Freeing Up Some Space…

So many times I take pictures and forget I even took them.  I downloaded all of the pictures off of my digital camera and realized that I completely forgot to write about the awesome time we had on a mini vacation in September!

The whole goal of this mini vacation was to get out of Dodge for the weekend, and go down to see the leaves changing along the Ohio river.  There were a few other festivals that we were planing on attending as well.

So, we loaded up the truck, and we moved to Beverly….not really…but we did go to the hills.  Not the Hollywood Hills, but the hills of Kentucky!

We drove down on a Friday night after work and got into the hotel kinda late.  Ace was zonkerred out and Momma and I quickly followed his lead.

Saturday morning we got up early to go to a harvest festival/car show a few towns over.  We get to the little po-dunk town and there was nothing…not one car being showed.  We drove around the 5 whole blocks of this town to realize that their website was wrong.  We finally found a sign advertising the car show… THE NEXT WEEKEND.

So much for the car show.  We had all day and a full tank of gas.  We just started driving and saw a sign for a National Park.  We had not visited a National Park since we lived in Colorado.  Ohio just does not have many extreme wilderness areas…ya know?

We paid for our day pass and drove about 10 miles back into this forest until we found ourselves parked at the end of a hiking trail alongside the Ohio River.  Ace has never been hiking…let’s do it!

Off we go…hiking through the forest.  It was pretty muddy because it rained the night before, and Ace hit every mud puddle along the trail.  I rolled up the bottoms of Ace’s pants to keep them from getting too muddy…and I had to roll up mine as well.  😀  We were having fun!

The cliffs were amazingly high…and steep!

Tall Cliffs Near The Ohio River

Tall Cliffs Near The Ohio River

Ace got to see a lot of things he had never seen before…big cliffs, the Ohio River, people riding horses, and even a few barges hauling stuff down the river (one was hauling port-a-potties…a whole barge full of porta-potties!)  😀

We hiked and hiked…and hiked!  I’m surprised  that Ace’s little stubby legs still worked!  But he did stop a few times to take a rest…

Taking A Rest While Hiking

Taking A Rest While Hiking

We hiked all the way back to the truck where ace decided that there was something wrong with the front tire..

Dad, Here Is The Problem...

Dad, Here Is The Problem...

And after he fixed the problem…not real sure what he did…we headed back out on the road.

We came across a little park that marked a battle site from the Civil War…or something.  ( I never have been a history buff.)  There was a cannon that was used in the battle, and for some reason an old cabin.

Looking Down The Barrell Of A Cannon

Looking Down The Barrell Of A Cannon

Notice the jacket that Momma is wearing?  It’s the one I reviewed…  😀
Which by the way has been moved over to the new DadThing Reviews Blog!

Sitting On The Front Porch Of An 1800's Cabin

Sitting On The Front Porch Of An 1800's Cabin

We quickly bored ourselves with a history lesson and headed back out onto the road.  This time we ended up at the Louisville zoo!

Just so happens they were having a trick or treat night!!  So, we got Ace dressed up in his best Fire Fighter Uniform and went to keep all of the zoo animals safe from any blazing infernos.  😀

Firefighter Halloween Costume

Firefighter Halloween Costume

And wouldn’t you know it…Dorothy, The Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow from Oz were there!

We just had to meet them…and get our pictures taken with them…

The Tin Man and Dorothy

The Tin Man and Dorothy

The Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion

The Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion

Dad and aat the Emerald Palace!

Dad and Ace at the Emerald Palace!

Notice the bottoms of my pants?

Yup, some ‘tard forgot to roll them back down after hiking… 😀

I guess Momma is right…I am special sometimes.  😀

WildLights at the Zoo

Did every one have a Happy Thanksgiving?  I sure hope so.  We sure did.  😀

Just like any other holiday, things get crazy at our house.  We go here, go there, see this part of the family, and then that part of the family.  This year Momma and Ace’s Grandma S planned and served Thanksgiving dinner, which was delicious!

After all of the planning, running, and eating we decided to have some fun!  The local zoo has an awesome display of Christmas lights called WildLights, so we packed up Ace and his cousin Olivia to go see what all of the fuss is about.  And it was COLD!!!

