Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Almost Christmas

We have a wee bit of snow. It's kind of a light dusting and hasn't turned to slushy mush yet so it still looks pretty.

Every year I try to do something different for Advent. This year I got Samantha a chocolate a day calendar. She especially loves that they first chocolate had a squirrel imprinted on it! She honestly still thinks that there is a chance she will get a real live pet squirrel from Santa.

My Dad is going nuts with the new Kittinger table. He won't let Mom put anything on it. I asked if we will have to hold our plates in our laps when we eat on it. She did not find that one bit amusing.

Mom hasn't been able to walk Pepper like she had because Dad tried to kill her with some sort of portable heater that he got for the living room. Their living room is 900 square feet and all windows so it gets really cold in there along with the fact that they keep the thermostat set at 64 frickin degrees. So, the heater leaked some sort of noxious fumes that messed with Mom's already messed up breathing. She said that every day at noon Pepper walks herself down to the creek taking the same route they usually take and periodically looking over her shoulder for my Mom. What a crazy dog.

And, while we are on the subject of my mother, she lost her John Denver & The Muppet's Christmas album for her record player. I can't imagine what she might have done with it and she said she has looked everywhere. So, I thought I'd go on eBay to see if I could find one.. Well, who knew that would be such an expensive item... $25 for a 35 year old record with singing puppets... OY!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

We recently joined our local rec center and went for the first time yesterday. It was so much fun except that John couldn't go because he had a migraine. Samantha and I swam in the pool and just had the best time exploring all the things to do there. Next we totally want to try climbing the rock wall! There was no one in the pool but us so we were able to be totally silly. Samantha slid down the little kids frog slide and I attempted diving off the diving board. Sadly Samantha looked much cuter on the slide than I did diving!

Yesterday was my Daddy's 78th Birthday. We gave him some new books and Mom gave him his watch back. I guess that's how you would describe it. In 1953 he bought an Omega watch in Sweden that Mom recently found not working in a box of stuff. So, she took it to be repaired for his Birthday and he loved it!

Lately I have noticed a disturbing trend: the older my parents get the more "stuff" they are clearing out of their house. They have lived in the same house in the country for the past 47 or so years so it is packed with stuff and probably needs cleaned out but I can't help finding it a bit sad. Mom calls frequently and asks if I want this or that and says she will put my name on it. I am an only child so I get it all and I am sure when I go through things in the future and find my name on them I will wonder what was I thinking. And, every time we go home to visit we get loaded up with so much stuff, most of it junk. We cleaned our storage area in the basement and I couldn't remember why I had brought back half of the things I found: a deer antler, a rock, a broken necklace, a jar of sand... Oy!

Monday, November 2, 2009

October 2009

Wow, I can't believe it is almost the end of the year! Fall is flying by just as fast as the summer months did.

I had the swine flu in October which was awful. I was sick for a week and then so exhausted for another whole week that I couldn't do anything. It's amazing all the little things you do that you don't even realize until you spend two weeks not doing them! But, I am all better now and am faithfully taking my Airborne so I won't get sick again this year.

Samantha started band. She is playing the flute. I am amazed at how musically inclined she is. She has quite an ear and really hears the music. She does well at hearing something and then playing it back. I was never good at that at all. My mother had me play piano, clarinet, flute and the oboe but my ear was horrible. I did fine but never enjoyed it as much as I could have. Samantha looks so cute carrying her flute case off to school.

For Halloween Samantha decided she wanted to be a squirrel. I got some brown fur and sewed her a tail, a little vest and some ears. She had fun trick-or-treating with her friend Avery. Avery went as a cow girl. At one point Samantha said her tail was getting heavy so Avery walked along side her in her little pink coy girl hat holding Samantha's squirrel tail. It was so sweet. They looked like they should be an illustration in a children's book.

John is so happy! Samantha finally agreed to go shooting. John bought her a pink rifle. She did really well. (Better than I do!) I love that she now has an activity to share with her daddy.

We had parent teacher conferences in October and Samantha is doing well in all of her classes. She really loves school, especially math. Every Wednesday at Skyline she and Tara sit in a booth together and work on their math page for the accelerated match program. I love that!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

I Love Fall!


