You can be a coffee achiever, you can sit around the house and watch leave it to beaver

So, this weekend was pretty awesome.  Took Asher to Brandywine falls on Saturday where we saw the falls then hiked down into the valley to search for salamanders.  We didn't find any of the fire breathing kind (which is probably for the best) but we did find one black and brown one.  I was so concerned with being able to have Asher see and touch it before it scuttled off that I didn't get a photo of it but I was pretty happy we even found one.  I was getting nervous for a minute.  This weather is amazing.  I keep feeling like it's going to go away like a big April fools joke...



Bottom of the falls

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Daddy and Asher

Mama and Asher's funny faces

It's so much fun to throw rocks in creeks!

Overdramatic action shot!

Sunday we took Asher to Buzzard Day at Hinkley Reservation.  He had a blast.  Give a kid a free pair of binoculars and he is happy for days.  I'm serious.  He wore them all day yesterday and would have worn them to bed if I hadn't made him take them off.  Then, first thing this morning he does is get up and put them on again.  So cute. 

Non stop fun weekend...I'm still tired.

So, this weekend was filled with fun and excitment, at least if you are nerd family like us.  So, I'm guessing, since you are reading this, you probably are.  First off, this weekend was the 37th annual Scienc Fiction Movie Marathon at Case Western Reserve University.  Wow, that's a mouthful of typing. My first marathon was #25, if that tells you how old I am getting.  I haven't missed a marathon yet, but I had to leave a few and had to miss some movies here and there (having a baby and once I had a job interview and once I had to take the shig home because he had the stomach flu).  This was Ryan's 17th marathon.  That's impressive. 

Anyway, I didn't go to the whole marathon this year, I have been having bad tummy troubles with this baby so I stayed home with Asher on Friday and went all day Saturday.  The marathon was great and I had a lot of fun.  The parking situation was about a mile away from the auditorium this year but...the weather was actually okay this year (for the first time in years this wasn't the coldest weekend of the year) and so the walk wasn't too bad.  But, due to the walk, no one left for food this year, and that was different but not bad. 

Also, I ate a fruit leather that technically didn't expire until 2043, although all the rest in the package expired next year.  I think that it's a sign.  What, you don't believe me?  Here's your proof:

Yeah, that's what I thought! 

So, we had a good time with that.  I am excited for the day when Asher is old enough to go with us.  I hope he likes it and doesn't think it's lame.  I mean, he probably will when he's a teenager, because all teenagers think the stuff their parents like is lame, but what can you do?

Due to a little bit of guilt and a whole lot of excitement over having gotten season passes from the inlaws for Christmas we decided we would go to the new Greater Cleveland Aquarium on Sunday.  

We were aiming to get there right at 10 when they opened since this would be only the second day they had been open ever, and we figured they'd be packed.  But...we forgot about little gym, which starts at 9:15 am.  So, we got to little gym in just the nick of time.  It was Asher's mid year showcase where pretty much everyone comes and the room is super packed with people who don't always come to class and they do a refresher course of all of the stuff they have learned so far this year.  Here's some photos of Asher doing his professional level bear crawls.  I think they are his favorite thing to do at little gym.  

After little gym and a minor melt down about leaving little gym we got on our way to the Aquarium.  It's a little difficult to find since the bridge that google maps told us to take had a road closed sign on it and we had to go the long way around but...we found it.  I think it sucks you have to pay $5 for parking even if you have a season pass.  That is a bit of a deterrent...you should at least get a parking discount...

It's in the old Powerhouse, which is a pretty cool building on it's own.  Theyd did a really cool job of transforming it into an aquarium, I mean, before it was an all male review, which can be classy as well, but I don't know that you'd want that many toddlers in the all male review. 

I want you to keep in mind, I would have lost my child if I had tried to take photos there, so all the pics I'm posting are from the Cleveland Insider's website.  Thanks guys!  Really, I think everyone should go and see it, though I'd suggest waiting a little while so that the masses can move through and you can enjoy it at your leisure.  It's hard to take things in pace when there are a million people everywhere kind of pushing the pace for you.  So, just my highlights...

I really liked the accordian guy who seemed to hang out in the arched tunnels (Which were super cool but kinda creepy at the same time) and the costal room.  Here's a photo of the coastal room:

Although when we were there there was only one girl and she was overwhelmed and didn't have time to really educate people on what animals she was putting in the boxes for us to touch (those yellow ones).  The lady beside me picked up a sea cucumber, took it out of the water and squeezed the bejezus out of it, so that water squirted out of both ends.  I told her that that was a living creature and she freaked out and put it back.

They also had a big section dedicated to local fish, rivers, streams, Lake Erie, it was pretty cool.  A lot of the aquarium wasn't finished yet, though, with missing fish, plants, plaques telling you about the fish, that kind of stuff.  But I can only expect it will get better. 

