How We Spent Our Offseason

[XGatorHead 8904]

XGatorHead 8904
Mrs. Grundy’s Class
3rd Period
April 16, 2009

How We Spent Our Offseason
Or, How to Keep a Four Year Old (and Ourselves) Occupied While Our Favorite Playground is Closed for 166 Days

Several people at work have commented to me that my wife and I are fun parents. We always seem to be doing something. They’ll ask me what we have planned for the weekend, and often they’ll say things like “Oh, that sounds fun,” or “I wish I had had parents like you.” My mother-in-law, Nana Gator, often says to my wife, Mrs. Gator, “You guys do too much. You need to stay home once in a while.” But the way we see it, life is for living. Do things now, for there will come a day when you are not able to do them. This trip report covers all the little things that I felt didn’t warrant a full trip report on their own.

So as the dreaded offseason draws to a close, let us take some time to reflect back on how we were able to fill our time during the cold months of the year…

Saturday, November 8th: GatorGirl’s Birthday
The weekend after KI closed its gates on another year, GatorGirl celebrated her birthday. She had asked us months earlier if she could have her birthday party at Run Jump and Play. A lot of her friends had recently held their birthday parties there. For those of you who don’t have kids and may not know, Run Jump and Play (in Mason) and Pump It Up (in West Chester) are two companies that have big inflatable slides, bounce houses, etc. where you can have parties. We’ve been to both, and they’re a lot of fun for the kids. But with times as they are, and with the other events we had planned coming up, we had to tell her “no, maybe when you’re 5.” This seemed to satisfy her.

So instead we opted for a nice dinner out with the extended family. We named off several places to her, and GatorGirl picked Olive Garden (what can I say; she is 50% Italian from her mom’s side. I contribute the “mutt” factor, being that I’m English/Irish/French/German/Dutch/Cherokee). We had a nice meal, our bellies were full, and GatorGirl liked all her presents.

Sunday, November 9th: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
What a fun movie! We only saw the 1st one once when it came on TV, so we knew the setup for this movie. Funniest part of the whole movie: “I like ‘em big, I like ‘em chunky!” This phrase would eventually become quoted often in our family. About a week after seeing the movie, we were looking for a birthday card for my sister and found one that sang this song. We ended up getting another, but I told my sister I wanted to get this one for her (she’s traditionally dated heavy-set men). And when GatorGirl started singing this song… well, it’s hilarious every time!

Saturday, November 15th: The Wizard of Oz
GatorGirl has never seen this movie, but we figured she would like it. So we took her to see the Broadway touring production at Aronoff. She loves the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, but had no clue that it’s from The Wizard of Oz…and we didn’t tell her either, because I wanted to see her reaction when Dorothy started singing it.

Our seats were in the loge section, so we had a good view of the stage. They did an excellent job making the beginning appear like it did in the movie, everything on stage was in black, white and brown. Then Dorothy started “Somewhere”. It took a minute for it to register with her, but when she realized what song it was she got so excited she nearly jumped out of her seat. She started to sing it (quietly), and I reminded her that we needed to keep quiet ourselves.

GatorGirl curled up to me during the tornado sequence, which was well done with a stage length video screen (that had provided the backdrop during the entire Kansas opening), a scrim that they dropped in front of that, and various objects flying across the stage.

As predicted, GatorGirl loved it. She wasn’t afraid of the witch, we had warned her about that before we went. After we left, she was singing “If I Only Had a Brain” the rest of the day. We really should get this movie for her.

Friday, November 21st: Zach & Miri...
I like Kevin Smith. I have ever since I saw Clerks when it first came out on video. So I decided to use up a vacation day to see this movie (I had to use the vacation day anyway by the end of the year, or lose it). And there was a reason that I picked this date as you’ll see in my next entry.

Anyway, I was a little disappointed in this movie. It had its moments, but overall it didn’t quite match up to his other movies. And no, it wasn’t because I missed Jay and Silent Bob (I actually kind of like Jersey Girl). It was just lacking something, but I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it’ll grow on me in repeated viewings. After all, I didn’t like Office Space the first time I saw it.

Saturday, November 22nd: Kevin Smith, cancelled
The reason I picked November 21st to take a vacation day is, Kevin Smith was to appear at Millett Hall at Miami University to speak about his life, movies, and whatever else he wanted to discuss, and then answer questions. If you’ve ever seen An Evening with Kevin Smith or An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder, it’s the same format.

I had purchased tickets for my friends and myself months before, on the day they went on sale. They were great seats, too…5th row center. But a few weeks before the event, we were notified that Kevin wouldn’t be able to make it because the European premiere of Zach & Miri was changed to this weekend. And unfortunately he couldn’t reschedule because of other commitments. Oh well, maybe another time.