I love fall... the changing leaves... the cooler weather... the falling leaves... high school football games... fires in our fire pit wrapped up in a blanket... apple cider... picking apples... collecting leaves and pressing them between waxed paper... corn mazes... hay... pumpkins... Indian Corn... making chili... making Halloween costumes... baking apple pies... the smell in the air: leaves, bonfires, crisp and cool... decorating and the pretty colors... Definitely my favorite season!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Cranky Day

I am having a totally cranky day today. I don't have them very often so when I do it's like everything anyone says or does pisses me off. At work I end up yelling at Ellen because she is right there next to me and at home I end up yelling at John and Samantha because they are right there as well.

One of the things pissing me off is that on Saturday we signed Samantha up for band and purchased her flute. The sales rep at the school told us we couldn't bring Samantha's flute home until band stars in two weeks. I was really mad because I wanted to play her flute. Plus other sales reps let their people take their instruments home so because we got this specific rep we were told no. I know, I know... this is the dumbest thing in the whole world to be mad at but I am still mad none the less...

Then there are the people in the pine trees... Several residents have contacted John and myself to see if the HOA can help them with an issue they are having with people hiding in the pine trees across the road from them, shining laser lights and running through their yard at night. This is pissing me off because it has been going on for over a year and we have just found out about it. The pissing me off part is these people have been dealing with it for so long and it has them scared about their safety and by the time they have come to us they are at their most frustrated. Stupid tree people. John and I found a little camp they have in the pine trees. Why would someone want to hang out in s grove of pine trees and shine laser lights in peoples windows at 4am for over a year. What is wrong with people.

But, tomorrow is another day and this too shall pass...

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

My 14th Wedding Anniversary...

...and the beautiful roses that greeted me when I got to work this morning!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Obama's Speech to Students...

I swore when I started this Blog that I wouldn't get all into political issues or the like but I can't resist this one...

When I first heard about the speech I had a few thoughts... including: wow, this has a socialist feel to it and this is something you'd see overseas and not in the USA... all along I have thought that we will soon be the USSR and that there is something scary about our President... I get the feeling that he sees things as "his way or the highway" and that freaks me out...

I don't have a problem with Samantha hearing many different views on things because eveyone is entitled to their opinion... she should learn all sorts of points of view so she can form her own... and as parents John and I discuss what she learns with her...

I don't have a problem with a president giving a speech to school children on education, Republican or Democrat, but I do have a big problem with this President giving a speech to school children on education...

Here is an article I liked below...