The last part of the aquarium is the huge walk underneath it shark tank.  Here's a photo, once again, not mine.

It was pretty cool but it made me a little dizzy, maybe the length combined with the amount of people there?  I don't know...Still, pretty cool. 

This is a smaller aquarium than some of the other ones that I've been to, but it's a good aquarium and I hope that it does well here.  I know we will go back again.  :)

Maybe I need some rehab, or maybe just need some sleep

Still no luck with resolutions for this year.  I want to do something I know I won't automatically fail by April (or after the baby comes) so it's hard to find.  Also, I didn't want to use the internets to tell me what I should do...but now I'm going to have to, I mean, it's already January 9th and I am at a loss. 

After looking at the internet, I still have no motivation.  Not even any good google suggestions.  Maybe I just don't know the right questions to ask.  I guess I could always just pick something arbitrary and hard to prove if I failed or if I kept it, like eating healthier or spending more time with my family.  I mean, prove to me that I didn't do those things.  You can't.  Or you can try but I can deny it.  Either way it's the same thing.

Hmm...well, here are some goals for 2012 for me, in no particular order, that I just made up right now

1. Eat healthier (lame, I know, but what the heck, may as well add it on there).
2. Be a more patient and understanding mother. I will refrain from saying why this is on the list at this point in time.   You can decide whatever you'd like as to why it's on here.
3. Lose the baby weight when the time comes.  (you know, after the baby come out)
4. Take my kids out on a hike or to a park (without a playground) at least once a month and teach them something new on each trip (at least Asher, I don't know how receptive baby #2 will be right off to learning what flower names are or what kind of animal buries nuts).

That's all I got.  I think that list is pretty OK, now that I look at it. 

Also, I'm going to try to do some creative writing here and there and post it here as well.  Sorry in advance if it sucks, but this is my blog so who cares, right? 

Summer Nerf Wars....Finally. Betcha thought I forgot!

Asher says "Let's get ready....to RUMBLE!!!!!"

Say hello to my little gun...

Do you think he has enough guns?

Tom watches the skirmish with longing.

Choose your weapon, but choose wisely...

Practicing his war cry.

He can't decide if his beer or sword would be more effective.  It's nice they gave him the time to choose, instead of cutting him down where he stood.

A battle to the death between two fierce warrior women.

Action Shot!

manditory vacation, day two.

Here we are again on the road. We will be driving every single day of our trip, much to Ashers dismay. He's not so fond of all the driving, which i cannot say I blame him for being so.

Asher watching Yo Gabba on our trip down

We arrived in Newport KY around midnight on wednesday night and tried to tuck our sleeping child into bed. Unfortunately he wasnt very asleep (he refused to sleep for 3 of the 4 hour drive...) so he woke up and freaked out because he didnt know where we were. So he slept fitfully in bed with me. Some things I learned about sleeping in the same bed as a fitful toddler: he doesnt share the blankets, he doesnt respect the invisble line demarking sides of the bed and he has to sleep with some type of body contactg at all times. So we both got poor sleep at best. But somehow asher was full of energy and ready to rock and roll at quarter to seven so we let daddy sleep a bit and went to get breakfast, cause we are considerate like that.



Food at Tom and Chee...



After showering and breaking fast we rode these cute little trolley car shuttle buses to the Newport aquarium, where we had a great time just running all over the aquarium in an excited spasm of fish viewing esctacy. They had a really cool otter exhibit and then we walked through this room where you could feed lorikeets. A lady was done feeding them and gave asher her cup of nectar (cause we are too cheap as parents i suppose) and asher got to feed them, when im not on my phone ill post the pics so you can see, too. Apparentky my hair looks like a flower or something because i got divebombed and then pooped (or peed or spit on, the volunteer said it could have been any of those options) on. So that was awesome.

After the aquarium we went and ate at this place called Tom and Chee, a pretty good and cheap toasted cheese restaraunt. The aquarium was in a little place similar to crocker park or legacy village in cleveland.

Momma and Asher swimming

Then we went back to the hotel room, momma and daddy in dire need of a nap, asher wired like a crack addict. Needless to say, after almost an hour of futility and dreams of baby shaking, momma let daddy stay in the room and we went swimming in the pool. It was pretty fun, momma likes swimming. I dont think my workout is being effective, i still look like a chubbsy-wubbsy. Oh well.

We went to this really cool park both last night and today that is right along the Ohio river. There was a little concrete waterway replica of the ohio river, a piano we played, a pretty cool riverboat playground and lots of nice places to get close to the river. It was so hot, though, and there were all these booths that promised to sell hawaiian shaved ice but they were all closed. I would have paid a lot for shaved ice, damn them.

And so, after spending a hot sweaty morning on the playground we are on the road again. I managed to avoid eating skyline chili so far, hopefully i can keep up the record.

Porkopolis indeed...makes Asher happy.

Next stop, middle of nowhere kentucky for a friday night wedding.

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