Cincinnati

After Michael's graduation, we had about 5 weeks before he started work. Since we had the pleasure of packers doing all of the hard stuff, there wasn't as much work we needed to do to prepare for our move, so we decided to go on a family vacation. The next question was, where do we go? We wanted to go somewhere that wasn't a long car ride away, stay over one night, and would have something fun for both us and the kids that wasn't overly expensive. A while back I told Michael how nice it would be to go to IKEA before we moved into our new house, sadly the closest one to us in TN is like 6 hours away. There is one, however, in Cincinnati, which is only about 3 hours from Bloomington. Michael was ready to get up and go make a long day out of it before graduation, but for some reason I could not justify myself in driving 6 hours, just to go to IKEA. Thankfully we had talked to a couple of friends and they told us there was lots of family friendly things to do in Cincinnati, plus the IKEA, so it seemed like the perfect spot.
We left Friday morning, and arrived at a really cute, and free, petting zoo call Parky's Farm. The kids were having so much fun that we ended up staying the majority of the day. In the morning they were able to pet the animals, watch a baby goat being fed, plant some potatoes, pump water out of a mill, play at the outdoor playground, and eat a picnic lunch. In the afternoon, once it was getting hot, we cold spend $2 a kid to play in their barn, which they had put in a couple ball pits, climbing ropes, slides, and places to just run around and get lost. Then to end the day we spend another $2 a kid to let them ride the ponies. It was great. We all had so much fun. We couldn't have asked for a better attraction for our family. That evening, after getting settled into our hotel and eating dinner, we headed to a HUGE store called Jungle Jims. This place is a massive international grocery story, but it looks like an amusement park. We really had a ton of fun just going around and looking at all the stuff they had, especially in the Germany and Argentina sections. It brought tons of memories back for both Michael and I, and we were so excited to be able to buy some of the stuff we remember eating in our respective countries. It was a great place to get our dessert.

Parky's Farm

Jungle Jims

Then came Saturday, which was the really fun day for Michael and me... IKEA. I can't begin to tell you how much I love this store. I think the biggest reason, other than it's extremely affordable is, it reminds me of home.  I feel like I get a good European "fix" by being in that store. And no matter how many times we have been there, I am always impressed at how long we stay and how much we spend. Emma was able to play in the playroom for an hour, which we were all grateful for, we got our Swedish meatballs for lunch, and then left with a new dining room table, an entertainment center, a new kids table, and a bunch of other little things. Impressively Michael was able to get all to fit in our van, without having to put anything on the top even (sadly no picture). Of course the kids couldn't see each other, and it was quite an adventure to get back to Lizzie, but it was only a 3 hour car ride, we didn't have to stop, and everything was secure enough that nothing fell on anyone. We got back home Saturday night tired but happy for the fun we had and the good deals we got.