Sunday July17th Cleveland or how to fit 25 hours into the day

So many good people to see, so little time!  That is the problem, the solution - time management, caring, planning and breaking every speed limit posted while ignoring all normal rules of the road.

We were up by 7:00 but only had coffee as I counseled K that today would be known as the day we threw out our diets, The Longest Meal, The Night of the Banana (with ice cream), The Day the Earth Stood Still (Due to significant weight gain), Psycho (over baked goods), Gone with the Wind (or the day I ate too much bean dip) and on and on.....

We met my Uncle Joe, Aunt Julia and their daughter, (my first cousin) Amy, husband Mitchell and daughter Kayla and son Brandon, at the Beachmont Country Club whose motto is,

                                     Conspicuous Consumption:  It's a Good Thing

The buffet was everything we could ask for and then some. Lox and bagels, omelettes, fried salami, chicken livers, potato pancakes, blintz's, waffles, salad bar, fruit and any other food category you can dream up and some you couldn't.   It was great to spend time with my family and my Aunt whispered to me how K had passed inspection.  The tour continues, (tip of the hat to Robbo).

Aunt Julia and Uncle Joe

Mitchell and Amy

The Lobby of the Beachmont

The valet parking guys didn't know quite what to make of the truck/camper when we pulled up and handed them the keys.  We told them to park it with the other campers, and they just laughed.  But when we opened it up to show the kids the inside, the valets saw the value, not your basic Lexus but nice.

From the "Club", we headed out to the far reaches of Mentor (Creswell to Springfield) to spend some time with dear old friends Anthony, Claudia and their daughter Jessica.  Last year we sat out on their deck which faces a woods - today, it was so hot that after 15 minutes, I heard a noise and realized that the noise was actually the sound of my skin snapping, lips crackling and eyeballs popping.  Muddled thoughts made me feel like a bowl of cereal, but Anthony's clearer thinking brought the party inside and the food was superior to anything General Mills put's out.  I blame the sun for frying my brain so we didn't get any pics.  But we had a great time catching up on news and talking over old times.

Our last stop on our magical gorging tour was heading back across Cuyahoga County to meet my (other) cousin Amy and hubby Sheldon for dinner in Hudson, Creswell to Blue River) at a very fine Thai restaurant.  Again, lots of laughter and making warm memories. And we enjoyed meeting their cute kitties.

Sheldon and Amy

So, let's review - breakfast/brunch from 12 - 1:45, American bar-b-que from 2:15 - 6:15, Thai from 7:00 - 10:15.  Yes, food is love and there was a ton of both in conspicuous amounts.  We left Amy/Sheldon and only got lost once before we got back home.  My smart phone came to the rescue one more time.