Cincinnati, OH

Okay, so our hotel was actually in KY, but we went to Cincinnati everyday. We left early Wednesday morning and made it up north at about noon. First stop was the Loveland Castle....

They enjoyed seeing a "real" castle...seeing the armor and the gardens were beautiful.

After the castle it was late enough to check into our hotel. I'll say one thing- it is really hard to find a hotel for a family of 6. Seems everything is 4 person max. But I found one about 10 miles outside of the city and it was great- 2 rooms, free breakfast ( plus enough "breakfast to feed us lunch as well), free dinner on weeknights and a pool. And we only got complained on once. You try keeping 4 boys quiet and not-jumpy in a hotel room on the top floor. It can't be done.

Thursday was the Museum Center at Union Terminal. This was a great place. They probably could have gone back and stayed just as long. We got there at 9:30 and didn't leave until close to 5:00. There are 3 museum- children's, science and natural history and Cincinnati history and an Omnimax theater. All housed in the old Union Terminal.

We spent most of the morning in the Children's museum- blocks, water, pulleys, imagination galore... after lunch we hit the Cincinnati History museum as a time-filler before our movie. But, wow, not what I was expecting. We spent over 30 min alone in the first room- a scaled model of the city throughout history. Complete with cable cars and trains running through out.

Then we saw Dinosaurs Alive! at the theater. They've never been to a theater like this before....no glasses, but it is a 5-story screen and you really feel like you were moving. Then we did a scavenger hunt through the Natural History Museum...winning points to trade in at the Trading Post- so we came home with some horn coral, a few deer bones, some polished stones and shells.

Friday was the Cincinnati Zoo. Which is very highly ranked as far as zoos go. It is huge, and I am sure we missed a lot, but there was only so much walking littler boys can do before they fall apart completely. We were there most of the day too- from about 10 am to after 4:00.

Carousel, petting zoo, train, 4-D movie theater, sea lions, orangutans, manatees, white lions, a whole peacock family, a baby cheetah...

One Rylan and I liked the best was the Okapi...sort of like a cross between a zebra and a giraffe in appearance....my picture of it didn't turn out- but here is Rylan on the carousel's version...

One of Cale's favorite's- Lorikeet Landing. They could feed the birds by hand....you just had to watch that you didn't stand under them.

This morning after checking out of our hotel we headed over to Eden park to play and watch the ducks before going to the Art museum....we did another scavenger hunt through the galleries and then went to the children's Art World- were they have all sorts of interactive creations, and then made a plexiglass collage.

It was a wonderful vacation and great to get away....and I learned a lot too....

1. When I was young and visited this same city, I left thinking I would love to live there one day. I came home today missing corn fields, cows and hay bales around the mall parking lot.

2. I hate city traffic. Paul laughed at me the entire drive through the city....I can't stand that many cars swerving in and out and big tractor trailers surrounding me. Talk about panic.

3. This week was our week off....but I am totally counting it....I mean if dinosaur and penguin documentaries, building huge arches, talking to zoo keepers about the shapes of alligator/crocodile skulls and manatee bones, discussing the difference between mammoth and mastodon teeth, and searching through an entire museum to find out which bird survived the Ice Age only to become nearly extinct due to humans, isn't learning I don't know what is.