While you can swim year-round in California, opportunities to enjoy water play are seasonally limited in Ohio. Coco Key's eye-catching tube slides project from the side of a otherwise ordinary looking building.
Once inside, your kids will be in aquatic heaven and you may just find that you're having fun too.

Fantastic wooded park and play facility. Large trees provide excellent cover and shade. Four diverse play structures will keep kids entertained for hours. Special dinosaur play area for toddlers includes sand box.

Picnic shelters with grills are available for reservation. They range in capacity from 1-200 people. Some include electrical access and horseshoe pits. Visit the website for pictures and details for each shelter.

Outdoor amphitheatre contains bench, hardwood, and grassy seating areas.

This is a lovely park with great playground equipment that will challenge the physical skills of your kids. We visited during the hot summer months and enjoyed the shade and play. Very scenic and relaxing.

Crossroads may be a church, but it is a functional free place to meet, enjoy free coffee, Wi-Fi, and Kid City.

Kid City is a small play structure with a large tube slide, some climbing apparatus, fun house mirrors, tunnels, and pretend play.

Pack a lunch and enjoy a safe indoor activity for those bad-weather days. Did I already mention the free coffee?

On the opposite side of the building, there is a small fenced-in outdoor play area with toddler appropriate play structures and play house.

Property is adjacent to Meijers, Sam's Club, and Target.

We love butterflies so of course we had to visit the Butterfly Show at Krohn Conservatory. Volunteers greet you with live caterpillar specimens as you move through the building. Large viewing windows allow you to see the different stages of metamorphosis with caterpillars, chrysallides, and butterflies develop.
We were pleased to find some simple tables set up so guests could color pictures of butterflies. A lovely afternoon trip.

You could zip through everything in an hour easily, but with a little pre-prep on butterflies and plants, you could direct kids more specifically and make it more of a learning experience.

More to come... we're planning a visit to the new and improved zoo and will update you then, but in the meantime let me attempt to jog my memory (we've been in another city for two years so it's been a while since our last visit):
The Columbus Zoo is a great place to spend the day. I attended regularly with my 1 year old daughter. She definitely had an early fascination for animals. The petting zoo is a great hands-on environment. There are also several entertaining shows that we really enjoyed. The shows change from season to season, so call ahead and see what's available to you.
We especially enjoyed the great apes and monkey exhibits. We found one of the gibbons to be quite the showman as he topped the highest pole while standing on one foot. Parents should be aware that the Bonobos are well-known for some fairly outrageous behavior. Try explaining that one!
Another favorite area is the Australia region. You can enter the Kangaroo Walkabout and walk a path where a "mob" of kangaroos is only a rope away. Keepers are always on-hand to monitor the environment. We also loved seeing the Asian small-clawed otters. They're just so darn adorable.
The Columbus Zoo also houses a 100,000 gallon saltwater tank, a special Manatee Exhibit, the Tidepool Touchtanks, and the ginormous Reptile Building.
This zoo comes with the Stings, Wings N' Play Things Park, conveniently located near the food Plaza, a great watering hole for hungry visitors. We ate for about 10 minutes before heading to the play structure.
Be prepared for a good chunk of exercise (you're on 90 acres), although tram rides are available with the all day ridepass ($6) that includes all park rides. Call ahead to see what's available.
Coolers are permitted into the zoo and Jungle Jack's Landing (sans glass and alcohol) so bring extra drinks!