A Weekend in Toledo

Whew! What a whirlwind the last few days have been for us! We left for Toledo, OH when Peyton got off the bus on Friday, and got back Sunday afternoon. (Oh, and take a peek at my packing post here, to see how we maximized space in our suitcase!)

We woke up to so.much.freaking.rain. We had plans to head to the Toledo Zoo, but trooping around in the pouring rain with three kids sounded like the worst idea ever. David saved the day by suggesting we head to the Art Museum. In short, it was AMAZING. It was huge, room after room of breath-taking artwork. However, we did learn that the girls have zero appreciation for fine art. Peyton gasped, and directed attention to every nude sculpture and painting, and announced that one room was “full of boobies”. London ran around, squealing excitedly. And then she discovered that her voice echoed in the super quiet galleries, so that was fun. My favorite part of the museum was how catered it was to children. A bunch of rooms had little, interactive toys and activities for kids to do, to get the crazies out… and the staff all smiled at us, instead of asking us to leave. Two thumbs up for the Toledo Museum of Art!!

We left, and headed to the zoo. We had about an hour until the rain would stop, so we opted for lunch. We thought it would be easier to grab Burger King in the drive-thru and eat in the car (because it was pouring still). It was such a great idea until Adaline had a blow out diaper, and I had to crawl into the back, get her out of her carseat, and change her/clean her up in the middle aisle of my Yukon. We filed that bodysuit as a complete loss.

After that excitement, we figured, what’s a little rain? So we headed to the zoo. Once the rain stopped, we headed in. We were 5 of maybe 30 people in the entire zoo, which was so nice. The rain had cooled everything off, so the animals were very active. London waved and yelled, “bye bye!” to every animal as we walked away. She tried her very best to repeat each animals’ name, too. My favorites were: ella for elephant, meat for meerkat, and mango for flamingo. We were having a great time, and I have to say, it’s probably one of the best zoos we’ve been to. So many animals and such a great layout (and easy to navigate with a double stroller). And then the rain started back up. Light at first, but then it was pouring. We tried to wait it out in the primate house, which was fun for the girls, since everyone loves monkeys. After we realized it was not going to stop, we decided it was time to go, and we had to just pony up. We were sufficiently soaked by the time we got back to the car, but we had an absolute blast! We even made it back to the hotel to catch the last two college football games, so Dave was a happy camper! 

Toledo, I think we will be back soon (but definitely not in the rainy season!!!)