Thursday, November 27th & Friday, November 28th: Thanksgiving
Woohoo! Two days off from work. My sister had been on the road with her boyfriend since early September. He’s a truck driver (as was she, before she was diagnosed with lymphoma at the end of 2007. She had to quit work to undergo treatment, and today she’s cancer free). She joined him on his travels across the country to see how she could handle being in a truck for long periods of time. So it was nice to see them again when they rolled into town.

Also joining us this year was my cousin who I had not seen in quite awhile. He’s a Marine, had served in Iraq, and is now working for the government in DC. This was also the first time we met his wife.

We all gathered at my grandma’s house to celebrate. After eating to our hearts’ content, we spent our time playing my cousin’s Wii (I really need to get one of these) and Uno Attack. And the next day, we got together again and did more of the same. Good family time.

Thursday, December 4th: Victorian Village
Every year my company has a Christmas Victorian Village, which mainly consists of miniature buildings for the kids to look into, free cookies and hot chocolate, and Santa for the kids to visit in the last building (with free pictures with him). And for the past two years, I’ve been one of the carolers (we perform on the two Friday nights of the event). The day before it opens to the public is a night set aside for the employees of the company to bring their families.

It was a cold night, but we braved it. GatorGirl didn’t want to sit on Santa’s lap, and was reluctant to talk to him. But she eventually did, and told him she wanted a teddy bear. This would be her first of three visits to Santa this year.

Saturday, December 6th: Carolfest & Bolt
Having been members of choirs in high school and college, Mrs. Gator and I thought it would be nice to go to Carolfest at Music Hall. It featured the May Festival Chorus, the May Festival Youth Chorus (which I was a member of in 1990 & ’91), a children’s choir and a church gospel choir. Unfortunately for GatorGirl, a majority of the songs were ones that a majority of the concertgoers didn’t know. She started getting restless; luckily we had brought a coloring book for her. About the third song in, GatorGirl said “This isn’t fun. These are adult songs.” We laughed at that. When the gospel choir performed, it was too loud for GatorGirl, who covered her ears and had us cover her ears with our hands too. It wasn’t until the end that they performed a few songs for the kids. Overall, 2 out of 3 of us enjoyed it, but this will be the last time we go to this for a few years.


GatorGirl with Rudolph (I don’t know what that is on her cheek)



GatorGirl, not too sure about Santa but talking to him anyway


GatorGirl with Frosty


I’ve always been impressed with the chandelier at Music Hall


The assembled choirs at Carolfest


I love this building.

To make up for Carolfest, we took GatorGirl to see Bolt. We didn’t go to the 3-D version, since some 3-D effects still freak GatorGirl out (but she does love Mickey’s Philharmagic at MK). We’ll be taking her to see Toy Story when it’s released in its 3-D version 10/2/09, since it’s a movie she knows and loves already. Bolt was a decent movie. Not one of Disney’s best, but not it’s worst either *cough*anything starring the Jonas Brothers*cough*.

Saturday, December 13th: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
We love going to live theater, and sharing it with GatorGirl. So we went to Cincinnati Children’s Theater’s production of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at Taft Theater. The ads said it featured the music from the original TV classic, so we were expecting the same story as well. We were wrong. It was a cute play, with cameos by a Happy Feet penguin and Kung Fu Panda.

Sunday, December 14th: EnterTRAINment Junction
We had been meaning to visit for quite awhile, and finally set aside the time to do so. We knew of a few former KI people working there, but when we got there we saw many more old KI friends. After buying our tickets and then talking to Bill Balfour, our first stop was the seasonal section, which at the time featured A Christmas Carol and Journey to the North Pole.

After a short wait, it was our turn to do A Christmas Carol. We got to the first room, and GatorGirl didn’t want to go any further. So we skipped that, and went straight for Journey to the North Pole. This was fun, with a mirror maze, a spinning tunnel similar to that found in Circus of Horrors, then a walk through the snow to Santa’s workshop. You are greeted by Mrs. Claus in the kitchen, and then it’s time to meet the big man himself. Once again, GatorGirl didn’t want to sit on Santa’s lap, but she did remind him again that she wanted a teddy bear.

We then went to the Train Journey. What a display! It takes you through the history of trains, and the display is very elaborate with a few buttons along the way that when pushed activate various sights and sounds. We thoroughly enjoyed taking our time and looking at everything along the way.

About midway through the display is the Imagination Junction section. If it was up to GatorGirl, she would have spent a lot more time here. It had a climbing structure, and coin operated train ride, and Thomas the Tank Engine playsets.












GatorGirl shoveling coal


Playing with Thomas the Tank Engine


The drive-in theater scene of the Train Journey display.