We dressed the kids in double layers, snapped them into their wagon, covered them up with blankets, and started pulling.

The lights were amazing!  I believe they had put up over 2 million lights!!! The following pictures do not do the light display justice…

After walking what seemed to be 10 miles through a crowd of 50 million parents (who apparently have never been in public before based upon their rudeness and lack of consideration for others) we arrived at the building where Santa was hiding.  Ace and Olivia both got their pictures taken with Santa.  I’ll leave that story for a future post.  😀

While Grandma was waiting for the pictures from the Santa experience to be printed and purchased, Momma and I took Ace and Olivia outside to burn off some steam and get warmed back up for the long walk back towards the car.

The area was wide open with no one else around.  Ace and Olivia (and Dad) ran around laughing and chasing each other.  People probably thought there was something wrong with us…  😀

On the way back to the car we had to stop at the carousel and take a quick ride on a ceramic horse.  For the record…ceramic horses are kinda cold when it is 20 degrees outside.  😀  I’m not so sure what exactly is so entertaining about riding in circles on a fake horse that goes up and down, but once I got past the dizziness I enjoyed it.  😀

Notice the blanky.  It goes EVERYWHERE!  This night it was a blessing in disguise though.

Ace has never tolerated the idea of a hat, hood, or gloves.  We managed to keep his hood on by snapping it in place and then rolling the edge so that it is so tight that he can not pull it off.   Gloves?  We haven’t figured that one out yet.  So, while the blanky kept Ace happy, it also kept his little fingers from freezing off.  😀

When we were done with the carousel ride it was late.  Kids were cranky, tired, and cold and we bee-lined it to the car.  Snapped everyone into their car seats and zoomed home.  The kids were zonked out not too long after leaving the parking lot.

The whole experience was incredible.  So incredible that we are going back in a few weeks, when hopefully it is a bit warmer, so we can see the rest of the attractions.  😀

Maybe by then we’ll figure out a trick to keep some gloves on Ace’s hands.  Any tips or pointers from you veteran parents out there?

Ace In The Hole!

Wordless Wednesday

Peek-A-Boo!

Picture by Momma

Lions, Tigers, and Bears!

The rain stayed away and we were able to go to the zoo! Thank goodness the weatherman is wrong 99.9% of the time!

Instead of boring you with my rambling on and on about the fun times we had, I’ll illustrate our fun time with a boat load of pictures…

Ace Riding In His Wagon On His Way Into The Columbus Zoo
Ace cruising in his wagon on the way into the Zoo.

Elephants At The Columbus Zoo
The elephants showing their best sides. 😀

Momma and Ace Riding On The Train
Momma and Ace enjoying a train ride!

A Cool Dragon Statue
Not real sure what this is, but it looked cool! 😆

Ace Giving Momma Some Lovin on the Carousel
Ace giving his Momma some lovin’

Ace Wondering Around The Playground
Ace at the playground…”What to play on next?”

Mexican Wolf at the Columbus Zoo
A Mexican Wolf

Ace Drinking His Bottle
The zoo sure does work up a big thirst!

A Crocodile at the Columbus Zoo
Crocodiles are just soooo cooool!

Dad and Ace At The Petting Zoo
Dad and Ace petting a mini goat, “Don’t pull on his ears!”

Ace With A Big Smile and a Bottle
What’s in that bottle?

Bison and some Horned Animal at the Columbus Zoo
A Bison and some kind of horned animals

Momma and Ace At The Petting Zoo
Momma chasing Ace through the petting zoo

A Bobcat Sleeping At The Columbus Zoo
This Bobcat is catching some rays.

Ace Showing Off His Tongue
That tongue again!

Flamingos at the Columbus Zoo
Pink flamingos!

Ace Posing For The Camera
Cheesin’ it up for the camera!

A Monkey at the Columbus Zoo
The zoo must not be as fun for the monkeys…

Ace Sleeping on Dad’s Shoulder
All tuckered out.. 😀

Ace Sleeping In His Wagon
The ride back to the car… Zzzzzzz

 

There will be more pictures coming soon! Sunday we are going to COSI and the camera is going to get another workout! Don’t miss it!

Hostinger