i saw a kiwi!

In the last 10 years, I have slowly accrued a moderate number of American Airlines miles. Since I have no loyalty to any particular airline, and I fly juuuust frequently enough to prevent my miles from expiring, I found myself with about 40,000 miles set to expire at the beginning of December. In the currency of airline miles, that's the equivalent of two round trip tickets to a handful of domestic cities, two nights in a hotel, or 200 years of subscriptions to Better Homes & Gardens magazine (yes, seriously).

A towering stack of unread BH&G magazines would give me anxiety. Flying somewhere would result in additional costs on our "free" vacation (a ticket for Mae, a hotel, a rental car, etc). Instead, we opted for a couple nights in a fairly swanky hotel in the glamorous city of Columbus, Ohio. We checked in Friday evening and opted for a room with two queen beds, so Mae and I could snuggle while Dan sprawled out in his own bed. This arrangement saved me from having middle-of-the-night panic attacks that Mae had suffocated under a pile of fluffy hotel pillows. In the mornings, we feasted on bagels and breakfast pastries in bed while we watched cartoons. In the evenings we watched movies: "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and "Paddington 2." Highly recommend both for toddlers... Mae was especially entertained by the idea of "hangubbers" falling from the sky.

On Saturday, we went to COSI, a very kid-friendly science museum.

We especially loved the ocean exhibit with the underwater cave area... though I almost had a claustrophobia-induced panic attack watching Mae climb down into the little submarine.

We had fun checking out all the dinosaur bones. Wasn't I smart to dress Mae in her dino leggings? Oops, sorry for cutting your head off in this photo, Mr. Stego.

Mae had fun playing in this dinosaur nest. Dan said, "If someone asked me for a photo that captures my kid's personality, I would show them this."

The art room in the kidspace area had an activity set up where kids could use pipettes to mix red, yellow, and blue water in dishes to make new colors. Mae loved this project, since she is always asking me what different color combinations make. (For the record, pink and pink and pink make triple pink.)

On Sunday, we went to the Columbus Zoo, with my NUMBER ONE goal to see a kiwi bird. I think they are so cute and so ridiculous, and I've never gotten to see one in person. If you are not aware of my love for kiwis, you clearly missed my first blog post ever, in which a kiwi statue almost tempted me to a life of thievery. The kiwi at the zoo was sleeping in a dark exhibit inside a log, but I still got to see it!! Here's me and Mae in a different aviary, right after seeing the kiwi. (Can't stop smiling.)

We also got to see bison and a moose, which were so cool to see up close! Don't worry, this is just a statue. There are no moose rides at the zoo.

We drove home Sunday evening feeling both refreshed and exhausted somehow. This was a much-needed weekend getaway and we had an awesome time!