STORYBOOK FOREST!

Today was the big summertime roadtrip for us: Storybook Forest in Ligonier. Please note that there is no link included in the previous sentence; that is because there is no real website for Storybook Forest. It's part of the Idlewild/Soakzone! Park complex and that's all fine and good but, please, could we just have a page for the damn place? In light of this lack of info, and because I took so many photos today, this entry is going to be pretty long and plenty illustrated.

Here is the entrance you go thru which, very sweetly, is like a huge storybook. The entrance was one of many features in the park that had a little wooden plaque that said "Original to Storybook Forest: 50 Years!"
The set up, as you will see, is a winding road thru a forestlike setting featuring little cottages based on fairytales and nursery rhymes. I did'nt get a photo of Donny being talked to by Mother Goose but Mike and I agreed later that the ladies dispersed thru the park as various characters were all very good. First stop after Mother Goose was the Little Red Schoolhouse:
And then home of the Crooked Man:
I'll admit being disappointed that there was no crooked cat.

Next was a big chair that Donovan could have played on all day. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On:Not sure what story/rhyme that was supposed to be but we got alot of mileage out of it. The other big item for Donny was a windmill. Again, that could have been the rest of the day. He stood there reaching for it and talking to it in that Donny language of his:Then across a cute bridge:
Mike and Donovan went aboard the Goodship Lollipop. I should have gotten a photo of the lady who was the Captain(?) as she was wearing a sort of Mothergoosesque long skirt, long apron and Raybans. While the menfolk talked to her I took some photos of the ship's decorations:




Other stops along the way included The Three Bears:


Aladdin's Magic Carpet:




A huge block of cheese:



And the house of the 7 dwarves which, actually, is pretty much how I would like our house to look someday:



Do you think I could find vinyl siding in a floral pattern like that?

Mike and I had a really nice time and I think Donovan did as well. We are definately going back and definately packing a picnic lunch. Granted we only spent time in a small part of the park but the food was awful. Even I, the Carnival Food Aficianado, was offended. But that little complaint is just that--and the food in question was'nt even in Storybook Forest, it was in the other part of Idlewild that borders it.

Storybook forest is very much an anachronism but it works so well. First, I realized that it was designed to be a Photo Op Park. That was great in the 50s but think about now when you don't need to worry about wasting film! Its a digital camera paradise. Also, there were NO SPONSORS. No one dressed up as Garfield or Minnie Mouse or whatever--completely commercial free. So commercial free, in fact, that their giftshop was lame. And for those of you who don't like giftshops, it was hidden away at the very end of the trail So basically you got a roughly 2 hour walk in the woods with no commercial interuptions. It was really sweet.

And now a few more photos to finish up. Thanks for letting me throw all these images at you--here's hoping you could share some of our fun by looking at them:

Herron Avenue Just Got Louder

My blackberry can only hold about 7 photos before its "full." This means I have to email the images to myself and then erase them if I want to take more. This is the second time I've been so efficient with this system that I've erased the images before they've arrived in my mailbox. That being said, almost all of the photos of my son playing with his tricycle are gone but most of the ones of him discovering the piano in the living room I managed to save. Both items were shipped here today from Elyria, the piano from my Mom and the trike from my sister who found it at a Goodwill for $5. The trike is really sweet, its a red and white metal reproduction of--oh, what's the company that makes the little red wagons? Well, anyhow, here are the surviving photos:

Ramping Up

While I type this, Mike is laying down with the boy before putting him in his crib. Its Saturday night, the first night of my "Vacation." I put "Vacation" in quotes because I'm taking the week off as Donovan's daycare is closed for two weeks. I'm doing Week #1 and Mike is doing Week #2. In a way it blows because it would be nice if we could actually all have time off as a family. Still, time off is time off and we do have some things planned. On Monday we are going to go to STORYBOOK FOREST! I'm exceedingly geeked--I love stuff like that. I'm not going to call it kitch because it seems to be such a heartfelt endeavor--I want to show it some love and respect. Tuesday and Wednesday will be just me and the boy and those days are as yet unplanned, which is nice. Thursday will be an adventure of some magnitude as Donny and I are going to take the bus to Elyria. The Greyhound does have a stop in Elyria just a few blocks from my folks' place. The plan is my sister will meet us, pack up the luggage and, since we will be sans carseat, I will pack up the boy in his stroller and walk home. My only concern is that it is a 5 hour bus ride and I'm hoping the kid won't explode. Either that or a Thursday afternoon bus to Elyria will be near empty. I'd settle for either scenario. I'm feeling some apprehension about going home--this will be the first trip back since Dad's funeral--but I absolutely must go. I can't put it off any longer. Mike will come up on Saturday and, most likely, we'll leave on Sunday. I'm hoping the trip will give me a chance to help Mom out around the house a bit but, more importantly, that it will give everyone back home some meaningful babytime.

