Donut Trail

On the way back from our trip to visit my sister in Columbus we stopped along the way to begin something that my sister had told us about, The Donut Trail. This is located in Butler County, which is just north of Cincinnati, OH. There are 12 donut shops within the county and if you travel to 11 of the 12 locations then you are given a free gift from the county tourism board.

Our first stop we were all excited about the new adventure and Holtman's had so many different delicious donuts. We decided early that we were not all going to pick our own individual donuts because we were planning on stopping at a few different locations. Jennifer and I shared the creme filled long john and the kids shared the incredibly sprinkled donut. Everyone loved this place and I couldn't wait to see what the other shops were going to have.

As much as we liked the first location this one fell completely flat. At Stan the Dount Man we asked for their specialty donut and they told us that the pineapple fritter was a favorite. It left much to be desired and I couldn't even tell that it really had any pineapple flavor at all. Brinley chose to not have anything and Landon tried the donut holes, but said that he didn't even like them. 

The Donut Spot was our third stop of the day and the kids got a regular glazed and Jennifer and I split the creme filled chocolate donut.

The kids were back on track with the next stop. They jumped right back into eating some donuts. Look at these happy kids. This is the most fun they have every had on a trail!

Our last stop of the day came at Jupiter Coffee and Donuts. At our fourth stop of the day the kids were completely over it. So, we only got one donut and Jennifer was being really indecisive and told me to pick. I chose a cake dount with vanilla icing. It was delicious and I found out that Jennifer didn't really like cake donuts, so I got most of this one to myself.

To burn off some of that sugary breakfast we went to play at Top Golf for an hour. The kids loved it and then we returned home. We would have to return another day to finish our donut trail. After school started the kids had a day off for teachers to have a professional development day and we decided to make the trip back up to hit some more of the donut challenge and then go to the zoo. We woke up early and didn't even get the kids out of their pajamas to make it to the bakeries nice and early.

Our first stop of the day was Kelly's Bakery. The kids split this strawberry iced sprinkled donut. Jennifer and I shared the strawberry stick. The strawberry stick was delicious and Jennifer later said that it was her favorite thing of the whole trail.

The kids loved this place!

Landon loves all things strawberry. This was probably his favorite donut of the whole trail.

Next we headed down the road to Mimi's Donuts and Bakery. We sent this picture to the kid's own Mimi.

We switched things up at this spot. Brinley really wanted a chocolate sprinkled donut, but Landon just wanted a plain one. So, Brinley and I split the chocolate covered sprinkle donut and Landon had some donut holes. Jennifer got a mini Reese's donut which had a peanut butter creme on the inside and topped with chocolate icing.

Next we headed over to Ross Bakery. The donuts got messed up in the bag, but this was one of my top donuts. Jennifer and I shared the white iced creme filled donut and the kids split the white sprinkled. Seeing any patterns here with the kids choices? Jennifer said it was too sweet, but I thought it was delicious.

Landon was really enjoying it too!

Next stop was Martin's Donut Shop where we had to watch out for Sasquatch. Here the kids chose to not have any more donuts for the time being. Jennifer and I had a hard time picking out a donut from here because they all looked so good! 

We finally decided on the cronut (croissant + donut) with a cream cheese filling. It was absolutely delicious!

Sharing a donut with the wifey. This was definitely up there on the favorite list for me.

Stop number 9 was at the Central Pastry shop. The kids again chose no donut, and Brinley apparently didn't even want to participate in taking a picture with the "donut trail" painting on the wall.

The lady at the counter told us that the cinnamon squares were one of the most popular items that they had so we had to try it. It was good, but it just tasted like a cinnamon sugar funnel cake in the shape of a square. 

Our next stop was Milton Donuts. Everyone was starting to get burnt out on donuts at this point. This was our sixth stop of the day. The kids had no interest and Jennifer had no opinion on what to get. That left it up to me.

I went a little out of the box with a fried croissant with glaze. It was really light and fluffy and delicious.

