it was time to head home and nap on the ride (well Carson did anyway). It was another super fun Saturday with the Chapmans! We have all really been enjoying our monthly tour of children's museums with them. Its fun to explore our awesome state and do fun things along the way! We may take a break from our tours now for a few months as we're heading into the summer months and life just gets crazy then. But maybe we'll fit some more in on some rainy Saturdays or something. We still have a long list to get to! We'll pick back up in the fall/winter again, for sure, though!

I'll work on getting all our pictures uploaded to Shutterfly in the next week or so.

Mackenzey's 1st Birthday!

Last Saturday was our cousin Mackenzey's first birthday! Mackenzey is the daughter of Sara's cousins, Jorie and Greg. We all went over to Greg's mom's house for Mackenzey's party. She knew it was her day and was having such a great time! It was so fun to watch her open her gifts. She and Carson got pretty mesmerized by several of her toys as she opened them. Mackenzey absolutely loved her cake, too. She was quite cautious at first, but soon got right into it and was loving it! Carson had a hard time waiting for his own cupcake. :) Greg went all out in making the cupcakes, chocolate and vanilla cake, all with some sort of filling and different flavored icings and toppings - they were delicious!

We all had fun at the party and wish you a Happy Birthday, Mackenzey! We are so excited for this summer when Carson and Mackenzey can run around and play together at the lake!

Spring Fever!

We all have a serious case of spring fever at our house! This last week of nice weather is such a tease, because you know this is Michigan and we're due for another snow storm or some crazy weather between now and the end of April. But we're trying to enjoy the nice weather while it's here, regardless! We have been spending time outside every night when we get home from work, riding bikes in the driveway and riding around in the play cars and tractor. Carson is really getting the hang of his new bicycle. He stands up while he's riding it because he's discovered he gets the best momentum and can go the fastest when he does. He is still trying to figure out the brakes, though, and he'll press the pedals backwards to brake when he isn't ready to sometimes and it catches him off guard. No crashes yet, thankfully! But he always wears his new Trek bicycle helmet when he's riding, so we're ready for it if it happens. Unfortunately, the only picture I've taken outside so far is this one, where Carson was having some issues riding his bike in his rain boots (but he insisted on wearing them) and did eventually get used to having them on while riding (after I'd taken the camera back inside).

We've been playing t-ball in the house, trying to get ready for when we can play outside this summer. Carson has a long way to go in learning the correct way to play and hit (and the correct height to have the tee at... he insists on having it super high when he hits), but he is loving every minute of it still! We play t-ball just about every single day and we practice throwing the foam baseballs around, too. He has a great throw! Although, we're finding he generally throws the baseballs with his left hand. He is still so ambidextrous - he eats and writes with both hands almost equally still. We're starting to see a little more use of his right hand when it comes to coloring, but its still not enough to be able to tell if he's going to be a rightie or a leftie. Only time will tell, I guess. :)




We've finally planned our first vacation of 2010. We'll be heading to Cleveland, Ohio for a weekend getaway in a few weeks. We considered returning to Chicago again (we went there last April) since we had such a great time there, but we decided to try a new city. We're able to get into the zoo and several museums for free with our Impression 5 and Potter Park Zoo memberships (they'll save us $70 in admission fees at the museums and zoo!). And we're hoping the weather is nice so we can check out some of Cleveland's great metroparks while we're there. Either way, I'm sure we'll have a nice time and it'll just be good to get away for the weekend and do lots of fun stuff! Next, we'll start planning our summer vacations - first up will be our trip to Denver!

Seuss-a-Palooza

Last Saturday, we made a trip to the Flint Childrens' Museum for Seuss-a-Palooza to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. Uncle Jason, Anna, and Joel met us up there, too. Carson had so much fun with his cousins! They had a blast checking everything out. They played dress-up on the stage, played in the pizza parlor and in the grocery store, pretended they were firemen on the old-school fire truck, played musical instruments and ran around the cool room where you step on buttons to make music, built with different types of building sets, and so much more!








