Vicarious Rocky

Two business establishments named after the roads they were on -- Rt. 306 Auto Parts and Bell Gas Station. Also an adorable Consignment Shop named Unique Piece where I bought an outfit for a Networking BBQ after a business meeting (I only had my suit). Lot's of Garden centers and Horses.

Sigh. He's 2. He's TWO! And I am sitting here pouring over private school websites. Sage and I have have pretty much decided to try and get our kid into this school. That's right -- I used the words "try" and "get into." There will be admissions, interviews, acceptance letters. I have enough to worry about in my life. Now I get to add preschool interviews to the list.

"Well, what are your other schooling options, Rocky," you ask? Moving out of Akron. But we don't want to move the business for a lot of good reasons. And if we personally move, we've got 4 options for decent public schools - Medina, N.Canton, Bath, and Hudson. Medina and N.Canton are too far away from work and Grammy (Who we moved to Akron from Medina). Bath and Hudson are closer but snobby, boring, and really expensive. Plus, if I've got to commute to work from Bath or Hudson, why not just commute our son to this private school? Or there's the option of becoming Jewish, but as fun as our neighbor makes it seem, I don't think I can do it with real commitment. I have 15 Catholic options, but I'd do Jewish before Catholic.

Ah well, the joys of child rearing. Wish my two-year old luck with the applications and interviews.

For some reason, I am convinced this neighbor girl will grow up, date my son, eat him alive, and leave him broken hearted. She's about 6 months younger than him, but taller and more well spoken. Her mother is a French Professor, so she is going to be Bi-lingual. She's temperamental, strong willed, smart, and creative. She likes Indy a lot, but intimidates him and so he cries when she touches him or his stuff. Men.

Our vacation started with a hot date for Sage and I at Downtown 140 in Hudson. It was really all bout me getting to wear my polka dot wrap dress that I foolishly bought on a business trip when I blacked out and forgot that my life no longer includes going out in adorable cocktail dresses.

What a great little restaurant that is. Internet reviews from people who obviously dine a lot at steakhouses warned of really small portions. So Sage and I ordered a ton of "Smallest" and "Small" plates figuring we'd be leaving the place starving. Oooopps. I only got in half the Goat Cheese Crostini and Half the Calamari, which was a "Smallest" plate and it was a cereal bowl of Calamari.

The waitress who needs to own a food scale also said one "order" of cheese was 1 ounce. It was size of half my fist.

Anyway, the food was all fabulous. The dessert was wonderful. The coffee kicked ass, but was it worth $10 a cup? I was clearly paying for Sage to eat on what looked like the world's longest chaise lounge. He had a side table w/ a lamp next to his sofa! He LOVED that. It was a great way to start vacation.

The guy at the door looked at me like I was insane when I asked: "Where are the family activities?" Doesn't This Description imply that there would be kid oriented stuff? Maybe it was the "s" on the end of "activities" and "workshops" (or the 6-8pm time spread) that gave me the impression it would be more than one make-a-funny-hat table w/ construction paper and pipe cleaners.

I also noticed I wasn't the only person with this false impression. There were at least 6 other bewildered families wandering around the museum lobby looking for something else to pretend to do with the 3 kids they dragged in from the Library parking lot.

Maybe you Museum event coordinator types don't have children. Let me tell you about them: They're hard to lug around, so we parents like to make sure events are worth driving too. However, they're also really easily amused and parents are desperate to do something, anything, with a bored kid in the summer (which is why you had so many families show up for your crappy, poorly advertised "Fun" night).

In other words, get three more card tables next week -- sand art, wash off tattoos, glitter glue. Then get a balloon animal guy that's paid in tips. Done.

I don't remember the specific occasion, but a handful of us high school kids were supposed to take their favorite teacher to a banquet. I took Mr. Brenner, but he was my runner up. I had to take my second choice because Valedictorian Amanda got first dibs on Ms. McCarthy. Mr. Brenner is a great teacher, but I was pissed.

Well, Amanda can suck it because I got to go to a lovely bake shop with Ms. McCarthy for lunch yesterday. She's still cool as ever and it was great catching up. It's been 15 years since I babysat her children -- now heading off to Akron U. I got a little glimpse into the experience of raising teenagers. Of course, she has TWINS, so that looks crazy fun and hard, but she's kicking parenting ass and looking hot while doing it.

The place we had lunch is amazing, and I'm so proud of North Canton for getting a really adorable cafe and fancy bakery. It's call the Hazel Artisan Bakery and they need a website, but here's a link to a Canton Rep article about them.

She also drove me by a few new North Canton hot spots. There's a cute looking Gelato place (also needs a website) and a Grille on Main Street that has liquor (and a starter website, thank you). Good for you N. Canton! You can't keep smart people hanging around if you can't have a glass of wine with dinner. It's definitely getting cooler down there and it's not just the glow off Pam.

Bunnies! By a small twitching nose. They just edged out cows as the Fair favorite. Surprisingly, tractors and elephants were not as popular as expected. But the whole thing was a hoot.

This picture sort of looks like a demon bunny has captured my son's soul, but really holding a soft bunny on a 95 degree day just puts a sleepy toddler in a daze.

Highlights for me include a woman with 1 tooth (maybe there were some in the back I couldn't see?); Mint Oreo ice cream; Sage talking to the Gene's Heating and Air Conditioning guy for 10 minutes again this year; and watching Indy run a toy tractor back and forth over 20 feet of unoccupied bleacher seats during the afternoon tractor pull -- all the while stopping randomly to wave and chat with ladies, and only ladies.

Another great year at the Fair.

Wish you were having a more carefree, glamorous, photogenic summer? Problem solved. Go out and get yourself a friend with a $350/month boat payment. You get to reach up through the murkiness of middle class and touch the tips of your fingers to the upper-classes' keel. Or so it feels.

Actually, you just get to wear sunglasses and/or squint, which makes you seem really joyful. It's also hard not to smile while your being jiggled and bounced over water at 25 mph.

Uncle Mike helps Indy drive the boat, but going fast makes it too windy to steer.

Aunt Nikki is super cool. Indy was most tickled by her wake boarding and wanted to see her pictures all night after we got home.

Poppie's still got it too.

My brother is crazy good. This is him starting his flip. He nailed it.


Happy Sage.

Happy Rocky.

Love was in the air.

Sage was a farm boy from the formative ages of 1-7 before moving into the "big" city of Medina, Ohio, where he sadly learned you can NOT have a horse in your yard! His enthusiasm for life generally is magnified about 8X when it comes to the Fair -- he LOVES the tractor pull, giant cows, bunny cages, free booths, flimsy rides, the air conditioner and John Deere sales displays (he always talks to the guy), and the food, of course. I cannot help but love it all when I'm with him. I now officially LOVE the fair too. I am not so into the booths, but I like the animals, enjoy the ridiculousness of the Grandstand events, really get into people watching, and LOVE the food.

More details on this fabulous event to come.

I cannot find a picture of him, but he's adorable and Claire has the best pic anyway and is taking up a collection. Get Well Felix!! I hear you're not on 6 weeks of full bedrest anymore, but are instead about to undergo cheaper surgery. Hmmm. Back Alley perhaps? A cat named Dr. Claw?

Good Luck, Little Dude. Kisses and Cuddles to your stressed Mother.