October Adventures! Aquarium, Halloween and Washington DC!🇺🇸

I have been so bad with updating my blog, it's been over a month since the last post but so much has happened!!

October is a pretty exciting month for me as it is my birthday month so it's always a great time of year, and this year was no exception! Also, October 21st marks 3 months that I've been in the states so I'm already over a quarter of the way through my year here - the time has flown by super super quick!!!

Okay, so because so much happened I'm just going to talk about my favourite things that happened this month. 

So one of the things that happened this month was that I took my kiddies to the aquarium in Newport KY as they had the day off school for fall break. We have already been to the aquarium before, the kids love it and we all have passes so it was a great way to kill a few hours! We're lucky that the aquarium is only a 20 minute drive away so it's not too bad! Anyway, we eventually got there as I couldn't find where to go to park and the stupid GPS told me to take a road which led me back over the bridge into Ohio (Ohio and Kentucky are separated by the Ohio River) so it took us longer to park but I managed it eventually and the aquarium was so fun! As my kids go to a private school pretty much everyone else was at school so we had the place pretty much to ourselves which is good - I couldn't be dealing with any lost kids that day!😂 we got to see all the cool fish and sharks, and we even got to see the penguins being fed which the kids told me they hadn't got to see before which was pretty cool! And they all brought some money with them so the boys bought some rocks (they're both really into gemstones) and Caroline bought a stuffed penguin which was so cute!! 

Sooo the major major thing that happened this month was my 19th Birthday which is also Halloween!!! I literally love having my birthday on Halloween, and Americans go all out for it so it is so awesome!!! My kids were so sweet, they got me some gemstones which included an Opal which is my birthstone - the boys told me they traded some gems at school to get me it which I thought was so adorable of them! And my host parents gave me THE BEST cake, which had the Union Jack on it!!! Not only that, they gave me a $75 gift card for the mall which was so nice of them, seeing as they had already given me the cake! I had to work in the day, but I went for birthday brunch with Zoe and Saralyn, and then in the evening I went trick-or-treating with my whole family. Despite the fact it was FREEZING it was really good and we even saw a "Frozen" family - the dad was Hans, mum was Anna, and the kids were Olaf, Sven and Elsa, so cute!!! I was a minion and my kids were a "soul eater", Spartan warrior and Hermione from "Harry Potter". 

Later on after we came home, I went out with my girls to our friend Alex's house. The girls were all dressed up and they bought me a birthday cookie which was really sweet, and it was such a weird but kinda fun night! We went to this party which was really lame so we ended up walking to this other party at Alex's frat house but the guy wouldn't let us in, as it was a "date party" and Alex bought six of us instead of one😂 it was pretty stupid but oh well😂🙈 so we ended up just going to a hookah bar which was still cool although we walked everywhere and it was SO COLD! Still a great birthday though - it feels so weird that I'm now 19 and have one year left of my teenage years!!😳

A week after my birthday it was FINALLY time for me to fly to Washington DC for the weekend to meet up with some of my au pair friends - Jess, Elise, Holly (British) and Veerle (Dutch). It was literally such an amazing weekend!! So I flew into DC on the Friday and stayed with Jess and Elise. We all met through the agency, and it was the first time meeting the girls as we had just been talking online and stuff, but they are so so nice! They argue like an old married couple, but it was so good to hang out with British people and just talk about British things!!!! So we went to McDonalds and then went to the hotel room and just chilled and stayed up talking until about 2am, and then woke up the next morning at 8am but fell back asleep and didn't wake up until 9:30! By the time we were ready we left the hotel at around 11!! So we had planned to meet our friend Veerle - who is also an au pair who we met through the agency - for lunch so before that we decided to get out ears pierced! Jess and Elise got their seconds done and I got my thirds, so I now have 6 on one ear and 3 on the other😂🙈 they were acting like babies whereas I didn't flinch - I'm a total pro😏😂 but because we got them done in Claire's it took FOREVER as the lady had to keep serving people in between, and then Jess wanted to post something for a friend back home so by the time we met Veerle we were an hour late! But luckily she was so nice so it was fine! We went and had lunch at Panera bread and we just sat and talked and it was really weird but so nice as we hadn't met before, but we're just talking online, so although we had only just met it felt like we knew each other for ages! After a while Veerle had to go to get back to work, but not before we took a selfie with the selfie stick - which attaches to a phone and you can extend it to take good selfies, it was awesome but we were getting some weird looks!😂 but this is such a nice photo, we didn't care!

