Cincinnati Museum Center
We have a family membership and love going there to play but there has been ongoing construction that ultimately closed the Children's Museum in the second half of 2017 so we hadn't been in quite a while. But the Christmas trains were still on display so we went to check them out.
Also due to construction, the trains were not on display in 2016. We went to see them in 2015 but only after playing first and by the time we headed down to see the trains, Maxyboy was fast asleep and missed the whole thing.
Santa & Mrs. Claus were already back at the North Pole but the kids got to sit in the big guy's chair!
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| Look at that sweet face checking out the trains! |
Max had fun playing with these Legos for a looooong time!
Lots of cool Lego stuff on display - we all got a big kick out of the hot dog we spotted in one of the displays.
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| Lucy didn't want to ride the train so Max rode by himself! |
Craft time!
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| Max: "That's a ginormous tree!" |
December 28 -
Bowling at Superbowl in Erlanger
December 29 -
Wilder movie theater to see Coco
While we ate dinner, the kids and I watched the trailer for Coco and the trailer for Ferdinand to decide which one to go see while Daddy bowled. I voted for Ferdinand but was over-ruled. The kids wanted to see Coco so off we went.
We all liked it! Of course, we especially love the cozy seats and the icees!
December 30 -
Noon Year's Eve at the library and
Roller Skating at RECA in Alexandria!
They got to make noise-making shakers and play with the balloons that dropped at 12noon
Later that afternoon, we went roller skating. Lucy also put ice skating on the list of activities to try to do over Christmas break but I didn't think we were ready for that! I used to roller skate (and roller blade!) all of the time as a kid but it had been a while for me - the last time I went was in 2010 when I took Cleo skating for her first time ever for her 8th birthday.
I knew it was going to be a first for my kids but then Dave told us he had never roller skated in his life before, either!!!
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| Roller skating rookies! |
They didn't have these handy devices when Cleo was learning! Lucy really loved it - it gave her the confidence to try on her own and she was doing pretty darn well by the time we left!
The best part of the day for me was watching Dave! He was so wobbly and unsure - and getting soooo frustrated considering he's pretty athletic but the skating was not coming easy to him...he wiped out several times!
This little guy was pretty funny, too...he started out in regular skates but kept falling and falling...he wasn't complaining about it but he brought me down with him a time or two and we thought we'd just let him try the kind that fit over his gym shoes. Basically, he just lifted his feet in them and stomped around - instead of rolling - but he was loving it and was cracking all of us up, especially Lucy...she said he looked like a little old man with a walker!
We ended the evening out to dinner at Applebee's - great day (except Dave woke up with either food poisoning or a stomach bug in the middle of that night...)
December 31 -
Happy New Year!
Dave was sick so we all just kind of hung out around the house all day. We had planned to go to a friend's to ring in the new year but we kept our germs home-bound instead.
Max got some water-color-changing tablets and some bath paints for Christmas so the kids had fun playing with that stuff...of course, they had to get a second bath once they were done playing!
We decided to have a picnic dinner in the basement. The kids set up the blanket and we ate off of dishes from the play kitchen - Max even "cooked" everything in the play microwave he got for Christmas!
A few final December memories:
Early in December, Lucy was invited to a birthday party inside of Michael's Craft Store. Max and I hung out in the store and nearby in Newport and he really loved this cuddly teddy bear (and he ended up getting a similar one - not as big - from GranJan & Grandpa for Christmas).
Soon after we left Lucy in the party room, Max broke an ornament (oops!) so once we told an employee (who was super nice and was more concerned over whether Max was okay than the ornament / mess which was sweet), we headed down to Target to look around for ideas on what he might like for Christmas.
He kept asking, "Where's ours cart? I need to put this in it so we can buy it!"
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| Maxy and his classmates at school on pj day |
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| Goofy boy in the shark tail Uncle Jason got him |
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| Pretty lady in her mermaid tail - she got it from her friend Ava last year |
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| Sometimes he wants to say "his" prayer (God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for our food) But sometimes he wants to say "Lucy's prayer - the Our Father |
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| First time shaving (for Max!) |
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| Cute hairdo! |
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| Back to school, back to reality! |