Obama speech to students draws conservative ire
By LIBBY QUAID and LINDA STEWART BALL (AP) – 19 hours ago
DALLAS — President Barack Obama's back-to-school address next week was supposed to be a feel-good story for an administration battered over its health care agenda. Now Republican critics are calling it an effort to foist a political agenda on children, creating yet another confrontation with the White House.
Obama plans to speak directly to students Tuesday about the need to work hard and stay in school. His address will be shown live on the White House Web site and on C-SPAN at noon EDT, a time when classrooms across the country will be able to tune in.
Schools don't have to show it. But districts across the country have been inundated with phone calls from parents and are struggling to address the controversy that broke out after Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent a letter to principals urging schools to watch.
Districts in states including Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Virginia, Wisconsin have decided not to show the speech to students. Others are still thinking it over or are letting parents have their kids opt out.
Some conservatives, driven by radio pundits and bloggers, are urging schools and parents to boycott the address. They say Obama is using the opportunity to promote a political agenda and is overstepping the boundaries of federal involvement in schools.
"As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education — it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality," said Oklahoma state Sen. Steve Russell. "This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq."
Arizona state schools superintendent Tom Horne, a Republican, said lesson plans for teachers created by Obama's Education Department "call for a worshipful rather than critical approach."
The White House plans to release the speech online Monday so parents can read it. He will deliver the speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va.
"I think it's really unfortunate that politics has been brought into this," White House deputy policy director Heather Higginbottom said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"It's simply a plea to students to really take their learning seriously. Find out what they're good at. Set goals. And take the school year seriously."
She noted that President George H.W. Bush made a similar address to schools in 1991. Like Obama, Bush drew criticism, with Democrats accusing the Republican president of making the event into a campaign commercial.
Critics are particularly upset about lesson plans the administration created to accompany the speech. The lesson plans, available online, originally recommended having students "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president."
The White House revised the plans Wednesday to say students could "write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals."
"That was inartfully worded, and we corrected it," Higginbottom said.
In the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas, the 54,000-student school district is not showing the 15- to 20-minute address but will make the video available later.
PTA council president Cara Mendelsohn said Obama is "cutting out the parent" by speaking to kids during school hours.
"Why can't a parent be watching this with their kid in the evening?" Mendelsohn said. "Because that's what makes a powerful statement, when a parent is sitting there saying, 'This is what I dream for you. This is what I want you to achieve.'"
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, said in an interview with the AP that he's "certainly not going to advise anybody not to send their kids to school that day."
"Hearing the president speak is always a memorable moment," he said.
But he also said he understood where the criticism was coming from.
"Nobody seems to know what he's going to be talking about," Perry said. "Why didn't he spend more time talking to the local districts and superintendents, at least give them a heads-up about it?"
Several other Texas districts have decided not to show the speech, although the district in Houston is leaving the decision up to individual school principals. In suburban Houston, the Cypress-Fairbanks district planned to show the address and has had its social studies teachers assemble a curriculum and activities for students.
"If someone objected, we would not force them to listen to the speech," spokeswoman Kelli Durham said.
In Wisconsin, the Green Bay school district decided not to show the speech live and to let teachers decide individually whether to show it later.
In Florida, GOP chairman Jim Greer released a statement that he was "absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology."
Despite his rhetoric, two of the larger Florida districts, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough, plan to have classes watch the speech. Students whose parents object will not have to watch.
"We're extending the same courtesy to the president as we do with any elected official that wants to enter our schools," said Linda Cobbe, a Hillsborough schools spokeswoman. Cobbe said the district, which includes Tampa, has gotten calls from upset parents but said officials don't think the White House is trying to force politics on kids.
The Minnesota Association of School Administrators is recommending against disrupting the first day of school to show the speech, but Minnesota's biggest teachers' union is urging schools to show it.
Quincy, Ill., schools decided Thursday not to show the speech. Superintendent Lonny Lemon said phone calls "hit like a load of bricks" on Wednesday.
One Idaho school superintendent, Murray Dalgleish of Council, urged people not to rush to judgment.
"Is the president dictating to these kids? I don't think so," Dalgleish said. "He's trying to get out the same message we're trying to get out, which is, `You are in charge of your education.'"
Libby Quaid reported from Washington. Associated Press Writers April Castro, Monica Rhor, Zinie Chen Sampson, Christine Armario, Jessie Bonner, Scott Bauer, Tim Talley, Martiga Lohn, Tammy Webber and Alan Zagier contributed to this report.
Wow, can you believe it is September already. I have been so involved tending my farm in Farmville on Face Book that I have neglected my blog and all my Blog Friends... So very sorry...

This summer was so fast but really great. John and I planned our Homeowners' Association Block Party and it exceeded our expectations! There were about 400 people there which was awesome... We had food: hot dogs and hamburgers, games for the kids, a bounce house for the kids, face painting, fire trucks, police cars, McGruff the Crime Dog and a Corn Hole Tournament with trophies... It was a huge amount of work planning and executing everything but I love doing that sort of thing. I would love to be a party planner or something like that but the whole working weekends and evenings when people have events is really not appealing at all... I am thrilled to have met so many awesome people in our neighborhood since we've been on the HOA Board and we are already planning for next summer.

Samantha is loving 5th grade. I can't believe how big she is... grown up, not size wise... We couldn't ask for a better kid! This year Samantha has 3 teachers as opposed to last year where she only had 2... All three seem to be a good fit for her. And, I have to say, I love love love our schools... every year we have been so blessed to have really amazing teachers and really good kids in each of Samantha's classes... She has never had any "bad" kids in her classes... the worst a kid gets in trouble for is talking in class... that's great...

I will try very hard to write more... I do so enjoy it...

