Last night a few fellow, Columbus bloggers (her, her and her) and I attended a shindig put on by Experience Columbus.

It was fun to meet some new people as well as catch up with some ladies (her, her, her) I haven’t seen in a while.   (Sorry if I caught up with you and didn’t link to you, I had Jenl’s ice cream on the brain and it took my techy self way too long to do that many links!)

Abby made sure I didn’t forget about her- or she might kick my stretchy pants covered butt!

They are trying out a new add campaign and we got to preview it and comment and snack and all that good stuff.  Best of all we get to customize a free T-shirt from a local vendor!!  Definitely the best gimme!  Anywho, there campaign is based on what Columbus doesn’t have.  I am a bit leary of this ad concept.  I get that we don’t have bragging rights to the Eiffel Tower, or the Alps.  I don’t think anyone in the three hour radius (those who most visit for leisure) is looking for those things.   I am guessing you would be coming here to visit family, you probably have kids..or you are coming here to shop or visit OSU.   Most every city has a zoo, malls, possibly a science center, art museum etc…I think there ad should focus not only on what we do have but the oddities, off the beaten path, free, and different things Columbus has to offer.

Because I do not have three hours to type out a really great add for Columbus, I will just list some of our greatnesses!

1. The short North-try to visit the art district on the first Saturday evening of any month, year around and you will not only be entertained by the street performers, the open galleries  and stores, many different  eateries and bars, but by the people that attend.  Some of the best people watching around. We are The Indie Arst Capitol of the World you know!  And the short North will prove how serious Columbus takes its Art.

2. The Park of Roses-Come here anytime through out the summer and be amazed by the Award winning rose gardens.  Or come in the winter and hope there is some snow!

3. In the summer you can check out either one of these great free water attractions with your kids:  The Dancing Bunnies or Homestead Park.  Now neither of these are in Columbus proper but really no matter where your staying, it is fairly easy to get around here.  Especially is you aren’t in rush hour traffic.  But if you want water and you want to stay in the city-there is not only shopping galore (for those with money to spend!) but there are also free fountains to play in at Easton .  There are waterfalls to play in here in Columbus  too.  Did you know that?

4.We have great shopping!!  Some of the best thrift stores are here!  Village Discount, Ohio Thrift as well as several Salvation Army’s and Goodwills and Volunteers of America stores.  Antique stores like crazy!

5. Music and Food.  Where do I begin??  Every type of authentic ethnic food as well as American eateries can be found here.  We have many vegan and vegetarian options also.   Now as far as music-well I think we have another title there too-aren’t we like the best new up and coming talent, hot live music scene too?

Well I could go on and on, beleive me I have so much more,  but this took me too long and  maybe someday I will do an insiders scoop of Columbus on the cheap-with and with out kid activities.  Or better yet maybe someone will PAY me for all my good info!

So in a nut shell – Come visit us!  There’s lots to see and do both ordinary and extraordinary.  If you are planning a trip to our fair city and your are looking for something to do-drop me an email and I can certainly point you in the right direction!  I can be like your internet travel guide!!

Moooooooooooo from Cowtown.  Go Bucks.  O_H_I_O We have a little bit of EVERYTHING here!  That’s my new add campaign :

COME TO COLUMBUS-WHERE THERE REALLY IS A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING!

Rainy Day Window

The Grimaldi Circus took the stage a bit later than scheduled.  They made it about 10 minutes into their performance when the winds kicked into high gear and they were told to cut the show as a bad storm was a comin’.  And boy did it come.  The skies opened up and pounded festival goers with a steady hard rain.  It didn’t take long for someone in the crowd to slide down the muddy bowl.  And it took even less time for about 60 other people to follow.

Jake joined in the mud sledding too.  But he had to take it a step further.

Ahhh youth!

Happy Comfest!

Insert drum roll…………………………………….

And look what she won!!!!

James Cooter the cat not included!

Thanks for all the great comments!  This was fun, maybe we can do it again soon-even before post 200!

Yesterday was a day fit for water!

Molly noticed the rainbow and of course, I ran for my camera!  I took about a hundred photos!!

Later in the day we headed to some water fountains to play with some friends.

