Tag Archives: things to do

Jul22

Summer To Do List

Posted on July 22, 2025 by lifewithlilred

Hello! I would not call myself a summer gal in the slightest but I have been having a lot of fun in the sun this season and I am beginning to see its merits lol. Days at the park with my nieces, baseball games, mine and Johnny’s little getaway, and a trip to the Cleveland Zoo have definitely inspired me to live it up. Summer is not even close to being done yet and there is still so much that I would like to do before the best season, fall, falls upon us! For that reason, I created a To Do List of the outings that are a must for me to continue making this summer one of the best ones yet:

Cleveland Museum Of Illusions:

Something that I have wanted to do for a long time is visit the Cleveland Museum Of Illusions. It is fairly new to the area and my Facebook has been bombarded with ads for it. Hey, it worked because they are extremely enticing! This museum is fully interactive and creates amazing optical illusion photo ops for yourself and friends. Yes, I may or may not be most encouraged by the photo ops but I am a content creator after all! From vortex tunnels, reverse rooms, tilted rooms, Beuchut chairs, and even a head on a platter illusion – this place has got it all. I cannot WAIT to explore it!

Columbus Zoo:

It was a wonderful treat to see the setup for the incredible Asian Lantern Festival during my last trip to the Cleveland Zoo. It is such a beautiful park but the piece de resistance in my general neck of the woods has got to be the Columbus Zoo. I have only been one time over a decade ago and it was amazing from start to finish. The park was huge, they had countless animals you couldn’t see in Cleveland or Akron, and a lot of ways to interact with animals through feeding times or hopping on the back of a camel! I have wanted to take the trip to Columbus for a while and that urge only grew greater from, you guessed it, Facebook ads lol. The Columbus Zoo also hosts an Asian Lantern Festival and from what I’ve seen while scrolling through The Book, it is the Cleveland Festival on steroids. It will certainly make for a fantastic day trip!

Glass Blowing:

Facebook ads, you have done it again lol. I have been aware of Akron Glass Works for a while and have always fancied taking a workshop there for a totally unique craft to display. I really do think phones read your mind because one of the ads on my newsfeed was for Akron Glass Works’ fall pumpkin workshop. It is their most popular class and for good reason – the end result looks absolutely fabulous! During a field trip in grade school to an interactive historic village, they had a glass blowing setup and my mind was simply blown by it. Young and old Sarah are going to be most excited to finally give it a go. 😀

For my Summer To Do List, I wanted to find activities that are fully possible to go to as well as relatively cost effective. If I can do these three things before summer is out, I will be a very happy Lil Red indeed!

What is on your summer to do list? What has been the best part of your summer so far? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jul12

Mini Golf Fun

Posted on July 12, 2024 by lifewithlilred

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Hello!! During mine and Johnny’s Fourth of July staycation, we did ALL of the activities. One of my favorites was going mini golfing together with my brother. We hopped into the Little Red Love Machine and headed to Fun n’ Stuff, which is an amusement center in my neck of the woods. There’s a little something for everyone young and old at Fun n’ Stuff – arcade games, laser tag, roller skating, bumper cars and boats, go karts, and two huge mini golf courses. The mini golf set up is awesome and has a pirate and dinosaur themed course. There were fun surprises scattered throughout like animatronic dinos, an octopus that shoots water, and challenging twists and turns with each put! Check it out:

In my neck of the woods, there aren’t too many mini golf courses in a close vicinity. The only other one within a fifteen mile radius is called Downview and it is not the best lol. It is small, expensive, and can be completed in under a half hour. At Fun n’ Stuff, the pricing was infinitely better and you got so much more for it. For a whopping eight dollars and fifty cents, you could play the two mini golf courses for as long as you’d like. It took us at least an hour and a half to finish both the dinosaur and pirate courses and it was worth every penny!

Visually, the dinosaur course was a lot more appealing and the gigantic moving dinosaurs really stole the show. I also loved the smoking and steaming volcano. However, I think I liked playing the pirate course more because it was just cool! Putting the ball through cannons, going on the pirate ship, and the skull tunnel with glowing eyes really spoke to me. So much so that I actually won the game with fifty-three strokes on the pirate course which literally never happens. Let’s just say I lack finesse when it comes to the subtle art of put put golf! I am pleased to report that between both courses I got FOUR hole in ones so it was a banner day for yours truly. We definitely plan on going back before the summer is out. 😀

Mini golf is one of my favorite summertime activities and I am so glad we got to squeeze it into our staycation. There is nothing like some good competitive fun and next time we go back I am manifesting a win on both courses!!

