Edgewater Live at Edgewater Park

Thank you, Cleveland Metroparks, for taking over stewardship of Edgewater Park.  We had another fun outdoor activity in Cleveland.  Yummy dinner thanks for the food trucks.  Beautiful views of Lake Erie, including the Nalu stand-up paddleboards.  Some seriously good people watching and an overall fun evening as a family.

Best of all, we checked off #1 on our Summer Bucket List.

 

Wade Oval Wednesday

Us girls tried our first Wade Oval Wednesday as part of our Summer Bucket List and had so much fun!

We enjoyed dinner on the lawn while sitting on our picnic blanket.  Listened to some fun music and did a lot of people watching.

Thank you, CLE, for another fun outdoor activity!

Checked off #2!

Browns Training Camp

We were fortunate enough to score a few tickets to the opening day of Browns Training Camp.  B got to make a cool sign as well as enjoy some fun kids games and activities.  Hotter than hades kind of day in the sweltering sun (which we're not used to in the CLE), but overall a great morning by everyone!

And now we've checked off #7 on our Summer Bucket List!

Fun Stuff in CLE on President's Day

If you're lucky enough to have the President's Day holiday off, there's plenty of wonderful things to do in and around Cleveland. You could:

1. Go hang out at the Cleveland Aquarium. Sea Monsters - Truth or Tale is the special feature at the Cleveland Aquarium and, at just $19.95 for adults and $13.95 for kids, it's a real value.
2. Enjoy Fairytales and Frogs at the Cleveland Zoo's Rainforest.  We participated in this event 3 years ago and it was absolute fun.  Bridget dressed up as Sleeping Beauty, which was so cool. Everyone is encouraged to dress like a princess, prince or frog.  We have a Zoo Membership (best money spent!), but daily admission to the Rainforest is just $8.25 for adults and $5.25 for kids.  The Zoo is free on Mondays to Cuyahoga County residents.
3. Take in the beauty of Orchid Mania at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. Adults are $9.50 and children 3-12 are $4.00.  There's even a chocolate-scented orchid to enjoy.  The Glasshouse has always been my favorite features of the CBG, featuring Costa Rica Rainforest and the Spiny Desert of Madagascar.
4. Medina Ice Festival for some amazing ice carving and ice wine.
5. President's Day Extravaganza at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Parents are $12.00 and kids are $6.00 for a day of fun.
6. Any of the Cleveland Metroparks Reservations for some great hiking. There's a Skunk Cabbage hike from 10-11 a.m., Little Explorers: Winter Birds from 10-11:15 a.m., as well as activities at the Brecksville Nature Center and the Rocky River Nature Center.

So no matter how you spend the day, you can never go wrong by spending it in Cleveland!

More Fun in the CLE

Pretty busy day in the 216 and I couldn't be happier.  Managed to squeeze in a nice 5.25 mile before noon.  Off to another lunch at Dave & Buster's (Megan and Bridget's favorite place to spend a snowy afternoon).

While in the neighborhood, we stopped in to the Backpacker's Shop for their kick ass winter clearance sale.  Meg got a Patagonia pullover for 40 percent off! B got a Sigg water bottle for 50 percent off and I found a great running top for $20.  Score!

Later, we had the reservations for moonlight bowling at our local bowling alley.  I can't believe how long it's been since I've been bowling, but wow, we had so much fun! Bridget even had a strike! I won the first game, but once again I peaked too early.  Games 2 and 3 were just ugly for me - and thank goodness we had the bumpers on for Bridget because they came in handy for me more than once!

Hope your Saturday was just as fun!

Kids Night at the CAVS Game

On a whim, we decided to grab some seats at the CAVS game since it was Kids Night - all kids received a Cavs t-shirt.  So much fun for B.  She got to meet one of the Cavs cheerleaders, who signed her t-shirt, followed by a Cavs tattoo and red and gold hairspray (yep, that looked awesome at church this morning).  She even made a sign for Moondog.  The game was up and down and up, and sadly ended with a loss for the Cavs.  But we had a great family night.

Great Little Challenge for Clevelanders

I follow the Cleveland Metroparks on Twitter (@clevemetroparks) and this week they issued a cool challenge asking followers if they have visited all the Cleveland Metroparks reservations. If not, try visiting them all in 2013, they tweeted! What a wonderful idea!

