Top 10 Things We Will NOT Miss About Cleveland

10. Family as far away as they were.
9. Driving in Cleveland... people parked in the middle of the street, the fact that you can't take an unplanned turn around a block without getting lost, the pot holes in the roads, the hard left - soft left you don't really know if you want to go left type intersections, the plethora of 25 mph speed limits, the teenagers who glare at you because you have the nerve to be attempting to drive down the road that they are walking down the middle of, and all the stupid drivers! (and when we say stupid we really mean it)
8. People who say things that normal people just think.
7. The ghetto Walmart.
6. Having to pay income tax to four different cities... we're not exaggerating.
5. People who hate you just because you exist.
4. Nine months of winter... the gray days that last and last and last.
3. Mayflies.
2. A husband who lives at work instead of at home.
1. Being a student... it's time for a real job!

Top 17 Things We Will Miss About Cleveland

(yep, it's 17 because we couldn't condense it to just 10)

17. Costco - there's not Costco in College Station :(
16. Fall and spring... some of the most beautiful times in Cleveland.
15. The fantastic doctors and hospitals. We love Rainbow!! Unfortunately we visited a few too many times!
14. All the wild life that liked to visit our yard: skunks, ground hogs, possums, rabbits, deer, chipmunks, raccoons, all the birds, the bat in the attic, and definitely the evil squirrels!
13. All the excitement on the evening news.
12. Ebonics - we aren't fluent in Texan yet!
11. Our 82 year old house and all it's personality.
10. The entertaining East Cleveland Branch and frat house... we've been missing it for a while now!
9. Snow in the winter... not the cold, just the snow.
8. How close everything is... DC, New York, PA. It was great for short vacations.
7. Kirtland and the tours.
6. The family stuff... the Children's Museum, the Science Center, the Zoo, Lake Farm Park.
5. All the green trees. We love how green Ohio is!
4. Playhouse square... we're really going to miss Playhouse Square!
3. Oxford Elementary and all the great people there.
2. The amazing friends we are leaving behind!
1. The feeling of belonging... Cleveland is our home.

Some last memories from Cleveland...

So it's finally time for us to move on. Our four years in Cleveland grew to seven, but we truly enjoyed out time here. I remember when Larry and I were looking at schools and we were talking about Cleveland, my response had been, "Cleveland?? Do we really want to go to Cleveland? What's in Cleveland?" Well, there is a ton to do in Cleveland, and we have enjoyed so many amazing museums and parks, and have absolutely loved Playhouse Square. We have met some of the most amazing people and my children have been lucky enough to be exposed to different cultures and people. We have loved Oxford Elementary, it was like our second home! Ohio is absolutely beautiful! The spring is amazing when it starts to get green after a long winter, and the summer is so green and nice, and the fall is beautiful and colorful. I love all the trees there! There are so many things we have grown to love about Cleveland, and we have made some of our best friends in our time here. It's definitely with mixed emotions that we leave. We're excited for what's to come but a definitely sad about what we're leaving behind.
We had a crazy last few months in Cleveland, so Mayson and Kaleb had a joint birthday party at the skating rink. It was a ton of fun and a pretty easy way to do a party. They skated, played laser tag and played the arcade games. Everyone had a great time and was exhausted by the time we left!
We had to go to the farm again before we left. The kids have loved the farm and we ended up going for their working dog weekend. THey had all sorts of dogs there doing things that they are trained to do... like herd sheep. The kids had fun and loved watching the dogs go through the obstacle course. Of course the highlight is always milking the cow though. They never seem to get tired of trying it out every time we go.


Above is Mayson being goofy, and below are Asher and dad hanging out at home.

Here's Asher in the gym at Orford. He loves being at the kids school... it makes him feel like a big kid!

Last Day of School

The kids finished out school for the year, and this time it was with mixed emotions. Everyone is glad to be done for the summer and excited for our move, but we're really sad to be leaving Oxford. We have loved the school and the teachers here! Mayson had an ice cream party and we went over to help and eat some ice cream. It was fun and Mayson enjoyed getting to hang out with her friends.

5th Grade Promotion

It's official, Kaleb has been officially promoted to middle school. I can't believe he is really that old. Does that make me old too? They got certificates and got to walk across and shake everyones hand. Kalebs has had a great time at Oxford and is reall going to miss his friends and teachers! Here's a picture of Kaleb and his friend Tedd. He is such a good kid and we love having Tedd around. We are all really going to miss him and his family!