What is one of your favorite summer outings? Are there any cool mini golf courses in your area? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Dec6

The Green Dragon Inn Board Game Bar

Posted on December 6, 2023 by lifewithlilred

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Hello everyone!! This past weekend I checked out a new board game bar in Akron called The Green Dragon Inn with Johnny, my brother, and our friend Ty. I have been itching to go since I saw posts on Facebook about it because it looked so awesome – exactly like a Medieval tavern and it did not disappoint. The space itself was beautiful, our waitress was most helpful and delightful, and the game we played per her suggestion was a hoot. A wonderful time was had by all and we cannot wait to go back! Take a look at some pics and let’s get to it:

The Green Dragon Inn sits on top of the second floor of a game store called Full Grip that is run by the same people. It is such a fantastic concept because you can go shopping for new games and play them at The Inn when you are done or test it out if they have the game available in their collection. After we browsed at Full Grip for a while, we made our way to The Green Dragon and were simply blown away. It was like walking into a movie set or something! The furnishing and decor instantly transported us to times of old and I was so impressed that this amazing space was in Akron. It felt like somewhere we would go if we were on a vacation!

Before we settled in our booth, our waitress gave us a tour of The Inn. There is a huge book shelf behind the bar filled with games and a moving ladder like in Beauty and The Beast. However, that is by no means their only selection. They have over eight hundred games to pick from and you can look through their website to narrow it down based on number of players, difficulty, and type of game. We all loved the “dungeon room” with the huge chandelier but the “secret room” was the best of all. This room is expertly hidden behind a bookshelf and it was just so neat to see something like that in real life. If I had all of the money in the world, a room like that would be my first order of business in a new house. 😀

After we were done exploring The Inn, we opted for recommendations for games from our waitress. We weren’t aware of the website we could have looked at beforehand to pick games out and didn’t want to spend time scrolling through it. Our waitress knocked it out of the park with the handful of games she returned with and gave us demonstrations of each game too. We decided to play Concept thanks to her guidance and oddly enough, Johnny and I have that game at home and have never played it! Granted, we never had enough people for it and also I think we both forgot about it lol. Concept was like Pictionary in board game form and it was perfect for our group. The rules were easy to understand and it was a game we would happily play again. In fact, we plan on bringing it to play on Christmas with our families!

As soon as we entered The Green Dragon Inn, we all knew that this was a place we would be returning back to. It’s safe to say that we have never seen anything like it before and we had the best time gaming and enjoying the atmosphere that has been so beautifully created!

Do you have a similar place to The Green Dragon Inn in your neck of the woods? What is your favorite game to play? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jul16

Kingwood Center Gardens Pics Pt. 2

Posted on July 16, 2021 by lifewithlilred

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Hello! Today, we are going to take a look at my last bunch of pictures from the Kingwood Center Gardens in Mansfield, Ohio. The estate and botanical gardens of Charles Kelley King was an absolute delight to explore with my family and I am itching to go back. I am also looking forward to going to the Cleveland botanical gardens with my husband since he had to work the day we went to Kingwood. 🙂 Let’s get to it:

While it was so fun to walk through the grounds of the Kelley estate with my family, my favorite part of the day actually happened indoors. About halfway through the botanical gardens is an expertly placed children’s play center so the little ones can cool off and have quiet time after a lot of walking. We took a pit stop there with my nephew and I had the best time playing with stacking blocks and stuffed frogs with him. Due to the pandemic, it was hard to see my brother and his family who live out of state so I I really cherished getting to have some TT time with him. ❤

Another cool part of the botanical gardens is the Storybook Trail. Every twenty feet or so on this wooded path, there is a display of a page from a children’s book. As we walked the trail, my brother and I took turns reading about a baby bat named Chiro and that was also special to me since I have never got to read a story to my lil nephew before. Even though he won’t remember our day at the Kingwood Center Gardens, I will for forever. It was the best. 🙂

Are there any botanical gardens in your area? What is your favorite outdoor activity? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

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