Father's Day Zoo Trip

We made two trips to the zoo this weekend. Saturday, I had a work party so we suffered through the hot weather and enjoyed a quick trip. We stopped by the picnic, ate, checked out the animal encounters they had (lizards and pancake turtles), and rode the carousel. Ida tried out the carousel again and loved it. She rode an animal that doesn't move up and down and Ben was right by her side cheering her on.

Ida did the painting a couple weeks ago and Cora drew a picture on top of it to make the perfect present for my dad. She drew a picture of "Poppy, me, and Ida swimming". 

Sunday, my dad wanted to celebrate Father's Day with a family trip to the zoo followed by a brunch. We saw some animals, rode the train, and enjoyed running around with the family. 

Ida Rue was loving running around with Poppy. The girls are so lucky to have him as a grandpa. 

The zoo trip was followed by late brunch at my sister's house. The kids played outside in their water table and baby pool and they had the best time. It was the perfect weekend with our family celebrating some of the dads in our life. 

Walks With Cora : Ault park

When my friend Jazz came to visit, we made a little stop at Ault Park.  Ault park was a favorite place for Cora and I to visit when we lived over in Oakley and we visited when Jazz was in town two years ago. Ida loved sitting at the fountain and watching her sister wading into the water.

Cora was tired from our little trip to the graffiti tunnel, but was reenergized when she heard she was allowed to put her feet in the fountain.  This was always her favorite thing to do after our hikes on Ault's trails. This park holds so many sweet memories with Cora, so coming back here will always be special.

 See more #WalksWithCora and #WalksWithIda on Instagram.

Cincinnati Weekend Adventures

This weekend, we made the most of the good weather and all of our annual passes.  On Saturday, we adventured to the Cincinnati Children's museum at Union terminal with my mom and sister.  Cora, as usual, loved running around the museum and doing all of the activities.  Her favorite is definitely the water table area and she'd play there all day if we let her.

Cora enjoyed checking out all of the sweet architecture at Union Terminal.

Sunday, we went to the Cincinnati Zoo with my parents.  Cora loved watching the animals and running around playing with her Poppy.  We spent quite a bit of time watching one of the lions roaring, which Cora loved to reenact for the rest of the day.

As much as I love going out on adventures, my favorite part of every weekend is the time we get to spend hanging around the apartment getting lots of rest and snuggles.

Wisconsin : Exploring and Dreaming

Every morning, I'd wake up early to work for a couple hours before Cora woke up.  Once she woke up, we'd spend an hour or so just putzing around the lawn/dock before everyone else woke up and our day really began.

I'd watch her explore and I'd dream...  I'd dream of all of the fun times we had as children vacationing at the cottage.  I'd dream of her enjoying our family vacation spot as she gets older.  I'd dream of her running around and swimming with her future siblings and cousins.  And I'd dream of the years to come and all of the family vacations we'd have at this spot.

It was just a small patch of the day that Cora and I could spend together in the peace of the morning, but it was one of my favorite parts of our vacation.