THINGS TO DO IN CINCINNATI - 4 GREAT FAMILY-FRIENDLY FALL OUTINGS

Wow, October 1st already!  And my mind is swirling with images of pumpkins and hay and corn mazes.  While the Greater Cincinnati area has lots of great destinations for Fall fun, I give you four of my family's favorites:


1.  Fall-O-Ween Festival at Coney Island

I admit to a special fondness for Coney Island any time of the year.  Before King's Island and its acres of incredible roller coasters, thrill rides, and award-winning kiddie area, there was Coney.  It closed when I was a baby and I know its amusement park history only through documentaries and stories from my parents and older siblings.  Still, this small amusement park by the river has a charm all its own, even when I'm not imagining where the painted Yellow Brick Road once wound through the park's "Land of Oz."

Fall-O-Ween features displays, Halloween crafts, farm animals, and a trick-or-treat trail, as well as all the classic Coney rides.  Fall-O-Ween runs weekends now through October 9, from noon to 6 p.m.  More information, including online ticket purchasing, can be found at Coney Island's website here.







2.  Fall on the Farm - Blooms 'N Berries, Loveland, Ohio 

There's nothing like a family farm to make Fall complete.  Located about 20 miles northeast of downtown Cincinnati, Bloom 'N Berries won the 2006 award for "Best Pumpkin Patch" from Cincinnati magazine.  We'd have to agree.  There are lots of kid-friendly activities, games, animals, and a hayride to the gorgeous fields full of pumpkins.  They also have the most fabulous 7-acre corn maze, this year cut in the shape of a train.  (Check out the photo here.)

 Blooms 'N Berries' Fall on the Farm is open weekends now through the end of October.  For prices, directions, and hours, please check out their website here.


3.  Halloween Nights at Parky's Farm, Winton Woods, Cincinnati

Enjoy a hayride through the woods, gather around the camp-fire, and enjoy beautiful lighted displays at Parky's Farm.  Other activities include a moon bounce, obstacle course, not-so-haunted barn (non-moving decorations with creepy music), and a fortune-teller.  Your family might also enjoy The Magic of Phil Dalton and Rock Star Corey's Kids Rock Show.  Halloween Nights is open 6 to 10 p.m., Thursday through Sunday, beginning October 6.  Admission is $6 per person (free for kids under 23 months), but you can save a dollar per ticket by purchasing online here.   Directions and more information can be found at the Hamilton County Parks website here


4.  Hall-Zoo-Ween, Cincinnati Zoo

Enjoy Halloween fun at Cincinnati's first-class zoo and botanical garden.  Children 12 and under can dress in costume and trick-or-treat through the Zoo.  You can also take in Phil Dalton's Theatre of Illusions on Satudays and Sundays at 1 and 3 p.m., get your fingers painted or a tattoo at the Beauty Shop of Horrors, watch giant pumpkin carving demonstrations, and visit the Frisch's pumpkin patch.  Also back for 2011 is the Search for the Golden Frisch's Big Boy.  Find one of the two golden Big Boy statues hidden each day and win your choice of a Frisch's or Zoo prize package valued at $150.

Hall-Zoo-Ween is free with Zoo admission -- $14 for adults, $10 for children, and $8 for parking.  Directions and more information can be found at the Zoo's website here.


So, tell me, what are some of your favorite Halloween traditions or outings?  Please share in the comments!

FAREWELL TO SUMMER

Technically the season doesn't end for a number of weeks yet, but any parent (or student) knows summer really ends with the first day of school.  This morning I loaded my lumbering preteen onto the bus for 7th grade and an hour later loaded my second grader on another bus.  The Professor was droopy and draggy and still mumbling about the unfairness of school starting now.  Foghorn was cheerful and smiling and leaping and doing her version of Kung Fu at the bus stop (complete with bow and hands in prayer formation).  And I have hours of empty time.  Unfortunately I also have no clean socks in the house, an overflowing kitchen sink, and a dining room table loaded with unneeded school supplies, books, dvds, craft kits, and a kids' pilot hat.  Also somewhere on there is the electric bill which really should go in the mail today...




In honor of the first day of school, I give you...


THE 5 THINGS I'LL MISS MOST ABOUT SUMMER

1. The Kids - Believe it or not, when they're not fighting and not mouthing off at me and not destroying my home, I'm actually pretty fond of those two.
2. King's Island and Coney Island Rides - I'll miss you Adventure Express, Beast, Scrambler, and Tilt-A-Whirl.  Yes, Tilt-A-Whirl, I think I'll miss you most of all...
3. Sleeping Late - Never underestimate the power of sleeping past nine o'clock.
4. Staying Up Late - Never underestimate the power of knitting at one a.m. while watching television.
5. No Children's Activities - My children are far less scheduled than most of their peers with extracurricular activities, but nonetheless they have enough busy evenings during the week to get on my nerves.  During the summer we take a break from all that and I revel in the long, unstructured hours.  (Well, unstructured except for the structure I give them, but who doesn't prefer that?)

And it just wouldn't be right if the snark queen didn't also give you...

THE 5 THINGS I ABSOLUTELY WON'T MISS ABOUT SUMMER

1. The Inmates Sleeping in the Basement - They would probably list staying up until all hours watching Netflix in the finished basement and then sleeping there on the sofa beds as a highlight.  From the viewpoint of The Warden, who is trying to sit on the family room couch and do some meditative knitting, the constant screams and crashing sounds from below me start to grate on the nerves...especially at one a.m. (see number 4 above).
2. Sibling Squabbling - No, I have no fond memories of the incessant, nasally whine of, "Stopppppp!" from Foghorn every 10 minutes.  Or the constant interruptions to decide the remote control battle.
3. Sunscreen - From a cancer-preventing standpoint, sunscreen is one of the best things ever invented.  From a convenience standpoint, the crap sucks.  I'm compulsive about protecting their skin, remembering all too well those sunburns of my childhood where it hurt too much to wear clothing and sleep was impossible because I was burned all over as if I'd been rotated on a spit.  At the same time, I get so tired of smearing that stuff on, particularly with Foghorn, who resists the process.  It comes to resemble a greased pig contest.
4. The Total Lack of Silence - To quote the Grinch, "One thing I can't stand is the noise, noise, noise, noise."  'Nuff said.  If you need more info, see #2 above.
5. The Heat - I'm so not a hot weather person.  And I'm a big baby about it because I go from an air conditioned house to an air conditioned van to an air conditioned store, so it's not like I get the full fury.  I admit my whiny-pants behavior where heat is concerned, but anybody who has felt the humidity of a Cincinnati July knows what I'm talking about.  Then there was that heat wave.  Cincinnati tied the record, set in 1901, with 17 consecutive days over 90 degrees.  (We missed beating the record by one degree, I might add.)  I am, however, grateful I wasn't around in 1901 for that other heat wave, with no air conditioning and stuffed in a corset.

Yes, right now I'm enjoying this empty house.  (Well, it's as empty as a house with two cats, two dogs, and a husband with a home office can be.)  And I'm enjoying the structure of knowing when my hours of quiet will be (and arranging any work involving concentration accordingly).  It won't be any time, though, when the thrill of solitude will wear off, much as the sleeping late thrill did back in June.  Then I'll return to bitching about getting up early, dragging kids to activities, and packing those damn school lunches, not to mention the daily torture of homework helping.

But for this moment it's nice to hear birds singing.  Have they been doing that all along?