adventure – Page 4 – Adventure. Create. Relate

January 2022 Adventure Date – The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit (Columbus)

January 30, 2022Posted in adventure, fun, Goals, relateTagged adventure, adventure date, fun, Goals, relateLeave a comment

This week, Keith and I got the chance to attend The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit in Columbus, Ohio. It is a traveling exhibit which will be in a different venue each place it goes, so it will most likely vary a little bit as far as your experience. This post is our thoughts an opinions – your mileage may vary.

We both went into this expecting something that it was not. We thought we would be walking through different rooms and interacting with the different spaces. Instead, we were ushered into a very large room that was 2-3 stories high and had 2 mirrored pillars. There were benches and circles on the floor to note where people were supposed to be in order to be socially distanced. We arrived with about 7 minutes left in the continuously running program (it is about 35 minutes long and has a very brief set of credits that roll before it restarts). The last 7 minutes might have been my favorite – we stayed to watch it twice. The Starry Night, Road with Cypress and Star, and The Starry Night Over the Rhone are featured and it is a lot like watching the moon and stars rise and reflect. It was mesmerizing the way that they edited the elements of the paintings together.

I really enjoyed a lot of the paintings featured in the presentation. I did have some trouble with the way it was edited at times. There were times my vertigo kicked in and it felt like I was going to fall. There were times I could not watch because my eyes couldn’t adjust fast enough. However, most of the time it was a feast for the eyes. I loved it when paintings seemed to build in elements or when one part of the painting moved and interacted in some way. There was always something to look at, and the music seemed to work really well with the presentation. The other part of the show that we stayed to watch twice was the sunflowers part. I did not realize how many different types of sunflower paintings he had done, but I really enjoyed seeing all of the different interpretations. I did not love how jarring the editing seemed at that point, but it went with the music I guess.

I am also a sucker for trees, flowers, and all things nature. Van Gogh seemed to agree because there were so many scenes with gorgeous natural settings. The trees that look like they are ablaze with Autumn color are, of course, my favorite. I also love the one that seems to be the woods with hundreds of fireflies.

Overall, it was not quite what we expected, but we walked out satisfied with our experience. We decided that it was 3.5 out of 5 stars – we were not blown away by the editing, but the beauty was overwhelming at times. I would definitely recommend the exhibit to others and we would love to go back and see the next one – we are told that there will be exhibits like this over the next 3 years. The next one appears to be Gustav Klimt starting in March, and we would definitely consider attending if our schedules are open.

Have you been to The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Dude! We’re Getting the Band Back Together!

December 24, 2021January 9, 2022Posted in adventure, create, family, fun, Goals, outschool, relate, teachers pay teachersTagged adventure, create, Goals, relate, updateLeave a comment

During this slow down and wait time, we have had some major shifts in our family. We halted our monthly adventure and create dates, we stayed home but definitely also stayed a bit separate. We all have our own areas of the house and we tend to gravitate to them. We have stopped doing many family things unless we are out of town or it is a special occasion. We need to get back to Adventuring, Creating, and Relating to each other more.

At the same time as we have stopped our dates and family nights, I have started 2 new creative endeavors. I am a teacher on Outschool with classes in phonics, crafts, phonemic awareness, confident speaking, and vocabulary. I have thoroughly enjoyed creating games and activities for all of my classes the past 20 months – it has been an amazing creative outlet and adventure in learning new things. This past month, I have taken my creating to another level and opened a Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) shop to sell the materials I have made for my classes. It is a very slow start, but I am really hopeful that this will be another great creative outlet.

What does all of this mean for my blog? Our family (and also our marriage) is definitely ready for some adventure and create dates again – we have done a few new things during this pandemic, but I have not been ready to write about them. It has taken me a long time to be ready to share this part of me again. Looking back at the past 2 years, however, I realized that writing is my way of coping with things, and I have felt a real desire to get back to it. So, my dear friends, I will be back to posting. And, since I have 2 new creative jobs of my own, I will be posting more. The goal will be 3 monthly posts (adventure, create, and relate) and then 1-2 weekly posts (Outschool and TpT shop). It feels good just to be writing this post, so I am certain this is the right decision for me at this time. I hope that it will be a fun and interesting thing for you, as well!

