Seeing double in Twinsburg

When you have twins, it kind of feels like a celebrity status comes with them, at least for the first couple years anyway. You can't walk thru a store without a few people stopping you to ask questions, like the oh so cleverly disguised ones that boil down to "did you have fertility problems?" Or are your BOY and GIRL identical? (tip- they can't be identical for seemingly obvious reasons ;) ) Honestly, it never really bothered me to answer questions. I enjoyed talking to strangers about my kids, so long as they didn't try to touch them- germs! We also weren't in public much because of their prematurity, so I didn't experience it often enough to be overwhelmed by it. We also knew the trick of divide and conquer, each taking one baby into different parts of a store, if we were in a hurry. Anyway my point of this is that when you first have twins it comes with a "celebrity" status and as they age, that fades....and then you go to a twin festival....

I think my kids were just babies when I first heard about the largest festival of twins in the world being in Ohio. I just knew we had to make it there and with family in Ohio, it shouldn't be that hard. Three years later, we found ourselves unexpectedly 2 hours from Twinsburg during that first weekend in August when the festival is held. We drove there in rain that was pouring down so hard you couldn't see the car in front of you, we considered turning back, but pressed on. Twinsburg is such a small town that the festival website doesn't even give you an address, it's just "Twinsburg". From the center of town you just follow the signs, thru the parade route to the location. From the moment you park and start seeing pairs of identically dressed twins, everywhere, you just know this will be an unusual experience. Every set of twins from 5 months to 80+ years old wore the exact same outfit as their twin. So it's easy to spot them at a quick glance. This also makes for interesting people watching. Twins were taking photos of twins and with twins and just appreciating their uniqueness and their similarities all at the same time. People were asking to take photos of Asher and Journey and others gladly posed for photos when we asked.

These twin sisters are due 12 days apart with singletons (that's one baby each). Aren't they adorable?

After our first few interactions with people there, I quickly realized that this is the happiest place on earth! The atmosphere was just so joyful, friendly and warm that even after we had finished seeing everything, I just couldn't leave yet and we walked thru again. Journey loves seeing people on stilts. This is the second time she's seen one. She spotted him as soon as we entered the festival and asked me to take her picture with him.

There are contests for the most alike, least alike, youngest and oldest twins as well as for those that have traveled the farthest. There were maps where you could pin your hometown in a map of the US and the world. Here we're waiting to pin Las Vegas and found there was already another set from there, wish we could have met them.

Grandpa gave us money to buy some things at the festival so we came home with two sets of twin shirts and these twin buttons that received quite a few chuckles and comments- (referring to their birth order).  Asher's says "First Out" and Journey's "Last Out".

There were almost 1900 SETS of multiples (there are some higher order multiples like triplets and quads) registered for this year's festival. The record was 2789 sets in 1995! We will definitely return as the kids get older.

Family {and friends} Reunion

One of my favorite parts of coming "home" to Ohio is when my dad invites everyone over for a reunion. This time it was even more exciting because it's been a year and a half since we've been back and the party was held in my dad's new gym, which is *almost* complete, but already perfect for a large gathering that includes our bounce house, and some basketball after a big dinner.

It's always special to see my aunt, uncle and cousins, and it was an extra treat to see a few friends stop by that I haven't seen in years. I finally got to meet this little one, Presley, the daughter of my friends Shawn and Heather. She is a very precious little girl and I just had to get a picture of our three blessings together! We have thought that our girls look similar, so it's neat to see them together.

One other major highlight is seeing my grandparents surrounded by their kids, grandkids and great grandkids! These are special pictures that will be treasured by all of us, particularly since my grandpa was diagnosed with Alzheimers only a week later.

The first time the cousins met, we took this picture of them. Asher and Journey are about 6 months old here. Notice everyone is holding a baby, either real or play.

We recreated it when they were all together again at 15 months old.

And now at 3 and a half years old...

Think they'll still let us do this when they're teenagers??? I hope so.

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

I lived in Ohio for 20-some years and it wasn't until after I left that I realized people were not kidding when they said Columbus has one of the best zoos around. First of all it's just enormous in size and while I have been gone for 10 years, I would still expect something like a zoo to be somewhat static, and this place is unrecognizable from the zoo I remember. They have rearranged the exhibits by continent, added a train, and even a boat ride, which currently features animatronic dinosaurs along the river.  There is a new African exhibit that is all the rage right now with most of the animals, 150 of them, all together in a savannah setting, the lions appear to be right there with them, an illusion. They have conveniently added a shuttle to more easily access this popular and farthest part of the park.

We returned a few weeks later and my Aunt Jaci and Uncle Steve joined us. We saw the rest of the zoo including the aquarium and reptile exhibits.

The kangaroo exhibit is neat because you walk right thru it, staying on a sidewalk.

My favorite part was the flying foxes! These things are the size of a small/medium dog with noses like a dog, but with up to 6ft wide bat wings! I'm kind of into bats lately, so for me, this was mind blowing!

A winding boat ride takes you thru mist to reveal an animatronic dinosaur display. The best part was the three dinosaurs that spit water at us and the snake that sprung out at us and made us jump in response.

COSI Columbus

No trip to Columbus with kids is complete without a trip to COSI (Center of Science and Industry). My kids are finally old enough to go. I remember coming here with my brother's kids and I longed for the day when I could bring my own child, and finally it was happening! There are 3 levels of interactive exhibits for kids (and adults) to learn from. We checked out the energy saving area first where we learned about different fuels for vehicles including the new electric stations that we have seen in a few cities.

Then we went to the water room, which is not your typical water table kind of stuff. It has a giant rock sculpture that you can spray with water and fountains that shoot up from the floor. 

There's even a submarine that the kids were able to sit inside.

Journey was very interested in checking out the kidspace area that she found on the map. We stayed in that section for hours while they played with the farm, fruit stand, kitchen and water tables.