Monday, January 2, 2012

An Outing with My Kids

This weekend I did something I haven't been able to do for a very long while. I took my kids out. For hours.

For those of you who don't know me or my story, up until a few months ago I walked with a cane and not far. I couldn't drive more than a few miles without getting very uncomfortable. I couldn't stand on a hard surface like tile or cement more more than a couple of minutes. 

I drove them into downtown Cincinnati, farther than I've been able to drive in a very long while. We went to the Cincinnati Museum Center to see the train display. When we got to the parking booth just after a solid rain, a full double rainbow graced the sky. One end of it was amazingly wide and bright and ended on top of a really ugly and apparently abandoned industrial building. It was amazing. We pointed it out to the parking booth guy and held up traffic so he could gawk at it with us.   

The surprising thing about the exhibit is it was less about the trains (no trains in the pictures) and more about the buildings. Half a floor of the Cincinnati History Museum was dedicated to a miniature Cincinnati complete with the original baseball stadium and Coney Island. My kids were mesmerized by the detail in the display as was I.


In addition to the train exhibit, we decided to see the Omnimax movie about trains. We have a three-year-old who has never seen a regular movie in a theatre. We came up with an exit strategy for the little guy while we stood in line forever. The forever part, standing in line for more than twenty minutes on tile, was not good for my foot. I kept my eyes closed for half of the movie to combat the motion sickness, and I felt my foot swell up. 

My little guy did great - he was the only one of us that kept his eyes opened for the whole movie. He laid back on his dad's lap and took in the whole experience. I think he's going to be disappointed when we take him to a normal movie. 

We wanted to go to another museum after the movie, but I couldn't do it. My kids didn't seem disappointed at all, just happy we were able to do everything we had already done. I can't remember the last time we've done something like this as a family. I am looking forward to many more outings this year. My kids were so happy. So was I.

12 comments:

  1. Tonja, that is wonderful! I'm glad you got out and had fun at the museum for a few hours. And those miniatures look amazing.

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  2. Alex - It was really cool. There were hundreds of little people positioned just so in the ballpark. One of the houses was on fire and had little fire trucks and firemen working to put out the flames.

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  3. Wow, I'm so glad you were able to get out and enjoy a day with your kids. They'll remember it too.

    Happy New Year. I wish you many more good days ahead like that one. :)

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  4. What a great Holiday Memory you got to make with your children! I pray that this is but the first of many more such outings. May 2012 be a healing, bright year for you! Roland

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  5. Happy 2012!

    I'm so glad to hear you feeling so much better. What an amazing gift that is and to spend time with your family. Fabulous!

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  6. So glad your issues are improving enough to do things like this. It will make a huge difference to your quality of life, even if you need back-up plans for reaching the 'done now' point, which just may happen. I hope things continue to improve!

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  7. How wonderful that you were feeling so good that you could have this perfect day. Keep it up. There are more perfect days ahead.

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  8. LG - It will definitely be a day we will all remember, especially that freaky rainbow.

    Roland - Thank you! I am very hopeful that it will be a much better year for doing things with my kids.

    MPax - Thanks! It does feel like a gift. I wonder if I would appreciate it as much if the injury never happened.

    Hart - My kids are used to the back up plans. It's good that I don't have to send them out on a reconn mission to see how the floor is before I can go in!

    Karen - Thanks!

    Michael - One day at a time. They may not be perfect, but perfect enough.

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  9. Sounds like it was a great day. I've always been fascinated with miniatures. They're just so... Well, small.

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  10. Matthew - :)

    Rusty - I know, what's with that?!

    Nicole - It really was. My kids and I decided we're going to do something together at least once a month to make up for the past two years - even if it's just laser tag or going out to see a movie.

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