Cincinnati Trip

We went to Cincinnati for the weekend of Valentine's Day I believe...I can't even remember. And I just completely forgot to post pictures from it!  It was fun to look back & remember what a good time we had.  There are not many photos of me, oh well, nor the babies, they were in the stroller the entire time getting over being sick.  We had booked the trip praying they would feel much better the morning we decided to leave, but they were not. It actually played in our favor because they were really easy to take care of, but I did hate to see them miss out on all the fun.  And it was a rare weekend where Mark had Saturday & Monday off work, so we had to take advantage.  And I'm glad we did, it was a lot of fun & something we don't get to do much anymore.  

I had worked over 40 hours the week prior to make some extra money & then we decided to use that money to take this mini trip. It was just enough for everything we did.  Funny how that works out.  

First we hit the Newport Aquarium because kids were free with a paid adult admission, gotta take advantage of that!!  WE LOVE AQUARIUMS!  But, they tend to be very pricey to go to, so we had not been in quite some time. It wasn't the best one we've ever been to, but it was still enjoyable.  

This fish was jumping in & out of the water straight up & down. Isabelle was fascinated!

This had to be one of the most unpleasant looking water creatures we had ever seen.  I don't even remember what the name of it was though. There's a closeup below.

Love the whole Louisiana bayou look to the alligator area & he was actually livin' it up on the porch.  

This frog was just chillin' on the glass.  I kind of wish I could just find a big window somewhere, plaster myself to it & hang out for a while.  Looks like he doesn't have a care in the world.

Oh! There's me!  Rollin' along with the kiddie caboose!

Jellyfish are one of our top 3 things to see at the Aquarium.  The jellyfish area at this Aquarium was pretty cool. They had soft lights & music & over the jellyfish tank areas they had huge gilded looking frames. It was really neat.

Of course Noah, being a boy, is drawn to the awesomeness of sharks.

Being goofy in the gift shop.  We were going all out, even letting the kids pick out on thing in the gift shop!  We usually run from those as fast as we can, so it was quite a treat for them.  

Outside we tipped the college student making balloons.  And for some reason we never got a picture of the great balloons he made!  Boo hoo. 

After the Newport Aquarium we grabbed some takeout & headed to our hotel.  We rested up & then swam for a bit.  Even the babies enjoyed that.  We cleaned up & walked just behind our hotel to a cute little bakery/ice cream shop where we all indulged in something sugar filled & yummy.  Then we went back to our hotel to enjoy a family movie & then some shut eye.  

The next morning we headed for the Cincinnati Musuems, which are 3 museums in one, the Children's Museum, the Natural History Museum & the Cincinnati History Musuem.  Well, actually first, we made a stop at IKEA, as a birthday present to me & I got a few fun things, like measuring spoons, German cookies, a new napkin holder just like we used to have, a new mixing bowl & a recycling container.  Sure did bring back a lot of memories from Germany being in an IKEA.  Then on to the museums!  

The first part we checked out was the outdoorsy looking area of the Children's Museum. I wish I could have taken better pictures to show you how fun it was.  Made me want to be a kid all over again!  

There's Grant attempting to have some fun, but he really just didn't have the energy for it.  

Mavaney discovered a tunnel on the other side of the fish tank.  She thought it was so fascinating!

The water play area was of course a splashin' good time!  

My favorite was the Kids' Town.  I always LOVED playing school, grocery store, cafe, all those great things & this place had them all!  

Noah playing vet.  

Mavaney & her love for rocks is unmatched.  Especially when they are cracked open to reveal purple sparkly stuff, oh, there's just no greater thing for Mavaney.

We had limited time in these museums.  We spent the bulk of our time in the Children's area, which of course the kids loved, we saw an Omnimax movie which was pretty incredible & then we quickly hit the Natural History Museum.  After that, things were closing up & we were headed home. 

Good Bye Cincinnati!  We'll try to visit again in the summer to come to the zoo!!