The House That Jack Built

Happy 2nd B-Day Olivia! 

I did my best to sleep as late as my body wanted. I ended up rising at 7:15am. I felt pretty good. I put on a pot of fresh coffee then quickly worked through my exercise routine. The sky was cloudy yet the last forecast I saw called for partly sunny skies. Unfortunately, though, the high wasn’t expected to leave the 50’s – a far cry from the low 80s we experienced just two days prior.

 After walking Ykraps I returned for some coffee and quiet time. I downloaded pictures and perused the internet. I heard Olivia’s cries at 8:30am. I rushed up the stairs to see what was the matter. She had dropped her hair tie and was ready to get up. She was very happy to see me!  She asked for Mimi, so I took her in our room. Mindy was just waking up. She hardly got settled before I whisked her off for a morning diaper change. Afterwards, we returned to my room where she played in our bed for a few minutes prior to heading downstairs.

 By then, everyone was up. Mindy & I both worked at getting the kids squared away with breakfast requests. Bella really wanted bacon but that just wasn’t in the cards. We took a very leisurely approach to the morning. I didn’t hurry off on my run like usual. Instead, I waited for Mindy to be at a stopping point. I must’ve held off on my run until somewhere near 10am. Aside from it being gray and chilly, it wasn’t too bad at all. My run was rather enjoyable.

 I wasn’t back long at all before Olivia insisted on heading outback for a swing. Me and the kids headed on out. And while the three of us played outdoors, Mindy got in the shower. We played on the swings for about 15 minutes – not that long. Afterwards, we ventured out front to feed the ducks some cracked corn. Olivia loves it. She’s very dangerous and must be kept on a short leash lest she’d end up in the pond, I am sure. After just short of an hour, we headed back inside. It was now time for me to get a shower. 

Our plans called for spending what was left of the late morning as well as the afternoon at the Columbus Zoo. I hadn’t been back there since the Xmas zoo lights three years ago. That was not a pleasant experience. Truth is, I’ve never been a big zoo guy in the first place. Still, I was looking forward to going back to see some animals, which I haven’t seen since playing chaperone on an Ashley school field trip some years ago (probably 16 years). Thanks to Mindy, we have a family membership. 

We left for the zoo before noon. The sun still hadn’t popped out and the temperature struggled to get out of the low 50s. To top it off, it was breezy. We took I-270 to Sawmill and then took that to Powell Rd. There’s a new zoo entrance off Powell Rd with an entirely new parking lot and zoo entrance. It’s so much nicer and has the look and feel of an amusement park. We took notice immediately out of the car how much cooler it felt in the wide-open parking lot. Burr! Jacob didn’t bring much of a jacket and complained of being cold. Lucky for him, I gave him a tight wicking shirt that I keep in my golf bag. Once we got walking we were all adequately dressed.

 The new entrance into the actual park looks much like Cedar Point’s – very new, nicely landscaped, and open. I liked it a lot. Mindy was insistent on making a beeline for the western most half of the zoo. That sounded good to me, too. The western side includes the relatively new coral reef exhibit, the apes, and the Australian outback. We visited the coral reef exhibit first. Very cool!  It’s like being in a giant aquarium. To say that Olivia was fascinated would be an understatement. She was way into it, and so was I. It’s funny how the little ones all seemingly know exactly what to do. They tend to lie down on a little ramp right up against the glass putting them face to face with the large sea creatures. In the tanks were several varieties of sharks – about 3 feet long, along with many of the same fish you’ll see when scuba diving in the Caribbean. Very cool! The reef itself is fairly real to life too. The second phase of the sea exhibit was the Manatee and sea turtle pool. That was cool as well. 

After the aquatic exhibit we made our way to the food court where Mindy treated all of us to lunch. The food court is much like you’d find at any local mall, and it contained many of the same food options. This is a huge upgrade from the old food options, which were very limited. The last time that I was there Wendy’s was the only restaurant-type food available. Lunch for the five of us was $35 – a little steep but not terrible. Mindy ran into a former student dining with her parents. She also ran into one of her former Otterbein professors that she claimed as a mentor. She’s a volunteer at the zoo now. 

