We had a great trip to the grandparents with a wide range of activities.

swimming in goose poop

I've seen my friends posting this summer about their city kids who don't want to go into a lake. David doesn't like getting cold, so he might be that kid. Rose loves lakes. We knew that the lake we picked for our adventure had green algae on the bottom. We didn't know it had been inundated with geese. And their poop. There was goose poop all through the grass leading down to the lake and the water had a great deal of particulate matter. We all went in. It was hot after all. But, I kind of doubt we are going back.

Treasure Island

Oberlin, as you may know, is a hot bed of culture. I'm not being facetious. It's a small town with a world renowned music program. The local theater company put on a free production of Treasure Island. I had never read the book, but I immediately recognized so many tropes that had made it into our culture--the pirate with the peg leg, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. The set was really well designed, and we all enjoyed discussing it.

Cedar Point

Talk about world renowned, Cedar Point bills itself as the roller coaster capital of the world. We spent 9 hours there, and we didn't go on most of the roller coasters. We prefer the not crazy high ones, which also happen to have completely reasonable lines. My favorites this year were the one that goes upside down, and an X-games style show with choreographed tricks and flips from skate boarders and bicyclists.

The Great Lakes Science Center

We were sort of thinking of going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which is right next door, but we needed four hours alone for the Science Center, and there was ice cream waiting for us. Rose happens to be very into Rubik's cubes right now, and the science center happened to have a special exhibit just on Rubik's cubes. It was a really nice combination of exposition, fancy computer induced ways to play with Rubik's cubes, and a table of old fashioned toys that were precursors to the Cube. That's where I had the most fun. I'm dreadful at spatial relations, but I enjoy logic. If the 1 moves into the 4 position, the 3 will have to go. . . Oh, and of course, there were hundreds of Cubes to play with. They were making a mosaic out of Cubes, so you could go solve one side and help build the mosaic. I'm sure Rose could have stayed there all day.

We also toured a freighter that had toured the Great Lakes bringing coal. It was humungous and a fascinating way to learn about shipping, culture, and class. The wrenches that the sailors had to use on the engine were almost as big as I am.

ice cream at Mally's

One of the highlights of our trip every year is going to an old fashioned ice cream parlor and having huge ice cream Sundays with hot fudge sauce. The staff's outfits, the décor, even the style of candy are straight out of the fifties. And so are the prices. I think it was 26.00 for six sundaes.

playing games

We did not get in enough game playing this visit, but we did introduce the kids to "I Doubt It." I played it a lot when I was a kid, so it was fun to accuse my children and lie to them.

my poetry reading

Regular readers know I have a book that came out in March, and I want to promote it. My in-laws were kind enough to not only set up a reading at Kendal, their retirement community, but invite all their friends to come. The friends did come. There were 50 people there. I couldn't believe it. I had been expecting a dozen, including us. The reading went great. They were a very appreciative audience. I loved doing my in-laws proud. Many of them have already asked me to come back next year. Oh yes.