Gym-tastic!

One of the best things we have done since moving to Cincinnati is enrolling Sophia in classes at The Little Gym. We started with the parent/child classes, but for the past year she has been taking classes independently while I watch (and try not to be too much of a mamarazzi with my excessive picture taking). This past week was Show Week, where the parents got to go inside the gym and the little ones showed off all of the skills they have been working on. I love seeing how much she has grown - both in her gymnastics skills and her confidence.

Part of their warm up cracked me up - they were a human train and it was hysterical and super cute at the same time. I have a bunch of videos of her routines, but she loves the bars. She recently learned how to flip and will continually go around and around the bars. She is still developing her grip strength and focus, but she continues to be a little monkey.

Sophia loves Mr. Nic and being silly in his class. They both share a love of mis-matched socks.

Emma waiting for the show to begin...and wondering when she gets to start class in the gym.

we truly love the little gym and this is not a sponsored post :)

Playing a little catch up...

I am so far behind on updating this little space. Since we are far from family I mainly blog to share pictures with them. Over the next few weeks I am hoping to update some of our little adventures from the summer. Bear with me as I share some fun from times when the weather was warmer.

First up, a few pictures from a trip to Ault Park in September.

Visit to Ault Park September 13.

COSI

Last month we planned a day trip to Columbus, which is about an hour and a half from where we live. I came up with a list of activities to keep us entertained, but we decided to start with COSI and ended up spending the day there.

We started at the Ocean Exhibit where Sophia went into a submarine and explored the controls. Her favorite part of the Ocean area was building with the k'nex and making creatures. I think she followed the directions to make three of them before we left to explore more of the museum.

Next stop was outdoors for the Big Science Park where the highlight was lifting up a car. Sophia liked that the car lifted her off the ground too!

We ventured upstairs to the Space exhibit. Sophia got to ride in a space capsule, test her armchair astronaut skills, and make a mini movie. Her favorite part was sitting on the toilet that is used on a shuttle. She has been potty trained for awhile, but I felt the need to keep reminding her that it was just a display toilet and not the real thing.

For convenience we ate lunch in the courtyard of the museum and spent a few minutes exploring part of a riverfront park. Sophia just wanted to run and didn't have much patience for a Mama who wanted to take a few pictures.

When we returned inside, we spent some time pretending in the Little Kidspace. I hope whenever our local children's museum gets freshened up it looks more like this. 

When we were able to drag Sophia away, Dave and Sophia headed to the Gadgets area. Emma and I took a milk break and I found Dave and Sophia in the crowds of summer camp kids making their contraptions fly in the wind tunnels. This exhibit was fun, but loud.

Progress was Sophia's least favorite exhibit. She was the three year old walking around saying "I don't like 1962." She did enjoy riding the 10 cent rocket and being a news broadcaster, but kept asking when we would be back at the museum. Ha!

We briefly visited the Life and Energy Explorers exhibits, but we did not take in any of the live shows this time around. I am looking forward to a return visit when the girls are a little older so they can both explore and enjoy the museum.

We were at the museum from open to close. After stopping for dinner at Cap City Fine Diner (which was so good!) we make our journey back home. 

What should we do next time we make the trip to Columbus?

Carol Ann's Carousel

Carousel riding with Daddy. Sophia was just under the height requirement to ride alone, but that just meant that she got to ride twice. Sophia drove the corvette so that Emma could have her first carousel experience.

Smale Riverfront Park

We have lived in Cincinnati for just over two years and I feel that there is still so much exploring that we need to do. At the beginning of the month we made a trip to Smale Riverfront Park. There was a Reds game (and the park is across the street from the stadium) so we ended up parking across the river. Poor planning on our part.

We had a picnic lunch and then Sophia played in the fountains.

We wandered down to the labyrinth and Sophia had fun running and racing through the maze. (No reflection and meditation happening for her.)

The day was warm, but luckily there are multiple opportunities to cool off. After getting all sweaty, we all cooled off in the misty fans.

Sophia's favorite part was these elliptical stations. She could have spent the entire time playing on them.

I got quite a kick out of the flying pig. 

At the edge of the playground there was another water feature with gears that Sophia loved figuring out.

Across the street, but still part of the park, is another sprayground and a carousel. Dave and the girls rode the carousel, but we skipped playing in the water. Before heading back across the river we told Sophia she could pick one more thing to do and she wanted to use the elliptical again.

We did not get to do everything at the park because after the game let out it  got even more crowded, but I can't wait to head back and explore more.