After finishing walking through Train Journey, we checked out the Hobby Shop, which had another train display, with various stations where things were listed for you to search for and find. As soon as we found everything at one station, we’d move on to the next. GatorGirl and I ended up going around this display three times.

We then went back to Journey to the North Pole. We weren’t sure if we were allowed, but the girl taking tickets at there recognized us, and remembered that we hadn’t gone through the Christmas Carol section (and thus not getting the full experience for our $$$). She let us through to the mirror maze, tunnel, and Santa’s workshop again.

We ended our time by eating at Junction Café. The food was good, and very reasonably priced. We saw Bill again, and he tried his best to talk us into getting season passes there. We didn’t, but who knows, we might someday down the road. I highly recommend this attraction!

I ended up going back a few days later to visit the gift shop. While I was talking to Bill the first time during our visit, GatorGirl had been playing with some teddy bears that were dressed in conductor’s hat and overalls with the EnterTRAINment Junction logo on them. We decided that this would be the teddy bear that Santa got for her, so I went back to buy one.

Sunday, December 21st: The Nutcracker
We originally weren’t going to take GatorGirl to see this until 2009. But she kept seeing the commercials for it and asked if we could go. We have a couple books with The Nutcracker story in it, so she was familiar with it. I was able to get discounted tickets through work, and since we had already done so much in December I got the cheap seats in the balcony.

I wasn’t too thrilled when Cincinnati Ballet moved the production to Aronoff in 2007. To me it just doesn’t seem right to see it anywhere but the historic Music Hall, where I had seen it several times through the years. I can understand the reasons for the move, opening up Music Hall for more events in the holiday season, Aronoff accommodating more people, etc., but there were several Nutcracker performances this year that undersold and ended up being cancelled. Maybe this will spur a move back to Music Hall in 2009… Anyway, this was our first time ever sitting in the balcony at Aronoff. We’d been there countless times, but I like being closer to the stage (the farthest we’d gone before was loge on two occasions). With that said, these seats weren’t bad at all.

I’m not a big fan of ballet itself, but I love the music (and my favorite composers tend to be the Russians: Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov). And the music of The Nutcracker is some of the best. GatorGirl loved Act 1, danced and spun in the upstairs lobby during intermission, but got a little restless during Act 2 when there was basically no story, just dance. Overall, a good time and I’m glad we finally experienced it with GatorGirl.

Thursday, December 25th: Christmas
Need I say more?


Saturday, December 27th: The Tale of Despereaux & Holiday Fest at The Beach
I reluctantly went to see Despereaux, but was pleasantly surprised. It was better than Mrs. Gator and I expected.

As far as The Beach, well… http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?...c=15880&hl=

Sunday, December 28th: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (again)
Mrs. Gator was off doing something this day, I forget what exactly but it was probably making up time at work. In the meantime my mom called to see if we wanted to go with her, my sister and several other family members to see Madagascar 2, again for GatorGirl and me, the first time for everyone else. Their interest in seeing it had only grown since the “I like ‘em big, I like ‘em chunky” discussion at Thanksgiving. The 8 of us trekked over to Danberry at Forest Fair (they have VERY yummy popcorn there…better than Regal where we usually go, and I’m sure it was worse for us too). Everyone enjoyed it, and we finished with dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.

Wednesday, December 31st: New Year’s Eve at Great Wolf Lodge
Friends of ours were in town from Houston to see family in Wilmington. Their extended family decided to spend the night at GWL, and we were invited to tag along to visit the waterpark. With our recent luck at The Beach, there was a little concern. I didn’t know it until they invited us, but guests of people staying there can get waterpark passes for $20. I had to work a full day, so I met everyone there after I was done. They had all (including Mrs. Gator & GatorGirl) been in the waterpark already, so I did miss out on some of the fun.

This was the first time we ever stepped foot in GWL. The lobby was nicely done up for the holidays as can be seen in the numerous KIC Winter Blues Party PTRs on this site. I met our friends in their rooms (the family had two suites), where we had a nice dinner that they had brought. After that, it was time to go downstairs and have some fun.

This is the 2nd indoor waterpark we’ve ever been to, the other being Coco Key last spring. Coco Key is nice and we’ll go there again, but I give GWL’s park a slight edge over them, mainly because of the fun watercoaster, Hydro Plunge, which they have at GWL.

I first spent a lot of time with GatorGirl playing basketball in the water, taking in a few laps on Crooked Creek (their lazy river) and swimming around with her and the other kids in the group. Then it was time for Mrs. Gator & me to get away and do some of the bigger attractions while our friends watched GatorGirl. We did their “toilet bowl”, which for some reason I can't find the name of on their website, and River Canyon Run which is similar to an enclosed Snowy River Rampage.

Next was the first of three solo trips on Hydro Plunge. That thing is fun. Going up the hills, I was a little concerned that my raft was going to valley at first, but then the propulsion kicked in and all was well.

