I like to do recaps of trips we take, highlighting our spending decisions. For spring break, we had planned on doing a big trip out west. Ultimately, we decided the kids were still too little to push such an itinerary. Along that timeframe, I also started a new job, where taking a week off just didn’t feel right, and then Mr. ODA had the weight of “what’s happening in the government” on us too. So we decided to do a long weekend to Columbus and Cincinnati Ohio, which aren’t extravagant, but met our needs with little kids.

We went to CoSI in Columbus, which was a perfect day. We explored that city one day, went hiking on another, and then went to a Reds game.

ENTERTAINMENT: ~$200

We went into this trip for a specific entertainment purpose, so we knew we’d spend money on those things. We bought 4 tickets for the 5 of us to get into the CoSI museum. It was well worth it. We were there before opening and closed the place down. The kids had a great day.

On day 2, we explored Columbus. It was a little chilly, so it wasn’t great being outside. We went to a nature center and walked around inside, doing their little coloring activities. Then we did an obstacle course that was meant for adults, but the kids gave it their all. Outside of lunch at McDonalds and ice cream at dinner, we didn’t spend anything this day. We were able to get back to the condo for the littlest to take a nap, so the day worked out really well.

On day 3, we packed up from our condo and went hiking at a state park. It was a really nice day and the kids did so well keeping up and walking the whole way (well, the 2 year old was in a pack). We checked into the hotel and then went to dinner at a sit-down restaurant, which killed some time.

On the final day, we ate breakfast and the kids went swimming at the hotel. Then we packed up, drove into KY to find free parking, walked across the Ohio River to the Reds stadium, and spent the afternoon at the baseball game. The Reds have a kids play area, which was right at our seats. Surprisingly that didn’t pose an issue with the kids; we went to our seats and watched the whole game. It definitely helped that it was barely more than 2 hours of game time! Then we all walked back over the bridge (this was impressive to me with 2 kids walking) and got home before bed time.

LODGING: ~$900

We like to pick an AirBnB type place for our trips. Our youngest still required a pitch black room for sleeping. We also just want to be able to put the kids to bed, but stay up ourselves. We booked a condo (which I try to avoid so I don’t have the stress of keeping kids quiet for neighbors), but it was awesome. There was a pool table in the lobby, it was easy to navigate, and we didn’t have any sound issues. It was walking distance to CoSI and we had a surprise art fair right outside one night. I just wish it had been a bit warmer so we could have used the pool they had open, but I really enjoyed.

We had paid $246 for a hotel night in Cincinnati. We booked it through our Chase travel portal, which becomes relevant later in this story. The itinerary of our trip meant that we wanted to leave Columbus, go hiking for a day halfway to Cincinnati, and then spend the night near the baseball stadium. We figured a hotel would be easiest because we’d get a pool to play in and breakfast handled for us. We checked in, got our things from our car, and THEN the front desk told us “oops – you booked two beds, but we only have a king.” We ended up making it work, but that was frustrating. Then the next day, they had told us they’d take $100 off, but our bill showed about $60 off. We tried to fight it, but they kept claiming they couldn’t do anymore because it was a third-party booking (and yet you could do something?).

FOOD: ~$150

We didn’t go into it pushing that we’d eat at the AirBnB, so that was a nice break from stress. We usually make sure to maximize our food budget by eating meals at our house, but it helped our itinerary this time around to eat at restaurants. We brought breakfast foods since we’re not extravagant breakfast people.

We stopped at Costco on the way up there, which gets us gas and a quick/cheap meal. We ate lunch at the museum on day 2 and made dinner after a long day at the AirBnB. On the third day, we ate lunch at McDonalds (which we’re well-versed in using the app for deals) and made dinner again after getting ice cream out. Then we packed lunch for a hiking day and ate at a restaurant that Mr. ODA was reimbursed for (doing ‘shops). For the final day, we ate breakfast at the hotel and then ate at the Reds stadium the last day. Mr. ODA bought one of the ‘all you can eat’ packages, which worked out well for us.

SUMMARY

I definitely recommend CoSI. Our kids were 6, 4, and 2. All 3 of them had fun, and we had no issue staying the whole day. I don’t think it’s necessary to do a second day. We did two planetarium shows and were able to hit all the sections except the indoor toddler play area (which I didn’t find necessary since we can do that outside a museum). The kids did great at the museum, walking around Columbus, hiking, and going to the baseball game. It was just the right pace that kept us occupied, but not overly busy and stressed.