Friday, August 28, 2009

First Week of School

Samantha successfully completed her first week of 5th grade and she seems to be loving it... for this I am truly thankful. She brought home an assignment this week where she was to tell her teacher all about herself through answering a series of questions... they were great questions like what kinds of things does she like and dislike. It was awesome because I learned a bit about my kid! I knew she liked a quiet atmosphere but I didn't know she is happiest reading in her room... She also wrote that her role model is her dad and that her worst habit is that she picks at pencil erasers! And, she wants to be a famous artist one day and that compared to other families hers is really cool. How did I get so blessed with the best kid ever!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

End of Summer

Wow, the summer has really flown by. I can't believe Samantha went back to school today! She started the 5th grade! Doesn't it seem the older we get the faster time flies. It was just yesterday that she was finishing up the 4th grade and we were getting ready for summer and just yesterday that she was a tiny baby pooping in her kiddie pool!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Whitehall Old Lady Beat Down at Walmart...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r9rUtktxHk

Ok, I feel it is time that I weigh in on the video that's been circulating regarding an incident at Walmart in Whitehall, Ohio.

Everyone knows my husband is a police officer and most of you know that Officer Scott, the officer in the video, is a friend of ours... So, I have something to say regarding the incident....

We live in an ever increasing busy world where things move at lightening speed. We receive texts while at dinner with friends and we get news updates at the same time more updates stream across the bottom of the screen. Sometimes it's mind boggling and hard to keep up with. But this lightening fast pace is nothing new for police officers. They have dealt with split second decision making long before we knew about Twitter... heck, they've dealt with it since before we even had email.

When an officer is dispatched to a call they are given very basic and often severely limited information about the situation to which they are responding. Upon arrival they have literally seconds to make a decision on what to do... that's "one one thousand"... there, do you have everything all figured out? In those seconds they have to determine how to handle a situation in order to protect everyone involved, the victims, innocent bystanders, the "bad guy" and lastly themselves. And often these decisions are made under conditions most of us couldn't concentrate in.

So, there you are, at Walmart where there is a woman with a knife saying she is going to cut someone and she's surrounded by witnesses all yelling at you. What would you do? "one one thousand, two one thousand"... There, do you know everything there is to know about the situation? Do you know what led up to this moment? Do you know who the old lady is? Do you know who all the bystanders are? Do you know how many people are involved? Do you know if anyone is injured? Do you know if she's already cut someone? Do you know if someone is trying to harm her? Do you know what's going to happen next?

Police officers receive ongoing training throughout their careers. This training is to enable them to make the best decision possible for everyone involved in a matter of seconds, well before any of us "regular folk" would have even gotten out of the car. And they are trained to make these decisions under tremendous stress. They are trained to consider every possible outcome while we would still be getting our seat belts off and they are trained to act right then and there... no time to reconsider.

Yes, this was an old lady. But, did you know if she'd already cut someone? Did you know where she came from? Did you know if she actually intended on cutting anyone? Did you know if she intended on cutting anyone in particular? Did you know if any of these bystanders yelling were trying to hurt her? Did you know if she was hurt? Did you know if she had mental issues? Did you know if she was alone? (Remember, you have a matter of seconds to figure it all out...)

Officer Scott reacted in an appropriate manner. She said: "Put the knife down". She repeated this several times and the old lady did not comply. Do you know why the old lady didn't comply? No. Does the officer have time to sit down and analyse why? No. The officer's job is to protect and serve all... all those bystanders who are screaming at her as well as the old lady with the knife.

Officer Scott did what she was trained to do: disarm the subject with little or no injury to all those involved... Police officers are trained on how to disarm a subject in the quickest and safest way possible. The "move" Officer Scott used to keep everyone safe was amazing... It was perfect in my opinion. And once she had gotten the knife away from the old lady and was waiting for additional officers to respond she still had to protect all involved. She stayed right there with the old lady attempting to calm her down all while keeping bystanders back at an appropriate distance. Quite a fete in my opinion as Officer Scott was kneeling down in a vulnerable position to anyone intending harm. Did you know who all those bystanders were? Did you know what their intentions were as they ran up upon the old lady?