They made Horton hats for Seuss-a-Palooza during the time we were there.


We all had a fun time and Carson wasn't ready for it to end! He is really pushing himself farther and farther these days. He has started going without a nap at all on some days, though he still does benefit from at least a one hour nap after lunch. But he will not give in if he has been having lots of fun.

Memories of Grandma

I thought I'd post what I wrote and read today at my Grandma's funeral. I didn't think I was going to be able to read it... I couldn't even read it sitting in my bedroom at home practicing the night before the funeral. And while I did have some tears and some pauses to regain control... I made it through and I'm very glad I did. It meant a lot to my Grandpa for me to say what I said and I know my Grandma was listening and was loving every minute of it, too. I could have gone on and on and on with awesome memories of my Grandma, but these were just a few highlights that came to mind first...

"My Grandma was such an awesome grandmother. Now, I’m sure that most of you sitting here have the same feeling about your grandmother, but I really do think, and I'm sure my cousins will all agree with me, that there was something extra special about this Grandma. She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a sister, a friend to each of us here in this room. I know we all have our own special memories with her, but I wanted to just share a few things that I will remember most about Grandma.

When I think of Grandma, the first thing that comes to mind is food. Grandma was such a great cook! You definitely never left her house hungry! She was a believer that great food led to a great time and she thoroughly enjoyed watching us eat the delicious meals she made for us. I learned so much watching her and cooking with her in the kitchen growing up. She bestowed such a great gift in us through her cooking and I’ve realized that she is the reason I have developed such a passion for good quality, home made foods to feed my family. She taught us grandkids how to make some of her favorite, traditional German dishes that she ate as a child. She taught us how to make homemade noodles for chicken noodle soup. She taught me how to bake a pie. Most importantly, she taught us how to be creative and improvise – a great quality in and out of the kitchen. I’m going to miss being able to call her to ask her how to bake a ham, or how to make her cherry pie filling.

Some of my favorite memories as a child are from the camping trips that Grandma and Grandpa used to take us grandkids on. They had what always seemed like the coolest and biggest motor homes that were loaded with the newest technology. They’d pile us grandkids in and off we’d go for a week with them. We were their focus the entire time – they just wanted us to have fun. Grandpa would build a fire, we’d roast hot dogs and marshmallows, we’d go on bike rides and walks, we’d go swimming or sight-seeing, we’d do crafts. We even learned to country line dance on one of our trips. We had so much fun dancing that Grandma went out as soon as we got home and bought country line dance tapes for us to learn new routines at home. She always went into things 110%, especially if she knew we enjoyed it.

Another thing that I will remember about my Grandma is that she loved to laugh. She had such a great laugh. She was always the life of the party and we always have such fun and great laughs at our family parties. For anyone that has ever been to our family parties, you’ve experienced the extreme eruption of a very distinguished laugh that all of the women in our family seem to have, each in a slightly different tone and key. We got that laugh from Grandma and it will live on in each of us. That laughter and joy has kept our family close and strong. I know that Grandma would want us to continue to laugh and enjoy each other, to stay close, and to stay strong.

My Grandma was a very strong woman. She always put others before herself. She never liked asking for help, but she was always very ready to lend a helping hand to others. She would do anything for her grandchildren. For us, she had all the patience in the world. She took such joy in seeing us all succeed in our lives. She never missed a sporting event, performance, or special day. She was always there… our cheerleader… our rock… our Grandma.

I know we are all grieving today at our loss of such a wonderful person. But I know wherever she is now, she is happy and content with what she left us. We may no longer see her, but we’ll always have these special moments we shared with her. She will be missed dearly and loved always by each and every one of us. Let’s all be thankful that we knew such a special woman as my grandmother.

Grandma, we thank you for all of the great times and memories. We love you!"