So after lunch Jess, Elise and I all went exploring in DC. We eventually found the White House, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, the Reflection Pool and the Lincoln Memorial. Seeing as all of these things are pretty much in the same area, it wasn't hard to find them!😂 again, we took LOTS of photos and selfies - having a selfie with the White House was on my american bucket list - and it got so dark so quick but it was amazing to see everything at night! DC is such a beautiful place!!

As part of the WWII Memorial, there are pillars with all the states written on them, so of course we all got a picture with the State that we live in - Ohio for me, New York for Jess and New Jersey for Elise!

Later on in the evening I got to catch up with Holly who was in DC with her college on her trip. It was so good to see her again after 3 and a half months - since orientation! Although we speak pretty much everyday, but it's totally different seeing someone in the flesh rather than through a computer screen! I had missed her so much so it was so good to spend some time with her! We went for dinner and I got to meet her classmates who are also au pairs and they're all lovely, and I stayed the night with her so that was good! I had to go early in the morning as she had to go with her college group, but we will see each other again in Disney so it's all good! 

The next morning I met back up with Jess and Elise and we met up with and went for lunch with Hayley, another au pair who is from Scotland and who we also met through the agency! I swear it was just one massive au pair meet up weekend!😂 again, we went for Panera (love that place) and then afterwards we had to go, as Jess and Elise had to go and catch their bus and I had to head towards the airport and catch my flight home. But, whilst I was waiting for the metro to the airport I bumped into Veerle again which was a nice surprise, it was good to have a quick chat with her again before I left, she's so lovely and hopefully when she comes to Columbus we can meet up again as it is less than two hours away from Cincinnati!

Overall, I had an absolutely amazing weekend and brilliant month!!

Now knowing how rubbish I am at updating, I probably won't update again until after Disney as it it less than 3 weeks away!!!😁😁😁

Love,

Jodie xo

Discovering Cincinnati...

Okay, so I've actually done quite a bit since I last updated the blog, and I am awful and keeping up with updating it, so you'll have to bear with me!

Last week, Jacki and I were bored and decided we wanted to go and explore some of the city as even though we've been here 2 and a bit months, we had yet to do so. So I drove us downtown and after getting a bit lost (and at one point ending up in Kentucky) we finally found a good place to park so we could have a bit of a walk around. Now, as you drive into Cincinnati, there is a point when you can see the whole of the skyline, and as we drove in, we got to see the sun setting over the skyline which was so cool! It's now become a running joke for me that every time I can see the skyline driving into the city I shout "Cincinnatiiiiii" hahah! 

Anyway, by the time we managed to park it was getting dark so all of the buildings and the bridges were lit up which was awesome! And we found this waterfall thing that had lights on it which was just so cool! We could also see the lights and hear the baseball game going on as the Reds Stadium (the Great American Ballpark) was right where we were. We also took a walk along the bridge that separates Ohio and Kentucky, so I guess you could say that whilst standing in the middle of the bridge we were in two places at once😉

So last Friday the kids had their "fall festival" at the school, which is basically a big fête where they have stalls and booths and little games and things. Their dad had already bought them 80 tickets, and gave me $20 so I could get them 40 more - so between them they had 120 tickets!! They went on so many things, including Jacob's Ladder - which the boys were so good at - Caroline went on a pony ride, and they all did lots of little things. Pretty much all of the booths had candy and really rubbish little toys as prizes, so the kids came home armed with lots of random rubbish haha! But they enjoyed it which was good! It wasn't too bad except for the fact it was boiling hot!!

