Week-ending Adventures

Hello, hello.  Because I like to give you all minute by minute updates about our life, our garden, our vacation, what we eat, and our general whereabouts etc... it feels fitting to continue blogging about our weekend even though it's almost the middle of the week. Yolo, right? (can that term be applied to blogging?  I don't know but Khloe Kardishian says it a lot so... I believe it).  Where were we?  Ah yes, back to week-ending adventures.  

 

The summer is quickly coming to a close, which means the Haucks are furiously pounding out the last of our summer fun list.  We did a two for one activity this weekend (is that cheating?) by combining our "picnic" and "Audubon Center visit" into one afternoon. I don't know why we waited so long to check out the Grange Audubon Center in downtown Columbus...because it was awesome! We picked up lunch at Wendy's (don't judge...we packed a nutritious lunch for Max) and set up camp under some shade.  It turned out to be the perfect spot because fire trucks kept whizzing by and Max was in heaven! Then, we hit the trail.  It goes by a pretty cool swingset (though it was smoking hot because as Papa Rob said...it was on top of a concrete jungle). We let Max wander for a bit before hopping back in the stroller and going up the hill toward the refurbished wetland. 

 

(yay for family outings!)

(wetlands boardwalk)

 

We saw tons of frogs in the water and then finally made it into the actual Audubon Center.

We must have looked a wee bit lost because a very kind dad directed us back to the classroom play space.  I have no idea if this is actually open to the public regularly or what...but we took full advantage of the space (and the air conditioning!)  Also the teacher in me was furiously taking mental notes about how neat and child friendly their classroom was.  They had a built in tree structure that also doubled as a puppet theater.  Max loved walking/practically running through it.

 

 

Little known fact about Papa Rob - he loves puppets! haha! Every time he visits my office and it's just us...he manages to pull out a puppet or two.  Now - he has a captive (sort of) audience!

Max was pretty enamored with this Eagle puppet show being put on by Daddy :)

 

 

They also had a dress up corner -- complete with bird wings, butterfly wings, and hats that had bird beaks on them.  I'm a sucker for costumes so I clearly made sure we donned some bird beaks :)  Max is a crow and Papa Rob is some kind of unidentified bird.  Maybe a hawk?  Osprey?

 

 

Once we played around a bit...we were ready to head back to the car.  I'm smart enough to know that we have to be back home by afternoon naptime. If he falls asleep in the car - forget about it. So...we hit the trail once more.  All smiles from our fun! 

 

 

  This is honestly such a cool spot right in the heart of downtown Columbus.  And, when I was in college it was actually the impound lot for cars and towing.  It's a true testament to the commitment of the City of Columbus working hard to "green up" downtown.  They have summer camps, school group programming, special speakers, guided hikes, and even campfires. 

We will be back for sure!

 

xoxo