There was a bigger fountain located on the other side of the mall.  The teenagers led the tweens over there like ducks in a row.  Jake was laughing so hard he could barely keep up!

Then it was off to Thursday potluck.

I need to make another pot of Joe-it’s been a slow morning!!  I need more caffeine to get me moving today.  There is some painting on the agenda for this afternoon.

Here in Columbus we often skip Spring. It seems to go from cold to hot almost overnight. But not this year. We have had chilly nights and 60 degree days and lots of sun and a good bit of rain. But not today. Today was another beautifully breezy day. Only warmer. Which is fine by me. I am a girl of summer!

We filled the baby pool with water and added blue food coloring, shiny star marbles, jewels and a fishing pole and fish.

And after lunch we tried to make bracelets out of old tooth brushes. It didn’t work, at all! I hate when there are directions for a project and it fails.

First we tried to pull out the bristles with tweezers. Ha-If you didn’t have carpel tunnel before you started this project You certainly will when your finished .

Ginger enjoyed trying to do this, but Molly turned to scissors!

So that was the first hint that this project was going to be tough.

Next we boiled a pot of water, added the tooth brushes.

We carefully removed one and with a towel wrapped around the HOT tooth brush, we tried to bend it around the bottom of a glass.

It barely bent, we re-boiled several times. Dancing on chairs and stools seemed to help the time pass.

tried different brands of tooth brushes…. Failure #1

Failure #2, after boiling and bending several times:

Then we Threw in the towel. Actually I threw the now germ free tooth brushes into the stack of cake pans still on the counter from the metal tooling project and headed out to drop the kids at my Mom’s for some cable TV while I grocery shopped.

So my advice is Don’t Try This At Home!!!

But I like the photos from this-they are so unexpected.

We dragged out the really heavy tub of real clay. Not play dough, not modeling clay, not sculpey or plasticine, but real clay. It is so different than the others. It is real! We bought ours a long time ago-if properly wrapped  the clay will not dry out and will last a long time. Check your local phonebook for a place near by that sells clay.

It is a little hard at first but unlike modeling clay, it will become a bit more pliable, but then it dries out. Having a bit of water nearby to wet your fingertips is a good idea.  Yet, you don’t want to soak the clay either.

You can add some tools if you want or not. We used a mallet, roller, butter knives, among a few others.

Molly is our resident expert in all things clay. She has been taking hand building and pottery wheel classes for about 5 years now. She worked with a chunk for a while, then pounded it flat, then rolled it then cut shapes out with a knife. She used wet fingers as glue and to make the clay more pliable.

I suggested we make some pinch pots but they had other plans. That was fine, maybe next time. It has been awhile since we have had the clay out so they just wanted to mess round. She made a table, chairs and a highchair-and some people too.

Ginger mad a few things too, and put hers in the sun to dry. This clay is a lot about process and not product-unless you have an experienced participant and they have played with the clay many times before or if your younger child sees your older child making a particular something. Really this clay is an experience-to squeeze, pound, poke and smash.

We will air dry our clay pieces because our kiln is not working. Air dried pieces are not as strong and will not hold water. This is a great outside activity. It can get messy but it all washes off. Also, you do not want to let any clay go down your drain -hand washing is OK but no chunks or sludge! They worked with the clay for almost 2 hours this afternoon. It was very relaxing for all of us!

Today the circus arrived in town. We headed down the street after our circus class today to catch the Barnum & Bailey animals walk from the train cars that they arrived in, to the arena where they will be performing later this week. We waited about an hour. The kids passed the time by rolling on the front lawn of a business I later realized had a nice little green flag alerting the public of the recent application of lawn chemicals. Damn!! As the time past our excitement was building. Clowns, music, bright colors and festive atmosphere! Boy were we mistaken!

First there was the truck. Then there were the elephants.

Then there were horses.

Then there was the street sweepers and it was over. Damn again!

Thinking this may be an all day event, we were pretty sure we were going to miss Art class today. But after the quick animal parade we headed to another side of town for a group project of watercolors on plaster, broken into pieces to make a sort of puzzle. The results were really nice. On the way home we stopped at an old railway museum so Ginger and I could take some photos!

What were Molly and Jake doing you ask?!