I would love to request that you take a moment to look me up at my two jobs and follow me. If you use my personal link on Outschool as a new family, you can get a $20 credit towards your first class: https://outschool.com/?signup=true&usid=7SKDulCR&utm_campaign=share_invite_link (I am also happy to help anyone interested in teaching on Outschool to apply – my referral code is: 7SKDulCR)

You can find me on TpT at the following link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Sellers-Im-Following/Add/Ae-Speech-And-Language-Services I have a few products added and will be adding a lot more over the next few months. (Right now I am very excited about my Time-Themed Treasure Hunt games for the Vocalic R and R Blend, L, S, and TH sounds – you can find out more about them in my shop.)

I can’t leave you without a little taste of the create, adventure, and relate posts that I wanted to make the past 20 months. I hope you enjoy – let me know below if you want to learn more about any of them. 🙂

We did art with McHarper online for a while.

As I close this post, I want to make 2 promises. First of all, I promise to keep this blog about adventures, creating, and relating. Secondly, I promise to have a fun post about my yearly goals for our family and for my businesses in the next couple of weeks.

If you want to be sure you don’t miss future updates, please join my email list. I have lots of fun things planned for this year and I would love to share them with you!

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February 2020 Adventure Date

March 29, 2020Posted in adventure, UncategorizedTagged adventure, adventure date, nintendo, social distancingLeave a comment

Our February Adventure Date did not go as planned. We had tickets to go to the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University to see their facility. We were going to get to check out how cold their storage for their ice core samples was, along with learning all about their important research. We were very excited. We left with twice the amount of time we needed to get to campus on a normal evening. And then it snowed. And traffic was crazy because, oh my gosh – water falling from the sky! And we ended up really, really late. So, we went to Starbucks, knowing that we could always get two adventure dates in March to make up for it. After all, all of the shows and events we were working on in late February would be over by mid March, right?

Well, here we are in the strangest March I have ever know. Social distancing and staying home is the order of the day, so our schedule actually cleared up about a week earlier than expected. Thankfully, we are a resourceful family, and our library system is awesome. Keith had reserved the game Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening months ago when it came out for the Nintendo Switch. As luck would have it, we got to the front of the line at the beginning of March, just before the library was closed for the foreseeable future.

So, full disclosure, Keith did play this game back in 1993 when it was released for the Gameboy. I did not, but we agreed that we probably didn’t want to pay $60 for a remake game. We honestly weren’t sure how much Keith would remember – it turned out that we didn’t need to worry. Nevertheless, we were pretty excited to start playing on March 8th, a few days before things got crazy. Our only regret is that we played so much of it before we were home all the time… 😉

In the game, you are trying to get all of the instruments that are needed to wake the Windfish. Warning, this post will probably have spoilers, so if you don’t want to see images from the game or know information before you play, please stop reading now. For real, I only have a few photos, and they are mainly things we needed for hints later and then photos of the end. 🙂

This game was really enjoyable. It had a lot of dungeons, complete with puzzles. There were plenty of side quests, and even a couple things we needed to look up hints for because we had no idea how much time we would actually have the game. (We thought the library would need it back way before it seems it will….) We would definitely recommend playing this – if you are in the Columbus Metropolitan Library area, you could absolutely borrow this for a couple weeks and play through. If you are outside Columbus, I would actually pay the $60 for this game. It took a good amount of time to get through, so you will definitely get your money’s worth. Here are the photos I remembered to take of the game. I won’t tell you which mysteries they help solve, though, you’ll have to figure that out yourself.

See, I told you there were spoilers. I won’t completely ruin the ending, though. You’ll have to play to see what happens after the Windfish (which is neither wind nor fish!) awakens.

Have you played Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening? Let us know what you thought of it in the comments!

January 2020 Adventure Date

February 13, 2020Posted in adventureTagged adventure, adventure date, escape room, Paint and Escape, Sherlock HolmesLeave a comment

An escape room has been on our list since this blog began, and we were finally able to make it happen! We gave it to the family as a gift for Christmas, and we were all very excited. I found an excellent Groupon for a place in Pickerington called Paint and Escape. We were scheduled to be there January 15th, but we had a very sick kid and one just barely on the mend that day. The woman that owns the business was very wonderful to work with and moved us to January 29th.

