I haven't posted recently because we've had a rough week as a family. Sadly, Jim's brother passed away last Saturday. I won't get into personal details, but if you could, please send some healing thoughts Jim's way (and also for his family).
Jim's been off this whole week taking care of family matters. We thought it would be a good idea to take a break from the heaviness of the week and 'get out of the city' (this is one of Jim's sayings... he got it from Balki from Perfect Strangers). We thought Finley would really like the Newport Aquarium, so we headed down towards Cincinnati yesterday for a day of family togetherness.
Getting ready to go!
We left our house when it was time for Finley to take her morning nap. She slept most of the way down, so she was refreshed and ready to go once we got there. We got there at lunchtime, so we had lunch at Tom & Chee. They specialized in Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. I was excited at the concept- they had gourmet grilled cheeses and then make-your-own grilled cheese (choose from eight different breads and then choose from a dozen cheeses). They also offered classic, chunky and cramy tomato soups. Despite being excited over the concept, I wasn't that excited over the food. It was all just OK.
After our lunch, we walked over to see the river and then headed into the Aquarium.
I had checked the Aquarium's website before we left and I'm glad I did. There are some days they don't allow strollers (usually on the weekends). They do let you borrow a backpack child carrier, but that would've stunk if we had to ditch the stroller once we got in there.
Finley was super excited at first, 'oohing and aahing' and pointing at every fish.
Here's a funny (annoying) side story: I was watching a lady with a camera trying to take a photo of a giant pufferfish. She took about six photos, with the flash ON, of this fish. Each time, tapping on the glass and telling the fish to "look this way". ??? Some people just crack. me. up.
Once we got through the bottleneck of people at the beginning (and those trying to take portraits of the pufferfish), it really cleared out. By this time though, Finley was getting tired and didn't seem to be that interested in the fish. She was only interested in getting down on the ground and taking off on her own.
I was most excited to see the penguins and was excited to see what Finley would do when she saw them. She did nothing. It's like she didn't even see them. I even took her up in front right next to the glass. The penguins were dive-bombing into the water and the swimming like a rocket right in front of us, but she didn't care one bit. All she wanted to do was climb the up the three steps nearby and take off. She did show some interest in the penguin statues, but not much.
Jim and I were fairly disappointed in the Aquarium this time. I thought it was ridiculously overpriced- $23 for an adult. Kids 2 and under were free, thank goodness. They did have a sign notifying us at the admission desk, but there was a large part of the Aquarium closed and under construction. It also seemed like the Aquarium had gone downhill. We saw several places were they were using duct tape to hold down peeled-up carpet. Plus, all of the glass on the tanks looked dirty and scratched.
We headed back to the car and decided to head to Ikea, since we were in the area. We could then also avoid driving through Columbus during Friday evening rush hour.
If you're ever looking for a non-busy time (I didn't think such a thing existed) to go to Ikea, I'd recommend going on a Friday early-evening. We got a parking spot right up front and there were hardly any people in there! It was great. We had dinner and then walked around.
We thought Finley would sleep the entire way home, but she was awake the entire way. Awake and super cranky. :( We had to stop a couple of times to give her a snack and change her diaper. She fell asleep literally 5 minutes from home.
All things considered, we had a good day. It was nice to give our minds a break from this week and spend some time together as a family.
