Warning: Very long post ahead!
I recently enjoyed a mini-vacation with my mom and L.J.! My mom and I took L.J. back up to Cincinnati for a visit with my Grandma. She was so excited to see him!
We took advantage of good airfare deals and flew to Cincinnati. It was L.J.’s second plane trip and thankfully the round-trip experience was far less eventful than when I flew to Philadelphia a few months ago. On the way up he fell asleep shortly before takeoff and woke up as we were taxiing to the gate. Can’t ask for anything better than that!
On the way back he was awake for most of the flight, but did reasonably well. The lady in the aisle seat had a liter water bottle that he was mildly obsessed with getting ahold of, but we managed to keep him distracted. (This lady was not remotely interested in socializing.)
Thursday must have been our lucky day for traveling because our rental car got upgraded to a minivan and our hotel room got upgraded to a two-bedroom suite – all for no extra cost. (You know you’re a mom when a rental minivan is cause for excitement…)
I did have to quickly overcome my germaphobe tendencies with regards to the hotel room carpet – there was simply no getting around L.J. rolling around on it!
Childhood Memories
On the way out to my Grandma’s, we stopped by our old neighborhood to see our old house. We noticed some changes in the backyard and wanted to see how the screened porch/deck my dad built almost three decades ago was holding up, so we got out for a look. Some might call that trespassing; we preferred to think of it as a trip down memory lane.
L.J. was napping, but it was very important that he got to see the backyard mommy spent so many hours in as a little girl, so I woke him up. Mom of the Year, I know. We walked down by the creek and looked back up at the house. My mom and I commented on the trees that were bigger and those that were no longer there. I stood in the middle of the side yard and snapped a picture with L.J. I still remember running (and sometimes rolling) down the hill!
We practically lived in that backyard as kids…so many memories!
And look what I found…a picture of the back of our house in 1987. Look how big the trees have grown in 26 years!
Family Time
My Grandma is now quite elderly and does not get around very well, so most of the trip was spent quietly visiting with her. We ran a few errands with her on Friday and also drove around and toured the area that my mom grew up in. It was neat seeing the house where she spent her childhood, as well as her school and community.
We also spent some time visiting with extended family and I really enjoyed watching L.J. interact with them. My aunt had him laughing so hard!
Cincinnati Zoo Day
Visitors, especially a rambunctious little one, can be taxing on the elderly, so on Saturday my mom and I let my Grandma rest and took L.J. to the Cincinnati Zoo. He was a little too young to appreciate the zoo, but my mom and I were extremely excited to go! Cincinnati has a renowned zoo and we went frequently when I was little. It was really interesting to go back – a lot has changed in 20 years and I remember certain exhibits more than the zoo itself. What hasn’t changed is that I still love the zoo!
Our favorite exhibit was the cougar – he was huge! He was standing right next to the exhibit glass and was truly a beautiful animal. I sure wouldn’t want to meet one in the wild, though! The Siberian tigers were also really neat because they were enormous, much larger than the Bengal tigers.
My all-time favorite animal, the polar bear, was also visited – and I got a great shot of him looking at me!
The lions were roaring loudly and I snapped them soaking up the sun.
L.J.’s favorite zoo experience was the petting zoo. I took him into the goat pen and he loved petting the goats! At one point I crouched down so he could reach and a goat came up behind me and started eating my shirt. My mom captured my reaction on camera! The curious goat didn’t rip a hole in my shirt, but he ruined it nonetheless. I spent the rest of the day walking around looking like I had a giant poop stain on the tail of my shirt. So gross!
Later that afternoon, we got sandwiches and went to a playground near our old house for an impromptu picnic. It was one of those giant (and awesome) wooden playgrounds built by the community, and my mom enjoyed looking at all of the contributors’ names on the fence trying to see if she recognized any of the families (she did!). L.J. loved the baby swing and it was good to let him burn off some energy.
Cincy Food
Aside from family, the other big theme of the trip was food. We couldn’t go back to Cincinnati without enjoying some of our favorite local dishes! We worked in a trip to Frisch’s and of course enjoyed some Skyline Chili. We stopped by my mom’s favorite bakery for some delicious treats and got sundaes at UDF made with my favorite pumpkin pie ice cream. Oh, and of course yummy ham salad from the butcher. On our last night we went to Bob Evans. Surprisingly, I don’t think my mom or I had ever eaten there. It’s just basic, down-home cooking (kind of like Cracker Barrel without all the country kitsch) but it was delicious! I plan to recreate my dinner at home. I had chicken dumpling noodles served over mashed potatoes served over a giant biscuit. It was pretty much utopia on a plate.
L.J. also did not disappoint in the food department. He didn’t eat much baby food on this trip because if he saw people eating “real” food he wanted nothing to do with it. We made do the best we could, which pretty much meant that L.J. got a 4-day carb feast. (I mean, seriously, this kiddo can eat…)
Hands-down the funniest moment of the trip happened on our first night. L.J. woke up from a nap and we planned to give him a few bites of grilled cheese to eat. We sat him at a child-sized play table that my grandma repurposed as a coffee table. It was hers as a child and it has been well-loved by her children and grandchildren – a perfect nostalgic photo opportunity!
Well, no sooner had we gotten him seated and the camera out when he reached over, grabbed the half sandwich and proceeded to eat it as if this was a normal, everyday occurrence. He knew exactly what to do with that sandwich! It was just about the funniest thing we’d ever seen – this 10-month old baby, sitting like a big boy, chowing down on a sandwich.
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