Acacia
Bedford
Big Creek
Bradley Woods
Brecksville
Brookside
Euclid Creek
Garfield Park
Hinckley
Huntington
Mill Stream
North Chagrin
Ohio & Erie Canal
Rocky River
South Chagrin
Washington (including Rivergate)
West Creek

So I challenge you, Cleveland readers, to do the same. I will take my Nike Plus Fuel Band, load up the kid and maybe the dogs, go for walks in the spectacular (yet strange) weather, get in some hiking and enjoy the wonders of the Metroparks!

Autumn Bucket List Progress

In September, I posted our family's Autumn Bucket List. It's been so much fun checking to-do items off this list!

So far, we have:

Gone Apple Picking at Patterson Fruit Farm and visited their Pumpkin Patch

Carved a pumpkin

Made Fall Cookies (pre-made Pillsbury count, right?)

Took a nature walk (and got to pick up one of those Horseapples)

Went trick or treating and entered a Trick or Trot race

And now, we can add having a "Photoshoot in a Leaf Pile, then jumping in" to our list!




Maybe this weekend, we'll have to tackle baking pies and s'mores and, if the weather allows, squeeze in an outdoor picnic!

Weekend Fun in the CLE

I've said it here loads of times, but there is so much to do in the Cleveland area. Love this town. Saturday, we enjoyed the Farmer's Market in Shaker Heights. Made a little trip into Little Italy for those wonderful cinnamon stars from Presti's Bakery. Then checked out the RIPE! Festival at the Botanical Gardens. Here's my two darlings having fun - and it's root beer. Although Hubs and I were enjoying a nice brew.


After squeezing in a long run Sunday morning, the girls and I checked out a new playground. Bridget is always on the lookout for the next, best, most awesome-est playground out there. We hit the jackpot. As an added bonus, there was a huge hill for rolling down. This was Bridget's first time to enjoy this rackous good time and I had so much fun showing her how. That is...until she asked to do it again! Ahhh, yes...it was the second time rolling down that hill that I thought I was going to hurl. I tried standing up, but could only muster the cow pose on my hands and knees...then I toppled over like a sorority girl who needed to be taken home at the end of the evening. Phew, that second "roll" took a couple hours of recovery time, but it's all good now!


No matter how old I get, I never progress past the age of 12!

Hope your weekend was just as fun!

Going Local

Northeastern Ohio has an amazing running community with loads of wonderful race opportunities. Since the United/Continental merger hasn't exactly been beneficial to Cleveland frequent fliers, I have a new-found opportunity to run local races. So after a little time on the Hermes Cleveland website as well as Summit Athletic Running Club, here's my preliminary line-up (subject to change if airfares actually reach reasonable rates!):

RAINN Trail Run - April 30. This will be my first event with Grunt Girl Racing!
Cleveland Rite-Aid 10k - May 15. I ran the half last year and loved this event.
Lula 5k - June 5 to benefit Girls with Sole
Winking Lizard Shot in the Dark - July 16. I've always wanted to run this race, but as luck would have it, we've always been out of town on that date.
Buckeye Half Marathon - last weekend in August. I've run over 40 races and I have never gotten a hooded sweatshirt as race schwag!

Do you have any interesting local races lined up this year?

Today's guilty pleasure: Hershey's kisses in dark chocolate. Meg's boyfriend gave her a ridiculous amount of these for valentine's day and I've been eating 3 of them EVERY night as my "dessert" and I love them. So thank you, Danny!

The March of the Penguins

That's what I will feel like as I tackle my run tomorrow in the tundra - yep, 10-12 inches forecasted for Friday. Did the groundhog make a mistake or did Mother Nature change her mind? Shiver me timbers, these frigid temps and constant white ground covering needs to end! We have spring races to train for...seriously!

Today's guilty pleasure: a nonfat latte from Erie Island Coffee with the most amazing foam... Great blend of that wonderful bitter coffee taste and the lightness of pure milky foam...mmmm!

Top Places to Get a Microbrew in Cleveland

Last night we dined at Deagan's. Can't say enough fantastic things about this place. The microbrew draft beer list is spot on. Amazing selection. I had a Boulder Mojo IPA (a first for me) and a Founder's Porter. Greg had three beers that their combined alcohol percentage would equal 5. Lovely place. Food was phenomenal, too. Bonus points for good food and great beer. But it got us thinking - what are some of the best places to find a good selection of microbrews. We bantered about whether the criteria would include bottles or tap, or both. I'm opting for both in this post. So here's our unofficial list. And keep in mind, we're beer snobs and independent restaurant supporters. So I don't care if Applebee's carries the latest ale, I'm not going to frequent that place.

