We had a very busy Easter weekend. Unfortunately I was stuck working nearly half of the time, but I still managed to sneak in some fun.

Music Hall

Saturday morning was the Easter Egg Hunt at Washington Park. This free event brought in a ton of families with kids of all ages.

Kenny Bunny

My good friend Kenny is never one to shy away from a little added fun. Though the beard is probably better suited for Santa, he was happy to put on the bunny ears.

Easter Egg Hunt

The egg hunt was a little chaotic but Trey still managed to come away with a few eggs.

Bunny Paige

I think the ears look much better on Paige, so thanks for sharing Kenny. She slept through the egg hunt but we saved a couple of eggs for her to discover in the playground. It’s always a good time down at Washington Park.

The kids are really growing up quickly. And now we have a way to track their progress. Kim’s friend made a growth chart for another friend and gave it to her at a baby shower. Kim liked it so much she took a photo of it and convinced me to help her make one for ourselves.

Work In Progress

We bought the numbers and some paint from Michael’s and got a 1×8 board from Home Depot. I cut the board to size and spray painted it with a color called pistachio. From there I touched up the paint on the numbers, glued them to one side of the board, and added measurement lines on the other side with a paint pen.

On The Wall

After letting it all dry I added the kids measurements from their yearly doctor visits with a thinner paint pen. I put some mounting hardware on the back and hung it up on the wall outside of their bedrooms. I was able to get it all done in just a few hours of work on a recent snowy day and I think it turned out great.

This past Friday night my wife and I took the kids to meet up with some of my in-laws for some indoor water park fun at Coco Key in Sharonville. The temperature outside was below freezing and there was plenty of snow on the group, so a warm indoor activity was just what we needed!

Parrot’s Perch

I’ve only been to one other indoor water park, Fort Rapids outside of Columbus, but I have seen the inside of the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, and the size of CoCo Key is smaller than both. Basically there is a fairly large interactive play area in the middle of a lazy river. On the other side of the building is the zero-depth entry area with slides for the little ones. At the back of the building are four water slides with tubes that run outside. To round out the attractions are an indoor/outdoor hot tub and an activity pool with basketball hoops.

Dip-in

I did not visit the small children’s area, but my wife took our nine-month-old there and found the water to be much too cold. It didn’t help that the air temperature inside wasn’t as warm as I would have liked. One of the employees said that they are closed during the week, and since they just opened at 4pm the night of our visit, it would take some time for things to heat up. Despite what was said, we found the water to be much warmer in all other attractions. So we spent a good majority of the time either in the lazy river or the activity pool, but since life jackets are required for the latter (54″ and under) we didn’t stay there long.

I did find some time to spend with the older kids in our group and enjoyed the three water slides that were operating. One of the slides was boarded up and had no water flowing through it. The hot tub was also a nice feature but is restricted to those guests 16 and over. We all had free passes or discounted tickets through Groupon, which seem to be offered fairly regularly. I would have a hard time paying the standard daily rate of $25 per person, but there are even discounts offered on their website. We ended up spending the better part of four hours at the water park and would recommend it for a good winter activity.

We had a wonderful Christmas. The break from work was nice and tied in almost perfectly with our vacation, giving us nearly two full weeks off. It was wonderful to spend so much time with the kids as well other family and friends. It certainly was busy but that is part of what makes it so much fun.

Our Tree

Trey was very much into Christmas this year. He obviously loved opening gifts but had a great time giving gifts as well. One time he even told what was inside the gift he was giving before it was opened, but grandma didn’t seem to mind. Paige tried her best to open gifts herself but really liked it when her big brother would help her. They are doing a pretty good job at sharing their toys. Trey now thinks they are nearly all his and Paige is happy playing with whatever is left.

Merry Christmas 2013

I hope that Santa was good to all of you as well. Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween. The weather forecast for this year was not very good and some areas postponed trick-or-treat. It went on as scheduled in Cincinnati and it actually was pretty nice for the first hour. The second hour the winds picked up and the rain was definitely falling.

Family Shot

Fortunately Trey only has the attention span for a few houses anyway. We made it to maybe half of the houses on our street, a dozen at best. My mom brought a variety of costumes for Trey to wear, but he refused to wear any of them. Luckily he was still able to choose from skeleton shirts, superman, batman, etc. Paige dressed as a ladybug for her first Halloween.

Paige’s First Halloween

Our neighbors joined us for trick-or-treating as well as for a short time at house. Trey and their 18 month old daughter, Emeline, are quickly learning to be friends. Trey really enjoyed giving candy to her as well as passing it out to some of the other kids. We didn’t get very many kids at our house, so we have plenty of candy leftover.

Passing Out Candy

Maybe next year we will finally get some decent weather so we can sit outside for the entire night.