The last stop on the Donut Trail for us was The Donut House. This place was really interesting. They had all types of donuts and all types of fillings (i think they had about 8 different types). Jennifer and I both wanted something different, but we both started with a white iced donut. Jennifer picked a chocolate filling and I picked a strawberry. Landon said he wanted another sprinkle donut, but wanted to save it for later. It is in the little bag.

Landon took our picture. I know Jennifer was happy about finally being done. I was a little over donuts too, so much so that I couldn't even finish Jennifer's donut.

Completed Donut Trail passports.

After much consideration I would have to pick Martin's Donut Shop as my favorite spot. The cronut was so good I would highly recommend it. Second place to me was Ross Bakery with the white long john with creme filling.

We then headed over to the tourism office to pick up our gift. It was shirts for everyone to let people know that we were crazy enough to conquer the Donut Trail.

We made a quick trip to the zoo to round out the day and then decided to head on home. Looks like the entire family was exhausted from visiting the seven bakeries today. 

After we got home Landon decided that he wanted to eat his sprinkle donut that he picked up at the last spot we went to, The Donut House.

 Jennifer and I both agreed when we got home that this would not be a yearly tradition. If we lived close it would be something that we could do throughout the year, but trying to do multiple stops on the same day is just too much. Jennifer said it would be a while before she was ready to eat any more donuts. Thanks for reading and God bless!

The kids shirts came in the mail just a few days ago. They are a little big, but I guess they assume that if you finished the Donut Trail that you would be at least a youth large!

Meal Packing for Haiti

A few months ago we had the honor to pack meals for the children in Haiti that our church sponsors. This was the first time that it has ever worked out for us to be able to help with the actual packing of the meals. You have to be at least 5 years old to help, so Brinley also got to help with the process. We didn't really know how to explain it all to her because it was new for us too. After some training and a little video we headed into the meal packing area to start our hour long volunteer time.

Meal packing stations: rice, protein, seasoning and vegetables.

Brinley was in charge of the seasoning scoop. She had to scoop up some powder and then level it off.

Happy to volunteer next to this lady.

Brinley was the only kid in our group and she did awesome. Kept pace the entire time with our group.

Look at that smile! She was so excited about being a part of the group.

I was so proud of my girls for all the work that they put in. We talked about it with Brinley on the way out about how big of an impact she made on the kids that will eat those meal packs in Haiti. She couldn't believe that the meals we packed might be the only food they eat for an entire day.

Another view of our station. I controlled the funnel and holding the bags. Jennifer was in charge of the rice and Brinley stood across the table at the flavor station.

Brinley posing with one of the bags that we were able to pack during our time.

Some of the many boxes that we helped pack.

 I think that we completed 18 boxes during our hour and I think there was 32 bags in each box. Pretty impressive what a group of people could do. We will never truly know how much of an impact we had on these children in Haiti. It was a very fun and eye opening experience for all of us. I am glad that Brinley was able to experience it as well. Next year the whole family will be able to participate. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Landon's First Golfing

When Brinley was 4 years old I took her on her first real golfing experience. This summer I was able to do the same with Landon. I took him to the same little par 3 that I had taken Brinley. Meadowbrook is an 18 hole par 3 course that you have to walk because they don't have golf carts. Landon was so excited about getting to play with me.

Walking with his clubs on the first hole. After the first couple of holes I told him that I would carry his clubs for him. He didn't want me to at first, but I think it was the right move because sometimes he was hitting the ball every 10-15 yards. 

He was having so much fun. Not sure if it was the golf or just having some time with me and not having to fight for attention with his sister.

After the fifth hole we took a little break for a little cherry Ale8-1. 

Landon getting in a drink before starting the next hole.

Look at this little guy! He is a cool dude.

Walking to find his ball that he just hit.

Ready to tee off. He got so much better throughout the afternoon. He had a lot of really nice tee shots after I worked with him and helped him get his feet lined up right.

Another break time. I love this little guy so much. He reminds me so much of myself growing up.  

He finally had told me that I was taking too many pictures. He asked me not to take any more. So I had to sneak in a few more while he was hitting his ball.

A very successful first golf outing with my little man. He walked all 18 holes and said that he loved it. That makes me so happy. Maybe I have a new golfing buddy!