GatorGirl loved the waterslides and all the activities they had for kids. We all spent some time in the whirlpool and wondered why we hadn’t been in there before then, it was so nice. There was a rubber duck race in Crooked Creek, and if you were staying in the room number that was on the duck that won, you got some sort of prize. Our friends’ duck didn’t win.

We went back up to the rooms and brought in the New Year there. We stayed and chatted for awhile until the kids got too tired, and then we made the 10 minute trip back home.


GatorGirl in the Ice Throne


GatorGirl in the Big Bear Chair

Sunday, January 4th: Bedtime Stories
I was wondering how Adam Sandler was going to be in a kids movie, and this was pretty decent. It left a few unanswered questions, such as why were the stories coming true, but one shouldn’t try to overthink an Adam Sandler movie!

Saturday, January 10th: Basketball Band
I was in the marching band at Miami University, and any time I get a chance to go back and play the tuba, I’m there! Occasionally we’ll get an email asking for alumni to come to Oxford to play at a basketball or hockey game, usually while the students are on some sort of break. This was one of those times.

We played for both the women and men’s games. When I got there, I was the only tuba player. The director had one of the students switch from sax to tuba so I wouldn’t be the only one. At one point though, I did have an inadvertent 8 measure tuba solo. At one point during “Birdland”, there’s a tuba soli (a part of the song where all members of a section play while the rest of the musical group is silent or playing accompaniment… or basically multiple people playing the same solo together). The other tuba player was still looking for the song, so I had that section to myself. The first year the band played that song was my freshman year, way back in 1991. So since I’ve been familiar with off and on for 18 years, I rocked it!

Saturday, January 17th: Hotel for Dogs
Cute little movie… and one that had dogs in it that didn’t talk! There were several dog rescue organizations in the Regal lobby when we went, and GatorGirl loved petting the pugs and collies that were there with those groups.

Sunday, January 18th: Ikea
We’d been hearing the hype for months, and we were in need of a new bookshelf for GatorGirl’s books. So we made the short drive to Ikea to check it out. We wound our way through the store, had lunch there, and ended up not finding a shelf that we liked. The whole experience was just meh, and we left pretty unimpressed.

As we were leaving, GatorGirl wanted to check out the play area they have for kids. The problem is, they can only take so many kids at a time, and they give you a buzzer, like at a restaurant, which tells you when they’re ready for you. The wait was 30 minutes, and we were ready to go. GatorGirl was tired and started to get upset, so I quickly came up with the idea of taking her to Forest Fair to play at the indoor playground there. That worked, so we went and she played and we had a yummy pretzel from Auntie Ann’s.

Sunday, January 25th: Newport Aquarium
We always go the Newport Aquarium during the off season. It’s a good way to pass the day when it’s cold outside. As always, GatorGirl had a blast. She was a little scared at first when we went to see the divers, where they talk to the audience, but she got over it. She also touched a horseshoe crab, but there was no way she wanted to touch a shark, or walk on the glass floor that they have in two spots! She liked “finding Nemo”, as she called it when she spotted a clownfish. She also liked the new frog area where she could play. And we spent quite a bit of time in the jellyfish room, watching them swim around.

We also fed the lorikeets a cup of nectar. But at one point I made the mistake of looking up, and one of the birds relieved itself right on my eye. I felt something hit my eyelash, and instinctively closed that eye. As I lowered my head, I felt a drip down my face. I was holding GatorGirl at the time, so I quickly put her down and ran out to the restroom to wash my face.


This picture doesn’t really belong in any of these events, but I like it. GatorGirl wanted to build a snowman, but we had mostly ice. So she and Mrs. Gator basically took sheets of ice, stacked them on top of each other, and used blue M&M’s for the eyes, a carrot nose, and a Twizzler mouth.

Saturday, January 31st: KIC Winter Blues Party
What else can I add that hasn’t been said before in numerous TR’s? Not too much. It was cold, it was a good time, and nice to finally put some more faces to the names I see every day. And with that, here are my pictures from that day:


The frozen tundra


My contribution to the “Photos for Jasper” collection


There it is, with the soon to be shoeless horde below


The view from the International Restaurant

Sunday, February 1st: Superbowl Sunday
Free food, free beer, a win for Big Ben, good day.

Saturday, February 14th: Birthday Party at Pump It Up
Lots of kids playing on giant inflatables. Fun was had by all, and GatorGirl did a climbing wall for the first time.

Sunday, February 15th: Daytona 500
Every year a group of us guys go to the Bristol race in August. And every year that same group of guys gets together for the Daytona 500. We play some Texas Hold ‘Em before the race, then gather around the TV around the time the National Anthem is sung. As far as this year’s race, can I just say I hate rain-shortened races?

