it's getting hot out here

But don't take off all your clothes. Looking for some heat this week, so it's OK to let the little ones run around in their diapers. Yeehaw!

Today's the perfect day to take the kids to see the baby Humboldt penguin chicks at the Akron Zoo. Humboldt penguins are warm climate penguins, and are on the endangered species list. Admission to the zoo, 500 Edgewater Ave., Akron, is $9 for adults, $5.50 for kids ages 2-14. It's open 10-5 daily. www.akronzoo.org.

Tomorrow sees the return of Chesterland native Suzi Shelton and her band for a family concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Evans Amphitheater at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights. The children’s recording artist and her band will get you up out of your seat dancing. Tickets are $8-$ 12 in advance, $11-$15 day of show. Go to http://www.cainpark.com call 216-371-3000.

drunk astronauts ...

drunk Lindsay (again) -- who's next? Keep the kids away from the TV and find something great to do this weekend.

Start with the Little Mountain Heritage Festival Saturday and Sunday at the Lake County History Center, 8610 Mentor Road, Kirtland Hills. There will be music, crafts and food and even more music. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. $6 adults, free for kids under 12. 440-255-8979; www.lakehistory.org.

Near West Theatre's teen production of "Cats" runs through next weekend. Shows are at 7:30 tonight and Saturday night, 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Patrick's Club Building, 3606 Bridge Ave. Tickets are only $6.

And Sunday at 7, head to Lakewood Park's bandstand along Lake Avenue in Lakewood for the Sunday Evening Band Concert with Ernie Krivda & Fat Tuesday Big Band. You won't be able to keep the kids from dancing and your toes from tapping.

Jammin' in Geauga and Massillon

So what if it's raining? My kids may hate it because they can't go to the pool, but my hydrangeas are happy and the birds are having a ball in the big puddles. So get to the library today, cuddle up with a book, and then go out and have fun tonight.


The Geauga Park District keeps things fun with the Maple Town Tune Traders Jam Session from 7 to 9 tonight in the West Woods Nature Center, 9465 Kinsman Road in Russell Township. All singers and musicians -- and those who love them -- are welcome to a free night of acoustic playing and singing. Snacks to share welcome. Call 440-286-9516 for details.


Take a trip to the Caribbean (OK, it's just Massillon) durin the Massillon Museum's Island Party, beginning at 5:30 p.m Friday Carlos Jones and the PLUS Band return on the museum lawn (121 Lincoln Way East in downtown Massillon). There will be a roasted pig on the lawn, grilled bananas with ice cream, and other food and beverages. Rain or shine. Call the Massillon Museum at 330-833-4061.

Last-minute fun

Don't let the rain today stop you from getting to lovely Amherst today from 10-11 a.m. for the Amherst Kid's Day: River Life program at the Amherst Beaver Creek Visitor Center, 913 N. Lake St. Kids can make a craft and might even spend some time in the river. You're not gonna melt --- C'mon, just grab a jacket and some boots and get out there to see what's in the river.

Tonight at 8, don't forget the Juggernaut Jug Band playing at Cain Park's Evans Amphitheater in Cleveland Heights. Kids will love it! Tickets are only $2.

Harry Potter's out ...

the Ingenuity Festival and Dew Tour are over, what's a Greater Cleveland mom or dad to do now? There's still lots.

I mentioned in my last post the Cleveland Metroparks was founded 90 years ago today, so start heading down there today and make it a habit. Take a bike, take a walk, take time next to a stream or river.

Tonight, Friends of Westlake Porter Public Library 27333 Center Ridge Road, Westlake will hold their annual ice cream social on from 6-8 p.m. at the library. Entertainment will be provided by the Flower Clown and Clifford, the Big Red Dog, the Energizer Bunny and Safety Pup. There also will be balloon creations, face painting and a cake walk. Ice cream with toppings will provided Mitchell's and will cost $1.

Cain Park will be jumping Tuesday and Wednesday this week. $2 The Juggernaut Jug Band plays at at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Evans Amphitheater. From Kentucky, the band riffs on Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, the Doors and Barenaked Ladies while playing an assortment of swing, ragtime and early jazz with the slightly subversive air of a garage band. www.juggernautjugband.com. Tickets are $2. And on Wednesday, in a Kidzart dance program, Inlet Dance Theatre performs Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. in the Evans Amphitheater in a free show. This is a great show for kids and families. www.inletdance.org.

