family vacation 2008

We took our first official family vacation this week! We've done some fun family traveling in the past, but we've always had some sort of agenda.... weddings, family visiting, MI stuff, etc... Since we are on a bit more of a budget this summer, with the baby on the way, we decided to travel, somewhat, locally. We had heard good things about The Wilds, a wildlife conservation center, whose mission is: "To advance conservation through science, education and personal experience." It's such a neat place! We were able to take a "safari" bus tour and it was pretty incredible for us. The tour lasted about three hours and Jack did really well with it! I think it helped that there were several stops, along the way, where we could get out and walk (or run, as Jack preferred) around. The animals that we saw were breathtaking and it was amazing to be so close to them and just to see them in such a natural environment. Giraffes, horses, deer, and zebras were just wandering the wide, open fields and the gravel and dirt paths that we drove along. It was really beautiful and we hope to return someday after the baby is here!

After our safari exploration, we headed to Columbus for more of a city experience! I hadn't been to Columbus in a long time and, unfortunately, the hotel I chose for us was not in the most lively part of the city. However, the city is small enough, that we could drive to most of our destinations in less than 10 minutes. We hit up The North Market, which is a neat old-world market, filled with all kind of cafes, selling gourmet and ethnic goods. Then, we decided to walk across the street to The Convention Center, which advertised "great shopping." Yeah, not so much. The only thing that was happening in the Center was a national quilting conference. However, the attendees seemed quite pleased with their convention. Since there wasn't much for us to do there, we headed over to the Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner.

Dinner was quick and tasty. Jack impressed us with his eating abilities! We ordered him pizza, apple sauce, and milk. He ate half of everything on his plate. Not bad! Ice cream was also part of his kid's meal, but he wanted nothing to do with it. I think it's just too cold for his taste.

After dinner, we wanted to stop at a grocery store to buy a few snacks. The grocery store was right outside of the city, in the most charming little neighborhood. Jeff and I were saying that if we ever had to move to Columbus, we'd like to live there. However, we'd also have to be millionaires. There was this awesome park right in the center of the town and it had a great playground and nice walking trails. Jack had a blast climbing, sliding, and running! We did have a little accident as we were leaving, though. Jeff was carrying Jack and missed his footing as he stepped off the playground onto the grass (there was a little step that he didn't see) and he went crashing to the ground.... tumbling, rolling, and holding on the Jack the whole time. Luckily, no one was hurt, and Jack even started laughing after the fall ended. The fall that seemed to take an eternity! Poor guys.

The toughest part of that day was getting Jack to sleep, and really it wasn't too tough, so that's saying a lot about our day. If we would have had separate rooms, it probably would not have been a problem. However, since Jack's pack'n'play was right next to our bed, he was having a hard time falling asleep with us right beside him. We tried to keep his routine as normal as possible, which helped, but he just kept smiling and looking so excited to be having bedtime with Mommy and Daddy. Finally, Jeff decided to put him into the "rocking chair" hold and just rocked him and he was out in a few minutes. What a sweet boy!

The next morning we woke up to a happy toddler and ate breakfast in our hotel. Our plan was to head to COSI (Center of Science and Industry) for a few hours, but since it was still early, we decided to head back to our favorite park. Lots of fun and no more spills, thankfully! Then, it was on to COSI. We have a Cincinnati Museum Center membership and we have reciprocal free admissions to tons of other museums, and COSI is one of them. What a bonus! They have a real cute kid's zone, which kept Jack entertained for a long time. His favorite things to play with in the whole area were the balls. They had about a million soft balls for tossing and rolling and Jack liked these activities, but he preferred to just walk around, holding onto three or four of them. The water area was also really nice and Jack quickly got the idea of scooping and pouring the water. I also liked that they provide rain coats. At Cincinnati's museum, they have smocks and Jack does not like to wear them. He had no problem wearing the rain coat, complete with a hood! COSI also has a neat outdoor play area. Again, Jack was attracted to the balls. "Bawl, bawl, bawl" was a constant phrase we heard that day. Really, we hear it everyday, but it was a bit more frequent on this occasion. They had this huge vacuum jet that sucks in the balls and then shoots them out into the air. It was so fun and Jack loved it! We spent a few hours there and then decided that it was time to grab some lunch and head home so that Jack could get some sleep. We tried to plan our traveling around his sleeping, since he is usually a good car sleeper (when tired) and not always a happy traveler. One of Kathy's best friends lives in Columbus and we met up with her for lunch at Tommy's diner, a typical old-fashioned diner. Jack was such a big boy, sitting in a booth, beside Jeff, and eating his grilled cheese whole (a first for him!). We loved getting the chance to catch up with Angela, too.

Overall, this vacation was wonderful! We just wish we could have had more days added to it! It went by way too fast. Jack was so cooperative and good-natured almost the entire time and we all just laughed so much during the trip and created tons of happy memories. We're looking forward to more fun-filled trips over the years.

This video is added because we thought it was adorable. Part of our bedtime routine is saying our prayers with this little bear. We decided to leave for our 3-hour long trip around 6pm, stop for dinner, and then continue to drive for another two hours, hoping that Jack would fall asleep in the car. Well, he did fall asleep, but first he had to talk with and kiss prayer bear.