waking up today having NO clue what day it is! i LOVE a good long weekend but coming off it always throws me for a loop trying to keep track of the week. zach’s off to work and i’m sitting here with some hot coffee, my candle burning and ready to make it a super productive week!
for christmas, zach and i decided to forgo ‘presents’ for the kids {they get presents from santa – something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read} and instead have opted to gift a family trip of some sorts. we’re all about the experiences over here and the kids have hopped right on board with excitement!
this year we decided to take the kids to COSI in columbus… i have never been and it’s been a LONG time since zach had gone so we thought it would be a super fun get away for our crew of 6 and boy were we right!
sunday
sunday started out with a fairly low key morning hanging at home…those mornings always fly by and before we knew it we were packing up to head out for my best friend’s daughter’s birthday {ps…i really had to think about those apostrophes and i still don’t think they’re right…} party! sweet harper turned 3 at the end of december and it’s so fun watching our babes grow up together…janice {her mama!} and i grew up across the street from each other and have been best friends since we were in diapers! harper had an awesome bowling party and we all had a blast!
we headed out straight from the bowling alley to columbus and get checked into the hotel. we hit massive traffic on the way {standstill for 40 minutes!!!} turning a hour car ride into 2 hours.
(a very blurry screenshot from a hilarious video of 4 happy babes jumping on the bed!!)
we got checked in, changed into our bathing suits and headed downstairs to go swimming. we weren’t sure what we were going to do for dinner but when we got downstairs there was a fajita bar and hot dogs PLUS we got 3 drinks each… all for FREE! it was fantastic! the food really was amazing and we filled our bellies before hopping into the pool. the kids {and zach} swam their little hearts out in the freezing water {half the pool was outside and it was 10 degrees out… i still am baffled that it wasn’t actually frozen. everyone kept jumping from the main pool to the hot tub making for a fun game.
after swimming it was time for a quick shower, jams, popcorn + some random movie we found on tv. i’m pretty sure the highlight for everyone was snuggling up in bed!
monday
monday morning i tip toed out to catch a quick workout before grabbing lila for our traditional breakfast sneak out date. i’m pretty sure all we need to actually do for the kids is a hotel stay and they’d be thrilled but lila thinks us sneaking downstairs for a 1:1 breakfast date is the coolest thing ever. gosh, i hope she forever thinks i’m this cool…
we headed up just in time to grab the rest of the crew for a quick breakfast and cleanup before checking out and heading out for the day!
we stayed about 5 minutes away from COSI in columbus and got there mid-morning…and it was PACKED. i really wasn’t sure how it would go with it being so crazy but as soon as we finally got our wristbands we headed up to the kids area and guys…it was SOOO COOL!!
even though there were a TON of kids, there truly was enough for everyone to do and they barely had to wait to do anything they wanted to. we spent a LONG time at the water table exploring dams, scooping, pouring, and so. much. more. it was easily 40 minutes of entertainment and zach and i hung back and chit chatted until maisley woke up and was ready to play.
after the water table {table isn’t the right word..it was like a stream}.. the girls wanted to head into another room that looked filled with art discovery. lila and piper were immediately drawn to the color mixing which they deemed science experiments using a dropper to mix water colors. the employees working the stations were AMAZING in providing opportunities for the kids to explore and navigate the media without overstepping or directing their play. they continued to refill their colors and encouraged them to try other color mixing combinations. it truly was amazing.
miller immediately wanted to do some painting and had to wait his turn but entertained himself with the scarves until it was his turn. as i’m typing this out i’m kicking myself in the head because i just realized i forgot to pick up their artwork before heading out!! 🙁 they worked SO hard on them and miller painted me flowers, one in each color… ugh. i might be calling to see if i could pay for them to send them to me…they worked so hard on them and we talked about framing them for our new office!
annnyways.
we wrapped up that room with some snowman building and the girls painting then it was onwards!
rock wall climbing was next followed by some fire truck and helicopter driving… i didn’t get a single picture from this time.. it was so crazy and i spent a lot of time counting 3 tiny heads, ha!
we headed down for lunch and honestly, i was so impressed with their menu. the kids could order their own food from a picture menu and our crew chose piano pb+j {i wish i snuck a pic of these..they were displayed so cool!} and a butterfly turkey + cheese sandwich! i had a delicious salad and zach got a wrap… if you’re local you can totally pack your lunch and save some money.
after lunch we rallied for some exploration through the dino exhibit which was pretty cool! they were super into taking pictures and i promised i’d put some up on the blog 😉 they’re starting to understand what i do for ‘work’ and are really enjoying looking at these pictures!
last up for the day was a quick walk through part of the ‘oceans’ exhibit… we didn’t last long and were starting to hit meltdown mode so we cut it short before we completely had to carry 4 kids out of there…but y’all, they did GREAT.
final pitstop for the day was to the gift shop. they begged to use some of their own money to buy a toy from the gift shop so we guided them through trying to make decisions on a toy based on price and what they really wanted. miller chose a sucker, lila snagged a bag of rocks that she hand picked and a little dinosaur and piper chose a dino egg with a baby dinosaur inside and a keychain plush dino. phew that’s a hard skill to practice at this age!
it really wound up being an AMAZING little get away to COSI and zach and i were talking this morning about how much fun we and the kids had! they’re absolutely exhausted so the kids and i are hanging at home for the day and going to catch up on laundry!!
i hope you had the most wonderful long weekend if you had the day off!