Cincinnati Outings

We spent a lot of the time in Cincinnati in the pool, but when we weren't in the pool, we were definitely out doing other fun things!

Both the boys and girls had a special activity of their own choosing. The boys went golfing at Sharon Woods (it was beautiful - the golfing wasn't pretty!) and the girls went out for pedicures.

 

We went on a nature hike at Sharon Woods and ended up walking around a river bottom. There were  a number of small waterfalls (water trickles, more like). Claire, especially, took her time, looking at every little plant and rock feature along the trail.

The little cousins were good little hikers!

Torin especially liked walking around the water and was feeling like he could do it himself a little.

After the hike, we spent some time at the Sharon Woods play structure. It was a busy day there, but we were able to find a table and have some lunch and let our kids run all over.

We had a bit of a mixed bag of weather while we were there, including a few days of hard rain. One of those days we decided to visit a Lego exhibit at Kenwood Town Centre. There were a number of large recreations of significant buildings in US history. We went on a scavenger hunt to find all of them.

Of course we had to get a trip to Kings Island in! The roller coaster crowd had some bad luck at the beginning (waiting in line for rides that shut down right as they got to the front of the line), but ended up riding a bunch of rides before meeting back up with the rest of the group.

who reported nearly no lines and were basically walking onto all their rides! The kids got to drive cars, fly helicopters and planes, and, their favorites, 

riding around in the ladybugs!

Even Torin got to ride a few rides, the little trains and the helicopters

and he LOVED both of them!!!

One of our favorite things in going back to Cincinnati is that we get to see a few close friends. This time, we also got to meet the newest additions to their families.

Even though we left the day before the All Star Game (we actually watched Todd Frazier's stunning victory in the home run derby while we were on the airplane!), we got to participate in some of the festivities. Jacob, Papa, and Jared went down to the All Star Game Fanfest and did a number of the exhibits.

The exhibits included batting cages, bases to run and simulate stealing a base, a Hall of Fame exhibit that Jacob volunteered to help with the presentation, and an Under Armor "scout combine" like exhibit that had Jacob posing for a picture, running, pushing a sled, doing the tires, and getting interviewed like a pro. It was pretty cool. Also, Papa won the seniors division for the speed pitch - way to go Papa!!!

Jacob met the Mariner Moose, which he knew would make some of his friends back in Portland jealous.