Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

Since my Mom is so desperately far behind on the blog, I, Alyssa, am taking over the writing job today.





Ahhh, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. One of the highlights of going to Ohio has always been going to the zoo. It is very big and the animals seem to be very happy there. As you can see in Picture No. 1, we are all very excited about the day ahead of us. (Including all the potential pictures. Yay...)








The first thing we did after renting a stroller for the coolers, purses, etc., was head over to the Asian area to see the baby elephant. Usually there is a very long wait to see him because of the certain viewing hours, but we timed it perfectly (my idea to go at that time :)) and had no wait at all. He was absolutely adorable, and I begged to keep him as a pet (as you may have guessed, request denied). He would follow his mother around and would copy everything she did. He was precious!








Next we went through the rest of the Asian area and saw a whole bunch of neat animals including Sun Bears, Red Pandas, Tigers, bats, and the illusive family members (see picture).

















We also saw Fluffy, a reticulated Python, who happens to be the largest in the world that is in captivity. Of course the boys and Brianna got a kick out of that, but the rest of us preferred to hang back to observe his, um, beauty?

After that we saw the lions before heading back into the main area. There, we saw flamingos, which according to Elizabeth, do not smell very delightful. Even though is Elizabeth is correct, the flamingos were actually pretty interesting to observe. They kneel like us, but when they kneel, their legs come forward instead of bending back!

There I am with a picture of Fluffy's girlfriend. Or cousin. Or parent. Or aunt. Or.......

Do you get the point yet?

Next came the Aquarium portion of the field trip. For the first part, we waited in a line and then got to pet creatures you would find in tidepools such as hermit crabs, pencil urchins, chocolate chip starfish, and conch shells. They all had really interesting textures, and I was wholeheartedly grateful they didn't have the pokey and painful urchins there. :)

Second came the fish room! YAY! We were on a roll with timing today, because when we walked in, we only had to wait a few minutes before the diver went in the tank to feed the fish. Man, those fish can be feisty when it comes to food! They would charge at each other and try to steal food from their friends. That is the kind of friendship that needs counseling, if you ask me.

There are Ryan, Brianna, and Elizabeth, guarding their viewing spots for the fish feeding.

Here is the diver feeding the ravenous and highly territorial and dangerous tropical fish. It was a nail biter all right.

After the fish room, we went to see the manatees. I have always loved the manatees for some reason. They are such (in my opinion) beautiful creatures, and I hate to see the scars from motor boats on their backs and tails. It breaks my heart to hear about these gentle, defenseless creatures getting hurt and killed. The manatees at that particular zoo have been saved from injury, and some of them get released back into the wild.

Once we were done with the manatees, we sat outside for a delectable picnic lunch of...... Sandwiches! But if we ate, we were greatly rewarded with Hershey's Chocolate Bars. YUM!

Us and the totally real (o.k., not totally real) manatees.









Since we had to get Elizabeth and Thomas home soon after lunch, we zipped over to the other side of the park to see..... The Primates! The gorillas were (as always) entertaining and pretty cute. But what really caught the attention of the people, were the Bonobos! They would go right up against the glass and make faces at you! One would slap the glass when a kid pressed their hand up against it, like it was giving you a high five! Another bonobo was carrying her little baby (it was seriously SO tiny) around as if she were showing off! Then she would sit by the glass so everyone would get their turn to see her little sweetheart.

For some reason, the statue of the Humboldt penguin was very fascinating, so here are the pictures of everyone posing next to "Pepe".

After the Primates, Grammy treated us all to Dippin' Dots Ice Cream before we had to say goodbye to cousins for who knows how long. The ice cream was very good, but it was sad to say goodbye to Thomas and Elizabeth. I really got to know them on this trip, and Elizabeth had finally started to open up to me, but then we left Ohio. It was a good experience though, all the same.

After Grammy left with the cousins, we stayed for a bit longer so we could see the Australia area, and go to the gift store. One of the highlights of that was that when we were looking at the Lorikeets, some lady gave me some food for them for free. But out of the generosity of my heart, I shared.