Cleveland Metroparks and more

Cleveland's greatest asset, in my humble, is the vast, lush, green acres and acres of parks that run from the north by the lake all the way down to Hinckley Township and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. And what makes the system even better is that on Monday, it celebrates its 90th birthday. So get out there and bike or hike or swim or picnic to celebrate.

Today, other park districts are offering great programs.

The Firehouse Harmonica Band plays from7 to 8:30 p.m. today at the Big CreekPark Amphitheater, 9160 Robinson Road, in Chardon, in the Geauga Park District. It's free fun with music from the 40s, 50s and big band and Broadway.

And from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, turn back the hands of time for Pioneer Day with the Lake County Historical Society, 8610 Mentor Road in Kirtland Hills. Your kids can take part in an 1830s school lesson, make johnnycake in the cabin and try some candle-dipping. It's all free.

From 10-11:30 a.m. today, meet at the overlook at Columbia Reservation of the Lorain County Metro Parks, 25145 Royalton Road in Columbia Station, for Leave It to Beaver, where you'll learn about the big-toothed guy on a hike, and maybe even see one busy making a dam.

Monday, July 23 is National Vanilla Ice Cream Day. What a great excuse to go get some for free from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Wellington Reservation of the Lorain park system, 535 Jones Road in Wellington. Learn a little history behind the sweet treat, too.

Last but not least is the National Hamburger Festival at Akron's Lock 3. It's big, it's beefy and it starts at 2 p.m. with music from the U.S. Air Force Band of Flight, contests and of course, burgers!

As long as you keep a positive spin on it

... never stop asking questions or suggesting solutions. Sometimes it amazes me the number of people out there who are only interested in saving their own derrieres and could care less about the common good of an organization. This is a lesson I hope to impart to my children: Don't let those in "power" tell you it's wrong to have an idea. They may say the idea itself is stupid, but telling the world about that idea is never wrong.

Today, take your little ones on a Backcountry Adventure Hike during a Crinkleroots program for 6- to 8-year-olds in the Big Creek Park's Aspen Grove, 9160 Robinson Road in Chardon. The Geauga Park District program is from 1 to 3 p.m.

Take everybody to "I Spy a Treasure Hunt," today at 6:30p.m. at the Medina Library, 3800 Stonegate Drive, where you can seek and find and then create your own "I Spy" bottle. Call 330-725-0588, www.mcdl.info.

Tomorrow is Wade Oval Wednesday, so head to University Circle for music, food and other entertainment, and then stop by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for its Family Fun Night from 5 to 9 p.m. After 5 pm, parking is just $3, admission is $5 and admission plus box dinner is $10.

Wednesday is also Grand Slam Day at Jacobs Field. From 10-10:45 a.m., celebrities and others with the Indians organization will read out loud. And it's free lunch box day, so kids 14 and under get a lunch box. Then watch the red-hot Indians play the Chicago White Sox at 12:05 p.m. It's Slider's birthday, too, so give that big green guy a high five and a birthday hug. Tickets are $7-$60.

so many fests, so little time

Yes, yes, we're in the full swing of summer festivals and activities and events, so there's really no excuse for you to be letting your kids lounge on the couch watching "Jimmy Neutron" while you water your flowers, drink coffee, snooze 15 more minutes ....

Not that I even drink coffee.

from 12:30-1:30 p.m. and 3:30-4:30 p.m. today in the Alma Theater at Cain Park, put your hands together for the St. Ignatius grad you keeps his hands moving -- Billy the Kid Matsumoto, who juggles to perfection while dancing on Dance Dance Revolution. You try doing that! He'll do a little magic, too. It's part of the free Kidzart at the famous Cain Park Arts Festival all day (10 a.m.-8 p.m. and again Sunday noon to 5 p.m.). Free admission, tons of artists, tons of entertainment and food -- what more could you want? www.cainpark.com.

Another one to check out is the Twinsburg Home Days on the square at Ohio 91 and 82, from noon to midnight tonight and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. There's a dance party for kids, a KidSpot and Enchanted Forest with games and prizes, the Taste of Twinsburg, food and more. Call 330-963-6249.

And from 1-4 p.m. today, there are Nature Olympics at the North Chagrin Nature Center in the North Chagrin Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks. Kids ages 3-6 can take part in events based on animal skills and other stuff related to the outdoors. The center's off Buttermilk Falls Parkway, near the Sunset Lane entranc eof the reservation, off SOM Center Road in Mayfield. Call 440-473-3370.

Harry and friends

Didn't join the hordes at midnight to catch the latest "Harry Potter" movie, but sure wish I had. Will catch it this weekend. And the last book! Three words: Bring it on.