That night once I took the kids home and Nancy and Andy came home, I went to Kings Island with Zoë, Sarah, Saralyn, Ché and a new girl called Camilla (Denmark). It was the second weekend (I think) of the Halloween haunt and so the park was open until 1am which was so cool as we did all the rides in the dark!! The only bad thing was that the park was soooo scary and creepy haha! There was smoke everywhere so you could barely see, and actors were walking around dressed up and they would come up to you and scream in your face, some slid on the ground near you and one guy even began to chase Zoë and I as we tried to run away (he was so freaky haha). Sarah and Ché got the worst of it though, for some reason they were a magnet to these people and they kept getting picked on hahah! Now I am the WORDT Halloween baby ever as I am so scared of these sort of things, so when the guys suggested we go on a train that stopped and we had to walk through a forest where these people chased us I completely point blank refused! The girls did manage to drag me into one of the haunted mazes though, and I'm actually really proud of myself hahah! But apart from the scariness, the park was amazing! The rides were so good, and we went on the new Banshee ride at like midnight, so there was barely anyone there - we got to go on twice in a row!! Awesome!! 

Saralyn found a gravestone with my surname on it, so just had to get a picture with it! Notice the creepy girl in the left hand corner...

...she then proceeded to make me jump and scare the living daylights out of me hahaha!😂

On Sunday, Saralyn and I went to the Aronoff Centre downtown and we got to see Dirty Dancing! Now this is my all time favourite movie, and I was lucky enough to go and see the London production with my mum last year, which was absolutely incredible, and this version didn't disappoint either! It was so so good and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!☺️

I think that's pretty much it now!☺️

Much Love,

Jodie xo

Zoo, Volunteering & Booking my first trip!

So recently, not too much has been going on, but I've done some pretty cool stuff such as going to the Cincinnati Zoo with some of the other au pairs, volunteering at the Race for a Cure (USA's version of Race for Life) with Saralyn and Sarah and also I have finally booked my first trip - to Washington DC!!😁🇺🇸

Okay, so I went to the zoo with a big group of Au Pairs. Now most of these girls I had never met before because they are part of another company - we were actually in their cluster meeting, as one of the girls' host mom is a community counsellor for Au Pair Care! Anyway, they were all super nice and one girl actually lives down the street from me! I saw some awesome animals, such as elephants, tigers, rhino's and giraffes - and I even got to feed one of the giraffes! Was a pretty awesome day! It was really nice just to chill and meet new people!:)

One of the things I am most proud of doing here so far is volunteering at the Race for a Cure with Saralyn and Sarah. Basically, we had signed up to be course marshals, so we showed people which way they needed to go along the course and make sure they didn't get lost. Now we all had to wake up at 5:30am and be there for 6:30am to check in, get our t shirts and find out where we had to be. Now what we didn't realise is that the race didn't start until 8:45 so we had so much time to spare, and as it was so cold we just sat in my car with the hearing on watching silly videos!😂 now, much like the Race for Life back home, the Race for a Cure is in aid of breast cancer research, which is something very close to my heart, so it was such an honour being a part of the day, even if it was such a small part. There were thousands of people there - 700 of which were breast cancer survivors who all wore bright pink t shirts to symbolise it! They are all so amazing and so brave, it was inspirational!💞

Now the other main thing that has happened recently is that I have booked a trip to Washington DC for the first weekend in November, which is a week after my birthday, so a little birthday present to myself😉 the return flights were only $115 which was so good! It's amazing because I'm going to stay with Danielle who is the girl that I flew with and was at orientation with and we're going to get the chance to see Holly, another British girl at orientation with us! I can't wait to have some British banter and catch up with the girls, we all got so close during orientation and I've missed them! 

So that's pretty much it for now, not loads but hopefully I'll have more to talk about next time!☺️

Much Love,

Jodie xo

Caroline's Birthday, Austin Mahone, Clubbing & Fireworks!

Okay, so I realise that it has been a while since I last posted, and so much has happened in that time!!

So here's what has been going on..

