Cleveland Trip, Day 3 and 4

After our trip to the zoo on Sunday, we headed to Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park Beach.

The kids have been asking all summer to go to the beach.  We don't have a "beach" near us, and a trip to the ocean was not in our budget or in my vacation time budget at work (which I have clearly exhausted with three trips to Russia in 90 days).  

This beach on Lake Erie was fabulous!!  It was $3 to park, and that was it.  The beach was really clean, and it was so much fun.  

Katie absolutely loved it.  The water was very shallow in the swimming area, so she was able to splash around and play in a huge area without us worrying about her.  

All of the kids absolutely loved it.  Jack really didn't need his lifejacket, but it made me feel better for him to have it on.

The water was a bit chilly, but that didn't slow the kids down at all.  There were several people at the beach, but it is large enough that it didn't feel crowded.

This little girl is a beach girl!

I'd never been to any of the great lakes before - Lake Erie is enormous.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but it was seriously huge.

My tiniest fish was in heaven.

Chris was a little nervous with the kids in the water, but they did so great.

David was so happy there, and he has told everyone since we came home, "We went to the beach and I liked it very, very much."

Katie was very interested in the lifeguard kayak.  All of the kids were, and Jack asked me to ask if "we can borrow the lifeguard boat."  

David led this group of kids in making some huge sandcastle business.  He was clearly the bossiest child there leader of the group, and they all played together for quite a while.

Little Lady K was pooped after the zoo and the beach!  She promptly fell asleep in her seat.

We had room service for dinner on our last night, and the kids loved that "the man" brought the food!  To our room!  They were completely amazed by that.  

We got up early the next morning and had breakfast and headed out to come home.  We stopped just outside of Columbus for lunch.  

Do you recognize where this lunch might be from?  IKEA!!  The boys were thrilled to go play in the kids' play area for a little while, and Chris, Katie and I all walked around the store.  It was our least expensive trip to IKEA ever, and I bought two candles, a doll for Katie, and a set of white dishes.

Katie's favorite part of the store was the hand dryer in the bathroom.

She also really enjoyed the ginger snaps (which I swear were the same exact cookies we had at her orphanage in Russia) and the chocolate we got.  She was in a little European food heaven.

Our ride home was not as relaxed and well behaved as our ride there.  The kids were, overall, really great in the car though.

When it got dark we busted out some glow sticks!

The kids l.o.v.e.d. using them in the car.  I can only imagine what people driving by us thought.  I felt like I was at a rave.  (Not, PS. that I've ever been to a rave....)

We had a fantastic weekend away, but we were happy to come home and see the Nashville lights too!