Cleveland Rocks

For Labor Day this year, we took the kids on a looooooong road trip up to Michigan but we made a few stops along the way and on the way back.  One of our stops was in Cleveland.  First, we saw the house from "A Christmas Story".  The house offers tours but both kids were sleeping and I just really wanted to see the outside of the house...

and the LEG LAMP!

Afterwards, we moved on to downtown Cleveland:

We stopped for a couple of hours at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame:

Chrissy Hynde's Porsche:

The kids look at this "little TV" at an exhibit about the origins of Rock:

A special section about Pink Floyd:

There were plenty of stations to stop and sample music - Sean found he really likes Michael Jackson' "Thriller"...

And Clare found a new favorite, too:

 Cars from the U2 Zoo TV Tour:

Phish's Flying Hot Dog Car:

Walking back to the car, Clare and Sean started holding hands while watching a stunt plane practice over Lake Erie...

Bell Choir

The kids participated in the bell choir at Grummy and Pop Pop's church on Long Beach Island on Christmas Eve.  They played to "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear."  The music director would hold up a card with color squares on it and when the player saw the color that matched his or her bell, it was time to ring it.

After the bells, the children in the congregation were called up to help decorate the Christmas tree with ornaments:

And after the service, we stuck around to take a few pictures and chat:

We tried to get a picture of Clare with the 91-year-old organist, but Clare was not happy about that so we didn't get to take it this time.  Ah well.  We all went back to Grummy and Pop Pop's house after the service to enjoy some more Christmas Eve festivities.

Holiday Concert

Clare's preschool had a holiday concert on Monday - and Clare not only sang in the concert, but her dance class did a number, as a well! We arrived a little bit early to stake out seats and admire the set:

Sean enjoyed some time with his Grandma and Grandpa, as well:

After the younger classes went on, it was time for Clare's class - here she is going on stage:

And her little class altogether - they sang "Dreidel Dreidel" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" - Clare sang this year!  And she sang loudly!

Afterwards, Clare's dance class stayed behind and they five girls were supposed to do a dance to "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" but they seemed to get stage fright and the girls kind of swayed and twirled to the music - it was totally cute anyway :-)

Then, the whole school got up on stage together for a rousing rendition of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" - Clare kind of scowled through most of the song, but she sang the song, too :-)

Hooray for Wednesday

Wednesday can be a drag - especially in the summer - we're so close but yet so far to summer weekend fun! So we've been getting out and about on Wednesdays this summer - starting with our trip to a nearby farm for Pirates and Princesses night:

After we mixed and mingled with Jack Sparrow and the Princesses, we played on the farm's playground:

And had a yummy dinner and some deep conversations with our pals:

The following Wednesday we went to the Garden State Discovery Museum for "Groovin' and Grubbin'" 

The intention was to get a bite to eat, take advantage of the museum's $5 admission price, and then hear some music.  We never made it into the museum thanks to all the fun activities such as a bouncy house!

There were crafts and food trucks (grilled cheese! cupcakes! watermelon!) and then there was an awesome kids' concert.  The kids had a blast dancing and wiggling to the music.  It turns out this musician came to their school a few days later - the kids were thrilled!

Then we played in the museum's garden:

The next Wednesday we went to Collingswood to check out the Quaker City String Band perform.  We got some "wudder" ice, too!

And then last night, Mommy was NOT in the mood to cook.  So we went to Chipotle for dinner.  The kids' meal is idea - Sean eats the quesadilla and chips while Clare eats the rice and beans... and lemons, of course:

There was a concert going on near the restaurant - Hotlanta, an Allman Brothers tribute band!  We bumped into a few friends - the friends we met up with at Pirates and Princesses night, actually - and the kids danced, ran around, and amassed a small collection of balloon animals while listening to some good tunes :-)

When I picked the kids up from daycare tonight, Sean eagerly asked if we were going to another concert tonight!  He was sad when I said we weren't but we did get to go check out a new farmers' market - it wasn't nearly as good as good as the Farmer's El, but we did pick up some good corn and tomatoes.