Tour of Ohio 2010!

Awhile back we planned a wild week of touring Ohio with the boys to see and do as much as we could in the limited time we had....and after looking through over 250 pictures and movies, I say that DID see and do as much as we planned!!

So, please enjoy our 2010 Tour of Ohio!

Day 1 - St. Louis to Indianapolis

Our first stop in the trip was a short 4 hour ride from St. Louis to Indy. Our research had pulled up that the Indianapolis Children's Museum was billed as the biggest and best in the country. Since it was on the way, we planned in a stop.

Our first view of the museum was this monstrous dinosaur peeking his head into the building! (Note, he is at least 5 stories tall)

Being that Indy is the home of the "Great Spectacle in Sports", they had an Indy race car that you could climb into. We got Aid driving toward the checkered flag.

In the sensory play area, Ethan immediately bee-lined toward his favorite toy (it's his favorite because they have the same one at his school), the rocking horse!

Aidan found a real skid steer and got to work all the controls!

That's a big scoop!

The sand table was a big hit too....

That's NOT a very scary scarecrow!

Little did we know that he was such a pony lover (more to come...)

Our first of three carousel rides on our trip, having fun!

A very cool exhibit here. They were doing a "Journey to Egypt" theme and had this airplane mock up that actually had mini flat screens in each window. Movies would play making it look like you were really flying to Egypt...very cool!

Here's the jet from the outside....nice!

Another exhibit was there that displayed some memorabilia of famous rockers, and this piece, a John Deere riding tractor was decked out pretty cool.

All in all, the Indy Children's museum was just OK. It definitely would be the place to be for 6-8 year olds on a scavenger hunt, but not so good for younger kids. Not nearly enough hands-on things for them to do. Cincinnati's Children's museum is better as is Columbus's COSI.

Another allure of Indy that I wanted to experience was the Crowne Plaza hotel at Union Station downtown. There, they have 18 authentic Pullman train cars that have been converted to hotel rooms...and we were staying in one!

Here's some shots:

A little tight, rail cars are not very wide, but we made out OK

Trains!!!

I should mention too that for dinner we walked up to Buca di Beppo and had reserved the table that overlooks the kitchen. The boys were a little crazy, but I think they enjoyed it. Food was so-so, Maggiano's Little Italy is much better in my opinion.

Day 2: Indianapolis to Findlay (Daddy's Hometown and home to Grammy T and Papa Steve)

First stop was Grammy T's and she had presents!!

Ethan got his first Thomas item! Good thing because...well, you'll see later :)

One of the best thing (in my opinion) of the boys getting older...REAL LEGOS! Aid and I had a lot of fun putting together a new Lego Jet!

I'm sure everyone who reads our blog has a favorite restaurant from their hometown. Well, mine isn't in my hometown but is a short drive away. That is, the New Riegel Cafe in New Riegel Ohio. My family has been going here since my Dad was a little boy and sure enough the ribs and chicken are just as I remembered them.

And that includes the Bowling Slide game that has been there as long as I can remember. Seriously, how 'bout the durability of that machine, it's been there for 25+ years!!!

We were very pleased that my Grandma Nancy was able to meet us for dinner. She had just gotten out of the hospital that week for a touch of Bell's Palsy. She was in good spirits though and was able to sit and talk with Aidan and Ethan.

The Frost boys, Grammy T and Great Grammy Nancy

There it is, the World Famous New Riegel Cafe

Aunt Natalie came up from Columbus to see us too!!



She and Aidan were inseparable....what a fun bunch!

So Emmy is always on the lookout for awesome stuff for the boys, and I must stay, this my be the awesomest yet....matching astronaut jammies!

Astronaut Aidan

A couple of space cadets!

Even Ethan is ready for space.

Day 3: Findlay Fun

The only day of our trip that we spent two days in the same location was Labor Day. We originally were going to go to Cedar Point (an amazing roller coaster park near Lake Erie), but we nixed the idea because of trying to not "overdo" ourselves. So, we decided to stay in Findlay and go to the Hancock County Fair. Mostly reserved for the outer county folks to come in with their animals and such, but the main reason I wanted to go was for the food! Be Tran is a Chinese lady from my hometown that makes the best egg rolls in the world (you know they are good because she charges $2.50 a piece for them!) and thankfully her traveling trailer was there so I got my fix!

To all of our surprise (and as was shown two posts ago) Aidan really wanted to ride the ponies...here are a few pictures:

Pony up little Cardinal fan!

That's a natural cowhand if I've ever seen one! And look at that smile!

Carousel Ride #2....Aidan loving it!

And of course he had to drive the cars. This was so funny, and I'll post video later, but the whole time he was turning the wheel to the left and looking out the window as if he was really driving. You can see it below, but man was it comical!

Look at that concentration!!!

