Summer Living

It is summer, Keith and I are both off of work, and Colin is home with us now except for one day a week when he goes to Ms. Ashley's.  We are trying to make the most of this time because when will this ever happen again?  The girls are extremely portable at this age.  They sleep through anything and as long as they are fed, they are happy.  So we researched all of the events to do with kids around town (preferably cheap or free ones), loaded up our Cozi family calendar app, and off we go!

Last weekend Keith's parents came back up to help us out for a few nights.  They were a huge help while we got pictures taken last Saturday.  On Friday they watched the girls so that we could take Colin for an outing, just the three of us.  We took him to the COSI science museum (where we just happened to run into Ms. Krystal!) and then to a hot dog place for lunch.  We had a great time!

Playing at the water tables at COSI

On Tuesday we went to a big park nearby called Homestead Park.  We packed a picnic lunch.  We didn't realize that there was a train theme to the park which of course Colin loved.  There were a couple of mock train stations, a real caboose and a lot of the playground equipment was train themed.  It was a success!

Picnic at Homestead Park

Train station at Homestead Park

A real caboose!

On Thursday Keith took Colin to Barnes and Noble for story time and more importantly to play on the train table there.  Colin saw a picture of himself playing at it a long time ago and requested to go back.  I stayed home with the girls.  It was a good trip for them although Colin didn't want to leave!

On Friday we went to a park called Columbus Commons downtown.  On Fridays it is Family Day.  They have free carousel rides as well as a free bounce house and bouncy water slide.  They also have story time and a big parachute and other interactive toys.  The lines were long for the free stuff during part of the day but Colin still go to do everything he wanted.  We parked the girls in a shady spot and enjoyed burgers, fries, dogs, and milkshakes from the restaurant there aptly named Burgers, Dogs and Fries.  Colin came home completely worn out.

Almost Colin's turn at the bouncy water slide

Cheesing it up on the carousel

Saturday we tried to go to story time at the Main Library downtown but it was the big kickoff day for the summer reading program so they had all kinds of other special events happening instead of story time like a kids' band, face painting, etc.  Colin saw Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George.  We listened to the band.  They were even giving away free White Castle sliders.  I got one for Colin thinking he would love it but he only took one bite!  After the library we walked over to the Topiary Park for the first concert in the summer PBJ & Jazz concert series.  It is a concert series for kids where you bring a picnic lunch and sit in a beautiful park and listen to the music.  We really enjoyed it.  It was warm but felt great in the shade.  It's an easy place to feed the girls and change their diapers too.

PBJ & Jazz Picnic

We have more fun stuff planned for next week...a play date, another trip to our Dublin library for story time and to sign up for the summer reading program, and another trip to COSI for the Big Machines exhibit!  Today it is HOT and we're just relaxing at home.  We are going to pull out a sprinkler toy later on.  It's fun to be on the go but it's nice to stay home too!  Plus last night was the girls' best sleeping night ever.  They slept from 10 to 3.  We were up for 45 minutes feeding them and then Colin woke us up at 7.  The girls slept until about 7:30.  I feel good!