Did Officer Scott pull up on the situation an think: cool, great opportunity to beat up an old lady... um, no. She did think about all those people standing around watching and how she didn't want them to get hurt. And, she thought about how she didn't want the old lady to hurt herself.

Had the old lady cut one of those bystanders the reaction from the public toward the police, I feel, would have been much the same. People would have been outraged at how the police handled the situation.

Had Officer Scott been cut and injured by the old lady I believe no one would have ever known about the incident.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Fun on the Fourth of July

Here is Samantha is the SWAT camper John drove in the 4th of July parade... Samantha watched TV in the back while we waited for the parade to start...

Me being corny as usual...

And, John and Samantha walking around before the parade started...

Harley Girl...

... Ok, not really but I liked pretending. This is actually Tammi's new bike.

New Camera

I love the new camera Samantha gave me for Mother's Day!

Dogs on the Fourth of July

We saw these lovely ladies as we drove by in the Fourth of July parade... I thought they were just great... I want to be like that when I'm old!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Time Flies...

The summer is really flying by... The weather has been quite nice, not too hot so we are spending lots of time outside... We have enjoyed the new fire pit John made several times and are almost out of firewood... Samantha had a lot of fun when John's dad was here... She loves walking his cats on leashes... Now she is looking forward to visiting my parents in Eden and seeing the flying squirrel...

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Enjoying Summer...

The Fourth of July was really fun. John drove the SWAT vehicle in the parade and Samantha and I rode with him. I love a parade, especially when I'm in it waving to people. Then we watched fireworks with Kelly and her family. There were some sprinkles but not enough to deter us. We just constructed a tent out of blankets in between our cars. It was quite a sight but totally fun.

I have been trying to sit outside on the front porch and read in the evenings and watch the world go by. It is so relaxing and totally what summer is all about. I wish I could have those nights all year long! The other evening while I was on the porch I put on the lotion from the hotel in Indy and it reminded me of our stay there, walking along the canal in the evening and watching Samantha swim in the pool. It's just a little bottle so when it's gone I'm going to have to go online and buy a bigger one. I noticed that the Westin has a web site where you can buy that kind of stuff. Don't you just love how certain smells remind you of special memories.

This week John's dad is in town. He and Lita have their RV at the fairgrounds again for the car show this weekend. This year he brought a 1961 Willys station wagon. It is just adorable.

Yesterday we went to the Zoo and finally got to see the baby elephant who was born at the end of April. The last several times we went there was over an hour wait to see him but yesterday there was no wait at all. He is so cute! He followed his mother around and get treats from one of the keepers.

After the Zoo we went downtown to Mongolian BBQ... yummy! I love it when John's dad is in town because it feels like we are on vacation too. (Plus, everyone know about my fascination with RV parks...)

Thursday, July 2, 2009

My Favorite Holiday

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday! I love parades and I love festivals, cookouts and fireworks... and it's almost here. This year the police department where John works got a new SWAT RV and John's going to drive it in the parade and guess who gets to ride with him: me & Samantha! And, this is the first year that John will not be working 2ND shift and will get to watch the fireworks with us. I love the fourth of July!

Monday, June 22, 2009

My baby is 11 years old...

Samantha turned 11 on Friday! John's mom threw a lovely surprise party for her with her friend Joyce and the 2 other kids she watches... Samantha had a nice time with that and I think she was truly surprised... And, I was touched, it was such a nice thing to do... Then John's nephew Ryan came over with a card for Samantha from his family... again I was truly touched...

We let Samantha pick where she wanted to have dinner and she chose CiCi's Pizza Buffet... then when we got home she got to open her presents... Her main present was a new & bigger bike which she loved...

On Saturday poor Samantha had to work before her party... first thing in the morning we went out by the bridge in our neighborhood to install the kiosk the homeowners association purchased to keep the portion of the community who doesn't have Internet informed... We hired a guy who lives in the neighborhood & does construction to install it and we helped a bit... Samantha helped me go to the creek to get a couple buckets of water to pour in the post holes with the Quickrete...

After that we went to our neighborhoods community clean up day where poor Samantha had to work some more picking up trash around our ponds and at the entrances to our neighborhood... When we decided to trim tree branches at the entrance she asked if she could go home... lol...

