New Adventures and Old Favorites!

On Wednesday and Thursday, July 17th and 18th, we went back to Kings Island. The 17th is our anniversary, but we didn't mind spending it at Soak City Water Park, even if it was an unconventional way to celebrate! It was mostly a hot, sunny day, with just one quick 10 minute shower after we arrived; in other words, it was a perfect day to go out and get wet! In the evening, after the water park closed, we spent a couple of hours at the main park, where Todd won Emma another Lalaloopsy doll, as he had last month. Emma actually wore herself out; shortly after we got to our hotel, she tucked herself in bed, asked for a story, and fell asleep halfway through it (which is totally out of character for this night owl)!**On the 18th, we went to the main park again, where Emma got to enjoy two rides she'd never experienced before, since she's now passed the 47 inch mark! Both were water rides; on both, we got pretty wet! Later, we went to Snoopy's Splash Dance, which it hadn't been warm enough to enjoy on previous visits, and Emma and I both were drenched! We also went to the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit, which we had not seen since last fall, and saw the 3D Dinosaur move for the first time (and the first 3D movie of any kind for all three of us)!**On Friday we visited Jungle Jim's just north of Cincinnati, which Todd dubbed "a grocery store on steroids". It's been featured on news stories throughout the country and is called "An Amusement Park for Food Lovers." Not only does it feature foods from all over the world, but it has a lot of unique decorations, such as a gigantic singing soup can, a singing Elvis bear (presumably purchased from an old Chuck E Cheese's), and a yacht! (Please note in the pictures: The "portable" restrooms were actually regular restrooms with an unusual entrance!) It was the first visit for all of us, but I'm sure that we'll go back! Our last stop for the trip was Ikea, a Swedish furniture store (also enormous). We'd been to other Ikea stores on vacations in the past, but this was our first visit to this one. After a lunch of Swedish meatballs, we perused the store. Emma loved the displays and kids' play areas. We couldn't have planned this trip better; Friday had rain and storms throughout the day, but we were so busy enjoying the stores that Emma barely noticed!