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| A little bit of Rock and Roll! |
Man, there is just something about sleeping in a hotel room. The room is always so dark that you could just sleep all day-well, we didn’t but felt like we could have. We really didn’t even stir until 8:30ish. Only 1/2 of us woke up in the same place that we went to sleep. Around midnight, Anderson was up so I climbed in the other bed with him and when we woke up, Graham was in the other bed with Robby. Graham said that he got in the bed by himself. No one heard him and I guess that he didn’t step on Reagan while getting in the bed. He must have checked the bed I was in because he knew I was in the other bed. Sometimes I wonder what happens in this room at night while we are sleeping. Though, I will mention that sleeping with Anderson is about as bed as holding Campbell on the plane-his feet were on me, on the pillow, hanging off the bed and draped over me at one time. Craziness. No wonder he still sleeps with a bed rail at home-poor boy though, tonight he is right up against a well. Would you like to bet about how many times he will bump his head tonight?
The kids had breakfast while we finished getting ready and while we loaded up the luggage cart. When we walked outside, they were so excited: the van was covered in snow. Actually, it was just a very light dusting but to them it was mounds of it. They watched as Robby scrapped the snow off of the windshield with the brushes that were in the rental car (which they have been using as swords). Everyone though it was pretty hysterical watching him do this and Graham was very upset that his window was not properly cleaned. It was spitting snow at us and we were a little afraid that we would really run into some snow but it had just been a light dusting all of the way to Cleveland.
After driving for a few miles, Robby stopped at a McDonalds for us breakfast and we even bought the kids some pancakes as a “second breakfast” as Anderson called it. We only had about 2 hours to go but did end up having to take a bathroom stop-they have the nicest rest areas around-seems like they have the nicest rest areas everywhere but around Arkansas. The kids ran off a little bit of steam and even picked out a brochure to look at. Graham’s brochure must have made him think to ask Robby “Daddy, you like girls?” He was looking at a zoo brochure and I might just be offended.
On the way to Cleveland, we did see a snow plow and salt truck-that didn’t make us feel any better about that snow. But we didn’t have much time to think about that, because ole Graham was sitting up front and he talked and talked and talked and talked. Soon though we made it to a visitor center at Cuyahoga National Park. It is near the Eerie canal area and on the weekends and when it is not flooded around here, there is a train going through the park-the kids would have loved it. After the visitor center, we drove down to Brandywine Falls. It was about a 1/4 mile walk on a boardwalk to view the waterfalls. It was pretty deserted-except for a big old dog that followed us. And if you remember Graham on Monday with April’s dog, you can only imagine what the walk was like. He did okay, but there was some screaming and insistence on being held. Reagan thought all of the dog business was fun and so did Anderson until that dog came up to him, he screamed and practically crawled on top of Graham to get in the buggy. This caused Graham to shriek and try to climb out the back of the buggy. Meanwhile, Campbell was just happily kicking her feet.
The boardwalk had some leftover snow on it and the kids enjoyed grabbing icicles off of the rocks. Not what most people are doing on spring break: walking through snow and knocking down icicles. It was decent in the sun-still cold, but decent. But in the shade it was bone chilling cold. Never made it above freezing today. Needless to say, we stayed in the car as much as we could.
After leaving Cuyahoga, we made our way to Cleveland and found a place to eat in Little Italy. It was called Spizzillo’s Market. It had 3 tiny tables and sold pizza by the slice. Robby went in first to check it out and ordered us a whole pizza so we had to wait while they made it. The tables were in the market area and Anderson must have just thought we were ordering from the shelves because he saw some pickles and requested them for lunch. They were pleased with the huge pizza and 2 liter of coke. The kids each ate 2 pieces. The workers, the daughter and granddaughter of the original owner, couldn’t believe we had come from Arkansas to Cleveland for Spring Break. It was a neat little stop and since there was a bakery right down the street, Prestis Bakery, we felt obliged to go and help stimulate the economy.
It didn’t take too long for the kids to pick out pink bunny cookies and we picked out a fudge cookies and a turtle cookie. They were good but they were no Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken. From there, we had a short walk back to the car and then a short drive into downtown Cleveland to the Rock and Roll Hall Fame. It was right on the lake and it was cold-bitter cold.
The admission price was crazy (we knew this going in) and it was about double what it was worth. If you were a big music fan it might have been okay but since we aren’t and since half of the place was closed for renovation it didn’t take us to long to go through. They had lots of peoples clothing from performances and Reagan asked me about everyone of them wanting to know if it was a girls clothes. And unfortunately, most of them were not. It was a good stop and the kids enjoyed hearing the music and seeing all of the guitars. We did sit down to watch a movie and Campbell sat in her stroller and danced the entire time.
Back in the car, we drove by the Cleveland Brown’s stadium and then a few miles down the road was “A Christmas Story” movie house. We stopped for a brief picture and then made our way to the hotel. The hotel is right by the airport-literally right by the airport. I am ducking every few minutes because of the planes (ha!). The kids have enjoyed watching the planes and trains out of the window. Robby and I said that we are pretty good at unloading the car at a hotel and can get it done quickly, but we can really get it done quick when it is below freezing outside.
Since we were still pretty full from our pizza and bakery stop, we just snacked around here tonight. The kids had their breakfast foods again along with some apples. We then got baths and Skyped with Nonna and Pops. They enjoyed seeing everyone and the kids enjoyed seeing them. Though all of the kids were talking at once, so they probably didn’t hear anything that we said. Campbell had only had 2 very brief naps in the car and Graham slept for maybe 5 minutes so bedtime went fairly well. Though I think Campbell is still up since we hear her moving but everyone else is asleep. Now, we have to plan for tomorrow and hopefully it will be a tiny bit warmer.
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