So I present to you....
10 MORE Things to do with Kids in Northeast Ohio this Summer
1. Millcreek Children's Garden- Every year Mill Creek park in Youngstown does a "Children's Garden" complete with theme, activities, and plenty of dirt. This year the theme was Peter Pan. They had so many cute cut-outs, a fairy garden, and lots of demonstrations. Every Friday they help each child plant something (the day we went was buck-choy), have a bee keeper demonstration, do crafts, and story time. It was such a fun morning, and here's the best part: completely FREE!
2. Ohio Bird Sanctuary- I learned something new about Logan this summer. I learned that he is completely terrified of birds. So having birds fly all around and at him, looking at giant birds (even in cages), and feeding winged animals was not really his cup of tea. Actually he hated it and cried the whole time. But- for those of us who aren't bird haters, this was a really fun outing. They have big birds, small birds, and everything in between. Basically everything from a bald eagle to a chicken to blue jays.
3. Mansfield Children's Museum- In my short 4 years as a parent, I've become quite the connoisseur of children's museums. I've been to them in 5 states now, and I have to say that the Mansfield Children's Museum was one of my favorites!! The bottom floor is set up like a little town and each kid gets a car to ride around in to go from the store to the doctor's office, to the farm, the post office, the bank, etc. You get the idea. Both my kids had such a fun time driving their cars around town. Then the top floor has an entire room full of model trains, which were fun just to stare at, but you could also control aspect of it. The rest of the top floor was dedicated to "future careers" so they had a mechanics station, a dentist chair, a school house, a whole room full of bugs, and they also threw a home in there with lots of babies, which I particularly liked (motherhood can definitely be a career). It wasn't too crowded and the staff was excellent. We had a great time!
4. Memphis Kiddie Park- Apparently back in the 50's the midwest was covered with what I like to call "permanent fairs" where there are a ton of fair rides, fair food, and fair games that are there all year long. Of course, most of these don't exist anymore. But there is one in Cleveland! All the rides are built for kids 50 inches or smaller, which was absolutely perfect for my munchkins. Each ride just costs a ticket, and you can buy a pack of 25 tickets for $30. They had boats, trains, cars, airplanes, a ferris wheel, a carrousel, and even a small roller coaster. You can't bring in outside food which was a little bit of a bummer, but other than that we had an absolute blast!
5. Mansfield Carrousel- Speaking of carrousels, there is an awesome carrousel down in Mansfield that is so fun to visit and ride. It's actually where Daniel's aunt and sister had their wedding receptions. Somewhere there's an adorable picture of Daniel riding the carrousel in a tux from his aunt's wedding when he was little floating around. I should find it! Anyway, the day we went to the Children's Museum we stopped by the Carrousel for a ride, since it is right there. Music rings through the air and it's just a magical little place. Definitely worth stopping by!
6. Austintown Splash Pad- I had to be honest that we haven't actually been to the Austintown Splash Pad, but in my last post I highlighted the Middlefield Splash Pad, which at the time I had never been to. Well this year we made it (and it was so fun and awesome!) Shortly after we finally went, I found out there is also a splash pad in Austintown, which is even closer to us! So it's on my to do list before summer ends! I have also heard rumors that they are build splash pads in both Cortland and McDonald, which would both be even CLOSER- so I'm excited for summers to come!
7. X-Treme Air Trampoline Park- This place opened earlier in the year, and it's one of our favorite places now! Basically just imagine an entire warehouse filled with trampolines. That's pretty much it! I love that they have "Toddler Time" which is a time each week with discounted prices set aside just for little one's like ours. My kids both absolutely love to jump, so it's a perfect spot for us. I know this is going to come in totally handy this winter!
8. One Hot Cookie- My good friend Stephanie introduced me to One Hot Cookie earlier this year, and yeah... it's basically the best thing in the whole world. You can pick your cookie (chocolate chip, sugar cookie, snickerdoodle, etc) but then you can pick your toppings. Anything from bacon to pretzels to bananas to marshmallows to Oreos. You get the idea. You can also pick from one of their already creatively crafted cookies like Salted Carmel Pretzel or Maple Bacon. Oh, and you can make any cookie into a cookie ice cream sandwich. Have a sold you yet? Because I've totally made myself want a cookie right now.
 |
| via |
9. Canfield Fair- I recently discovered that the Canfield Fair, like 20 minutes from us, is one of the largest, most famous, and historical fairs in the country. Ummm... I think I've been hiding under a bridge for the 5 years we've lived here, but this year we are GOING! It's always over Labor Day weekend, and boasts all the fair favorites: rides, food, animal competitions, and performances. This year The Band Perry is the headliner. Yes please!! Totally looking forward to this!
 |
| via |
10. Go Camping- Let me preface this by saying that I hate camping. And Daniel hates camping. So camping was never something that we pictured doing as a family outside of boys scouts and girls camp. But for whatever reason, Logan has been DYING to go camping. So for his birthday this year, we got him a tent and him and Daniel camped in the back yard. I thought for sure they'd be sleeping sounding inside in their beds before midnight, but they actually slept out there all night! So now, Logan really wants to go somewhere away and camp and cook food OUTSIDE (that's a requirement for his next camp experience). I think we are going to try Daniel's parent's house next and maybe even try a campground next to our house before it gets too cold. There are a ton of fun camping sites around, so I'm sure we could find one without much trouble.
So there you go!!! This is a super FUN place to live, with a ton of stuff to do. I really find new adventures to go on all the time. I hope next year I'm writing another post with even more fun things to do!
No comments:
Post a Comment