Friday (August 29th) was Caroline's 6th birthday. The weekend before was her birthday party which was held at Coco Key Water Resort which is this small inside water park attached to a hotel. This place was so awesome!! There were water slides, a "lazy river", a jacuzzi/hot tub area for those over 16 and loads more, definitely things for people of all ages!! Now I held back for the first 30 mins or so as I didn't want to cramp the kids style or to take over, but after a while I really wanted to go and play, so Luke and Drew let me play with them so that Caroline could stay with her friends. It was so cool, Luke and I went down on one of the slides on a double raft and it was so awesome! It was so much fun, Caroline loved it and it tired the kids out so everyone wins!! Her actual birthday was on the following Friday - we had the party the weekend before as the weekend of her birthday was Labor Day weekend which many people go away for - and she got so many presents! I got her a Frozen cup and bracelet/necklace set and the bow and arrow set from "Brave" (incase you didn't realise by now - Caroline LOVES Disney😉) she told me that the bow and arrow set was her favourite present so I'm in the good books!👍 to celebrate, the family and I went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch Saturday afternoon. I LOVE the Cheesecake Factory and I tried the new lemon meringue cheesecake which was amazing!!! Anyway, her birthday was pretty fun, I love birthdays and mine is the next one in the family ☺️

Okay, so another thing that has happened since I last updated was Jacki and I went to the Austin Mahone concert in the city. My host grandpa gave me the tickets for free, so even though we didn't really have any idea who he was, we went anyway as it was a free night out!! What I didn't realise until about an hour before was that Austin Mahone is basically a lesser well known version of Justin Bieber, in the sense that his fan base is comprised of 13 year old girls!!😂😂 our ears were ringing by the end of the night, it was actually ridiculous, both Jacki and I felt so old hahah!! Although we couldn't really hear what he was singing, we both actually really enjoyed the concert and he was actually really good! The supporting acts - Fifth Harmony and Shawn Mendes - were pretty awesome too! So was a good night in general☺️

Okay, so a few other things that I've been up to! On the Friday night, Jacki, Saralyn and I went to a club in the city that allows people over 18 (the drinking age in the US is 21 - sucks!!) and we went to the last foam party of the year as it's the end of summer. When we arrived it was pretty dead, but as the night got later it filled up and it was pretty good! The music was good, the foam was awesome but there was just one problem - the amount of grinding on the dance floor was actuay ridiculous!!!! A massive culture clash here, some guys were leant up against a wall whilst a girl grinded on him, one girl even had her hands on the floor whilst she shook her butt to the guy!! We were all just stood there in total shock it was crazy! Some guys asked Jacki and I if we wanted to dance with them, but we knew what they wanted so we stayed well clear of them! (You'll be happy to hear Mum!) at one point this guy came up to Jacki, he didn't even say anything and she sighed loudly and rolled her eyes and he kinda got the hint and walked off haha!! Apart from that though, was a great night!👍😂

Now since I've arrived in the states my host dad has tried to explain American Football to me and I didn't really understand it! However, on Caroline's birthday we went to the kid's school's high school football team play, and I have to say it was actually really good and interesting! My host mom explained it to me as it went along in terms I could understand and I kinda got it hahah! The only disappointing part was that we had to leave early as thunder hit and the game had to be stopped which sucked but what I saw was actually really good! 

One final thing so far, which is a pretty big thing in the states is Labor Day Weekend. Now I'm not really sure what it is, but from what I've heard it's a weekend to signify the end of summer, the kids got an extra day off school and loads of people go away for the weekend. In Cincinnati on the Riverbank of the Ohio River that separates Ohio and Kentucky they have a big celebration called the Riverfest where they have lots of food and music followed by an amazing fireworks display in the evening. They had people from both Ohio and Kentucky on both sides of the river, and there was around 500,000 people at the event, crazy!! Jacki and I went with another German girl named Ma Ya who is an au pair in Cleveland, OH (about 5 hours away) who was in Cincinnati for the weekend, and she was so nice! It was an awesome weekend to end the summer!

I think that's pretty much it so far! Hopefully I will update this again a bit sooner!☺️

Much Love,

Jodie xo