ADVENTURES WITH AUNT PEANUT

I met my best friend Miranda (Mir or Peanut, for short) in a mutually detested math class my sophomore year of high school. Our teacher was a complete weirdo who spent most of the year sitting at his desk working on love poems and paper roses for his girlfriend, which left us tons of time to chat and realize just how much we had in common. 

Ever since that fateful first day of class, we have been inseparable. My parents moved to Ohio at the end of our junior year and Mir's mom let me move into her older brother's vacant room for the summer because we just didn't know how we could survive without each other. 

We spent that summer getting into trouble, singing Janet Jackson and DMB at the top of our lungs, turning into lobsters at the public pool, and having the time of our lives. It was life-changing for me, and  it transformed us from best friends into sisters.

We've been through a whole heck of a lot together--boy problems, friend problems, bonfires, hometown drama, concerts, baseball games, my Vegas wedding, backyard Buckeye tailgating, the birth of Kinley, random dance parties, ugly cries, Chinese food eating contests...you name it.

And even though everything has changed since we met, she's still the first one I call when I have big news or need to vent. She's my Peanut. My Mirmaid. My person (in Grey's Anatomy speak.)

LILA THE LAMBIE

Kinley and I had our very first zoo adventure of 2014 this week and we had so much fun that a whole post is in the works about it. Kin's favorite part of our trip was, hands down, the petting zoo part.

I feel like I need to tell you that I am generally terrified of wild animals, which is why I like the zoo. I can see them, but they can't get me, ya know? I was walking in one of the metro parks by my parent's house with a friend my senior year of high school and we rounded a bend in the trail, and there, staring at us in complete silence, were about 25 deer. I didn't know whether to cry or pee. Who knows what would happen if I saw, say, a wolf or something that is legitimately terrifying. I guess I just don't like the fact that I have no idea what they are gonna do...ram me? Bite me? Start talking, like a Disney movie? 

Obviously I don't want SuperBaby to have the same ridiculous fear, so I faced mine and took her into the petting zoo. They only have Pygmy goats and sheep, no deer or wolves, thank The Lord. I went over to the nearest goat, and gave him a pat and said, "Look at this sweet goat, Kin! You wanna pet him?" And she did. And she laughed and ran around petting every goat she could catch. Needless to say, I was so proud, of both of us! Haha

SCIENCE + FUN = CoSI

I know you've been dying for another Big Adventure slide show since you finished reading my post about all the fun we had in Cincinnati, right? Well, good news friend. Kick off your shoes, grab some chips, and relax. I'll try to edit all 350 photos of our trip to the World's Coolest Science Center down to just a select few. ;)

CoSI stands for Center of Science and Industry, which means awesome place to play and hands-on-learn about a million different things at the same time. The building looks like a giant cement caterpillar to me and it's right in the heart of Downtown Columbus which gives it automatic cool points. I love driving down there with all the skyscrapers and honking...it's like a miniature version of my favorite city on Earth: CHICAGO.

Kinley and I met one of my best friends, Nicole, and her 2 year old nephew, Cameron, down there for an awesome field trip play date. I hadn't been to CoSI in over ten years, but Nicole goes all the time with the boys she nannies for and knew exactly where to take us. 

We went quickly through a few rooms, but I'm gonna focus on the best places for littles: Kidspace and Ocean.

CINCINATTI, WE LOVE YOU!!

If you haven't already noticed, I am like a paparazzi circling around my poor toddler. When we do something that's actually a great picture opportunity, like a vacation, I am seriously out of control. She has actually started rolling her eyes and grunting when she sees the back side of my phone pointed at her. I just can't help myself.

So consider this post like the present day equivalent of me sitting you in my living room and aiming the slide projector at a blank wall. Get comfortable, grab the guacamole. This might take awhile. :)

For Valentine's Day this year, my parents gave us a overnight trip to Cincinnati. We were so excited and planned a million things to pack into our little getaway. 

