Last weekend, we were tourists in our own town. The kids were driving me nuts, it was a beautiful day, and the Husband was at work. What to do?
I checked my favorite blog's weekend list of things to do...Family Friendly Cincinnati. Have I mentioned I'm an editor there? Check it out! Go ahead, you can continue reading this post in a second.
Ready to hear what we did this weekend?
Well, after checking the weekend happenings, I decided to venture outside of my comfort zone. We live in a suburb, so there is really no reason to get on a bus. There is really no reason to go downtown. We could do those things for fun, but why bother when we have a giant Wal-Mart and Target right down the road?
See how exciting we are?
My friend Katie, at The Little Things Journal, always treks around town doing cool stuff. So, I decided to follow her lead and head to Smale Riverfront Park in Cincinnati.
I got even crazier and took the Southbank Shuttle, which goes back and forth from Newport, Cincinnati and Covington.
Crazy, I tell ya'.
I wasn't sure how all of this was going to play out, so I told the kids nothing.
Get on your shoes! Go pee! We are going on an adventure!
What? Where? Are we going to the museum? To the library? To the zoo? To the ALC?
Huh?
That last one was from Middle Child. He is learning to spell and thinks he accurately spelled something to secretly ask me where we are going.
No, not the museum, library, zoo or ALC.
Just get in the car. Wear shoes please...
We parked at the corner of Fifth Street and Philadelphia in Covington, in a free lot. As soon as we got out of the car, the shuttle started to leave. I waved and he stopped. I yelled to the kids "Run! That's our bus!!"
They looked at me like I had just asked them to strip down naked and do cartwheels through traffic.
Mom has lost her mind. A bus?
We hopped on the bus and for a total of $2 rode across the bridge and got off in front of the Underground Freedom Center (thanks Amy of In a Galaxy for posting THIS about Smale Riverfront Park on Family Friendly Cincinnati last summer)
We walked about a block to Smale Riverfront Park.
Played at the spray park...
Played checkers...
Meditated in a labyrinth...
Swung by the river....
Crossed the Purple People Bridge...
Took the shuttle back to the car...
Whew! What a day! That whole trip cost us $4. The Southbank Shuttle is $1 per person and we were not charged for the younger two children. Everything at Smale Park was free. Make sure you watch their website as well as Family Friendly Cincinnati's weekend posts because so many free, or super cheap, things are posted! Until I decided to dig deeper in the post, we were going to just play video games and do laundry. Glad I checked!
After our adventure, we headed to Salvadore's Pizzeria in Erlanger on Dixie Highway (my favorite pizza place because it combines two of my favorite things...low prices and delicious pizza) and then to Sweet Frog off of Buttermilk Pike in Crescent Springs (again, cheap because I had a 1/2 off coupon!).
Our entire day cost right around $25...for four people...total. Look at all the great stuff we did!!
And, had I planned better, it could have been cheaper. I could have packed sandwiches and just gone out for ice cream. But, we were starving and Salvadore's sounded oh so good.
I asked the kids their favorite part of the day.
The Fourth Grader: The shuttle and the spray park!
Middle Child: The bridge!
Baby Girl: The bridge and the bus (shuttle)!
They are already asking when we can do it again. Lucky for them, this week we are riding the Southbank Shuttle to the park to watch Shakespeare in the Park's A Midsummer's Night Dream.
So, if you find yourself bored or pulling out your hair one weekend, you can catch a Southbank Shuttle every 15 minutes!
Hop aboard!
I checked my favorite blog's weekend list of things to do...Family Friendly Cincinnati. Have I mentioned I'm an editor there? Check it out! Go ahead, you can continue reading this post in a second.
Ready to hear what we did this weekend?
Well, after checking the weekend happenings, I decided to venture outside of my comfort zone. We live in a suburb, so there is really no reason to get on a bus. There is really no reason to go downtown. We could do those things for fun, but why bother when we have a giant Wal-Mart and Target right down the road?
See how exciting we are?
My friend Katie, at The Little Things Journal, always treks around town doing cool stuff. So, I decided to follow her lead and head to Smale Riverfront Park in Cincinnati.
I got even crazier and took the Southbank Shuttle, which goes back and forth from Newport, Cincinnati and Covington.
Crazy, I tell ya'.
I wasn't sure how all of this was going to play out, so I told the kids nothing.
Get on your shoes! Go pee! We are going on an adventure!
What? Where? Are we going to the museum? To the library? To the zoo? To the ALC?
Huh?
That last one was from Middle Child. He is learning to spell and thinks he accurately spelled something to secretly ask me where we are going.
No, not the museum, library, zoo or ALC.
Just get in the car. Wear shoes please...
We parked at the corner of Fifth Street and Philadelphia in Covington, in a free lot. As soon as we got out of the car, the shuttle started to leave. I waved and he stopped. I yelled to the kids "Run! That's our bus!!"
They looked at me like I had just asked them to strip down naked and do cartwheels through traffic.
Mom has lost her mind. A bus?
We hopped on the bus and for a total of $2 rode across the bridge and got off in front of the Underground Freedom Center (thanks Amy of In a Galaxy for posting THIS about Smale Riverfront Park on Family Friendly Cincinnati last summer)
We walked about a block to Smale Riverfront Park.
Played at the spray park...
Helped a magician...
Played checkers...
Meditated in a labyrinth...
Swung by the river....
Crossed the Purple People Bridge...
Took the shuttle back to the car...
Whew! What a day! That whole trip cost us $4. The Southbank Shuttle is $1 per person and we were not charged for the younger two children. Everything at Smale Park was free. Make sure you watch their website as well as Family Friendly Cincinnati's weekend posts because so many free, or super cheap, things are posted! Until I decided to dig deeper in the post, we were going to just play video games and do laundry. Glad I checked!
After our adventure, we headed to Salvadore's Pizzeria in Erlanger on Dixie Highway (my favorite pizza place because it combines two of my favorite things...low prices and delicious pizza) and then to Sweet Frog off of Buttermilk Pike in Crescent Springs (again, cheap because I had a 1/2 off coupon!).
Our entire day cost right around $25...for four people...total. Look at all the great stuff we did!!
And, had I planned better, it could have been cheaper. I could have packed sandwiches and just gone out for ice cream. But, we were starving and Salvadore's sounded oh so good.
I asked the kids their favorite part of the day.
The Fourth Grader: The shuttle and the spray park!
Middle Child: The bridge!
Baby Girl: The bridge and the bus (shuttle)!
They are already asking when we can do it again. Lucky for them, this week we are riding the Southbank Shuttle to the park to watch Shakespeare in the Park's A Midsummer's Night Dream.
So, if you find yourself bored or pulling out your hair one weekend, you can catch a Southbank Shuttle every 15 minutes!
Hop aboard!
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