Tag: Fun

A Carillon Christmas

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Something we do every year is visit the Carillon Historic Park for Christmas festivities. I know it’s still November, but we are trying to fit in as much as we can before we leave. So here we are completing another “last.”

This park is full of Dayton history. Planes, trains, and inventions of all sorts. It’s a year round park – home to plenty of festivals and events, but we enjoy Christmas time the most.

We started out with dinner & a flight of 4oz beers at the Carillon Brewing Restaurant (totally recommend the Ginger Pale Ale). Afterwards, we headed over into the park just before sunset.

At 6pm, the lights come on and your suddenly surrounded by hundreds of white and colored Christmas lights – lining the buildings and trees. There is festive music playing as you walk along in the crisp cool air.

Each building is open to view. There is plenty of history packed into this park, but for Christmas they have it specially decorated with fun Christmas activities – like a letter writing to Santa, puppet shows, and winter cards fresh off the printing press – literally! They print it right in front of you using older print press techniques.

For purchase, you can get chestnuts roasted on an open fire (just like the song!) and fresh made gingerbread cookies that are made from a very old recipe and baked in an open flame brick oven. There is also a couple of cafes, in case you want something more modern like milkshakes, hot cocoa or pretzels with cheese.

CJ’s favorite part was the trains. They have this huge room with old locomotives on display. There are some you can walk through too. You can even pay $1 per person to ride a little train at the far end of the building.

There is a lot of fun to be had at Carillon Park. This year they’ve added another cafe and formal dining hall. One of the things I love about this place is they are ever changing and adding to the historical info.

Oh! I forgot to mention that included in the price of the park, you can go back and take pictures with Santa! Mrs. Claus will happily take your photo for you.

Snovember Update

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That’s no typo.

We woke up to a couple inches of fresh powdery snow covering everything. My toddler ate her breakfast in record time to be able to go out and play in the snow this morning.

It’s also 20° degrees outside today, so we won’t be venturing out. I thought this would be a good time for a quick update. Yes, we are still moving to Arkansas. We will leave Ohio at the beginning of the year. We listed our home for sale and it was under contract in 3 short days (YAY!).

Things are moving smoothly. We are downsizing, packing, cleaning, and trying to soak up everything Ohio. It is sad though – each event becomes a new “last” for us.

Like yesterday we ventured out to Young’s Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs. We ate lunch (cheese curds are life), fed the goats, and got ice cream. I couldn’t stop myself from wondering if this was the last time we’d visit Young’s in the next month and a half that we have left in Ohio.

It’s bittersweet because we love Ohio, but we are very excited for new the adventures that 2020 will bring us.

Otherworld

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It was situated in a desolate parking lot. Where are we? We drove in to be greeted by empty store windows, brand names peeled from the exterior walls with only the glue and sun stain to mark it’s past box store resident, abandoned trash cans, and aging pavement throughout the parking lot.

We were in Columbus, Ohio, which made the emptiness feel even more strange. This is large city crawling with people and then there’s… this? A desert of sorts. This itself was possibly an unintentional (but maybe completely intentional) introduction to the immersion art we were about to experience.

Otherworld.

When you walk in, there are a few ways you can go. There are lights. There are noises. There is art. There are hidden passage ways. There are secrets written in the art. You can make music with the art.

There are eyes everywhere. A room where the light follows you. A room where if you touch the gems on the wall, the shatter. Mirrors echoing neon lights as you walk through them.

You really have to feel your way around because there are hidden rooms right behind curtains that don’t look like curtains. Touch everything. Crawl through everything.

Visit the room full of your childhood toys. Visit the room full of spiders. There is an office full of psychology books. There is a room with a graveyard and large manic looking figures. Twins. Visit the ocean room. Visit the room with the man eating plants, close to the center of it all.

Just go. Immerse yourself in the strange yet beautiful art. Look at it all. Touch it all.

*I would like to add – it is pretty kid friendly. I took my 2.5 year old and she loved it.

Oakes Quarry

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We went on a little adventure recently and guys, this is a true hidden gem. I’ve always casually heard about an old quarry that was turned into a park. Never really thought anything of it even though it’s under 10 minutes from my house – That’s it!

So you know how long it took me to get there? 2 years since I heard about it. Well we headed out there the other night for an evening adventure… and fell in love.

Walking down the rocky path sends you into another existence. I did not feel like I was in Ohio at all. It was 89° and the sun was beating down on us and this rocky desert like scene.

Yes, this is an appreciation post just for an old quarry in Fairborn, Ohio. Pics below and if you live near here – GO! It’s got plenty to see and a nice 2 mile walk amongst the rocks. (There is a quick history below the photos)

I even headed back out there a few days later to do a photo shoot with the ever so lovely and dark Aniyahlationn

Back in 1929, it was surface mined for limestone. The Oakes family purchased it in the 90’s and eventually donated the land to the city of Fairborn in 2003.

The park has a 2 mile foot trail and 1 mile horse trail. It’s the 2nd largest park in Fairborn and it is a beauty. Keep a look out for wildlife and fossils! The last time I was there, we saw swarms of Buckeye Butterflies!

Dayton Dragons

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PLAY BALL!

Sitting on the lawn at a Dayton Dragons baseball game, watching pitches, swings, misses, and home runs…. you never really think about what goes on behind the scenes.

My husband was recently honored as a Hometown Hero at a Dayton Dragons game and with that comes VIP tickets, a swag bag, & a tour through the stadium. It was so eye-opening to see what goes on beyond the field.

We started with the main lobby – full of photos showing honored players who went on to play for big league and memorabilia collection of a record breaking sold-out game streak. Things I never really knew about the Dayton Dragons, even though I’d been to the games.

Next we headed on downstairs. The players were getting ready to play the Whitecaps, so instead of peek into the bustling locker rooms & gym, we were shown pictures of what they look like and why they wore different jerseys depending on who and when they were playing.

Up next? THE BASEBALL FIELD! I never knew how much I wanted to stand on the Dayton Dragons field until I was there. It was a totally different view. Standing there looking at the 6000+ fan seats I found myself wondering how the players even keep their head in the game when all eyes are on them. It’s truly impressive.

Standing on the field was a favorite, but closely following that was when we headed upstairs to see the media portion. Huge towers of servers, screens, buttons… lights, cameras, ACTION! It was so captivating to see all of the people that it took to create the optics of each and every game.

We saw a few more cool photos and heard some fun facts before we headed on down to our seats. I have to mention the food. The concessions at the Dayton Dragons Stadium is very well varied. I vote for the BBQ next time you visit. It was such a cool experience and we were so honored that my husband was chosen for that evening’s Hometown Hero.

Fun fact about the photo above! There are only two weeks in time difference between the last two photos! Can you imagine how much work was put in in those last two weeks?

If you live in the area and haven’t been to a Dayton Dragons game, you need to make it out there! Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the outstanding & hilarious mascots – Gem & Heater – our residential Dragons! They perform the best skits during the game and kids LOVE them!