Party in Pittsburgh

At the end of our week in Ohio, Phil flew up to Cleveland and accompanied all of us to Pittsburgh, where we visited Uncle Jon Jon and Aunt Luz.  While there, we celebrated Uncle Jon Jon's birthday by letting him cook for us all day long on Saturday.  Smoked brisket....yum!

 

Kayla and Avery enjoying their pizza at the Sattelmeyer bar in the basement.

Snuggle time with Aunt Luz.

Watch out, Uncle Jon Jon....Kayla has sharp teeth and is possessive with her food....

Cooking waffles with Aunt Luz.

Hittin' up a Pittsburgh playground with Aunt Luz.

I think she was shooting at "bad guys" in this photo.

Yummy mojitos, Aunt Luz.  Gracias!

Adding some artwork to the porch.

What a sweet puppy dog....

Avery enjoying a dance game on the Oui....and on the wall-sized projector screen. (I am sure I screwed up all technical jargon in the above sentence...but you get the gist).

Best homemade BBQ sauce....EVER.

Avery, that's a mug of...hot chocolate....on the cake.

My silly girl.

My silly family.

 

Highschool Friends and Their Offspring

The kids and I visited with my highschool friends Karola and Maria and their families a couple of times.  We hadn't seen each other since last May, so it was fun to see how grown up all of the kids were.

Avery helping Mr. Harvey fill up the pool.

These kids just wanted to strip and jump in the pool, understandably.  I admire their restraint and listening skills. 

Kayla and Solveig.  I try not to project myself onto Kayla, but this picture pretty much sums up Karola's and my personalities in highschool.  This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Cute little Jude...already displaying musical skills from his naturally talented and classically trained parents.

Kids love balloons.

Getting four kids to look at the camera at one time is like playing the game, "Whack-a-Mole".  No matter how fast you are, you only get one or two at a time. (I'm not sure that an analogy that involves the senseless beating of innocent rodents with a sledgehammer is the most appropriate to use here...but oh well).

Beautiful Solveig.  Such a smart little girl.

And you can see where she gets all of that from!

Karola keeping the kids entertained with a game of "got your belly buttons!"....

...which is a game I think she ended up losing.

Karola kept her audience of all ages enraptured while translating Solveig's children books that are written in German and French.  Funny story: note Solveig's hand resting on Karola's leg.  Kayla later put her own hand on Karola's leg in the same spot, which upset Solveig greatly.  "Nein!  Meine Momma!  Nein!".  Kayla brazenly kept eye contact with Solveig and left her hand resting where it was.  That was such a.....Kayla move.  This child....

Rockin' Out a Summer Trip to the Cleve

When my lovely friend from highschool, Karola, e-mailed me to tell me that she would be flying to Cleveland from Germany in August, I immediately started packing my bags.  Unfortunately, Phil was unable to make the trip with the kids and me, as he had just taken a week off in July and apparently has a much stronger work ethic than I do.  Usually when Phil is unable to make a trip to Cleveland, my mom will fly in to accompany me in the car with my two rascals.  However, something told me that if I could master taking two kids to the beach by myself, I could handle a 14 hour car ride with them.  I was not mistaken.  With the exception of a Kayla-sized bite on Avery's rump that left visible teethmarks for days, the kids were extremely well-behaved.  I also want to note that I packed the least amount of "crap" that I have ever taken to Cleveland since Avery was born.  It is with bittersweet pride that I must admit that my children are growing up.

 

We travelled in Phil's Rav 4 so I could reach the kids if needed.  This also meant that they could reach each other as well.  There were a couple of times while yelling at my kids to "keep your hands to yourselves!!" that I had flashbacks of riding in the car with my brothers to my grandma's house.  Oh, how we become our parents....

The kids were so fantastic that we stopped to potty, play, and eat every four hours instead of the typical three hour stretches that we normally do.  Again, this means my children are growing up (and have bigger bladders and longer attention spans to watch movies with, ha).  The only downside to this was that it threw off my typical time schedule and we ended up stopping at places unknown to us.  These pictures come from a Burger King right on the WV/OH border, an area where there is limited civilization, and few safe and clean choices to let your kids run around in.  However, I was pleasantly surprised at the renovations and medieval-themed play area...and the kids had a blast in it as well (with the exception of the aforementioned gouge in Avery's kiester....don't mess with Kayla).  I also want to add that I think I stopped at this Burger King four and a half years ago when I was making my very first SC to OH road trip with my six week old baby, Avery, while being chauffeured by a wonderful Uncle Jon Jon who flew in to Charleston so I wouldn't have to drive by myself.  And life comes back to me, full-circle....

 

The day after our long drive, my mom and I took the kids to a playground to let them run off steam...

...literally.  Avery took a few laps around the track with me.  Notice how he is ahead of me.

No trip to Cleveland would be complete without a couple of visits with Great-Grandma Speck.

The bank of Carol/MawMaw.  If I was this cute, maybe people would give me money, too.

Cinderella, Cinderella....yeah right.

I can totally remember reading this Hello Kitty book when I was little....I could make another "full-circle" remark again, but I will spare you.

Another visit to Grandma Speck's.  Kayla chose to cuddle up with Grandma completely on her own (cuddles with Kayla are stringently doled out from her, depending on her mood and generosity).  Grandma Speck is very very special and Kayla must sense that.

My funny little girl.

My children, at the corner of the infamous Ludlow Rd. Ahh....so many memories. Lud-LOW!!!

Avery, the Indians could use a little help this season (what else is new???)...

 

Cuddles with Paw Paw.

Hittin' up the Natural History Museum...AKA "the dinosaur museum".

A visit from Auntie Sue, who is a Cleveland favorite of the kids.

This stray (?) cat came up to us one afternoon while we were playing outside.  This cat looks very similar to the kitten I tried to save 20 years ago in Sebring, Ohio.  I begged and pleaded to keep the kitten, but to no avail.  So my wonderful Grandma Speck took the cat in for me, thinking that my mom would eventually change her mind (see?  I told you she was a very special person!).  My mom did not budge.  And the cat lived with my Grandma for about 20 years.

This cat must have sensed the force field of my mom's steel resolve while on our property...cuz she eventually turned and walked away from us.  Sorry kids, you were thisclose to getting a pet cat.

Like usual, we visited the zoo while in Cleveland.  The kids were still pretty worn out from our car trip, so they were not the most well-behaved kids there that day.  Oh well, can't win 'em all!