Cincinnati and St. Patty's

Last week was spring break for Purdue. Mckay still has to work and do research, he just got a break from his one class. We decided that we should still do something fun and take a short trip to Cincinnati. Why Cincinnati? We've never been there before, it's close (only a 3 hour drive) and hotels there were cheaper than in Chicago. We left Friday morning (well, it was actually noon by the time we left) and drove to straight to downtown Cincinnati. Dallin and Connor slept the whole way there.

 

Mckay found a walking tour of downtown Cincinnati online. So we parked the car, and walked a 3 mile loop. We saw some really cool old churches, neat architecture and gardens, and the Roebling Suspension Bridge.

 There's a pedestrian pathway along the bridge, so we walked across into Kentucky. (Now Dallin and Connor have been in 2 more states.)

 The road of the bridge is a metal grate and you can see down into the river as you drive across. I think that would scare me a little too much.

 We saw the Great American Ball Park from the bridge.

While walking around, we passed a little Art Gallery. They had canned food sculptures on display. This was my favorite one.

 

 That must take a lot of time and patience. 

We stopped at a little pastry shop and got some hot cross buns. They cost more than one a penny or two a penny.

After we were thoroughly tired from our 3 mile tour, we drove to our hotel on the north side of Cincinnati. Dallin thought our room was really cool because it had a phone...

 ...and 2 TVs.

 We ate dinner at a nearby Mexican Restaurant. Dallin officially embarrassed us by eating the salsa straight out of the bowl with his hand.

 He holds a chip in his other hand like he's going to dip it, but he's not fooling anyone.

We got Graeter's Ice Cream for dessert. A friend recommended it as a CIncinnati must-have and it was pretty tasty. I had Black Raspberry Chip ice cream. I forgot to take a picture until it was mostly gone.

 Also, not pictured was the huge chocolate chunk in my scoop. We're talking solid chocolate larger than a whole Oreo cookie.

Mckay enjoyed his Toffee chip ice cream scoop.

 The next day was St. Patrick's Day. We went to the Cincinnati Children's Museum and the Museum of Natural History and Science.

Dallin had a 'ball.'

 He went from one thing to the next, playing with everything.

 For future reference, it's not a good idea to go to a crowded place with lots of kids on St. Patrick's Day. Everyone is wearing green and it's hard to pick your own child out of a crowd.

There were blocks to make an arch.

 

 (The only picture I'm in and proof that I was there too.)

Dallin wasn't much help while building the arch, but he knew how to knock it over.

 We went outside for a little picnic lunch in the grass.

Over at the Natural history Museum, we walked through a "cave."

 

 

This picture makes me laugh. Mckay spent a long time playing with this display. It's supposed to show how melting glaciers eroded the landscape to create the shape of the land on which Cincinnati now sits. As he was playing with the sand, a group of kids came over, and Mckay started teaching them about it and showing them how cool it was. They listened for a bit and walked away. But a minute later, one kid came back over and asked Mckay where the bathroom was. I'm sure he saw Mckay wearing a white polo shirt, teaching at an exhibit, and figured he must work there!

Around this point, Dallin was starting to get tired of walking.

So we drove back to Indiana and got home around 8pm.

We saved our traditional Corned Beef feast for Sunday. Connor sported Dallin's old festive shirt.

I realized this shirt has been worn for the past 3 St. Patrick's Days. I'm hoping that it won't fit any of my children next year.