One last ride on the rockets and we were all "faired" out!



The weather wasn't real cooperative, but we did find time then to go to the pool, blow some bubbles and then head to Papa Steve's house for dinner. All in all, a good day!

Day 4: Findlay to Lake Erie to Cleveland

Day 4 of our 2010 Tour was very windy! Our plans today were to go up to Lake Erie with my Dad and sister and take a boat ride on the lake. The lake was very rough, but fortunately we were able to navigate to calmer spots and have a very nice 45 minute ride.

Papa Steve's new boat...nice!



Aidan on the lower deck, hangin' out!



Ethan wasn't so sure at first, but once he had a snack did pretty good!



Aid's an 'ol salty dog from a long time ago and had no problems on the boat!



Everyone having fun pre-launch!



Mommy and Aidan ready to go, as are.....



....Daddy and Ethan!



Here we go!! Cruising the lake!



Ethan needed the "pa-pa" to get through the choppy waters and uncomfortable life jacket.



There it is, Cedar Point, the greatest rollercoaster park in the world! But unfortunately closed on the week after Labor Day.



On our way back from driving around Cedar Point things got a little rough, Emmy said that Aidan had a "death grip" on her hand.



Once back at the marina, the boys were happy to be boaters together!



There's our littlest sailor, Capt. Ethan!

Since our boat trip got cut a little short due to the weather, I remembered another fantastic childhood memory that I thought we could go to. Sure enough, after over 30 years in business it was still there. What could it be?

Yes, it's Train-O-Rama!!

Train-O-Rama is a large room filled with nothing but scale model trains. All running around fully landscaped scenery. I came here as a kid a few times and was absolutely enchanted by this place. Although starting to show its age, I was so pleased to share this experience with Emmy and the boys.

Train-O-Rama! And Aidan just overwhelmed with trains!

This place is awesome. I love it and could stay in there for hours.

The detail is great...

The airstrip there was the inspiration for Aidan's Thomas train table...as a kid I dreamed about this layout after seeing it one time. Even to this day, I just think that this setup here is about as good as it gets for me. Love it, just love it. I could just stare at it all day.

We then headed to our third city on the trip, Cleveland, to meet some of my friends from high school and to spend the evening there.

We didn't get many pics, but here are a few with all of us and Uncle Aaron.

Day 5 - Cleveland to Uhrichsville

With the visit to Cleveland complete, it was now time to see Emmy's family in NE Ohio!

At Grandma and Grandpa Pools having fun.

Grandpa even let Aidan play with this 1957 Chevy!

After a fun evening with Emmy's family at Stacie and Craig's new house and having her favorite hometown restaurant, Pangrazio's Pizza, we called it a day!

Day 6: Dennison and Uhrichsville

Emmy's Dad has recently gone into a partnership with two other guys to buy a drive through beverage, food and feed business in New Philadelphia. Well, one things that you need when you are selling pallets and pallets of product is a fork lift. And wouldn't you think that Mr. Aidan would like to operate one? Oh yes he DID!!

Aidan and Grandpa John operating the forklift

Aidan even picked up this pallet!!

The fun didn't stop there. Next it was onto the Dennison Train Depot and Museum. (Lots of trains this trip huh?)

The Depot was a pretty famous place to be during WWII and is really nice. Probably one of the nicer museums that I've ever been to. Lots of great reading, memorabilia and great stuff for kids to do.

There was a scavenger hunt of sorts and the first thing you needed to do was write a ticket for your luggage, as Aidan is doing here. He also got put real coal in the firebox of the steam engine!

Ok, so you'll need to open the pictures and look closer here, but hobos were real big along the rails back in the day. Below are some samples of common markings that they would put on trees to alert other hobos of danger, food, friendlies, etc. Pretty cool stuff.

Hobo handwriting.

During its heyday, the Dennison Depot was called "Dreamsville USA"

Why was it called Dreamsville, USA? (from a plaque that I saw)

"The Dennison Depot was located on a railway route which provided a key link to the Strategic Corridor for the National Defense going east-west. The trunkline played a vital role in the disbursement of troops during WWII, weather heading out west for training or to the eastern harbors for the journey overseas. All trains stopped for a 5 to 7 minute water stop.
It was a very brief stop, but a very important stop.

It began on New Year's Eve in 1941 when Mrs. Lucille Nussdorfer of Dennison stood on the platform and witnessed several trains full of soldiers stopping at the Depot. She was overcome by the loneliness, hunger and despair reflected in the soldiers' faces and decided something had to be done to raise their moral and show support for the war effort.

So, a serviceman's canteen was established. The women would provide the travelling soldiers with coffee, cakes and other nourishment which was greatly appreciated.

