Devou Park: The Ludlow Icinerator

Last year when Jazz visited over Easter weekend, the weather was kind of yucky so we kept the adventuring to the minimum. She always does a great job finding off-the-beaten-path things to do and this adventure was no exception. 

She requested we go to the Ludlow incinerator. We drove around the park a bit and stopped by the Mr Red bench (Ida was not a fan) then searched for the incinerator. 

We weren't super clear about where the incinerator was, so it took us a bit to find the right trail. It was drizzling and we weren't sure how far down the path we'd have to go (the incinerator trail is 1.2 miles) so we decided we'd suck it up, make it an adventure, and see how far we could make it before one of my kids has a meltdown. The girls were busy squishing around in the mud and doing a bit of whining, so Jazz went ahead of us and found that the incinerator wasn't too far.

We took our time making it up there so she would be able to get pictures without us in it. The girls liked walking around and finding our favorite little graffiti spots.

Easter Weekend

Easter Weekend this year was more packed then ever. Jazz came to visit for the weekend, so we filled in adventures where we could.  Friday afternoon, we dyed eggs. This is the first time Ida has dyed eggs and she was loving it!  This video (on the last slide) says it all. Cora has fun working on her color mixing theories and seeing what color mixing she could accomplish.

Saturday, we went to a community egg hunt. Both my girls had the same strategy to run ahead of the crowd and get a bunch of eggs without having to compete with other kids... pretty impressive! Both the girls got a good amount of eggs and had fun in the process. We took a quick picture with the easter bunny and headed out before it rained.

Easter was a full day! We woke up early to get ready for church/egg hunt. Ida wore an old coat and bonnet that I wore when I was little. My parents didn't save many outfits from when I was younger, so I love seeing this on my girls. (Cora wore it a couple years ago) 

Easter morning, we went to our cousin's church for an egg hunt and service. Ida was corralled into the preschool section and got quite a few eggs. She started opening them up and they were full of money (cue Ida excitedly holding dollar bills and saying "MONEY!!")... then we remembered that they usually have the kids get a couple eggs from this section before they run out to the other sections. It gave us all a laugh and Ida made a good donation to the collection plate. Cora ran off with her cousins pretty much the second we arrived at church and I didn't see her for most of the day because she was having so much fun with them. Easter service was followed by brunch at my aunt and uncles house. It was the perfect holiday day.  Happy Easter!

Charleston Falls Preserve

Ben is a courier and he'll occasionally get a job that works out timing-wise where we can all tag along. This weekend he got a job up to Dayton and I quickly Googled what there is to do and see there. Generally I'm looking for something that is easy and isn't going to cost a lot of money. I landed on Charleston Falls Preserve. It looks beautiful, it's free, and it wasn't going to take too much time. I packed the backpack carrier and snacks and we were on our way within 30 minutes.

The girls were excited to get out of the car by the time we arrived. The walk to the falls was short and easy and there was no complaining from anyone in our family (which never happens). Ida oohed and aahed over a couple different things along the walk (mostly dogs) and Cora kept saying how much she liked nature.

It was misty and cold, so we didn't stay long. This was a perfect little pit stop adventure for us, but I'm also looking forward to coming back for a longer trip when it's a little bit warmer.

Snow Days

There has been quite a bit of snow over the last couple of days and we're loving all of the extra outdoor time. Saturday, the girls were at my parent's house for most of the morning so I had lots of extra time to shovel the steps, walkway, and driveway. When we got home from my parent's house, we played on the patio for a bit before having friends over for hot chocolate. We leaned into that hibernation feeling and spent the evening hanging around and watching movies.

Sunday morning, we woke up and found a whole lot more snow. We had a couple things to do in the morning and we could hardly wait to get outside to play. The walks to and from the car were very slow and involved a lot of snow stomping. After lunchtime, we bundled up and headed outside. Cora got a snowball maker from my parents, so we spent a lot of time throwing snowballs at the fence. The girls spent most of the time just stomping around the backyard making as many footprints as possible. Ben and I had a heated snowball fight and it was hilarious to watch the girls cheer us on and try to help.

Monday was a long day at work and I wanted nothing more than to get outside for a walk. We walked a little bit down the street, but the girls just wanted to stomp through everybody's yards. We headed to our backyard to throw snowballs and watch the sunset. Playing in the snow is always best when followed by hot chocolate and pizza picnics in front of a movie... so that's exactly what we did.