Not only did we have a lot of fun I found out how trustworthy my little man is. He counted every single stroke that he hit the ball. He shot a 212 for the day which is pretty awesome for his first time. He just has that much room for improvement!

I am so proud that he played all 18 holes and walked the entire time. He never even complained once about having to walk the whole time. He was even excited and sometimes ran to the next hole.

I hope that Landon continues to enjoy playing sports and hanging out with his old man. I know I really enjoy getting to spend time with him. I was really impressed with how much he improved in just the few hours that we were out on the course. Maybe soon we can take a trip to the golf course as a family and play our first round with all four of us. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Landon's 5th Birthday

Well I can't believe that our little guy is now 5 years old! Landon has been such a blessing to us and we are happy to have had him around for the last 5 years. We asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said that he wanted to do like Brinley and just get to pick everything that we did that day. Well, then the week before his birthday he decided that he wanted to pick all that we did and have a party too. Well, unfortunately for him we were not able to scrounge up a party for him so we went ahead with the original plan.

Last night being a four year old. I am not sure what possessed me, but after I got home the night before his birthday I decided that I would put the tent up in the backyard and we would have our first ever camp out. The kids were all excited and ready. Once we finally got out there they lasted about 30 minutes and said that they wanted to go inside. Well, I was already committed, so I told the kids that we couldn't go back inside. That we all needed to go to sleep so that we could get up in the morning to celebrate. 

Little man got woke up the next day as a 5 year old! We woke him up by singing Happy Birthday to him.

He asked for cinnamon toast for breakfast, so I made his into the number and word five.

Next on his list was going to Sky Zone. This is where sleeping outside and not getting enough sleep came back to bite us. Landon jumped for about 5 minutes and then decided that he wanted to go home. In order to get him to jump he wanted me to jump with him.

Landon used to be really good at climbing up this ladder, but for some reason he lost his technique. You can see me helping him by holding the ladder steady so that he can reach the top. 

We dunked on the basketball goal too!

Lastly he wanted to play dodgeball. There was about 12 older kids that wanted to play so the worker told us to get on this side and it would be us + the worker against everyone else. Best part is that we actually won! Landon was so excited.

Landon wanted this picture made with the sign outside. 

The only thing that Landon asked to eat on his birthday was McDonald's. I tried to get him to say somewhere else that sounded good to him and we finally decided on Goodfellas. Everything was going great until it was actually time to eat our pizza. Landon had a full blown meltdown because he thought someone drank out of his cup. The reality was that Jennifer had just moved his cup so that the pizza could be put on the table. Landon cried for about 10 minutes straight before we discovered that he just wanted a new straw!

After Goodfellas we went back home so that I could change since I hadn't planned on sweating at Skyzone. We had also hoped this would give Landon a chance to get a nap. He fell asleep moments after leaving the Goodfellas parking lot. After a nap we went out to get a treat. We went to Steel City Pops for a sweet treat. Landon got his dipped in white chocolate with sprinkles.

Then we headed over to the theater to see the movie Hotel Transylvania 3.

Landon loved it! He again wanted his picture with the sign out front.

A couple days before his birthday the store Build-A-Bear had a huge debacle of a day with a build your age day. I was working and Jennifer tried to take the kids, but she said it was total chaos. We returned on his actual birthday for a build your age pricing during your birth month. Unfortunately you don't get to pick any animal, just the birthday bear. Landon was still happy to make this little guy. He named him Happy Birthday. How original right?

We couldn't decide on what to do for dinner so we just picked up some McDonald's so that he could get what he had asked for. He was extremely happy for his happy meal.

Jennifer made this awesome Pikachu cake.

Landon getting ready to open some presents!

Not before blowing out his candle though!

It is still hard to believe that Landon is 5 years old. He has come so far in five years. Just a couple of years ago we couldn't understand the majority of what he was saying. With speech lessons and two years of preschool he has made leaps and bounds. He has just now started Kindergarten and is doing awesome! He is such a loving, caring, competitive, happy, little guy. I am so proud to call him my son. I can't wait to see what his future holds! Thanks for reading and God bless!