Thursday, February 19th: Ben Folds
I went with my friend John to Xavier’s Cintas Center to see Ben Folds. I had just picked up Way to Normal and Supersunnyspeedgraphic about a month before the show, and listened to these on a constant rotation, along with his other cd’s. I couldn’t find (and still can’t) my copy of Songs for Silverman, though.

After work, I met John at The Rusty Bucket for dinner. It was the first time either of us had been there. Despite two of the menu items having my name in them in a possessive sense, indicating that they belonged to me, I chose the Lemon Chicken instead. We were both very happy with our selections. Over dinner, John told me that Ben Folds had just released a new one called Stems & Seeds. I ended up buying this at the Cintas Center. It was basically different mixes of the songs from Way to Normal, plus the “leaked” version of the Way to Normal album, which were fake songs leaked by him before the official release of the album.

The opening band, Miniature Tigers, was just meh. But Ben was just as good as always. His songs are often humorous, but he does have a serious side too. His dialogue with the audience between songs is always good. At one point he made up a song about “the lonely policeman” that was standing up, alone, in a doorway of the arena. All the crowd could see of this policeman was his silhouette, and the guy was oblivious that he was being sung about.

One of my pet peeves occurred during this show, however. It had nothing to do with the act on stage, but a few audience members. There was a group of college aged girls in the row in front of us. When Ben started playing “Brick”, I heard one of them exclaim “This is my favorite song!” and they started dancing to it. Now I have no problem watching college aged girls dance , but “Brick” is not a dance song. They were clearly oblivious to the story the song tells, about an unplanned pregnancy, how the couple chooses to handle the situation, and the feelings they each face about the decision they made. And they dance to this? Listen to the words, people!

Saturday, February 21st: Fine Arts Fund Sampler Weekend Part 1 and KIC Diamondback Tour
The Fine Arts Fund Sampler Weekend is a great event held every year all around town. There are multiple events for all age groups, encompassing all variations of the fine arts, music, dance, theater, art, etc. For the second year in a row, we’ve taken GatorGirl to several events.

Our day started at Music Hall, for a kids concert put on by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, entitled Bugs. Featured songs were “La Cucaracha”, “Flight of the Bumblebee”, “The Time of Your Life” from A Bug’s Life, “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and other selections about bugs. GatorGirl enjoyed the concert, which featured dancers during some of the selections.

After the concert, they had a big fine arts event in the ballroom of Music Hall. There were several booths set up by various arts organizations in the area, where kids could participate in many arts and crafts activities.


GatorGirl with a shaker/noisemaker thing she made


GatorGirl making a headband/crown thingie.

After Music Hall, we had lunch at the Wendy’s nearby. We took separate cars that day, because I would be parting ways with them after lunch. So as Mrs. Gator & GatorGirl went on to their next destination, which was a circus themed event for kids down in Covington. Here, GatorGirl hula-hooped for the first time ever and quickly got the hang of it. But of course, we had to go out a few days later and buy one for her.

Meanwhile, I joined all the other KICers for our Diamondback tour. I had stopped by home on the way to the park to change shoes, and when I left the house it wasn’t terribly cold. But after I made the 5.8 mile trip from home to the park, I wished that I had brought my coat, as it was cold, wet and windy. I probably got a lot of the same shots as others on here, but here’s my photographic perspective of the tour:


The Eiffel Tower, standing like a sentinel over the mostly empty park










A sign that we will no longer see…Thanks for the heads up, Don!




That helix looks wicked from here




Under the first drop


Who put that big arch on top of Potato Works?




I love this shot. The track seems to be in a “Y” formation from this angle, with me standing between the arms of the Y.


Two things that forever changed Rivertown.




This must be one of those loops we read about so long ago...


The three tallest things in the park


Another sight that will soon change.


Silly snake. You can’t hide behind that tree!




Wait! Could that be…? Let’s take a closer look…


It is! It’s the tops of the seats!




The fronts of the trains!

[XGatorHead 8904]

How We Spent Our Offseason (continued)

One final look…

Sunday, February 22nd: Fine Arts Fund Sampler Weekend Part 2
We started this day at Playhouse in the Park. They were having an improv acting thing for kids, where they would lead the kids in improvisational dramatic play. The problem was, GatorGirl hadn’t slept well the night before, and she wanted nothing to do with this. So we left shortly after arriving and drove around Eden Park.

The next thing we had planned was to see the Madcap Puppet Theater performance at the Cincinnati Art Museum. It’s a good thing we asked at the information desk about it because we found out we had to line up for tickets an hour before. After getting our tickets, we had some time to kill so we decided to grab some lunch at The Terrace Café in the museum. This was a mistake.