Tomorrow we are skipping church because my Mom is sending us a piano. She got this bee in her bonnet that she wanted her piano out of her house and that it had to come to Pittsburgh. She priced a few movers and found two guys with an openbed truck and a tarp who are going to drive it here for $250. Personally, I think they are going to dump it off the 4th street bridge and spend the rest of their Sunday drinking $250 worth of beer at The Ely Inn. I hope they prove me wrong. Mike and I have alot of rearranging to do to make room for the damn thing--its not a big piano by any means but here at Maison du Clutter, space is at a premium.

Stay tuned for updates, photos and the like.

Home Away from Home

I took off of work today to clean up the Ant Atrocity Exhibition. I also got to fit in some other small cleaning projects that had been bordering on criminal negligence.

In sharp contrast to the messes I cleaned up today, I offer you a few photos I sneakily took on my blackberry when I dropped Donny's stuff off at Waldorf this morning. I usually peek in the classroom when I go in and everyone else is out in the garden. I like seeing the little table set with the flowers and the sweet little wooden toys. Sometimes I wonder if the Waldorf thing is a little bit too precious, if it is'nt akin to forcefeeding someone else's dream of antiquated childhood to modern kids in modern times. Mostly tho I do like it and I think Donovan does as well. When I went in to get him today he was sitting with the other kids eating his snack and all the kids were well behaved and talking and laughing together. And I do believe that surrounding kids with all sorts of beauty is not a luxury but a necessity. When we drop him off in the garden, it makes it easier to leave him there knowing that he'll spend the whole day in a beautiful place with loving people.

Anyhow, for those of you wondering how Donny spends his days:

7 In One Blow

I'm up late having just dealt with an infestation of ants. Luckily for me they were the little tiny ants and not the big juicey ones that give me dry heaves when I squish them. What does it say about my life that, while I'm emptying the cabinet and squishing, squishing, squishing, I think with some glee, "I may have to take off of work tomorrow to sanitize the kitchen: YEAH!!!" Don't know if I will or even can--my boss called off sick today and the other gal who would have to take my hours went home early due to soreness from a recent fall. In light of that, bleaching my shelves takes third place, I'm afraid. Still, to have a day to clean my lovely new kitchen--if its not too hot tomorrow, that could be a good time...

In babynews, I'm happy to report that Donovan actually ate some food tonight: I made him some sweet potato homefries and, after that, he had two servings of yogurt. Then I tricked him into eating a pretzel and part of a cereal bar. After I put him to bed I made Sleek, which is usually a No Fail food for him.

Too bad I'm too tired for a shower. I feel all buggy.

What's a Girl to Do?

I thought I would be part of the New Parental Order but things haven't turned out that way. While everyone was waving the Breastfeeding flags I got to sit in doctors' waiting rooms surrounded by posters telling me what a bad mother I was because breastmilk is SO MUCH BETTER than formula. Oh well--its not like we could afford college for him anyhow. Also, the whole circumcision thing. That's all fine and good except the boy needed a little surgery Down There because he was born with a chordee--very common, very minor birth defect. But of course, all the hip moms with boys that I've ended up talking to have to assure me that WE would NEVER do THAT to OUR boys.

Again: Sigh.

And now its the food. The kid simply will not eat. We usually get a note from daycare written on a re-used quarter of a sheet of paper. Friday, it was a full page: if Donny won't eat breakfast than they'll give him an early snack and he doesn't really like the barley or the rice (in my defense: he does at home). They noticed he likes when I pack mac and cheese and pasta with sauce. Well, alright then. Gerber's and Velveeta it is. I suppose I shouldn't be too upset--I got the Gerber's Graduates today for two reasons. First, his grandmother gave him some and he ate it all. Second, they were on sale for a dollar a piece and part of my broken heart about feeding the kid is the sheer amount of food I throw out. Last night I stayed up late and mixed up some pancake batter from scratch--not a huge effort but enough of one. Two bites and the rest went on the floor. If I'm going to throw out something it may as well be on sale and not something I actually care about.

That sounded terrible, didn't it?

Well, while I'm sounding terrible, allow me to bitch about church today. Earlier this week, some wackadoo just outside of Pittsburgh gunned down about a dozen women, killing three of them. Its been a rough week hearing about the ladies who were killed and hearing bits and pieces of the shooter's hateful blog and diary. It really stuck in my craw that the guest minister at church today opted not to mention it AT ALL. Apparently today was Peace Sunday for the Unitarian Church and it looks like they had the program already set up. If that wasn't bad enough, the minister was playing cheerleader, trying to get everyone to Get Up and Dance In the Aisles! if we were so moved.

Its important for women, girls especially, to know that its not their job to fix people who need help beyond what any one person can give. The minister was lax in not talking about this situation. I'm also shocked that, in a congregation filled with outspoken liberal women apparently none of them felt strongly enough to say, "Why don't we skip a few choruses of 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone' so we can fit some words in about the shooting?" Because I can't be the only person who struggles with wondering if compassion can be a measurable commodity. I can't be the only one thinking, "Great: another big room full of people who don't think this is important."

Sometimes I miss Catholicism.

Are You Sure You Don't Want a Pop Tart?

Some kids like cookies and candy. Not my kid.
Have I mentioned he's underweight?