clevelandtown

We had a great week in Cleveland in early June (is it really already July today?!). We all went to one of the Indians/Red Sox series games: me, my parents Ryan, Dave, and John. A bunch of John's nephews were there too. (Do the little ones look like the Mad Magazine face or what?!)

I was much happier about the gray skies, and humidity in the air than I ever thought I'd be. And the green. Oh the GREEN everywhere. The longer I'm away from home, the more I appreciate all of those things.
Other than baseball, I had some good times with ma and pa. We all had a great dinner together at the Flying Fig, a great restaurant featuring local and seasonal foods. I ended up having halibut (luckily not local - I'm not sure I want halibut out of Lake Erie). Mom and I had a good shopping day, and we of course got in the requisite West Side Market trip. There were multiple happy hours at Great Lakes Brewery. And Ryan and I dusted off the parents' bikes for a tour of various Cleveland highlights that we frequent when in town: Big Fun and Coventry, Little Italy, University Circle, Hessler Street, CWRU campus and the Cleveland Museum of Art, to see the new improvements and especially to see our favorite, the Armor Room.
Here's Ryan near the Art Museum and you can see the Frank Gehry building in the background that he watched being built from the rooftop of his Hessler St. apartment the year he lived in CLE. How do you like Ryan's relic of a helmet we found in my parents' basement? It was the only we found that fit him, but I'd say it's nearly a collectors item!

P.S. Here's a couple more pics post-triathlon in Gallup. We had some fun posed pictures on top of the podium. Aren't Brian & Keri's little Adie, and Melissa's boys The Cutest?! I was lucky enough to have little Lucas and Will in my swim classes the last few weeks - boy were they fun, but a handful!