Even Kinley was excited! She loves adventures and she really loves getting to eat mini blueberry muffins in the car. She's such a good girl on long rides and almost always sleeps the whole way...we are lucky ducks.

Our first stop in Cincinnati was my favorite store in the world, IKEA!! It was the first time I've been there that it wasn't a crazy busy madhouse and it was so nice to be able to look at everything and let Kinley run around and try things out. 

We ate lunch at their restaurant and it was so yummy, nobody cared that Kin flung her strawberry yogurt everywhere, and bonus, every Monday at Ikea is FREE DESSERT MONDAY! 

Next we headed to the Gap Clearance Center. This place is totally hit or miss. They sell all of Gap, Piperlime, Old Navy, and Banana Republic's leftovers. I spent around $100 last time I was there and got Kinley about 15 tees and tanks, 2 or 3 pairs of capris and shorts, a pair of flats, and a few sundresses. Awesome! This time was not nearly as cool. We got her a few tshirts for spring and a new winter hat for next year for $.50. It's totally worth running in there if you're in the area though, especially if you're preggo. I got two pairs of Gap maternity jeans for $9 a piece when I was pregnant.

Moving on, hotel check-in! Kinley's favorite part of the whole trip was the built in Kleenex box in the hotel bathroom--she was literally shrieking with glee as she ripped every last tissue out of the box and put them straight in the trash. Being one must be so fun!

We went to dinner at Uno which was mediocre, then came back to the hotel to take our little seahorse swimming! 

She was in HEAVEN!! Not only could she splash to her heart's content, she figured out pretty quickly that being inside of a hotel pool room is like being inside of a giant microphone and microphones just happen to be one of her favorite things in the whole world. She kicked and screamed (in a good way) for 45 minutes and it's safe to say that the pool was second on her highlight list.

Now, to my favorite part of the trip, Newport Aquarium! 

This place is seriously AWESOME! They have everything--penguins (which, if you pay $25 extra, you can PET!!,) jellies, sharks, sea turtles, crocs and gators, seahorses, octopi, you name it! We were all amazed--so many tanks, so much to see. We went on a Tuesday and the crowd was just the right size, but I bet it would be hard to see and enjoy everything on a weekend when it's really crowded. Here's a tip: buy your tickets at any Kroger in the Cincinnati instead of at the aquarium--they are $10 cheaper. 

We stopped in the gift shop on the way out and got matching purple mother/daughter aquarium tshirts and decided to try out a restaurant right outside the aquarium that caught our eye on the way in. 

It's called Tom+Chee. No, it's not Korean BBQ, it's actually short for tomato soup and grilled cheese.

They have about a million grilled cheese options listed on a chalkboard wall, 3 kinds of tomato soup (chunky, creamy, and smooth,)  and even dessert grilled cheese (the bread is a doughnut!) I had a classic grilled cheese (American cheese on white) with kettle cooked potato chips inside and a dip size cup of creamy tomato soup and it was soooo delish!! 

Dave had a ham and cheese with Swiss on rye, and also allowed me to take a lame picture of him:

Kinley got a kid's meal--half a grilled cheese with a super fresh strawberry banana fruit cup and her very first juice box...she was thrilled.

It was totally laid back and kid friendly and we loved it and all three of us ate for less than $20! Good news Columbus friends, they are building one in Hilliard and one in Pickerington right now! Wahoo! I googled the restaurant chain on the car ride home and apparently they got their start on that show Shark Tank. Cool, huh?

Well, that wrapped up our trip. Who knew you could have so much fun in 24 hours in Cincinatti, Ohio? If you live around here or ever pass through, hopefully you will have time to check out some of the fun places we tried. 

Thanks for sticking with me through that super long slide show. Hang on, let me go refill the guac and reload the projector with the slides of me doing trip laundry and washing out sippy cups! Oh, you've gotta get going? Shoot. Well, next time?