After lunch we took in the African jungle exhibit. There we saw several different monkeye/ape species. Perhaps most entertaining was Olivia’s interaction with one of the gorillas. As luck would have it, a teenage gorilla came up and sat directly in front of Olivia (not 6 inches between their faces). Mindy witnessed the interaction from across the exhibit viewing from another window where she could see Olivia’s face. The gorilla was sticking out its tongue and blowing spit bubbles. This I could readily see. Apparently Olivia was doing the same thing back. Needless to say, Olivia was having a ball. 

At another indoor ape exhibit all the apes were sleeping. Olivia kept shouting for them to wake up. Mindy & I found it amusing. Not sure the other guests did. After the apes we toured the rest of the African jungle. Lastly, we visited the Australian outback where one finds themselves in amongst the kangaroos. That was cool, too. We all liked that.

 Everybody was getting tired after 3-4 hours of zoo time. Mindy and the kids rode the old carrousel ride before we headed back towards the parks entrance. Olivia was very excited to ride it from atop a horse. Our last stop was the gift shop. Mindy bought each of the kids a souvenir. It was 3:35pm when we loaded back into the Trooper for home. I thought it was much later. 

We arrived home around 4:10pm. The drive home made me extra sleepy. I was determined more than ever to sneak a nap. Olivia was tired too. She went down without any trouble. I went horizontal in the recliner. I slept for nearly 45 minutes. Ashley arrived some time after 5pm. Olivia was woken from a deep sleep. I hate to do that. I was sad to see her go but also happy for the alone time on the immediate horizon since our kids were leaving with Jimaken soon too.

Jim arrived a short time later to pick up the kids. Before we knew it, we had the entire house to ourselves until late Sunday afternoon. Wahoo! 

 It was only 5:30pm. We didn’t plan on visiting Barley’s until 7pm or so. We thought about heading out to look at furniture but opted against it, not being interested in fighting rush hour traffic around Tuttle mall. Instead, I used the time to put down another application of starter fertilizer on my new grass. But that took only five minutes. We used the rest of the time to relax. Time went fast. We placed phone calls to Tom Clark and Tom Wright seeking their company at Barley’s. We haven’t seen either Tom in quite some time.  TC’s been in the Philippines. Not sure if he’s back. 

We left for Barley’s at 6:45pm. The drive went quick. The lot was packed just like it usually is on a Friday evening.  I was surprised and disappointed that they were out of Centennial IPA. Another clue that they’ve taken their eye off the ball. It’s their flagship beer, for crying out loud. How could that be? I opted instead for a guest draft – Stone’s Ruination DIPA. I knew that would be good. Mindy had a Draggin’ Ass Stout. She ordered food even before her first beer was down. That’s something I never do on a play night. For the time being, I didn’t order any food.

 Soon Bob Imber arrived. We hadn’t hung out a Barley’s for a long while. Mary Ann was missing in action – working as reported by Bob. For my second beer, I ordered a bottled guest beer. Two Brother’s IPA – Heavy Handed. I love their Hop Juice. Sadly, however, this was no comparison. It was borderline bad. As the evening wore on, Many Barley regulars showed up – Steve Won, Josh the guitarist, Rick, & brother Tommy. Word has it that Mark is either already in Arizona or taking his dear old time getting there. I was told his webpage contains a GPS tracker tool to pinpoint his exact location. I’ll have to check it out. 

As the evening progressed, I had a little fun stirring up banter about the coming election. I’m truly undecided, but still enjoyed poking fun at one candidate in particular. All in good fun, however. At one point, Bob Imber brought me his cell phone. On the other end was his brother Jim in Wadsworth. He told me that he and Bob recently golfed with the infamous Steve Sign – the former Muff Bros. front man. I was envious. This guy was a local hero in the early 80’s. Bob knew of my love for this guys music after discussing a long awaited reunion concert planned for this coming TG weekend. According to Bob’s brother, the band hasn’t invited Steve. How could this be? In many circles, he WAS the Muffs. I made it clear to Jim (Bob’s brother) that we definitely want Steve there. Hopefully word gets to him. 

We stayed and played at Barley’s until 10:30pm or so. I drank four beers in all. Mindy drove home. We didn’t stay up too late. In fact, if memory serves me, we pretty much went straight to bed.