Life Lyn Style

Last week, the kids and I were in Target picking up a prescription and we bought some fruit cups.  I needed a few easy snacks for the kids.

These Del Monte packs were on sale on an end cap and I picked some up.

I needed a quick item to take to the J for a lifeguarding snack the other day and grabbed one of the peaches.  It tasted horrible!  I knew there was something fake in it.  Yuck!

When I got home, I checked the label and noticed SUCRALOSE.  I hate sucralose.  It has an awful taste.  It’s also known as Splenda.  It’s no wonder that I couldn’t eat them.

It was the same thing with the pears and oranges.

But, if you bought the mandarin oranges in light syrup….

they just had sugar.

Yeah, it’s my fault for not reading the “artificially sweetened” description on the front and reading further.  But, really Del Monte, you have a recipe that uses plain sugar and felt the need to make two different products.  One with real ingredients and one with fake ones?

This is just another reason why I can my own peaches and pears whenever possible.  I also like to use honey and maple syrup for my sweeteners most of the time, but I would pick sugar over anything artificial.

The warm weather this week made it a perfect evening for a trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Nick brought a friend from school this time. They enjoyed some time in the new whale exhibit before I arrived. Then it was time for a fall dinner at the picnic tables outside. (Don’t forget to brush the leaves off the table!)

After dinner, Nick found the boulders nearby an irresistible challenge. Sally spent some time hanging out with Steggie the stegosaurus.

We went back in, and after a whirlwind tour of the dinosaur hall and the Perkins Wildlife Center, spent the rest of our evening at the museum in the basement, at the Smead Discovery Center. It’s a perpetual favorite.

All in all, it was a fine family evening out.

Part of the celebrations for the West Side Market turning 100 this year included today’s festival and parade.  I had signed up to volunteer by selling soda and water.  I also was going to spend a bit of time before hand helping out Edible Cleveland.  I took the Rapid down to Ohio City.

There was a nice tone set in the station with this trio playing.  I tried to check in at the volunteer tent, but it was too early for me since my shift was 2PM and it was about noon.  I found a spot to watch the parade under cover.  Since I was not on the main street, it was not crowded at all.  I’m sure the rain also kept the crowds down.

The parade was fun to watch, but it was a bit strange too.  It definitely wasn’t your normal parade.  There was lots of people in market costumes.  The St. Ignatius band also participated.

I was surprised that the woodwinds marched.  Usually, you don’t want to get them wet and it was raining pretty hard.

Many of the stalls from the market were represented.

These blue costumes were made from recycled plastic bags.

Stilts are always fun to watch.

My favorite was the birds which also ended the parade.   The timing of the parade was a bit off.  I thought it had ended three different times before we actually saw the end go by.

I checked in with Edible Cleveland who didn’t need my assistance since it was pretty slow with the rain.  I also picked up a delicious crepe.  It was raining to hard to take photos.  I also talked to a few people selling drinks (since I was up next to do that at 2PM).  There were 7 stations set up.  They were so close together that you could see the next one down the road.  None of them were selling anything.  It just wasn’t the weather for it.  They also didn’t really have any cover.

At almost 1:45PM, I checked in with the volunteer tent and asked them if they were going to keep all of the stations.  They didn’t really know yet.  I told them that it wasn’t a good use of my time and I’d gladly stay if they had something to keep me busy.  I ended up bailing.

I wasn’t cold the entire time I was at the festival, but I got chilled on the way home on the rapid.  I enjoyed a nice shower and a hot beverage when I got home.

The festival was nicely done with vendors, food trucks, the market open on Sunday, etc.  The rain just made it a light turnout and kind of miserable.

Although I don’t visit the market often, I’m glad that we have it in Cleveland.  100 Years is awesome!

Two years ago, I thought about becoming a docent for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  A docent is a person who trains to be an educator and guide.  Usually, it’s a volunteer position.  The docent training at the museum is like taking a college level class about the overall museum.  The class meets for about 60 hours over the course of a few months from September until December.  I already had many weekend things planned and could not take the class at that time.  I planned to take it last year, but then found out that it’s only offered every other year.

I had it on my radar early this year and filled out an application and interviewed back in May.  I’m so excited that our class began about two weeks ago.

I am going to become a docent for several reasons.  We love going to the museum.  As a family, we go there 2-4 times a month.  I want to know about all of the exhibits so as Nick and Sally learn about various topics, I can enhance their knowledge based on what’s availble at the museum.

The other reason to volunteer as a docent is to help inform and educate museum visitors. Docents are guides, they help interpret exhibits, they staff “please touch” carts with specimens and models visitors can handle, they staff off-site events for the museum, and they act generally as ambassadors for the museum. I look forward to sharing tidbits about the museum as I go through the course.

We are having a great time on vacation.  Tonight, we remembered to take a few pictures while everyone was at the house at the same time.  We followed this up with a great home made Jeopardy game.  I’ll have more to say about that later.