When we arrived for our adventure, the first thing we had to do is sign in and choose a team name. When we were doing this, the owner of the business realized she had lost her car keys on the way into the venue that evening, and she was having trouble finding them. Keith went out with her and found the keys, so Team Key Finders was born.

It was finally time to enter our room – this is the door, the only photo I could take without giving anything away. I will tell you that we had a great time tearing apart the room looking for clues. We found most of them and figured out a lot of things, but we did use a couple of clues from the room owner. It was a great time of bonding and working together, and I would absolutely recommend it to other and also do it again with our kids and/or other friends. It felt good to be working puzzles again – we need a new Zelda game soon Nintendo!! 🙂

Paint and Escape in Pickerington has the room we did and also a room geared towards a younger crowd aged 8-12, I believe. It was an excellent first experience for 3 of the 4 of us – Madeline has done about 5 escape rooms at this point and is our resident expert. If you have done an escape room you would recommend, please let us know in the comments – Charlotte wants to do one with friends for her birthday this year.

December Adventure Date

December 29, 2019Posted in adventureTagged adventure, adventure date, axe throwing, lumberjacks, throw nationLeave a comment

At the beginning of the year, when I came up with the adventure and create date goal for this year, one of the things I really wanted to do was axe throwing. It has always been in the back of my head each month, but sometimes it was a time issue and sometimes it was an expense issue. So, seeing as December is the end of the year 2019, we decided to make it happen over Christmas Break. I found a Groupon which made Throw Nation (off Sawmill Road in Dublin) a slightly better deal than other places. I also knew it would have free parking, so we booked a session for the day after Christmas.

I had no idea that by booking our session for 4 pm, as soon as they opened, I was actually making an error. It turned out that they somehow did not have the right amount of staff to deal with all the people booked at 4, so they told our group we would have to wait “about 10 minutes” and then they would get us started. We proceeded to wait for 30 minutes for someone to realize that we had fallen through the cracks. They helped every other group, including groups arriving after our start time and we are pretty sure some walk-in customers. When they finally remembered us, they tried to put us in with another pretty large group, potentially ruining not only our experience but theirs as well.

It was finally worked out that we would be taught how to throw and then have a lane to ourselves to play a few games. This actually ended up being perfect, and we really enjoyed throwing the axes. It was difficult, but not so much that we were unable to hit the target a good amount. It was minimally frustrating. 😉 Here are some action shots of both of us.

We both hit the bullseye at least a couple of times. Here are some photos of axes in targets.

In the end, we had a really great time. Keith beat me two games, but I surged back in the last game to take the overall best score. I credit working on my throw technique and aim in the second game with my third game success.

In the end, we really enjoyed throwing axes, but our backs were also very done by the end of the third game. I can see us doing this again, but I know we will not go to Throw Nation. Although everyone else there that day would probably have a glowing review, I do not want to the chance that we could be the people that slip through the cracks again. I would also not recommend the Groupon. I felt it made it really hard to ask for a refund and walk away. It did not save us that much money, especially since we did not get the true “arcade game” group experience and only ended up throwing axes for about 45 minutes. As Keith said on facebook, “Will I throw axes again? Yes. Will it be at Throw Nation? Definitely not.”

We will definitely be continuing our adventure dates next year – do you have any ideas for things we have not yet tried? Let us know in the comments. We wish you all a safe and Happy New Year!

November Adventure Date

December 10, 2019Posted in adventureTagged adventure, adventure date, Christmas in Ohio, National Trail Raceway, wonderlightsLeave a comment

So, my car decided to break the day before Thanksgiving. We had it towed to our garage, but they couldn’t even look at it until the following Monday. So, our plans to do an escape room as a family this weekend were changed to be a little more economical. Did you know that there is a huge light display called Wonderlights Christmas In Ohio in Hebron, Ohio at the National Trail Raceway? It is $7 per person for the first 4 people and then there are different charges for different capacities of vehicles. We figured $14 to be in our warm, dry car and drive through an adventure sounded like a great deal. 🙂 So, armed with Starbucks beverages and our Christmas spirit, we headed out to check it out.

