Trip to Columbus, OH

Saturday we took a spontaneous all-day trip to Columbus to visit COSI (Center of Science and Industry) and the Columbus Temple. Jason said he wanted to go to the Columbus Temple sometime and since it's a 2-hour drive to get there, we decided to make a day of it and go to COSI as well.

COSI in Columbus, Ohio

We arrived at COSI a little before 10:30 and stayed until almost 3:00. There was so much cool stuff to see and do that it would be fun to go back sometime!

Ethan, of course, liked anything and everything that had to do with balls. These pipes would suck up the balls and shoot them out the top again. Ethan loved it.

This fulcrum activity was also pretty cool. I'm lifting up a 2013 Honda Accord. You can see that there's another place to try and lift the car closer to the fulcrum point but it was impossible for Jason and I to lift it there.

More balls! This time in water. :)

Ethan thought these pipes that suspended the balls in air were pretty cool, too.

But Ethan's favorite activity was throwing balls into this "gadget." He never even came close to making it, but he sure had a lot of fun trying! :)

COSI had a special focus on early childhood that day so we went through some centers and they dressed him up as a zoologist after he was immediately drawn to the toy giraffe. Then they gave us this picture and frame along with an early childhood kit.

While we were there we also went to the IMAX theater to see the National Geographic documentary "Jerusalem." Jason did a study abroad in Jerusalem just before we were married so it was cool to see a few of the sites he visited. The movie was different than we expected, but the aerial views of the sites and surrounding areas were spectacular! We even got to see it in 3-D. Ethan came with us, but he mostly saw it in 2-D since he kept taking off his glasses. I didn't know if Ethan would make it through the movie since the two previews shown really scared him. Ethan is super sensitive to music and he didn't like the dramatic trailer music. Fortunately he was able to calm down once the actual movie started and he was mostly ok throughout so that we could both watch.

Watching "Jerusalem" in 3-D

From COSI we grabbed something to eat at Subway and headed to the Columbus temple. I went in first while Jason watched Ethan and then we traded. The Columbus Temple looks very similar to the Louisville Temple and has almost the exact same floor plan. The surrounding grounds are small but beautifully kept.

Columbus, OH Temple

Some of my favorite Spring flowers on the temple grounds

When it was my turn to watch Ethan, I took him to a nearby park so he could play. He did amazing well all day despite not having a nap and didn't even fall asleep until we were halfway home. I'm so glad he is easy-going so that we can do adventurous things like this without a total meltdown. Jason and I were completely exhausted by the time we got home around 9:00.

Young Women's Medallion - I love how it has the red ruby referring to Proverbs 31:10 "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."

In Sacrament Meeting on Sunday I received my 2nd Young Women's Medallion Award. I completed the Personal Progress program as a youth and received the Medallion but since the Church has completely changed the program several years ago I decided to do it again so I would be more familiar with it and could better help the Young Women. I started it 3 years ago and just finished it the other week. The program includes doing 6 experiences for each of the eight Young Women values: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice & Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, & Virtue. I also completed a 10-hour project for each of the eight values. I'm glad I finished it. It has definitely kept me closer to Jesus Christ and has motivated me to do some projects that I wanted to do, but just needed a reason to do them. Hopefully I can continue the pattern of setting goals/projects for myself and then completing them.