Cincinnati 2010

Because of Bob's random work schedule this summer, we decided to take advantage of him finally having two days off together and headed to Cincinnati. Tuesday, we decided to book a hotel for Wednesday and Thursday night. Originally, we were going to head to Chicago, but something must have been going on because everything was completely booked! Instead, we headed to Cincinnati, which ironically is the only place Bob and I have gone on a "vacation" since our honeymoon. We went to Cincinnati back in October of 2006 for Bob's fall break just because it was cheaper than heading to Florida for 5 days, especially before my brother lived there!

So, I found a hotel that looked nice in Wilder, KY, just outside of Cincinnati. It ended up being really nice. It's funny though, what ends up being really nice perks for you once you have kids. Like free movies downstairs, which included "Cars," helping us get our showers in each day and keeping Jacob happy. Free breakfast, including waffles, sausage and eggs, which normally wouldn't have mattered to us much pre-kid days! Definitely somewhere we would stay again! The manager also came and declared Jacob "guest of the day" Friday morning and gave him a coloring book and crayons - he thought it was pretty cool!

Wednesday we left right at Jacob's nap time, so he slept the entire 2 hours to Cincinnati. I fell asleep for a while, too, which was nice! We got there, checked in, and hit the indoor pool for a while. Jacob loved it - this was the first time he was in a big pool and not just a kiddie pool in the backyard! Then, we showered and headed out for some dinner at Big Boy (yummy burger!) and off to the Reds game. Jacob's very first baseball game ever! I think the most money we spent on the trip was on food at the game, haha. We enjoyed some cotton candy, nachos, lemonade and also caught up with Aaron, Bob's pledge brother from college who was also in our wedding. He was at the game with some friends, and we sat with him during the last part of the game.

Jacob fell asleep on the way back to the hotel, but was surprised to find that he would be sleeping in bed with us. He was so happy - just kept getting up and saying, "Hi, Mommy and Daddy!" He was cute, and luckily slept really well since he has never slept in our bed before!

Thursday we had some breakfast and headed to the Cincinnati Zoo. We had the zoo package at the hotel, so had 2 tickets to the zoo for only $18, saving us $10 if we bought them at the zoo. Jacob was free, and we spent the morning trying to catch all the animals we don't have at the zoo here. Jacob fell in love with the meerkats - he laughed for a long time at them running back and forth!

We grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald's across from our hotel and headed in where we all took a nap. Afterwards, we headed to Aaron and Megan's house. It was the first time we saw their place - such a beautiful home and they have a pool, so Jacob burnt some energy before we headed to dinner. They took us to a place called Paxton's, which had great food and a really great atmosphere. They live in a suburb of Cincinnati that is the cutest place I have ever seen. If we ever moved somewhere, it would be on my list. An adorable downtown, an awesome bike trail, and tons of parks. After dinner we just walked down the road to a park and Jacob had a great time even though he was getting pretty tired. Great catching up with Aaron and Megan, and we were lucky they were able to spend some time with us even though we gave them no warning we would be in town!

Friday we had plans on doing some shopping, but decided just to head home instead so Bob didn't have to rush to get to work in time. We had a great time, and it might be our last "getaway" before the baby is here, so it made it pretty special to spend that time with Jacob as a family of three.