There are alternatives to Harry, however. Thursday at 3 p.m., make your way to the Burton Public Library Large Meeting Room for the Kent-Trumbull Summer Stock 30 Theater Troupe's production of Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories"
All ages and free admission.

Dig those pennies and quarters out from the couch cushions now because Saturday is Treasure Among the Trees, a huge flea market at The West Woods picnic area, 9465 Kinsman Road, Russell Township, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. In addition to traditional flea market offerings, there will be specialty items available, such as jams, jellies, antiques, household items, jewelry, plants, and more.

More tomorrow, so get out there and have a good time.

Here I am posting this at 3:45 a.m. Went to bed exhausted after a day at a swim meet in Wooster and scraping paint around window frames. It must be something about my age that I can't sleep anymore ... Ah, well. A post, and then some sleep.

This will be the perfect day to get out to seee ZooBlooms at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, 3900 Wildlife Way in Cleveland. You'll get to see some beautiful, leafy exhibits along with the animals from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Actitivities -- seminars, creating seed bracelets and leaf etchings, repotting plants and more -- run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. And don't forget the annual ladybug release at noon in the gardens. The theme is reclaiming nature and native species. Admission is $10 per person (12 and older), $5 for kids 2-11 and free for 2 and under. Call 216-661-6500.

How about a little music? Head west to the Vermilion River Reservation Amphithater, 4530 North Ridge Road in Vermilion, for Dave C. and the Sharptones, an outdoor Motown concert from 6:30 to 8 p.m. What a great way to cap off the weekend!

get going

So the Fourth is over. Whew. I love the summertime, but I have to say, the Fourth of July is NOT my idea of a great holiday. Too much work, too little reward, if you ask me. Gotta get all the picnic/cookout crap ready and make it look all patriotic, then you gotta join the throngs -- MASSES -- of drunken, cranky, overheated people to watch fireworks that are just too loud. Gorgeous, but so loud you can feel the concussions in your chest. And then fight the crowds to get home. Ugh.

On that note ...

At 10 today, get to the Furnace Run Metro Park, 4955 Townsend Road in Richfield, to go on a fossil hunt with naturalist Mike Greene. You'll check out a creek for fossils and learn how ancient creatures lived in the seas. Collected fossils will go back where they came from so others can enjoy them -- maybe even others thousands of years in the future! Wear old shoes or boots. call 330-865-8065.

Friday from 1-2 p.m., Cain Park's featured Kidzart program is a storytelling concert from the Cleveland association of Black Storytellers, with "Yebo! Tell It Again." Tickets are $3 for kids, $6 for adults. It's in the Alma Theater at Cain Park in Cleveland heights.

Saggy blooms?

It hasn't rained for weeks -- really! -- so I guess it's only fitting that we'll get the soaking we need either during A) the Fourth of July parade my Girl Scout is planning to walk in, or B) the fireworks we've been anticipating for weeks. Sigh.

Never mind that. Get geared up for a great Fourth of July, no matter your plans tomorrow, with a fun trip to the Akron Zoo today to see those adorable and rare Humboldt penguin chicks, which made their appearances in April and May. Their parents are allowing the chicks freedom to go outside. With the addition of the four chicks, the Akron Zoo currently has 19 Humboldt penguins. Zoo hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and admission is $9 for adults, $7 for senior citizens, $5.50 for children (ages 2-14). Children under 2 are free. Parking is $2.

getting old, trying to keep moving

Oprah's telling me that I'll grow lots more hair all over my face, my nose and ears will get bigger and my hands will look haglike as I get more and more beyond the happy side of 40. Oh well, at least I have my kids to tell me how good I look -- for a mom MY age.

Don't forget the punky fun Jonas Brothers concert tonight at the House of Blues, 308 Euclid Ave. (at the new East 4th Street pedestrian area); 7 p.m. Tickets are $20-$30. Trust me, that is the new cool area. Went to Lola for dinner Saturday night, and although the decor was so sleek it was almost a cliche, the food was dreamy and our waiter was funny, the wine full-bodied.

From noon to 2 p.m. today, pack a lunch and take the kids down to Star Plaza, for “It's Five O’Clock Somewhere” with “Summer on the Square” weekday events. Today it's Idol Monday – the most hilarious audition moments from the first four seasons of "American Idol" will be showing on the giant video board. Tomorrow is Lucy Tuesdays with first- season episodes of "I Love Lucy." Bet your kids haven't seen that, have they? Star Plaza across from Playhouse Square on the under-construction Euclid Avenue, so leave a little extra time.