1. Tremont Taphouse. I dare you to find a place in Cleveland with a better food/beer combination.

2. Harbour Inn. It's a Cleveland Institution and one of the largest microbrew bottle beer selection. As a bonus, if you wear your best jeans to this place, you're probably overdressed.

3. Beer Engine in Lakewood. Best overall beer tap to bottle ratio and amazing burger selection. Cool atmosphere, except for our water who freaked out when he saw my daughter sipping the remains of one of my taste samplers. Chill out, she took in less than an ounce. She doesn't start dancing on tables till we hit the 4 ounce limit.

4. Happy Dog. This has become known as Robin's Birthday place. My last birthday I celebrated here with a hot dog and a PBR. My second drink was an amazing microbrew. Hot dogs with 50 different toppings, tater tots and microbrews. Seriously, is there somewhere better to celebrate any occasion.

5. Deagan's. After tonight, we're definitely adding this place to our list. I was equally impressed with their tap and bottle selection and besides, who else can carry off a tasy burger with damn fine brussel sprouts?!

If you have more recommendations, share your knowledge!

My View from High Atop the Terminal Tower

If you haven't done it already, I highly recommend going to the top of the Terminal Tower. As a Cleveland transplant, I have learned to appreciate and enjoy so many wonderful aspects of Cleveland - it's history, the museums, the culinary scene, the top notch microbreweries, and the metropark system (to burn off this IPAs and great dinners). But the view from the top of Terminal Tower is just incredible. We could see the Snow Days at the old Jake (now Progressive Field), the Browns stadium and even as far as the gold coast. Here's a neat article of the terminal tower tours. Great experience!

Hello Legs, It's Me, Robin

This morning was my scheduled 18-miler. I woke up at the same ridiculously early time of 6:30 am and out the door at 6:50. Although I am not an early morning runner, I do enjoy watching the sky go from dark to light. But this morning, I felt I was in slo-mo compliments of Thursday's P90X session. My glutes and quads were not at all interested in my ambitious morning agenda! Even during moments I could hear the P90x guy screaming Banana! Superman! Banana! And Superman! I know if I can stick with at least 2 sessions each week, my running will improve. Unfortunately, this also means walking John Wayne right before a gunfight. My one product endorsement would be for Theraballs. I have an orange one and Megan works MAGIC with it. Ten minutes of Theraball working out the knots and kinks and I am off and moving with less hobble.

A couple hours later, we hit up RIPE at the Botanical Garden and I scored myself a jar of habanero pickles from Fire. I've already eaten one and loved the all-over mouth burning sensation!

We even checked out Ingenuity Fest. Very interesting to say the least.

Good luck to Akron marathoners today. You had a beautiful day weather-wise!

Blueberries and a PR

I sometimes am amazed at just how much fun I can have on a Saturday in CLE. The morning started off with a 5k for a wonderful cause - the Youth Challenge. Megan and I joined Karen for a morning of PowerBars and a PR. I still can't believe it, but I set a personal best by almost 5 minutes finishing in 27:51!!! Thanks, Karen and Megan, for sharing this with me!


Afterwards, we joined up with Greg and Bridget and went to Hillside Farms in Hinckley to pick blueberries. Look how full the blueberry bushes are!

Armed with buckets, we immediately started picking the bushes clean!

Bridget proud of her work.

We waddled out of there with enough blueberries for pancakes, muffins, and any other creative concoction our imaginations can come up with. Mmmm an I'll put a few in my beer - I'm smiling already.

What a great day!

Greg and the Girls Day Out

Today was a special "Greg and the Girls" day. While Meg was volunteering at Girls with Sole, Greg and Bridget knocked around at the Zoo. If you don't have a membership, I can't stress to you enough how wonderful of a purchase a Cleveland Metroparks Zoo membership is! At the end of their visit, they played around with masks at the shop. So. Darn. Cute!


After Meg was done, the three of them ventured out to see a real submarine. I loved listening to their stories when I got home about how much fun they had and how much they learned. Another wonderful day spent in the 216!