They were busy, so I had no problem with it taking about 20 minutes for us to get a table. But once we were seated, it took another 15 minutes for the waitress to even get our drink order. She stopped by the table multiple times to tell us she would be right with us, but she took forever. When she did finally get to us, we ordered our food at the same time as the drinks. Mrs. Gator & I ordered sandwiches, and GatorGirl ordered a hot dog. The waitress came back to our table about 10 minutes after taking our order to tell us they were out of hot dogs. They were hosting several events over the weekend geared towards kids, and they run out of hot dogs? Oh well, I guess it happens, and GatorGirl orders mac & cheese.

While we’re waiting, we get our silverware out of our napkins. Out of the 6 pieces of silverware, 5 are dirty. We ask for replacements and when we got those, 3 of those pieces were dirty.

I keep watching the clock tick away as the time for the performance draws nearer. Finally, at 10 minutes before showtime, I tell the waitress that she has 2 minutes to get our food out to us or we’re leaving. She goes back to the kitchen and Mrs. Gator sees her talk to the cook back there, who just shrugs. We get up to leave, and the waitress apologizes to us. I tell her the whole experience is inexcusable as we walk out the door. I’ve had better service at Steak & Shake…once.

The Madcap Puppet Theater show was good, as it always is whenever we see them. Afterwards, we went around the museum to look at the different displays. One of the main exhibits currently is “Surrealism and Beyond”. I like surrealist paintings, but some of the other displays I just didn’t get. A mobile made out of wooden coat hangers? A urinal lying on a mirror? A wardrobe that you step into, walk about 5 steps in to look through a peephole at a body of water with a boat floating top to bottom, with an eye on the boat staring back at you? I could have done some of those things and called it art. There was also an exhibit called “Isn’t It Great to Be an Artist?” and my four year old can do art better than some of the items in there. I guess there’s a reason I’m not an art critic though.

We finished the day with lunch/dinner (finally, some food!) at Dewey’s on the Levee, where the only way to pry GatorGirl away from watching them making pizza through the window into the kitchen was with the lure of ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery!

Saturday & Sunday, February 28th & March 1st: Warren, OH Trip
This was a quick weekend trip up to Mrs. Gator’s hometown to visit my mother-in-law, and to visit Mrs. Gator’s friend who just had a baby a few weeks prior. Not much to report other than that, except one very funny thing did happen in the hotel room: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=276967

Saturday, March 2nd: Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus
In what is becoming an annual tradition, we went to the circus for the second year in a row. They have a great program where if you go an hour early you can get up close on the floor with some of the performers.




GatorGirl and the other kids take on the muscleman clowns


In a surprise victory, the kids win!


A true artiste


She tried to run off and join the circus, but the costume tripped her up so she was easily caught.




Finale

Friday, March 13th & Saturday, March 14th: CCHA Hockey Tourney & Annie
Another opportunity to play my tuba, but this time for hockey. At the time, Miami was ranked #6. They won 3-2 on Friday, lost 3-2 on Saturday. I didn’t get to go to the Sunday game (which they ended up losing 3-1). Despite this, they still made it into the NCAA tourney, and to the Frozen Four Championship game on April 11th. They were so close, but lost that game 4-3 in overtime.

While I was in Oxford on Saturday, Mrs. Gator and GatorGirl went to see Acting Up’s performance of Annie. We’ve been to several of their performances before, and they always seem to have a very talented group of kids. They loved the production (it’s one of GatorGirl’s favorite musicals). We’re planning to go to La Comedia this summer to see their production of it too.


Annie and GatorGirl, in her most Annie-like dress


Miss Hannigan and “AnnieGator”


“AnnieGator” and Sandy


Later, at home, “AnnieGator” finds her own stand-in for Sandy, a stuffed dog that we’ve had for years.

Sunday, March 22nd: Birthday Party at Chuck E. Cheese
Yet another birthday party, but this time at Chuck E. Cheese. It’s always so hard to pry GatorGirl away from there, because unlike Run, Jump & Play and Pump It Up, there’s no set end time to the party. We were the last group in the party to leave. I won’t go into the details of everything we did, but if you haven’t been to a Chuck E. Cheese in a while, you can see everything you need to know about it in ZosoBeast's great Chuck E. Cheese TR.

Saturday, March 28th: Charlotte’s Web
This was another production by Cincinnati Children’s Theater. This one, like Rudolph, was very well done. GatorGirl loves the movie (we have the live action version released a few years ago starring Dakota Fanning, she’s only seen the cartoon version once). We didn’t know that it was just a one act play. When it was over, everyone started to leave and GatorGirl said, “It’s not over!” She’s so used to there being an intermission, so we had to explain to her that it actually was over.