While you can see most of the lights from National Road before you even turn into the Raceway, we found there are still a lot of surprises! There are arrows and lights to guide you through the display, and lots of figures along the trail.

Our favorite parts were the drive thru tunnels of lights, though. There were so many! It was great!

We enjoyed most of the music, although we were quite surprised to hear “Proud to be an American” in the rotation. Some songs we knew, and a decent amount that we did not. We never heard a song repeat, and we kept the station on for a quite a ways back towards Pickerington on 70. We did pause for a selfie before we headed back to town. Only one adventure to go!! What do you think our final adventure for 2019 should be? Let us know in the comments!

October Adventure Date

November 8, 2019Posted in adventureTagged adventure, adventure date, top golfLeave a comment

So, after we completed our deck, we were still in need of an Adventure Date. What better way to celebrate our success than to go to Top Golf?!? Keith had been a couple times since it is right by his office, but this was my first time. We ended up there on a half off Tuesday night, so that was even better! Here are some photos of the set up for Top Golf.

Keith and I ended up playing the Top Golf game, which gives you points for whatever target you hit. In a super surprising twist, I beat him in 2 of the three games! This is proof that no matter how little skill you have, you can have a great time at Top Golf!

Here are some action photos – the bays are heated, so even though it was chilly, we didn’t need to wear our coats while playing. It was nice and cozy.

In addition to the golfing games, we got to enjoy fantastic food and drinks! Veggies with hummus, sliders, flatbread pizza, and wonderful sangria. It is not cheap, but it is really yummy and perfect for a special treat. Obligatory food photos below.

Overall, we had a really great time and I would definitely go again. I would highly recommend this date to anyone that can swing a club. I think we will take the kids next time. 🙂

September Adventure Date

October 3, 2019Posted in adventureTagged adventure, adventure date, bridgeport, gahanna, ghost walk, ohio herb centerLeave a comment

On Friday, September 13th, the Ohio Herb Center offered a Gahanna Ghost Walk. With visions of ghost stories and strange phenomenon in our heads, we headed to meet our group. We were told it would be a 90 minute walking tour with light refreshments following.

Our tour started with the history of Bridgeport, Ohio, the name of the portion of Gahanna we were going to be exploring. After a brief overview, we headed out just down the street from the Ohio Herb Center to the site of what was once the Mifflin Inn. In front of the building is the oldest stone step in Gahanna. There are also two big windows where you may see a ghost cat. (The step and windows are not pictured because we talked about them from the back of the building because of traffic noise from the street.) First stop and already a ghost story? This was going to be great!

Our next landmarks were given quick mentions. We saw The Olde Gahanna Sanctuary (built in 1895 by Peace Lutheran Church) and the Shepard Street School, but no real stories or history of either was given. Our next stop was 120 N High Street at the former house of Harry Bower. Apparently Harry was known as a strange fellow that bathed in the creek and constantly had to kick kids out of his back barn. Kids were always trying to get a peek at the glider (think light airplane) he kept there. Interesting sounding fellow, but not exactly spooky or supernatural.

We learned a bit more history on the way to our next destination – the site that was once the apartment building where Dr. Sam Sheppard once lived. Apparently was a doctor living near Cleveland with his pregnant wife when he came home one day to find she’d been murdered. Sam was tried by 2 separate juries 10 years apart and eventually acquitted of the crime. After his release from the State Penitentiary, he took up residence in The Executive apartment building in Gahanna, where he once again began seeing patients as a doctor. In our current day, the apartment building was tore down and that land now holds a parking lot and office building, so no photos there. No ghosts, either, apparently, although this was at least a true crime type of story.

Next we traveled back to the Ohio Herb Center, which is housed in the Naffzger-Miller House. They have an old butcher shop that was relocated to the backyard when the building was expanded by the family that lived there. No ghosts mentioned in the butcher shop, though. There is a potential ghost in the upstairs of the Naffzger-Miller House, so we were allowed to see that room. We were also given some lovely ginger snap ice cream sandwiches and lemon balm iced tea.

