Cincinnati trip

A few weeks ago, Logan and I packed our bags and headed to Cincinnati for a week.

The big reason we were going was my BFF Courtney was turning 30 and a few close friends threw her a huge surprise dinner and party in Columbus. Obviously I could not miss it. From being my maid of honor, throwing me showers and parties, coming to visit and shooting our maternity photos... it felt was so great that people were all getting together to celebrate her life!

Anyways, Geoff was working so Logan and I headed to the airport to fly home. While this was his 15th and 16th flights (i think... haha too many to keep up with) and I felt comfortable traveling with him... a toddler is a whole different beast than a baby! We were so lucky that both flights we had an open seat next to us. The flight is a quick 2 hours and I had my ipad ready to go with a few episodes of Sesame Street and Paw Patrol, a few new toys, a matchbox car and more snacks than you can imagine. Logan did fantastic on the flights but by the time we landed, I was exhausted by constant entertaining to keep him happy.

(he is not too happy about posing for a selfie with me, haha)

When my friends with newborns ask my advice on traveling... I tell them to go on trips as soon as possible. Hahaha. It is so much easier to fly with a newborn than a toddler. However, I think toddlers are much more fun at this age... always a trade off.

Anyways, once we landed and my dad picked us up, we headed home for Logan's nap which he completely refused. One look at the crib in my old room had him totally freaked out and crying non stop. This would be something that we battled all week long until the last 2 days of our visit. We don't co-sleep at home. It just doesn't work out for us... Logan sees us and thinks it's time to play or climb on us- no matter what time it is. For some reason this week... the crib was not where he wanted to be so if I laid down in the bed with him, he was out. Because of this, I took a lot of naps with him and enjoyed the extra snuggles. :) The last 2 days, we finally got him to sleep in the crib. (I credit it mostly to my dad who after I tried a few times to get him to re-settle, would go up and sing to him. Eventually he laid down on the ground and pretended to sleep until Logan laid down and went to sleep himself. He's awesome!)

 After my mom got home from work, we headed to one of our favorite places for dinner- Wild Mikes for some wings. There are a few restaurants that we always visit when I am home and this is our top one.

Wednesday during Logan's nap- we headed into the car and drove two hours to Columbus. I timed it that way hoping he would sleep and thankfully he did. We arrived at Cosi a little after 2. We didn't have to be at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for Courtney's surprise dinner until 6 so we had some time to kill. I had looked up kid friendly places to take Logan to run around for a few hours and Cosi was amazing. It was $5 to park, $18 for me to enter and because Logan was under 2, he was free. We went straight to the kid zone and stayed there until they closed at 5. It was amazing. (I apologize for the photo explosions.)

After I drug Logan out of Cosi (literally) kicking and screaming... we got to the car and headed to dinner. I knew we might hit some bad traffic and I was glad to have the hour to make our way over.
The surprise for Courtney went well and hopefully she had a blast surrounded by friends and family that love her.

We left around 10 (way past Logan's bedtime but he was having a blast running around with the other little girl there) and luckily he slept all the way home to Cincinnati and I just put him in bed with me once we arrived at my parents and we were both out like a light.

The next morning, my mom and dad were both off work so we headed over to Newport on the Levee. We had lunch at Tom + Chee which is a grilled cheese restaurant (if you watch Shark Tank you may remember them from the show) and it was so so so good!
We then headed almost next door to the Newport Aquarium. This place rocks! We had so much fun showing Logan all the fish, turtles, sharks, stingrays... he stayed in the stroller for the first bit and then ran around pointing at exhibits the rest of the time. Eventually he passed out in the stroller right before we saw the penguins. I'm pretty sure we all had a blast.

Friday was pretty low-key for us all. We met my friend and her son at the mall to run out some energy, came home to nap and then met another friend with her kids for dinner. We also took a walk to the park at the top of my parents street. This was one of Logan's favorite things and he never forgot about the park. When we would get out of the car, he would always start walking up the street. Silly boy! We even got him to go down the slide all by himself.

 

Saturday we woke up to a visit from my uncle and then I got ready, said goodbye to Logan (he had the whole day with Grandma and Grandpa) and drove to Columbus for the second time. I headed over to my good friend Audra's house to visit with her for the afternoon.
Then around 4, I got ready to leave and drove back into Columbus for the party for Courtney's birthday. This time she knew about the party but that was it. There was catered food and a great band all for us to enjoy. They even had a gluten free cake for her.  It was a really great time and even though I missed Logan, I enjoyed an adult night out. :)

I still had to drive home that evening (left around 11 so got home around 1am- which is super super late for me) because Sunday we had more fun planned. The majority of my girlfriends who I have known forever, got together at Julies house for brunch. There were so many kids running around- I think it was something like 10 girls and 17 kids (with 6 additional babies due to be born this year and next). It was chaotic but so much fun. Logan had only met most of the kids and adults once or twice in his lifetime so it was interesting to see him interact. He wasn't shy like he normally is when we go somewhere new and he was sure to give a lot of the younger girls and boys his bear hugs where he doesn't let go (we are working on it), resulting in a few tears... it's not a party until someone cries from being hugged. haha. I found out later, my parents let him stay up way too late the night before so that may have had a little to do with it too... ;)

All in all we had a fantastic visit home. It flew by and felt way too short but I felt like we got a lot in while we were home. Our next visit will be around late September/early October to snuggle all of the new babies my friends will have had. :)