Saturday, April 4th & Sunday, April 5th: Trip to Aurora, OH
We left Friday night after work to once again trek up north, this time for a “Meet the Baby” shower/open house for the same friend we had visited during our previous trip. It was explained to me that it would be an all female thing, so while Mrs. Gator and GatorGirl went to that, I went out to see Adventureland. My impressions of the movie can be seen here. Afterward, we went swimming in the indoor pool for several hours. After the others went to bed, I went down to the hotel’s business center to use the computer, and I made a rare non-weekday appearance on KICentral. I was on there way too late; I think it was about 2:00 am when I went back up to the room.

The next day, after swimming once again, it was time to pack up and head home. But before we started heading south again, since we were in Aurora I wanted to make a quick stop over at Geauga Lake to see what was left. I thought there was going to be nothing left but Big Dipper, so I was surprised when we got there. Grass and weeds were starting to overtake the parking lot, the park entrance was showing signs of wear, and Skyscraper was still standing as were Big Dipper and Raging Wolf Bobs. It made me appreciate that Geauga Lake was not my home park. I can’t imagine if it was, and going to Wildwater Kingdom (or even driving by it on a regular basis) and just seeing the park across the lake sitting there abandoned. Seeing this made me feel for those people who did call GL their home park, and the feelings they went through (and still feel) about not getting one last chance to ride their beloved rides.


Big Dipper and Skyscraper


Raging Wolf Bobs


Wildwater Kingdom

On the way home, since we left earlier than usual, we thought we should stop somewhere special for lunch/dinner, somewhere that we don’t normally go. Since we were passing through Columbus, I wanted to go to Schmidt's, but that was vetoed. Then Mrs. Gator and I both thought of the same thing at the same time: Young's Jersey Dairy. They have a wonderful restaurant there, and of course you can’t go without getting their ice cream! All through dinner, GatorGirl kept talking about how she wanted to see the cows, so after dinner (and dessert), we went over to the barn. GatorGirl loved feeding the goats and calves, running back and forth between the different pens with food pellets in her hand, offering them to any animal that would take them. GatorGirl liked the miniature golf course and wanted to do that too (she’s never done that before), but with the stormy skies and tornado watches in the area, we decided it was best to get back home.

Friday, April 10th: Cincinnati Zoo
GatorGirl’s first field trip! Her daycare center decided to take the kids to the zoo, and since we were both off for Good Friday, Mrs. Gator and I decided to be chaperones. We followed behind their bus in our car. When we got down to the zoo, the bus driver didn’t turn, and we kept going straight down Vine, past UC and all the way downtown. Luckily they had given us a list of the teachers’ cell phone numbers, so when we started passing UC I had Mrs. Gator call the bus. They realized their mistake due to the final turn being left off their directions, and were working on getting us back.

After some confusion on the bus driver’s part about which gate to enter, we finally made it! It was decided that we should have lunch first. After lunch, we broke off into two groups to see the zoo. The two teachers we were with weren’t too familiar with the zoo’s layout, but I’ve been going there every year since I was GatorGirl’s age, so I kind of became the tour guide/group leader. We went to the manatees first, then the lions (where all the kids stood there and roared at them, and all I could think of was the incident at the San Francisco Zoo which was caused by taunting), Jungle Trails, bears, birds, children’s zoo, rhino, cat house and gorillas. After we left the gorilla exhibit and started heading towards the elephants, a big rumble of thunder shook the area. We called the other group, and we decided to head back towards the bus. We made it just in time before the heavy downpour.

Sunday, April 12th: Easter
My cousin brought her 5 year old daughter up from Florida. They had met only once before, but GatorGirl and her cousin became fast friends. They hunted for Easter eggs together in my grandma’s yard, and played the rest of the day together. We went back to my grandma’s house to see them the next two evenings. On Tuesday, as we were leaving, GatorGirl started crying like she was losing a sister. It’s amazing how quickly they bonded.


And now the 2009 Kings Island season looms. As Mrs. Gator’s company just announced this week that they’re cutting everyone’s salary by 10%, the season couldn’t start at a better time. Kings Island is a cheap alternative to everything we do during the offseason. Since we typically eat before going to the park for the day, or pack a lunch like we will for opening day, we usually just get one treat in the park each visit. And since it’s so close to home (just one exit up 71 from our house), we don’t have to spend a ton on gas. So compared to all the money we put out for entertainment this past November through April, KI is cheap for us. I’m sure we won’t be spending as much next offseason if this recession continues, which has finally caught up to our household. So hurray for Kings Island, where we’ll be spending lots of time and just a little money (sorry Mr. Kinzel!). Where else can we have so much fun for our nickels? Kings Island, Where Else? We’ll see you there.

[tigellinus]

My mother-in-law, Nana Gator, often says to my wife, Mrs. Gator, “You guys do too much. You need to stay home once in a while.”

I gotta go with Nana Gator on this one with respect to the weekend of May 2nd and 3rd!!

