Cleveland Rocks!

School was out this week, so we took a little vacay to Cleveland, OH! I found a great deal on a fancy hotel, the Drury Plaza right in downtown. It was a 4hr drive and we got there Monday afternoon. It was a beautifully restored building from the 1930s that used to be the Board of Education.

The hotel had an indoor pool and hot tub, as well as free breakfast, buffet dinner, and happy hour! The boys enjoyed watching the craziness of downtown from the window.

They brought us a crib, and as always we had to get creative on how to isolate Jacob since he goes to bed first. Well there was a large closet by the bathroom, so we tucked his crib in there and draped a blanket over the opening. Voila! Instant baby cave. He slept like a charm every night (after playing peek-a-boo for about an hour of course).

We just relaxed our first evening there, and obviously had to take advantage of the free beverages!

We all swam and enjoyed the pool and hot tub, then let the boys eat some popcorn and watch a movie to wind down.

The next day was unusually warm, so we walked to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We passed this on the way!

There were many awesome exhibits, as well as the original handwritten song lyrics by several artists.

That evening we walked to the Arcade, which is basically an indoor shopping mall in a neat old building. Even though it was barely 5pm, most of the shops were closed.

The next morning we ventured a bit further than downtown to see the Museum of Art. It was a really amazing and educational place, and just full of all different time periods of art and artifacts.

We got to see real Monet's, Van Gogh, and Picasso as well!

For lunchtime we headed over to the West Side Market. It was in a large building that wasn't marked, so after passing it a couple times we figured it out and parked. It is full of booths with local meats, fruits/veggies, desserts, and all different kinds of foods. It was almost overwhelming at first! Nick decided on a Greek gyro, and I got smoked sausage for me and the boys. We found our way up to the balcony to eat, then walked around some more to find desserts. Yum!

For our last excursion of the trip, we headed to the Federal Reserve which was right across the street from our hotel! They have a money museum there, and the guide told us the history of the building (which was beautiful!).

The next morning after breakfast we packed up and got on our way back home! It rained all through Ohio and Pennsylvania, then changed to heavy snow as we got into NY. As we got east of Buffalo it slowed down and was actually sunny at our house! Our kitty was happy to see us, and we were happy to be back in our quiet town.