It’s officially pumpkin patch season! My family and a group of my in-laws all headed down to Country Pumpkins in Dry Ridge, KY a couple of weekends ago. We had a large group of well over 20 so we rented their facility out for a couple of hours after closing.

Stuff For Sale

The cost was just $5 per person and included a hay ride along with exclusive access to a bonfire, corn maze, corn box, straw maze, picnic shelter, play area, and petting zoo.

Lots O’ Pumpkins

As you would expect a ton of pumpkins are for sale from the tiniest all the way up to the fifteen and twenty pounders! You can also take a hay ride out their pumpkin patch and pick your own.

Hay Ride

Speaking of hay rides, our entire group was treated to a twenty-minute hay ride touring parts of the farm. We rode past the dairy barn and saw a bunch of dairy cows. We also saw some beef cows way out in the distance. The farm is fairly large at 250 acres.

Family Sized Corn Box

Our kids favorite part of the entire trip were the corn boxes. They were already filled with a variety of sand toys and even pool noodles. I even spent a handful of minutes playing in the corn and paid for it dearly the next day. I always dismissed my corn allergy as it never affected my eating habits, but I guess I should definitely avoid the dusty corn boxes in the future.

More Corn Box

We had a great time at Country Pumpkins and cannot wait for Halloween!

Yesterday was Paige’s baptism day! She was baptized at St. Francis Seraph by Fr. David Kohut, the same church Trey was baptized, and where Kim and I were married as well.

Paige Being Baptized

Paige was a perfect little angel for the entire mass. She slept right up until the water was poured on her head. She was a bit startled by the awakening, but she never cried. As for Trey, he definitely wanted to see what was happening to his baby sister.

Trey Looking On

Thanks so much to Paige’s godparents, Melissa and Chris, for helping us out during the day and for many future years of love.

Godparents

We had great weather for a party at our house afterward and were very blessed to have so many members of our families over to celebrate with us.

Tonight is the last of this summer’s Bandstand Bluegrass nights at Washington Park. This has become one of my family’s favorite activities this summer and we definitely will not miss it tonight. Our friends The Turkeys are playing from 7-9 and as always Eli’s BBQ will be there with delicious pulled pork sandwiches. Look for us there with our bottomless stroller of kiddie gear.

Lots Of Gear

I took my family out to the Old West Festival on Saturday for a few hours. I first heard of this fest through Family Friendly Cincinnati, which is a great resource for things to do with the kids. The fest remains open weekends through October 6th.

Welcome Wagon

We arrived just before noon and found that we weren’t the only ones with the idea for the day. Fortunately I had enough cash to skip the credit card line for entry payment, and we were inside the gates in no time. Admission is $12 for adults, children ages 6-12: $6, and children under 5 are free.

Ticket Line

We were treated to a gunfight right away upon our entry. It reminded me a lot of the shootout we witnessed as part of our Great Train Robbery experience last year. In fact, I’m pretty sure most of the actors from the train ride were participating at the Old West Fest. Our two-year-old though it was too loud this time, so we moved along right away.

Gunfight

The town buildings are very cool to look at and each one has a real purpose inside. Some sell arts and crafts, while others serve as a saloon for drinks and food.

Old West Town

There were numerous activities for the young ones, including a sing along band performance, a really impressive magic show, panning for gold, and the always exciting play-set with slides and swings.  We were most entertained by the Pickled Brothers Circus, who we caught on our way out. The combination of fire eating, juggling, and sword swallowing was enjoyed by the whole family.

Native American Weekend

This past weekend was Native American weekend and we witnessed a drum circle performance. Each weekend has its own unique theme, so some specials acts and exhibits can be expected at other times.

Miniature Buggy

We all had a good time at the festival, even though my wife and I thought it was a little expensive. Mainly the food and drinks were not as cheap as I was expecting, and there were a handful of children’s activities that all cost extra as well. I did see people bringing their own coolers with them, so that could be one way to cut down the cost, though I don’t see it mentioned specifically on their website. It is probably best for families with older children.

My family and I recently visited the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. This is a working horse farm and an educational theme park opened in 1978. It is open to the public daily through the summer 9 AM to 5 PM. It costs $16 for adults, $8 for children ages 7-12, and children under 6 are free.

The Kentucky Horse Park has been a retirement home for some of the world’s greatest competition horses. There are also plenty of draft horses on hand and some rarer horses from around the world. The complex is massive (1,224 acres) and a full day can easily be spent seeing all the sights. A horse-drawn tour is a good way to see all the park and then you can visit the areas that seemed most interesting. There are also competition facilities on site, so you may be able to catch a glimpse of some show jumping or other types of events. It’s a short drive from Cincinnati and worthy of a day trip.