[XGatorHead 8904]

^You would!

[LongliveKingsCobra]

Oh she's so cute!

Did she happen to see Actiung Up's Wizard of Oz?

Im in Acting Up, and you must take her to see High School Musical and then Mulan Jr. It would be slpended to have you three there with her!

Lovely...off season report lol!

[The Interpreter]

And so incredibly detailed. I had fun reading that. Thanks for sharing!

[ZosoBeast]

WOW! Nice! I love youngs, I am going to see Annie at LaComidia and I dont "get" ikea either! Small world!

[CoastersRZ]

Awesome (two thumbs up) trip report!

I have a professor (he is my second thesis chair) who is absolutely obsessed with IKEA. And to be honest, I have actually been to two IKEAs other than the one here in town, as part of architecture school field trips nevertheless! I have to admit, that my desk lamp came from IKEA. Other than that, I have not bought anything else at IKEA.

[BoddaH1994]

I ended up going back a few days later to visit the gift shop. While I was talking to Bill the first time during our visit, GatorGirl had been playing with some teddy bears that were dressed in conductor’s hat and overalls with the EnterTRAINment Junction logo on them. We decided that this would be the teddy bear that Santa got for her, so I went back to buy one.

So what did GatorGirl do with the extra teddy bear since both you AND Santa got her one?

Wonderful, wonderful trip report.

[standbyme]

An AMAZING trip report. You should be very proud parents!

I do have one question...what's the story with that freaky looking kid behind your daughter?! It looks like he could be a trip report unto himself.

[ZosoBeast]

Reminds me of the move "The Ring" I think.

[XGatorHead 8904]

Thanks for the nice comments, everyone!

Oh she's so cute!

Did she happen to see Actiung Up's Wizard of Oz?

Im in Acting Up, and you must take her to see High School Musical and then Mulan Jr. It would be slpended to have you three there with her!

Lovely...off season report lol!

Thanks! I looked at Acting Up's website, are you talking about the Wizard of Oz performance in 2005? If so, we missed that since GatorGirl wasn't even one year old then! We saw Alice in Wonderland though, and we may just go to HSM and Mulan... but I'm not sure I want to start her HSM addiction quite yet...we've been lucky to avoid that so far!

And so incredibly detailed. I had fun reading that. Thanks for sharing!

I trust that you saw my nod to you at the very beginning of the TR?

So what did GatorGirl do with the extra teddy bear since both you AND Santa got her one?

Ummmmm... I don't know how to respond to that. Some things are better left a mystery. Next question...

I do have one question...what's the story with that freaky looking kid behind your daughter?! It looks like he could be a trip report unto himself.

I know, that's the weirdest thing. He looked normal in person, but when the photo came out it was completely different. Same thing happened in the Frosty picture and the one where she's making the crown/headband thingie. It must be something in the water! And thanks ZosoBeast for the warning... I won't be playing any strange videotapes any time soon!

[Gordon Bombay]

Gator, I have been looking forward to your trip report for quite some time and I must say you certainly don't disappoint! Wonderful full offseason report...just one thing let me down: No report from you is perfect unless there is a story about you falling off some paddle boats into some water.

Seriously though, I think your coworkers are right on when they say you are fun parents. EnterTRAINment junction looks like a blast, I still have not yet visited, but need to soon now that I'm back in Cincinnati for good.

I have to ask...with how much you guys go downtown to music hall and the arnoff, especially during the holiday season. Could you see your family using the streetcar system if it was built? Seems like it be the perfect thing for a family like yours. Park downtown once....enjoy dinner and other acitivities downtown while riding the streetcar a lot of the downtown locales in your report.

I hope you, your wife and GatorGirl have a great summer and I look forward to seeing your trip reports from this coming season!

P.S. Thanks for posting the photographs from Aurora, I forgot to comment on those. THey are great, albeit a bit sad.

P.S.S. Forgot to comment on this too: Did you see the circus at U.S. Bank Arena or at the Bank of Kentucky center?

[XGatorHead 8904]

^You just had to bring up the paddle boats didn't you? Now not only will I not be able to sleep tonight from anticipation for tomorrow, but when I do drift off I'll wake up from nightmares of drowning in paddle boats. Thanks.

I think we would use the streetcars. It would be nice to even just ride around after an event, even if we don't get off anywhere. After Charlotte's Web, GatorGirl wanted to walk around downtown and go in the buildings, but it was just too cold and not too much was open near Taft Theater. So a streetcar would make it easier to get around.

We saw the circus at US Bank. I haven't been to Bank of Kentucky Center yet, but Mrs. Gator went there for the Carrie Underwood concert. She said she couldn't imagine how they could squeeze the circus in there, so we bought the tickets for US Bank.