Our Beautiful Family: Spring Break

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Spring Break

We had various discussions about what our spring break plans should be this year. Since we just went to Disney last month, we felt that a big trip was not necessary. A little stay-cation with some productive time and local activities seemed like a fun idea, but we decided that a few days in a Midwest city might be a fun supplement. Looking at the weather, Chicago was ruled out as it was going to be too cold. St. Louis was still on the list, but we also discussed Cincinnati as a city we've never been to before AND with a zoo that we were familiar with due to some videos they put out during quarantine. Although not going to be quite as warm as St. Louis, Cincinnati ended up being the spring break winner. Three nights in a new city with some fun activities planned seemed like the perfect way to end our week. And having my friend Christie and her girls join us was just the icing on the cake!!

Five hours of driving is not a big deal for our crew. We made it to Cincinnati without a stop, although we did end up stopping once for lunch on the way home. We listened to 'The Secret Garden' as our road trip audiobook this time. We all loved it!

My friend Christie and her girls from DC were on break the same week as us. Since we were heading east, we invited them to join us for our few days of Cincinnati fun...and they took us up on it. So much fun!!!

We started out at Great Wolf Lodge. Two days of indoor water park fun was a hit!

We got to Cincinnati, checked in, changed into suits, and then spent about 3.5 hours or so at the water park the first day. After a Chipotle dinner in our room, a decent night of sleep (as decent as you can have in a single room with 3 adults and 5 kids), and a smoothie and wraps breakfast, we then filled another 5 hours at the water park the next day to round out our stay.

All the kids really enjoyed the big water slides that they could go down in tandem tubes. The kids, especially the 4 girls, went down their favorites over and over and over again.

The wave pool, lazy river, and lily pads were all big hits as well.

Briggs tired of the water fun before the girls both days, so he took the opportunity to relax and read when he needed a break.

Great Wolf Lodge ended up being a huge hit of the trip for all the kids. It was a really fun (and tiring) way to start out our little get-away.

We then spent our next 2 nights at a great Airbnb house about 5 miles from the Great Wolf Lodge and about 25 miles outside of Cincinnati. The bunk room was one of the main reasons we chose this house...and the kids loved it!

We enjoyed plenty of downtime at the house. The grown-ups cooked meals, snacked, and visited while the kids played and drew and made up plays and had lots of fun together.

The chalkboard wall, bunk room, and smart refrigerator were all the house highlights for the kids.

I loved this big dining room table where we could eat meals and play games. Apples to Apples and Just One were our after-dinner games that we played before sending the kids off to bed.

And it was a great place to celebrate Adelie's 9th birthday!

We spent Friday at the Cincinnati Zoo. Although it was chilly (and we weren't quite dressed warmly enough), we still had a great time and spent the good part of a day there.

We saw some really fun animals. The cheetah, manatees, Fiona the hippo, the sloth, the nocturnal predator exhibit, and the gorillas were some of the highlights. And, of course, our two trips on the zoo train and multiple rides on the carousel were highlights as well.

When deciding on favorite animals, Adelie and Avery decided they were Team Manatee...

while Staley and Isla were Team Sloth. The girls made up original team songs and team chants and even made team pictures when they got back to the house.