Cincinnati trip--day 3

Tuesday, August 26, 2014
9:00 a.m.  Free breakfast at hotel.
10:00 a.m.  Fillmore challenge for Noah (using peanut butter as hair gel).

Ice bucket challenge for Noah & Sarah (dumping a bucket of ice water over their heads and donating $25 to charity).  I was going to use the tiny little hotel ice bucket, but Mike asked at the desk, and the desk clerk was happy to provide a big busboy tub. 

We had planned to spend a lot of time in the pool today but were informed that it would be closed all day to be drained and refilled. We're planning to go to a fun place today, but it doesn't open till 4:00, so we have hours to kill at the hotel.  The kids want to do Kid Hotel Olympics and have us judge.

 

Sarah won.  Then we did Parent Hotel Olympics, and the kids judged.

I hurt my ankle doing a backward twist maneuver.

Mike won.
3:30 leaving for Lazer Kraze.  Gas at Speedway in Erlanger, KY. $3.51/gal x 10 gal = $35.20
We played two games of laser tag (because I had a buy one get one free coupon).  That was lots of fun!

Then the kids jumped on the trampolines for 30 minutes.  They were super hot and sweaty after that.

From there, we drove to Covington, KY, parked under the Roebling Suspension Bridge,

and walked across it to the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Mike and Noah went to Cubs/Reds game (which the Cubs won 3-0 after a 40-minute rain delay).

After we left the boys at the game, we girls sat on these swings outside the ball park and argued about what we were going to do for the next four hours.  It was hot and very humid, and Sarah was tired, so she was not feeling very adventurous. We walked aimlessly along the river for awhile until she refused to go any further. Then we sat in stony silence for a long time.  I spotted a Barnes and Noble across the river, and she was excited about going there.

 So we walked across the Taylor Southgate Bridge to Newport, Kentucky.  

As soon as we got across the bridge, Sarah said she thought a bird pooped on her head.  Then I felt a sprinkle.  The sun was still out, and it didn't look like rain, so I told her it was just a little sprinkle.  We kept walking towards Newport on the Levee (the mall where Barnes and Noble was), and all the sudden rain started pouring down, accompanied by thunder and lightning.  We dashed under the closest awning.  An amish woman and her kids were seeking shelter there too.  Sarah whispered to me, "They look like they're from ye olden times." A bright flash of lightning cracked right in front of us VERY loudly, and Sarah and I clung to each other, not feeling especially safe under our little awning.  Her attitude was briefly better after our shared ordeal though. 

After at least 30 minutes of huddling under the awning, we ran through the lessening rain to Barnes and Noble.  Sarah had a gift card to spend, so she bought a nice sketch book.  While she was shopping, I was studying my map and determining the best way to get back to the van in the dark in a city unknown to us and wishing we had just stayed at the hotel.  We would have to walk back to Ohio on the Taylor Southgate, then walk along the river to the Roebling and walk back to Kentucky.  A lot of walking for the overtired, whiny 10-year-old.  I found a bus that we could ride for a dollar, which would take us through Cincinnati and then back to Kentucky and deposit us near our van.  I discussed it with Sarah, and we determined that it would be a dollar well spent.  

We walked to the bus stop and waited.  When the bus showed up, we got on, and I put in my dollar and confirmed with the driver that we would end up where I thought we would.  She said that we needed the trolley.  I asked for my dollar back, and she said she couldn't get it back so I realized that was not a dollar well spent after all.  

But just then the trolley pulled up, and the bus driver told him that I had already paid, so we got to ride the trolley without paying again.  We toured around Cincinnati as I tried to figure out what button I needed to push or handle I needed to pull in order to request a stop.  I never did figure it out, but we just got off with someone else who requested a stop near where we thought we should get off (after some disagreement with Sarah's opinion about where to get off).  After some aimless bumbling around, we spotted the bridge and found the van, near these beautiful murals.

It was 10:00 p.m., and the baseball game was still going on, compliments of the rain delay.  It was still hot and muggy outside, and Sarah was all done adventuring, so I took her back to the hotel and put her to bed.  I showered and went back to pick up Mike and Noah, who had really enjoyed the game.