Cleveland 2/A Christmas Story

So two days before we were going to go to Ohio, I googled Cleveland to find out the house from "The Christmas Story" is in Cleveland AND had been redone to look like the set. I was seriously excited. I watch that movie every Christmas Eve while I wrapping gifts and I just love the story. I honestly can't ell you why I wanted to go so bad...I'm not usually the star struck or set struck type. But I did.

This is not Todd's thing. And I knew the kids were too young, but had I thought it through I may have realized it wouldn't go so well. Especially since it was in the middle.of.a.heat.wave. But more about that later.

So my husband takes me because he knows for some reason I'm obsessed with it. We park down the street, in a neghborhood not too different than one might find in the poorer section of Rochester with many um low income homes but some normal (we looked it up later...the houses are like only thirty or forty grand there) and a few that have embraced their new fan base. Yep, this was down the street from the museum, NOT the museum! There was a museum in a house across the street from the house...with a model of car similar to that in the movie. Sign on the museum. Standing in line to go into the house. It was hot and HUMID and Adam was hard to keep behaved...he even ran up onto the porch before we were supposed to go in. Soo... ..Here it is! Complete with leg lamp in the window!! I was ridiculous in my interest in it. The guy who turned it into a "museum" bought off of ebay and it looked nothing like in the movie and he's been redoing it. So we walk into the living room to hear the talk and Abbey FLIPS OUT. Todd takes her out and ends up going to the car. And Adam is at his worst. I can't get him to listen or focus at all. It was not like him. In retrospect, I know he was HOT and tired from going to bed at midnight the night before. However, once the talk was over, Adam was all about running around and looking at things. First, the kitchen, where Adam posed without realizing it for a re-enactment of the younger brother hiding under the sink. I did no coaching...Adam was just having a blast! Upstairs is a re-creation of Ralphie's bedroom..Adam made himself at home. Adam typing :) A re-creation of a guest room I guess we never really saw but was referred to in the film. OK, one of my favorite photos of the day...the soap Ralphie's mom stuck in his mouth after he said "FUDGE". So maybe, just maybe, my mom put soap in my mouth a few times. The bathroom. Out back is the shed in the movie that is seen when Ralphie shoots his eye out. Apparently, this was the only thing that looked like it did in the movie when it was sold on ebay. Adam happy to check it out. This guy was one of the boys that Ralphie hung out with and spent part of his summer doing photo ops to make some cash. I snuck a photo from across the room because I wasn't in the mood or position to talk to him. Adam was getting very difficult to control. I felt bad because Todd was missing this whole thing, although I knew that he was only there for me, it still sucks he had to sit in the car with Abbey. As it turns out, she was fine when they went outside and they were hanging out in front, but Abbey couldn't stop touching the pebbles that cats were peeing on. I told Todd I was sorry but he said he was genuinely OK with it. We got in the car and headed to downtown Cleveland. I cannot believe to this day how much I wanted to see that house and how cool I though it was! However, I realize now that my kids are too little for those kinds of things. Traveling with toddlers means putting these things on hold for a few years and I'm more than fine with that. I'm happy to go to amusement parks and beaches until they are older and can appreciate cultural events like THE CHRISTMAS STORY HOUSE!!