24 Hours in Cincinnati Sans Kids

The overnight trip to Cincinnati with my Girl Scout troop gave me an idea.

Matt loves baseball. I like baseball. There's baseball RIGHT THERE in Cincinnati, so why not go see it for his birthday?

Why not, indeed!

I even used my brand-new knowledge of the Roebling Suspension Bridge to get us a cheaper hotel room across the river in Kentucky, within walking distance of the baseball stadium via the bridge. And sure, I might be more interested in the baseball players' walk-up songs than I am in the baseball, but the baseball IS still interesting, and it was a beautiful night, and Matt was happy to keep me supplied with a never-ending assortment of baseball snacks, so a good time was had by all. 

The next day, I took the opportunity to right one more travel wrong in our lives: Matt had never before been to Jungle Jim's!

I even brought a cooler this time--I was THAT prepared for Jungle Jim's.

When I take the kids to a big international grocery like this, I pretty much let them put whatever they're interested in into the cart. Matt and I were only slightly more selective, ahem, and we ended up with an eclectic international assortment of Traverse City cherry whiskey and Jaffa Cakes and kimchi and Pimm's No. 1 Liqueur and pinata candy and sour cherry juice and soup dumplings and tiramisu and stroopwafels and my best find ever: CLOTTED CREAM!!!

I still haven't mastered the baking of scones, but fortunately, clotted cream is also delicious on bagels.

It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but even being gone less than 24 hours meant that my favorite ballerina had to manage the most stressful ballet day of the year on her own, with nothing more than my screenshots of the schedule and phone call reminders and text reminders and reminders to text ME and a little light stalking on Life360 to assist her:

Fortunately, everything went great even without her Smother Mother in the same state, and in next month's world premiere of the local university's brand-new staging of The Nutcracker, you'll find my favorite ballerina 1) leading the mouse brigade and 2) dancing under Mother Ginger's metaphorical skirts.

I'm told that the mice might be wielding sporks this year, and some of the Mother Ginger kids have jump ropes. I am VERY excited to see them!!