A Hurricane Birthday

August 28, 2011 John had a birthday to remember - Hurricane Irene had just gone through the day before!  We had a small celebration at Myra and Norman's house.  Thankfully we had thought to bake the cake before the power went out from the hurricane!

Happy Birthday John!

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

The last few days of our trip to Indiana the kids and I got to spend with my lifelong friend Tabitha.    Tabitha has two kids as well.  Her oldest Ella is only 2 days older than Elizabeth!  We had so much fun with them during our trip!  One of the things we got to do with them was to visit The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. 

The first exhibit we went through was the dinosaur exhibit - which the kids LOVED!  Nathan and Ella dug up dinosaur bones. 

Elizabeth preferred the dinosaur dress up.

Roar!

Next came the train exhibit.  Nathan was in awe of all the model trains.

This was inside a caboose.  It had sounds and everything that made you feel like you were really riding in a train - pretty cool!

In this exhibit the kids got to dress up in scuba gear.

The kids loved all the buckets and pulleys and gears... it was fun watching them try to work together.

This was a construction exhibit where they got to dig and move rocks.  There is my beautiful friend Tabitha with Ella and the newest addition to the family, Carter.

I have so many pictures of Tabitha and myself as kids sitting in this Indy Race car when we were kids, so I loved taking a picture of our kids in the car!

Kids never get tired of sand boxes.

And girls never get tired of playing house!  Such good Mommies taking care of their baby dolls.

Nathan loves construction equipment!

What a great trip to Indiana for the kids and me.  We had so much fun visiting with family and friends.  Memories being made.

Lizzie's First Haircut

Lizzie got her first haircut during our trip to Indaina.  A wonderful family friend did the haircut.  Annette had done my hair for as long as I can remember so I though it fitting that she do Elizabeth's first haircut as well.

 

What a good girl!  She was so excited about the entire experience.

I have to admit, I took pictures of the haircut while it was being done, but forgot to take an "after" shot... it really looks the same, just a little bit of a trim, but a haircut just the same!

Columbian Park Zoo

One of our outings while we were in Indiana was our trip to the Columbian Park Zoo.  I loved this place as a kid!  It has changed quite a bit since I was young, but still so much fun!  And it was free too!  That's awesome! 

The kids were pretty cute sitting on these frog things near the entrance.

 

Nathan was determined that he was going to actually milk this cow! 

The peting zoo was fun.  There were so many goats.  Lots of baby goats and pregnant mama goats.  Here is Aunt Jordann with one of the mama goats.

Uncle Eric here helping the kids to wash their hands right before exiting the peting zoo.

I thought this was the coolest part of the zoo!  It was a river otter exhibit with a tunnel through the water - and the otter swam right under the guys when they were in the tunnel!  Nathan was so excited about it!  His face just lit up!

Uncle Greg is such a great uncle! I think he had fun too :)

Here is Uncle Eric with Elizabeth in the Waloby exhibit.

Leaving the zoo there were some water fountains.  Here you can see the kids getting close, but still nice a dry...

Getting a little closer...

And there is no turning back at this point!  Yep, they were soaked when we left! 

Nana's Trampoline

I have so many memories of our trampoline growing up.  My brothers and I on it...  Hanging out with friends on the trampoline...  All the crazy stuff we did trying to bounce too high or do flips or whatever... all great memories, and I am so happy that the trampoline at my Mom's house old house will also hold a place in the heart of my children.

 

The House in Montmorenci Indiana

I only lived in two houses growing up.  The first one I lived in was in West Lafayette, IN and was on the Wabash River.  I have so many memories of that house and all the childhood games we played there... then when I was about middle school age (I think) we moved to a house that my Dad built in Montmorenci, Indiana.  This house was on the back 10 acres of my Grandpa's farm land.  My brothers and I spent many hours exploring the woods and the ravine and the swamp.  What a great place to grow up.  Tomorrow morning Mom turns over the keys to this house and begins a new chapter of her life as a city dweller. During my trip to Indiana a few weeks ago I took pictures of this house where I grew up.  I guess this post is really for me, but let me show you where I grew up and the things I will always remember about this house.

Here is the view of the house as you come up the driveway.

Mom would use the bell to call us for dinner if we were out exploring in the woods.

This is one of two old Studebakers.  Dad always intended to fix them up... It may be an old junk car to some, but to me it is something I will always remember and hold dear in my heart.

This is the view looking into the woods from the house.

In a clearing in the woods was the trampoline.  This trampoline was the source of hours of fun for me and for my brothers, our friends, and now even for my kids.  We will definitely miss this trampoline.

The other old Studebaker. 

Looking back towards the house from the trampoline.  In these woods we would ride the go-carts and play paintball, and capture the flag and all sorts of other fun games.

Good bye to my old house.

I look forward to many more memories in my Mom's new house! Congratulations Mom on the sale of the old and the purchase of the new!

Indiana State Fair

This August the kids and I got to visit my family in Indiana.  There is way to much to tell in one post, so I am going to break it up into some of the things that we did during our visit. 

One of the things we got to do was to go to the Indiana State Fair!

This was very exciting for the kids especially since they have recently been on a "Charlotte's Web" kick.  In "Charlotte's Web" Wilbur (the pig), Charlotte (the spider), and Templeton (the rat) go to the fair.  Nathan and Liz were looking forward to seeing all that goes on at the fair!

Here is a fair exhibit - a pumpkin.  Now my question is - who actually grows pumpkins that large?!  I mean, really, I can barely get my pumpkins to grow large enough for the kids to carve them!

Nathan very much enjoyed his snow cone.  I wish I had gotten a picture of this thing before he started eating it!  It was the biggest snow cone I had ever seen!  But then again it was the most expensive snow cone I had ever paid for too...

Oh the joy of carny rides!

This is in front of the pig barn.  Cute.

Lizzie saw this statue and HAD to have her picture taken with it :)

Nathan rode around in style in cousin Esme's jogging stroller.  Thanks Uncle Ben and Aunt Kim for letting us borrow it!

The entire time leading up to going to the fair Nathan had talked non-stop about how he was going to ride the Farris Wheel.  I personally hate Farris Wheels so Uncle Greg had graciously agreed to ride on it with Nathan and Elizabeth.  I had just bought their tickets and explained to Greg that the kids had never been one one before so I did not know how this was going to go when Nathan looks up at this huge Farris Wheel and says "Mommy, I don't think I want to ride on that"  Ha!  That's how it works doesn't it!  I don't blame you buddy!  Maybe next time, but Mommy still is not going to ride with you!