Mom & Sons 1st Official Weekend Away (Cleveland, OH)

 Daddy Brad went to Vegas last weekend for business/pleasure, and my little boys and I were in the mood for some adventure!  So what do we do?  We go on an adventure of course! Our first Mom & Sons weekend away (a new tradition we are starting, along with other ones). Since we've checked out the majority of the museums and aquariums around Bemus, Erie, and Buffalo, we thought it would be fun to venture to the next closest biggest city..... 2 states away, and a 2 hour drive later we found ourselves in Cleveland, Ohio!  On our first day--Saturday, we explored the Great Lakes Science Center, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (pictured above.)  Quick trivia:  Where is the birthplace of Rock and Roll? Cleveland, duh?! Yeah, took me by surprise too but its true, just google it!

 Surprisingly, Cleveland has a hip little vibe to it! With University Circle being the central for all these grand art museums, manicured parks,  and top notch Medical Research University and Center, I can only imagine how beautiful the area looks when its not Winter.  Murray Hill, the Coventry Village, and Little Italy were some of my favorites with their restaurants, shops, and yes, mansions!  I always thought Ohio was supposed to be flat, but not in the city.  So many hills, curvy twist streets, and forests.  And if you need to shop and dine it has it all (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and all the others), and their giant Italian shopping village with its grand entrance gate (as if you were pulling up to a castle) called Legacy Village has California's Irvine Spectrum beat by far.  Cleveland Heights was my favorite area, and if we had to live in Ohio this is where I would want to be.

Great Lakes Science Center:

Dinner with my boys at the famous Tommy's, in the Coventry Village:

After dinner, we checked in to our beloved Embassy Suites, fed their turtles, had Tommy's famous milkshake for dessert in the room, took a bath, FaceTime with daddy, story time in bed, and then I cuddled with my boys until we fell asleep.  Love the feeling of waking up and Taj is laying to the left of me in bed, and Jax to the right of me in his pack n play.  When Jax awoke I pulled him up into bed with us and nursed him, while Taji showered us both with kisses.  Such sweet mommy and son moments I will always treasure!  Then, after we plowed through our breakfast, we packed up, checked out,  we visited our friend Bridget and her girls, who live in Richmond Heights.  Because they were moving that weekend to their new house and their family was in town we couldn't have much play time with them, but nevertheless, it was nice to see them and plan our next Cleveland visit with them.  The boys took their nap in the car on the way to the aquarium, which I honestly I have to say wasn't too impressive.  Taj did love the sharks and the long shark tunnel though and it was great for the boys to run around indoors in such a pleasant environment.  My boys love aquariums, no matter what size or how many species of fish they have.  We have been to a total of 5 aquariums in 3 different states so far (the Monterey Bay Aquarium being the best.)  My mommy goal is to be able to take the boys to as many aquariums, zoos, and museums around the country and the world :)

 Turtle feeding!

I did not know what to expect when I set out on this weekend adventure solo with my boys.  A part of me feared the worst as I often jokingly refer to myself as a masochist mom!  I seem to always challenge my mommy abilities and patience, and knowing something is going to be difficult and tiring makes me want to attempt it that much more just to prove to myself that I can do it.  Instead of picking the easy route, I go for the adventurous crazy one....... ahhh, story of my life, I guess!!  I enjoy spending time with my little boys, and especially going on adventures, and creating unforgettable memories...... I may not be able to do this with them forever as they get older, but I will sure take every opportunity I can get at this stage of our lives! 

I wasn't sure how tired I would be after this experience or if I would even be brave enough to do it again.  Even with Taj's meltdowns (3 to be exact) on this trip, my patience was tested but we had an incredible time at the places we went to, the hotel, and my boys were [rambunctious] angels!  My favorite parts were at dinner (both boys were model citizens at the restaurant and we got a few compliments too!) and all the "wows" and "mommy, look at that!" when we attended the museum and aquarium.  Love to see their little eyes light up and their wheels turn in wonder and delight! If you were to ask Taj what his favorites were from our weekend trip, he would probably say "seeing the sharks at the krenarium" and "having a little poopoo fall out of my butt on the hotel carpet!" when he was running around hyper and naked before bath time!  My crazy moment was when Taj announced he had to go pee in the car on our way home.  Lucky for us, we can pull off on the side of the road around here without being run over, so we did just that and Taj made his own yellow snow!!!  Have I mentioned how wonderfully nice and easy it is now that Taj pees standing up?  All we have to do is pull his pants and undies down to his knees and help him aim, boys have it SO easy!!!

If you were to ask me if I would go away for the weekend again with just my 2 little boys, I would say......Definitely!!! In 6 months or a year maybe! LOL We'll make it an annual tradition!

The only negative of our trip was at the very end.  Arriving home to discover that our furnace (heater) shut off the night before when we were in Cleveland, so our house was freezing!!!  Its especially difficult when you spend all weekend driving in freezing snowy weather, and look forward to being back in our toasty warm home.  That did not happen.  You win some, you lose some.  This was our bad luck.  What many don't understand is that since we have a gas- water heating system versus forced air heat it takes hours for our house to warm up.  I was able to reset it and the heat kicked on again but we had to use our electric heater and the boys went to bed bundled up.  Oh, and on the last note, our weekend apparently wore me out physical because another reward I got at the end of our trip was Laryngitis!! Ah, let the adventures continue!