They called Dennison "Dreamsville, USA" for the following reason:

Imagine this...if you were a young soldier, leaving home for the very first time, going farther away from your home than you ever imagined traveling somewhere unknown, with little or no money, homesick, frightened and full of fear for the war, knowing that you may never return...and you suddenly pull up to a little Ohio town that reminds you of your hometown, where friendly, smiling girls who remind you of your mom, sis or your sweetheart greet you and serve you free food...a treat you absolutely did not expect, this experience was like a dream come true. That is why Dennison was known as "Dreamsville USA"."

Pretty darn cool story, huh?

Train cars of the museum

A working scale model of what it used to look like in its heyday.

After a quick nap, we decided to head to another of Emmy's favorite places, Tuscora Park!

One thing she used to do as a kid was feed the ducks. We didn't figure to see so many Canadian geese (dirty, nasty creatures) but we did manage to feed some ducks.

Lots of geese, they kept being mean to the ducks, so we only threw popcorn to the ducks.

Included at Tuscora Park is many playgrounds and a ton of rides!

Aid and E by the massive train playground.

Silly guys.

Ethan really started walking on this day. He was all over that playground!

The guys!

So here it is...one of the highlights of the trip. The diesel train that takes kids and parents around Tuscora Park. Aidan wrote this thing 3 times and absolutely loved it.

All of us got to ride on the train!

Now here's a ride that I thought was sweet! Aidan piloting a P-51, really cool.

And carousel ride #3. This one was by far the scariest. The weird guy running the thing had it cranked up and let us ride on it for over 5 minutes. I was starting to get sick, "Hey Wonka, I want off!!"

And Aid running the cars...he loves those things, especially after figuring out how to use the horn.

We then headed out to Grandpa John's house for a great dinner. Here is a picture of the NE Ohio countryside taken from the hill near the house. Beautiful.

And Ethan, only wanting to walk, gladly took Grandpa John's attention.

An Aidan made some new friends, Emmy's Cousin's kids, Chance and Zachary.

Day 7: Uhrichsville to Columbus

We had to say goodbye to everyone the next morning and Grandpa John got up early to see us off.

Our plans for Day 6 was to go to COSI, a great children's museum in Columbus, but unbenownst to us, it was CLOSED! Unbelievable.

So we shifted some things around and did some outlet shopping with Grammy T and Aunt Natalie who had taken off Friday to be with us. After checking into the hotel, we met up with some friends of mine from college, Kevin and Nora and their 1 year old Ronan at a park. The boys played and it was nice for us to mingle with another couple with child. Here we are:

Ethan had FUN playing! He was very happy!

Day 8: Columbus to Cincinnati

With our plans changing a bit due to COSI closing, we decided to head down early to Cincinnati and have lunch with some of Emmy's college friends and then go to the Cincinnati Children's Museum. We had been here before with Aidan and really enjoyed it. This time was no different. It's a very good kid's museum.

If there is a grocery cart....Ethan wants to push it!

It's Aidan, the city bus driver!

Emmy and Aidan loved the kid's grocery store. Mommy was the checkout clerk and scanned each of Aid's groceries.

Grammy T, Aidan and I built an arch! We had to move quick though before it fell!

Lego guys! Fun for young and old!

Aunt Natalie and her "church"! Who'd of thought?

Aidan and Daddy loading up some rocks and dumping them out.

Funny Ethan, you're not a dog!?!

Then it was on to the funnest part of the day, the water tables!

Ethan wasn't tall enough to reach the water so I found him a stool...he loved the water, so much that he pretty much drenched himself with it!

Water guys!

Aidan had a lot of fun, but one thing that was not fun was the tree house. You can see in the picture on the right that he is terrified...there were way too big of kids running and screaming through there. I climbed up and got him out of there and all was well.

The Cincinnati Children's Museum is in Cincy's Union Terminal, so on the back side was this, trains!!!! Aidan and I went up and watched for awhile.

Nice diesels!

Day 9: Cincinnati to St. Louis

Our final day of the vacation was of course without lots of fun. With Grammy T and Aunt Natalie with us, we headed to the Lebanon and Monroe RR to see none other than Thomas the Tank Engine. We saw him last year in Chicago and like then we decided to take a short ride.

The fam with Thomas

Thomas and his friends, us!

On the train....looking good!

Even Grammy T and Natalie were having fun!

Oh the anticipation of riding a train, Aidan loved it!

And posing by the BIG diesel that pulled us along the track.

It's Thomas chuffing down the tracks!

So after a visit to the IKEA store north of Cincy, we headed back to St. Louis after a very fun-filled and exciting trip.

The boys were angels the entire time, really being good boys through the many 1+ hour car rides. Although it is difficult to travel with all their stuff at this pace, it was worth every second and we will cherish this experience for many, many years to come.

Thanks for reading.

Have a great night,
Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan