Road Trip!!!

Josh recently had a Friday-Tuesday off...his last vacation of his year...his year begins July 1st, so I suppose we don't have to wait too long before he has some more time off, but still.  Anyway, we wanted to get away without spending a lot of time in the car (which is no fun with a 2 and 4 year old) or too many nights in a hotel (also, no fun with a 2 and 4 year old).  We have heard wonderful things about the zoo in Columbus, OH, and that is only about 3 hours from our home.  So we packed up the kids on Friday morning and headed out!  We didn't get to Columbus until lunch time on Friday, so we ate lunch and then headed to COSI, the science center, which has recently been ranked #1.  We all had a blast! It was free for us, since we are members of the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum, which made the whole thing even more enjoyable :)  They had tons of awesome exhibits that the kids really enjoyed, and the water table was a big hit- we spent nearly an hour there. London somehow managed to get soaked, despite the raincoat they provided- it's a gift.  They dried her clothes for her though, which was really nice!  The photos below are small, as they were taken with my cell phone, but we were just too busy to worry about the camera!  

Even Josh had fun at the water table!

                                                             London was on a mission. 

Liam just kept squirting the boats with the water guns

After COSI, we headed to Pizzaria Uno's one of our favorite pizza places.  The closest one is an hour and a half from our house, so it's always a treat to be able to have dinner there.  Next we headed to the hotel for a swim.  When we were in Cleveland for Tough Mudder Weekend, Liam was afraid of the water and wouldn't get in.  This time he had a blast and said he wanted to "Swim like a fish" all night.  We ended up bribing them  going for ice cream after we got out of the pool at the ice cream place right next to our hotel.  By the time we got back it was 9pm and we were all so tired we went to sleep!  

The next morning, we went to the zoo.  It has also recently been ranked number one, and it was easy to see why!  Jack Hannah is the curator, and they also have an aquarium with manatees and sharks and some other fun fish.  There is an area of the zoo where kids can pet some of the animals, but not your usual sheep and pigs...Liam got to touch a hedgehog, a hissing cockroach and a baby alligator.  London loved touching the snakes and turtles, and they both got to touch the flamingos.  Again, the zoo was half price for us, since we are members of the Detroit zoo, which made it even more fun for us :)  If you are ever in the Columbus area, you HAVE to go to the zoo.  They also have rides, as they bought out a Six Flags park and you can ride as many as you like for $8.  We didn't have time that day, but next time it would definately be fun.  There is also a waterpark attached, but it wasn't open for the season yet.  

 These were the "flying foxes"...bats with a 6 ft. wing span, and one of Liam's favorite exhibits!

 Here is the back of Liam's head and London's dimpled elbow touching the flamingo.

 They thought it was really cool that this dog lived with the Cheetah and wrestled it...they were raised together. Apparently the dog helps the Cheetah establish trust with the handlers- the cheetahs were part of a show later.

Just to give you an idea of how close you can get to a LOT of the animals there, this was a black footed penguin.  This photo was taken with NO ZOOM on my camera.  London kept trying to touch him, and I kept having to grab her hands, because they will bite.