The Entire Month of September

Mah sweet bebes.

These days my name is mud with a few people because I’m not updating the blog as much as they like. What can I say, people – I’ve got two kids. I feel accomplished if I manage a five minute shower.

Last week, the culprit was that my friends Jen and Malynda got Kurt and I hopelessly hooked on the now cancelled show, “Firefly.” It’s the first TV show in a long time that Kurt and I want to watch together. We used to watch X Files together. But since the inception of Tech TV (now G4, or whatever, like I care, right?), that computer uber-geek channel, and my visceral need to digest every Law & Order show, our TV tastes parted ways. But Jen let us borrow the DVDs of the first and only season of “Firefly” and suddenly the kids are in bed by 8:30 p.m. and we are parked – together – in front of the TV. Like two crack-addicted lab rats railing on the button for a hit, we have to force ourselves to stop watching and go to bed. The new movie “Serenity” is based on the series. I saw that last weekend with Jen and Mal and it was great. The series was cancelled after 13 episodes. There’s a chance it may be picked up and re-introduced some time soon. We need to feed our addiction, so hopefully that rumor will turn out to be true.

During September, we enjoyed more intrepid family vacation adventures. As part of the Moledor family campaign to improve the Ohio economy, we decided to take yet another mini-vacation in Ohio this summer. Allow me to regale you.

Kurt’s 20th high school reunion was last month (sure, he’s old as dirt, but he’s still cute as a button). Completely underwhelmed upon receipt of the invitation, Kurt turned to me and said he didn’t really care if he went or not. Did I want to go? Sure, I said. After I buy new clothes and shoes, get my hair and nails done and swing by Sephora for new makeup. Contemplating $500 worth of charges on the credit card, suddenly he felt a bit more certain that indeed he did not want to go, and that was that.

That worked out pretty well, actually, since I am still toting numerous extra inches of baby fat (yes, as a matter of fact, I do intend to mention that I am unhappy with my body for each post, thank you very much), I didn’t want to see Kurt’s high school girlfriend. When we saw her at the 15th reunion, I hadn’t even had kid #1 yet, so you could still bounce a quarter off my abs. You know me, shallow as ever, I prefer not to be seen until I have remolded my doughy, gelatinous form back into single-digit sized jeans. And yeah, yeah, someone out there is saying, “Why should you care what she thinks? You got Kurt.” No doubt, Kurt is great. But this caboose I’m carrying around as the result of spawning his enormous children (9.5 and 11.5 pounds, respectively, lest ye forget) is no consolation prize. We’ll catch those folks again in five years.

We decided to take our second 2005 mini-vacay in and around Cleveland. Why? First, it’s such a cool city. Second, it’s only an hour from Kurt’s parents’ house, so we could avoid the extra expense of a hotel room. Even with gas prices as high as they are, a tank of gas is still cheaper than a night in a hotel.

Daddy's favorite restaurant -- cigars, single malt scotch and big steaks. Not exactly a kid-friendly establishment.

So, the afternoon we arrived in Cleveland, we parked near Jacobs Field and walked to the Tower City shopping mall underneath the Terminal Tower. It’s quite posh, but it’s hard to enjoy an “upscale shopping experience” with a baby drooling on your shirt and a four-year-old complaining of hunger, thirst and exhaustion.

We scooted over to the Jake for a 7:05 game. We arrived early for your typical “take-me-out-to-the-ballgame” fare: expensive beer ($5.50), dogs ($3.75) and nachos ($4.25). Cracker Jacks were $3.25. And if you ask me, I don’t care how American Cracker Jacks are, they flat out stink and can’t hold a candle to Crunch-N-Munch. Heck, when I was a kid, your consolation for the nasty flavor of Cracker Jacks was at least a cool toy. Inside our bag we received a piece of paper. Oh, the unmitigated glee. It was supposed to fold up and make different faces, but Kurt, the smartest person I know, couldn’t figure it out. Still, the look on Aron’s face when he saw it in the bag was darling.

By the looks on our faces, the count is full and the bases are loaded. In reality, we are watching the field crew take the tarp off the field. Apparently we need to get out more.

The Tribe won, despite a rain delay. That game was part of their September winning streak that almost got them into the post-season. The boys were very well behaved. Aron was up and down several times and Nate took a little nap. By the end of the game, sometime after 10 p.m., Nate’s attitude went south. I had to get up and walk him a bit, only to have many fellow fans tell me how cute he is. Like I don’t know that. But one strange person told me he looks like a baby Travis Hafner. Taken aback, all I could say was, “Well, I assure you he is not his father.” That’s a very “only child” thing to say; and you’d have to be an only child to get why I would say that. Maybe we can talk about that in the future.

Good eats and lots of beer at the Cleveland Brewing Co.

Friday we tooled up to Cleveland again for lunch at the Great Lakes Brewing Co. I get so much joy out of watching my husband enjoy something he truly loves, and good beer is one of them. He and his dad got the sampler of each beer the brewery makes. I skipped the beer, sadly, because I decided to nix chasing my Dramamine with beer, otherwise known as the “Karen Walker” lunch.

Nate and daddy up the cuteness factor of the West Side Market.

The food was great, and the restaurant is located in Ohio City, a neighborhood in Cleveland. Across the street is the West Side Market, a very cool old time market – you know, a market with butchers, bakers and fish sellers, before the invention of the supermarket.

