Sunday, June 24

On day #2 of their visit, my dad, stepmom, niece, nephew, Yuta, Taipan, Taisim & I went downtown to ride on the Goodtime III - Cleveland's largest excursion ship! It was originally my suggestion to go on the boat, but as the date got closer I tried to convince my dad that we should do something else. I was kind of worried that the kids would get bored and be hard to manage on a two-hour boat ride.

Well, I was wrong. The kids all had a blast. The boat leaves from a pier on Lake Erie...

(right next to the Rock Hall...


and Cleveland Browns Stadium)...




... then heads down the Cuyahoga River.



The neat thing about the river is that there are lots of bridges, and a few of them open/close or raise/lower, which interested Taipan quite a bit. And there are concessions on the boat, so having lunch helped give the kids something to do. And Elyse made a friend on the boat, so the older kids had a new person to hang out with.



The boat is three levels, and the lowest level is indoors and has a stage and dance floor. The kids spent the last thirty minutes of the trip dancing and playing on the dance floor. Elyse & Jason took turns doing Ring Around the Rosie with Taisim, and all of the kids loved jumping off the stage - they were taking turns being a barracuda, and the barracuda would jump out and chase everyone.







The excursion is narrated, but don't ask me what they said. I didn't get a chance to pay attention at all, other than to learn that Lake Erie is the 12th largest lake in the world! I'd definitely go on the boat again, but probably wait until my kids are a bit older.



After we were done with the Goodtime III we headed to my friend's house for her daughter's thrid birthday party. My niece & nephew were the oldest kids there and understandably got bored pretty quickly, so they headed home early, while Yuta, Taipan, Taisim and I stayed for a few hours.

Taipan took, oh, about an hour and a half to warm up and wanting to be around people other than me. He wanted to just play in the basement, whereas the rest of the party was happening outside. It was kind of hard because I felt like I should be spending time with my dad, et al, instead of just abandoning them with my friends, so Yuta and I tag-teamed with Taipan, and he eventually came upstairs and later still he wandered outside to play. It was a long day for both of the kids, following a late night at the Brecksville Home Days. We were glad when we got back home around 8.