Asher's 3rd Birthday

Asher is such a cutie, and after the last year with him we are so glad he is healthy and doing well. He is growing and has tons of energy and is a total boy. He's into anything that includes a ball, he climbs on everything, jumps off everything and throws everything. He is convinced that everything is either a sword or a gun, and if he can't find something that resembles one of those, he will build himself one out of Legos. Oh yeah, did I mention he loves Legos! We had a fun day with the family to celebrate his birthday. He got a mini basketball that is the perfect size for him, a green lantern plane that shoots missiles and a buzz lightyear gun that shoots darts. He's in heaven! He is so full of life and makes us all laugh constantly. We are so happy he's part of our family!

Mayson's Dance Recital

Mayson had her dance recital the 5th of June and she did amazing. I can't believe how much progress she has made over the last two years. She's been taking classes in tap and ballet at The Dance Studio and has done so well! She looked beautiful and they all did a great job!

Rhyan's End of Year Picnic

Rhyan's school had a fun end of year picnic on he playground. We had dinner and the ice cream man came, and all the kids spent the night playing and having fun. Rhyan had a great time with her friends and she really going to miss a couple of them when we leave. Especially Carter, since she says she is in love with him and is going to marry him!

Rhyan's Un-Birthday

Since Rhyan's birthday falls in July her teachers at school let the summer birthday kids pick a day to celebrate during the school year. Rhyan decided to take in cupcakes right before school got out for the summer. She had fun with her friends and Asher had fun going and eating cupcakes with her.

Kaleb's 11th Birthday

We got back from New York just in time for Kaleb's 11th Birthday. He too got a new DSi, and once again the long car ride to texas was considered when we were trying to decide what to get him. Kaleb decided on ice cream sundaes with all the works for his birthday, and he took cupcakes to school to share with his friends. He was a little harder to hold down for birthday spanking but dad can handle it. I can't believe he is almost a teenager. Along with that is I can't believe he is about to go into middle school. Seems like just yesterday we had him and I sat there thinking "what on earth am I going to do with a kid?" Didn't take long and he's getting all grown up. he's a good kid and we're proud of him for everything he does.

New York City

The end of May we went to New York City for the annual Pediatric Dental Conference. Larry had to present his research at the conference, and we decided it would make for a fun vacation if I went too. Can I just start off by saying, I Love New York! I would love to live her for a while if I didn't have kids. It is full of life and there are so many things to do. We spent a week of nonstop running to see everything and anything. We went to the top of the Empire State Building and the top of the Rockefeller building. We took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We walked across the Brooklyn bridge and through Chinatown and all around Wall Street and the Stock Exchange. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (LOVED the Met!) and the Museum of Modern Art. And of course, we wandered around Central Park and Time Square.

We went to Ground Zero and went through the memorial musium and saw the new memorial they are building and the new Liberty Tower that's going up. The woman that did our tour lost her son in the Trade Center and told us her story. It was sad to have it be made real like that from someone who was there, not miles away from it. The big hanging crystal thing is a memorial set up by a law firm for their lost employees. It has "tears" that dip n to the pool endlessly. It's a pretty neat memorial. We also saw the fireman's memorial that runs along the whole side of one of the buildings that was by the trade center. The building under construction in the pictures is the Liberty Tower which is the huge tower replacing the Trade Centers. It will be three times as tall as what you see there when it's all done. I'm sure it will be amazing to see.

We rode the subway all over and I think the subway is great. It is such and easy way to get around everywhere. We only had one mishap, and that was when we ended up at the Cloisters Museum. It is up on the river and it was so beautiful up there. We had been planning to go to the MET, but this is the MET's sister museum and both addresses are on the pamphlet. Needless to say, Larry's navigating could use a little work. We did not end up at the MET! It was fun though and it was really pretty. You can see a picture of me examining the subway map trying to get us where we were supposed to have gone.

We ate so much delicious food... they have some great restaurants. And maybe best of all, we went to two broadway shows, the Lion King and Memphis. They were amazing!! The last picture we just had to put on because this old lady was hilarious. I guess if nothing else she doesn't have a confidence problem! We had so much fun, and it was such a great time for Larry and I to hang out together without the kids. We will definitely have to go back again. Thank you so much Urs for coming out to watch them for us while we were gone, we really appreciate your help!!