Weekend Top 5

Some great activities

1) Build and Play at Sprout Soup – Sunday 2pm-4pm
Sprout Soup will have over a thousand Keva Planks out for building and playing with. A fun event for the whole family! We’ll also play some games everyone can enjoy. (FREE)

2) Meet Diego at COSI -  Saturday 10:00AM to 2:00PM
Go spend the day with Diego at COSI and learn a little science while you are there. (Included in Admission to COSI)

3) Winter Puppet Show – Saturday 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Bring the kids out to Three Creeks Metro Park and watch a puppet show about animals getting ready for winter.

4) Familiy Night Out at Westerville Rec Center – Saturday 6:30pm-9:00pm
Come use the gym, game room, climbing wall & pool. Limited snacks included in price. ($5)

5) Columbus Zoo -  All Weekend
Take advantage of the great weekend weather and head out to the Zoo and check out the animals.

 

Zoombezi Bay

My boys won some tickets to Zoombezi Bay at the Columbus Parent Expo so we spent the afternoon at Zoombezi Bay with the family. We even dragged along my in laws so they could play.

The Zoo purchased and renovated completely changed what had been Wyandot Lake two years ago, and we hadn’t been since. We had a blast despite being warned of bad weather by the Columbus weathermen.

The park has a bunch of big slides for the adults and has a large childrens area which was great for both boys. Divided into a few areas, the kids can choose from a small area for the very little ones and a larger area for the older kids including a pirate ship and slide tower great for ages 3 and up, or venture into the large structure from which multiple water slides pour out and a gigantic barrel dumps a hundred gallons of water every twenty minutes.

Heath had a blast in the smaller kids area and also had some fun in the older kids area. There was a few things he couldn’t do, but overall it was accessible to him.

I was also glad we did not have to rent life jackets for the boys. The park has them available free of charge, which is good considering the price tag to get in ($30 for adults and $20 for kids – glad the boys won our tickets).

Alissa and I were able to leave the kids with grandpa and grandma and ride some of the bigger slides (woo hoo).

The one big issue I had with the park is that the big kids area (“Barracuda Bay”) is left over from the old water park and it seems like it has not been very well maintained. The area is supposed to have all these levers and nobs that kids can use to turn on and off water spouts, sprayers and waterfalls. Unfortunately I think about 80% of them did not work. This was very disappointing because this is something Heath really would have enjoyed.

We did end up having to pack up early. They kicked us out of the water when they saw some lightning. It was a bummer because we were just about to take Cedric on one of the bigger slides.

Overall we had a great time and the boys were completely worn out by the end, but the fact that the kids are has not been well maintained was disappointing.

The Columbus Dad’s Weekend Top 5

1 & 2) Columbus Parent Expo and Baby the Planet Expo – Saturday and Sunday

The Columbus Parent Expo and Baby the Planet Expo are teaming up this year to bring you the best baby event in Columbus.  The expo will feature presentations, activities, and vendors. This event is being held at the zoo and is free with admission to the zoo.

3) Central Ohio Folk Festival - Sunday 5-2pm

Come listen to music and enjoy Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park. Event is free, but some workshops do have a fee.

4) Mysteries of Ancient Egypt – Saturday

Check out the mysteriesof ancient Egypt at the Northwest Library in Westerville. Explore thru books, activities and crafts. This is a free event.

5) Saturday Story Stomp – Saturday 11-11:30

Come enjoy stories, songs and dancing for ages 2-5. This is a free event

Birthday at the Zoo

The boys and I were able to make it out to the zoo today for Bohdi’s Birthday celebration today. There were a ton of people there but it was still fun. Luckily we have a zoo pass so we did not have to wait in line to buy tickets.

We went to the elephant area right away because the baby viewing was about to end. He is 3 weeks old now and weighs in at 350 pounds.  He stayed close to his mommy constantly walking under her legs.

Next we went over to check out Bohdi. He was kind enough to pose for some pictures.

Bodhi’s Ice Birthday Cake being carved.

The Columbus Dad’s Weekend Top 5

Here is a look at this weekends top 5 dad events.

1) Bohdi’s Birthday at the Zoo (Saturday, April 18 9-5pm) – The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is celebrating Bohdi’s 5th birthday with a special event. There will be speakers and educational activities throughout the zoo. You can also submit a name for Bohdi’s baby brother that was born recently at the zoo.

2) Opening Weekend at Huntington Ballpark (Saturday April 18 4:05pm and Sunday April 19 1:05pm) – What can be better than celebrating the arrival of  good weather than enjoying a baseball game.

3) Art in Bloom at Columbus Museum of Art (Sunday, April 19 1-4 pm)- Let the kiddos get their hands dirty at this fun event. Kids will look at art at the museum featuring flowers and then have a chance to decorate their own flower pot and plant a seed to grow.

4) Jim Gill Family Concert at Westerville Public Library(Saturday, April 18 10-11am) – A free concert that the kids will love as they get to sing and dance along with Jim Gill.

5) Cosi “Go-Green” Energy (Friday April 17 and Saturday, April 18) – Let your kids explore Green Energy and ways that they can help save energy at home.

If you want to let me know about an event – shoot me an email at thecolumbusdad@gmail.com.