We loaded back into Dave and Edna’s minivan and steered through some questionable Cleveland neighborhoods to find Interstate 90 to Sandusky. I love it that the back windows of the van are dark, providing me the opportunity to watch people unawares. Perhaps I’m really naïve (don’t you dare say anything), but I don’t really feel uncomfortable, even in a “rough” neighborhood. People are people. I believe everyone is just trying to work, eat, stay warm, enjoy life, do the best they can for their kids. Well, everyone for the most part. Little kids were coming home from school in their uniforms. Old men were biking down the cracked sidewalks on rusty bikes. Folks were hanging out near the front door of the corner convenience store, with the bright neon “Lottery” sign in the window. Don’t we all have to beleive that there is enough America to go around for everyone? Kumbaya, brother.

In Sandusky, we checked into the Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor water park and hotel (http://ohio.greatwolflodge.com/). I was a little concerned about sharing a room with Dave and Edna, but not for the reason you might be thinking. In reality my concern was that Nate might keep everyone up all night. Heh, heh, heh. That’s my boy. He didn’t let us down. More on that later.

We squeezed ourselves into our bathing suits and went to the water park area not long after arriving. Whew, were we a pasty white brigade. There are tons of things to do there, including some awesome slides. Aron and I climbed to the top of one of the big ones and I convinced him to follow me down. “It’ll be fine, sweetie!” I told him. “It’s fun,” I said, looking squarely into those trusting blue eyes. I slid down and on the way, I realized that perhaps I had made a mistake in judgment.

I arrived at the bottom, and hopped out quickly ... only to see my first born child screaming in terror at the top of his lungs, speeding down after me at breakneck speed, his arms and legs flailing as he tried to slow his descent. He was clawing at the sides, but alas, there was no way to stop because of the torrent of water, and nothing to grab onto anyway. Every tiny muscle and tendon in his little body was taut, as he fought for his young life (this is a good time to tell you that he wasn't really in danger, he was just terrified). Kurt reports that from his vantage point at the top of the slide, all he saw was a blond blur with two big blue eyes stretched wide with horror and a huge, gaping mouth going under in the catch pool. Screaming at the top of his lungs, he plopped into catch pool and kept screaming. I picked him up and he was still screaming. Five minutes later, well, you get the idea. We barely got him on the kiddie slides later. Sigh, another bad mommy moment for the annals.

Later that night everyone was in bed by 10:45 p.m. Not bad for our night owl crew. By 11:30, Nate was awake. And now he was the one screaming (what is it with these kids?). Usually a bit of nursing will conk him out again, but he kept screaming. I figured that he was dissatisfied with his Pack-n-Play and just wanted to be awake. I gave him some Tylenol. Edna and I walked him down to the lobby, watched the fire in the fireplace (ah, is there anything nicer?), then put him back to bed by 12:30 a.m. He was up less than an hour later. We walked him some more, went to the lobby again, gave him some Ibuprofen. He went to sleep, we took him back to the room. He was up minutes later. He and I went to the lobby for about two hours and laid on the couches. I felt like a homeless person, but the lights were low and the lobby was actually fairly quiet. Finally, I guess the Ibuprofen kicked in, because he managed to sleep from 3:30 to 7:30. When he woke again, I was past angry and tired and now into full blown concern. Kurt and I took him to the emergency room and yup, you guessed it, ear infection. Poor sweetheart. He’s much better now.

Bean enjoys the breeze off Lake Erie at the playground in Sandusky.

Since we were so close to Lake Erie we drove north on 250 for about 10 minutes or so and walked along Sandusky Bay next to the Sandusky Yacht Club. Fancy! A few years ago, we went boating with a friend of Dave and Edna’s who is a member there, and who has a nice sailboat. I can count on one hand the number of times in my life when I have felt that ill, and typically it has been the direct result of the consumption of red wine. I can’t think of a good reason to ever get on a sailboat again – not unless I am swimming in the water and the water catches on fire, and the only way to survive is to get in the boat.

Dave and Edna: still crazy after all these years.

We had a super time with Kurt’s parents. Next year we hope to get up to Sandusky again to go to Cedar Point. I haven’t been there since Niki and I went about ten years ago. Some days I can’t even believe I’ve been alive that long.

I can’t believe I didn’t make an entry for all of September!! I’m sorry about that, friends. I’ll try to do better in the future!

Other cool stuff we did in September included visiting Anita and David in Lancaster at their farm to meet their new baby, Adam. The kid is seriously cute. I’m going to ask Anita if I can post his picture. Niki and Ehren were also in town! They live in Indy and are getting married next year. I am SO excited for them. And good grief, are they cute together. That’s the way it should be.

Why is this couple smiling? Because they both got a good night's sleep.

And, for the first time ever, my Nater Tot slept through the night. I have to credit the book “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby.” You should get this book if you know someone with a kid that doesn’t sleep or someone who is expecting. It worked in two days. Amazing.

Big boy's first day of school!

And Aron started preschool! He is so big. He is really enjoying himself, too.

Upcoming topics will include my training for a 5K next spring (I figure if I tell everyone I am going to do it, that makes it real and so I’ll have to stick with it). Also, I will discuss how much I love “Inhale,” the yoga show on the Oxygen network.