Photo of the original location of the butcher shop

Overall, we were pretty disappointed in this tour. If we had gone in thinking we were going to learn about just the history of the area, it may have been more satisfying. Our guide definitely knew her history and was extremely passionate about preserving it. But only 2 ghosts and a questionably spooky doctor (who was acquitted for a murder that did not occur in Gahanna) do not really make a 90 minute ghost tour live up to its name. We would recommend it to history buffs, but not to ghost entusiasts or thrill seekers.

August Adventure Date

August 9, 2019Posted in adventureTagged adventure, adventure date, alt eats II, columbus food adventures, hong kong house, jui thai asian cafe, mediterranean food imports #2, poong mei asian bistro, tea zone bakery & cafe1 Comment

A Columbus Food Adventure has been on my radar since the start of our Adventure dates, so when our friends Brent and Jenny asked if we wanted to do one with them, our answer was immediately yes! After figuring out food preferences and schedules, we decided the Alt Eats II Tour would be the best fit. It was so much fun you guys! And the food was amazing – I can actually see us going back to each place and I’ve promised my dad some Korean food the next time they visit. 🙂

Our tour started at Jiu Thai Asian Cafe. They serve northern-style Chinese cuisine including their hand crafted biang biang noodles. Along with the noodles, we had dumplings and skewers of lamb and fish tofu. We were concerned when we saw the chili pepper flakes in the noodles, but they were not too spicy when paired with the other food. The dumplings were our favorite, but we did not have anything we wouldn’t try again. The most unique thing was the fish tofu. It was not tofu, it was made from fish but had a soft texture like tofu. Not bad, but interesting and definitely different.

fish tofu
lamb skewer and dumpling
biang biang noodles

Our next stop was Tea Zone Bakery & Cafe. It was a 30 second drive across the Microcenter parking lot. We were there to sample the Bingsoo, a yummy shaved ice/ice cream/fruit/tapioca dessert, but they had oolong tea and baked goods to take home, so we had to do a little extra shopping. The rice flour donut with red bean paste in the center is especially good, and the kids liked the mocha cake we got for them. We really enjoyed the Binsoo – definitely something you want to split with at least one other person, though. A really nice summer treat.

oolong tea
bingsoo
my portion after it was mixed

The third stop on our tour was actually a little grocery called Mediterranean Food Imports #2 with a small kitchen in the back. We were told they made the best falafel in Columbus. After trying it, that may just be the case. We had some time to check out the store while they were making the falafel, and we spotted these Smurf marshmallows from Haribo – haven’t seen Smurf merchandise for quite a while.

Smurf marshmallows?!?
falafel – so yummy!

The next stop was Poong Mei Asian Bistro for some Korean food. We were pretty thirsty by this point, so we got some adult beverages to enjoy as we waited for our food. Plum wine and Asahi definitely take us back to our time in Japan and make us smile! The Korean dishes we tried were so good! We had bibimbap, a green onion omelette, and mountain yam noodles. We also had some little dishes of “snack” foods like kimchi, steamed egg, pickled radish, etc. We will definitely be taking my parents here the next time they visit and we highly recommend it if you want Korean food.

bibimbap
pouring Keith’s Asahi – I’m a little out of practice
small “snacks” to go with our meal
Jenny and Brent
Keith and Autumn
my plate

Our final stop on the tour was Hong Kong House. This restaurant specializes in foods from Sichuan province which had me a little worried. I don’t necessarily enjoy super fiery foods. I didn’t need to worry, though, because the dishes we had did not start out super spicy and I could stop eating (or had to stop eating because I was full!!) before they built too much heat. We had a noodle dish, a fish dish, some great green beans, and really delicious crunchy chicken. I was enjoying the food, company, and conversation so much I forgot to take photos until I was almost done eating. Sorry about that! We were told that summer is their slow season – once Ohio State is back in session it is quite busy with all the students from China. So, if you want to check it out, be quick! 😉

the remains of my plate – you can see a little of the fish, crunchy chicken, and green beans

We were loaded back into the van one more time to be taken back to our cars a Jiu Thai Asian Cafe. We really enjoyed the tour and it was fun to have an adventure with another couple. Have you been to any of these restaurants? What is your favorite Asian dish? Let us know in the comments!