Totter Otterville

Over the New Year break, we spent a lot of family time just hanging out together at home. The one exception to this came just before it was time to return to school and work. We took a day trip to Cincinnati to go to the mall and to visit Totter Otterville in Covington. Chris's sister Amy told us about the place thanks to a friend of hers who lives in Grant County and takes her son there often. We have been trying for months to visit, but for one reason or another, it never happened. Finally, we were all together with nothing but time on our hands and decided to give it a shot. We are glad we did. For $7.50, all three of us got in and Sarah played to her hearts content. This place was sort of like a children's museum. It had a ball pit, slides, train tables, water activities, and conveyor belts, but it also had lots of pretend areas like living rooms, kitchens, grocery stores, ballet rooms, puppet rooms, veterinary hospital, etc. For a three year old, it was paradise! The only downer was that the outside activities (dinosaur bone digging, construction zone, and real train ride) were closed for the winter. A kid could easily spend 5 or more hours occupied in this place. Below are a few photos and video clips of the fun.

Sarah was drawn to the pet hospital first. She especially liked dressing up like a vet!


She said she felt like Diego, taking care of all the animals.

Sarah's love affair with dance has recently manifested itself in ballet. I think this room has a lot to do with that. She LOVED strapping on the ballet shoes and tip toeing around. I guess I need to start saving for some lessons... Too Cute!

Here is the pint sized grocery store. It was very realistic.



Notice the baby trapped under all of the groceries. I guess the mothering instinct will come later.

Ready to check out!

Here is a view of the store, complete with check out lanes!

Here is the pizza restaurant. There were many staff members who cleaned regularly. Chris said when he entered that he felt like he was in a universe of germs, but I saw them spraying toys down often. This makes a mom feel much better in the middle of cold and flu season!

Our exploration of the different rooms ended when Sarah heard screams coming from the puppet theater. We moved over for a closer look. She loved the puppet show!

Just after this video, she found the puppet room and began putting on her own version of this show. This is a great place to visit and we hope to return really soon.