After we were done seeing the koalas and kangaroos, we headed over to the gift shop where Mom bought us all necklaces. Ryan has a bear paw that is a mood necklace, Brianna has a butterfly mood necklace, and I have a silver sea turtle that has blue jewels for the shell.

After that it was time to say goodbye to the zoo. We had had a wonderful time, and had made lots of memories. I can hardly wait till next time!

Peace!

Alyssa

Highland Park Pool

After a day at the amusement park we needed some relaxation time. Daddy left for the airport in the morning and then we were off to the pool. It doesn't matter where we are but swimming is always a hit. The kids enjoyed the different pools and going down the slide.

In the evening Grampy attempted to take Ryan and Thomas to a Clippers baseball game. Unfortunately the game was sold out so they had to suffer through dinner at "Steak and Shake :) and then back home to some fun Wii games.

The girls went on a geocache in Sharon Woods. It was a pleasant evening and our short hike ended up being almost 2 1/2 miles since we took the wrong route in the beginning. But we finally had success and wore out the girls at the same time.

That night Thomas and Elizabeth spent the night so we had movies and popcorn then off to bed.

The girls got matching shirts at Cedar Point. Aren't they cute?

Cedar Point

One of the things that Ohio is known for is 2 major theme parks that have some of the biggest and fastest roller coasters anywhere. This year we decided to go North to Cedar Point which is in Sandusky Ohio on the shores of Lake Eerie. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive through the back roads of Ohio but well worth the trip. This park has so many roller coasters and major thrills that we weren't even able to ride them all in one day. It was awesome.






This is Aunt Del stopping at a lovely pit stop along the way. She and George came with us as well as cousin Elizabeth who loves Cedar Point.








Our first major ride was the one in the car. Don't we look excited?












Here is the view approaching the park. It is located on sort of an inlet surrounded by water.








Off we go . . .











Our first ride was the Blue Streak. It ended up being our longest wait at 50 minutes. It was a more "mild" coaster that is comparable to the white coaster at Lagoon









We had perfect weather for the day. Low humidity and a cool breeze off the lake. We couldn't have planned it better.










Doesn't Roger look like he is having fun?










Del and George.

There were so many coasters. Ones that you stood up on, ones that you let your feet dangle, ones that did several corkscrews, ones that were super high or super fast. It was incredible. Brianna went on as many as she was allowed given her height. Ryan and Alyssa couldn't be stopped from any off them.

This one is called the Iron Dragon and it was Brianna's favorite. She went on it at least 6 times.

The Mantis. (You stood up for this coaster. Unfortunately we didn't have time to ride this one.)

This one is called the Millennium Force. It is one of the tallest steel coasters in the world. Roger, Ryan, Alyssa and George went on it. It is 300 feet tall and goes 90 mph. It drops at an 83 degree angle. I was proud of my hubby who is scared of heights. He went on it and enjoyed it. He said it was scary because it only had lap belts and no sides. But it was still cool. Alyssa was excited because she could see Canada from the top.

Here they are on one of the many curves.

The proud riders!!

This is called the Top Thrill Dragster. It is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world. It is 420 feet high, goes 120 mph (in the first 4 seconds) and climbs and drops at a 90 degree angle. Holy Crap it was scary just to watch it. Well my kids decided they were brave enough to do it. I couldn't believe it. George took Ryan and Alyssa. As a mother, my knees were shaking just waiting for them to go on it. They only had lap belts, it was crazy.

Here they are right before they took off. You can't really see them but they were smiling.










Here is a close-up view of a coaster coming down (this one wasn't them). The pictures just don't do it justice.

Well they survived and can proudly say they did it. Way to go kids!!

While the older kids were on the "big" rides Grammy and I took Elizabeth and Brianna to camp Snoopy. They had a great time riding the Woodstock Express and all the other typical smaller rides together.

The last ride of the day was the Raptor. You are literally hanging there as you go down hills, upside down curves and many corkscrews. It was a great one to end on full of thrills and screams.








What a great day. We just had the time of our lives. We are spoiled and I am not sure we will even be able to enjoy Lagoon after an experience like this.