Cincy

My first trip to Cincinnati was fun. It's not a rockin, full-on nightlife, city-that-never-sleeps kind of town, but that's just fine with me for right now. I mean sure, we could have just given the babe some cough medicine and headed out for some much needed R&R, but I've heard that's not recommended? I couldn't have lasted anyway, it was all we could do to stay up to 10:00.
After the last couple of weeks - scratch that - few months, I really felt like I had to get out and just do nothing necessary for a few days or I was in very serious danger of ripping the head off of the next couple of people who crossed me the wrong way. Mind you, I may still do some head ripping, I'll just now have the resources to think about it a bit first.
We decided Friday evening that yup, we were heading out. After a couple of hours of back and forth, we actually decided where to go. Did a bit of digging, booked a hotel, packed a couple of bags, and we were almost ready. The next morning, we wrapped up the rest of the gear and headed to the Indianapolis Children's Museum with the cunning plan (as Baldric would say) to wear Keira out before we set off. That way, you see, she would nap the entire ride. Well, we made it almost an hour - that was something at least. After deciding against the American Sign Museum, a visit to the Mother of God Church (although this really had its alure), and the William Howard Taft National Historic Site, we settled on the children's museum that is part of the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. The terminal is a vastly impressive piece of Art Deco architecture in and of itself, and the three museums that comprise the complex seemed entertaining. It was damn pricey, but you could really spend an entire day in the museums and the Omnimx and end the day with no further wish for entertainment. They had a special exhibit of artifacts from the Titanic. I'd of dearly loved to see it, but at $20 a crack and a cranky kid, I didn't want to risk being "the mom" whose kid broke the Titanic teacup. As it was, I ended up having to squeeze myself up a vertical shaft and crawl around in the duct work (which was meant to look like the upper canopy of the rain forest, and was, thank you very much, meant to be crawled in.) Keira scampered on up and then hesitated at a critical juncture, about half way around, necessitating my insertion into said exhibit. Mom to the rescue.
The next day we tackled the Newport Aquarium and some Turkish food. Both were good, neither was awe-inspiring. If you like aquariums, the Newport is pretty nice and they have lots of sharks, but they have just a handful of mixed species exhibits, which are what I like. We got back to the hotel and went for a swim in the pool (also known as the big bath).
This morning, we headed out to the zoo, which seems like it would be a very nice zoo indeed if they a) they had any animals, or b) they could, in any effective way, tell you how to get through the place. It's like a maze, and the map is completely off-scale and not representative of the actual place. Two qualities I really admire in a good map. Never mind, it accomplished our goal of wearing the poor thing out. She slept all the way back in the car, and woke up convinced that we were going to see some horses. Sorry dear, just the cats for you I'm afraid.
After all of that, believe it or not, I feel much refreshed. That is, until tomorrow when I have a full day of work and we're back on our routine.
I'm now T-19 and counting for the full-on toddler birthday party. Keira knows it's on too, so there is no backing out. She's mentioned it several times. She's also mentioned the boy that was hiding in her food, but that's a story for another time.
**I'll post some Cincy pictures soon. We've not gotten them off the cameras just yet.