On a recent trip to Butler County, my family had the pleasure of visiting three incredible places that had activities for the whole family!
Just as a little bit of context, I have three children ranging in age from 1 to 11. Finding activities for the whole family to enjoy can sometimes be a bit of a struggle. Like that one time we took all three to Kings Island and it was a near disaster. Or that one time I took my pre-teen to the splash pad and that was, like, um, way uncool, Moooom. You get the picture: it’s hard to find fun for the WHOLE family.
Well, we did it. We found fun. For the whole family.
We had the pleasure of staying at the Staybridge Suites in Cincinnati North OH. We were provided with a suite for our family of five and it was wonderful. I’m pretty sure my whole family would have considered it an awesome vacation just for that hotel! We enjoyed the pool, the space to spread out and the complimentary breakfast bar. My favorite part was the fact that there was a separate bedroom just for the children to sleep in!
Our first family activity was Entertainment Junction. We all LOVED the entire facility. To start with, we walked through the incredible timeline of trains. All the trains move and there is a lot of interactive buttons to push along the way. The lights dim to make it seem like night and then they turn back up during the day. Along the way, there are several scavenger hunts and my 11-year-old had fun looking for the things listed on the scavenger hunt. My 3-year-old loved spotting the trains and my 1-year-old enjoyed looking at all the things that were moving. We skipped over the play area this time, but it was very popular and had tons of interactive play equipment. I’m sure my kids could spend hours there!
After finishing walking through the train timeline, we headed over to the Amazing Funhouse. The room is built to be a “circus” and gives the kids a chance to experience all sorts of strange and fun simulations. There was a room that represents going into space and into a black hole, there were a mirror maze and a clown school. My kids had a BLAST in the fun house and seriously could have stayed all day. The mirror maze was by far the favorite!
Since it was a gorgeous fall day, we decided to head to Burwinkel Farms next. TThis family-owned farm has been in operation since 1918. In addition to having several produce stands around the area, the Burwinkel Farms provide SO MUCH fall fun! They have several corn mazes, an amazing hay ride through a sunflower field, a pumpkin patch with pick your own pumpkins, a scavenger hunt and of course a produce stand!
Our final activity in Butler County was Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park. When we arrived at the park it was pouring rain and we weren’t sure we were going to be brave enough to look at sculptures in the rain. But my family is always up for an adventure, so we got our “art cart” (a golf cart available for rental) and took off to explore the park. It was an absolute blast!! We has so much fun driving around looking at sculptures in the art cart. Although my children were still too young to fully grasp the beauty of sculptures, they still had so much fun looking at all the shapes and colors! The grounds at the park are stunning, and my favorite point was the lookout. What a stunning view! If it hadn’t been pouring, I would have brought a picnic and enjoyed it right there for lunch.
Believe it or not, we barely touched the surface on the many fun things to do in Butler County. If you plan to visit the area, make sure to check out the Butler County Visitors Bureau website, and look for some of the fun activities.
Here are some of the ones coming up that you do not want to miss:
- Jungle Jim’s International Wine Festival (Nov 10-11)
- Holiday Lights on the Hill at Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park (Nov 17-Dec 31)
- Christmas at Entertrainment Junction (Nov 11- Dec 31)
- Harvest Day at Forest Run MetroPark (Nov 18)
- Neiderman Family Farm Christmas Walk (Nov 24- Dec 30)