Trimming the tree was quite an adventure... there were bugs all over the branches that we loaded into the back of my Element... they didn't bother me at first but after a while I felt like they were crawling all over me... And then when I went to pull out onto the main road all the branches fell out of the back of the Element into the street! Thankfully everyone was very patient while we got them cleaned up...

Finally it was time for Samantha's Birthday Party! She was so excited for Tara to come over and spend the night... Kelly and Tim hung out with us and we had a cook out... And then later in the evening the girls watched their 80's movies... They absolutely loved "Sixteen Candles"... I told the girls how when the movie first came out my best friend Carolyn and I had gone again and again to the hairdressers to get our hair cut just like Molly Ringwald in that movie and how disappointed we'd been each time that we looked nothing like her... My precious little angel says: "Well, your hair looks like hers now Mommy..." It took me 25 frickin years but I finally got the Molly Rinwald in "Sixteen Candles" hair cut!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Indianapolis Mini Vacation... Pictures in no particular order...

This was at the Children's Museum in the Chihuly exhibit... They had this cool bench that moved around in a circle so you could lie back and look up at the Chihuly glass in the ceiling... It was so beautiful... Chihuly is one of my favorite artists...


I can't tell if John's eyes are closed because he was taking a nap or just because he blinked...



Samantha at the Children's Museum digging for dinosaur bones...


I always love the doll house exhibit at the Children's Museum and this visit it was one of Samantha's favorites as well...

Samantha was also very interested in Anne Frank... They had a video about her life and Samantha asked a lot of questions... I thought about getting her the Diary of Anne Frank but John and I decided to wait a few more years...

This picture was amazing... It was tiny pictures of the Holocaust made into Anne Frank's face...

John and Samantha playing checkers... For a while there I thought Samantha was going to win but she didn't...

The Indianapolis War Memorial...

Our hotel... We had fun finding our room from the outside... It was on the right side, the third floor down and fourth room over...

Samantha brought her hamster, Twitchy and got her Boston Terrier at the hotel gift shop... She named him Westin...

Samantha tucked into her cloud bed... I believe the Westin calls them heavenly beds and they truly are... I want one of those beds...

Wow, John and his dad look exactly alike!

Me, Cheryl, Jazmyn and Samantha...

This is the bridge from Madison, IN to Kentucky... Back when I first met John we went to visit his Grandma... She asked if I wanted to go to Kentucky and I said sure... Well, John, it turned out, is terrified of bridges like this one... When Grandma realized this she made him drive over it again and again all the while sitting there in the passenger seat laughing... It was great...

The Jefferson Proving Ground is where Grandma's family lived until the government took the land... They kept the family home and used it as officer's quarters...

This is the bridge between the Bear Creek Cemetery and Grandma's family farm... The farm is where John's dad grew up...

Covered bridge we saw on our drive through the Indiana countryside...

The one room school house across from the Proving Ground where Grandma went to elementary school...

I know some find it morbid and odd but we love looking around really old cemeteries...

This is the out house at the Bear Creek Cemetery where John's Grandma and Grandpa are buried... I have used this out house on several occasions and it is similar to the one at the cemetery across from the Proving Ground where I was so traumatized that I forgot to take a picture... I got locked accidentally in the out house! I had to go really bad and my options were the bushes or this really old and really creepy out house... I was hesitant to use the out house because it was totally full of cobwebs but I didn't want to use the bushes either because there was a creepy caretaker mowing the lawn... Finally I decided on the out house and when I was done the wooden latch on the outside had slipped down over the door locking me in there with all the cob webs and icky out house stuff! I could see though the crack in the door that John and his dad were all the way on the other side of the cemetery looking at a grave... I couldn't see Samantha but I yelled for her... When she stopped laughing she let me out... Oh, it was so icky!

Older portion of Bear Creek Cemetery...

John's Grandparents' grave...

We all thought this was an interesting picture above the toilet in the bathroom of our hotel room...

When Ellen and her family went to the beach they took foot pictures so I wanted to take foot pictures too... We were walking around downtown Indy and for some strange reason my Birkenstock were giving me blisters... they've never done that before...

Most of you know Samantha has an obsession with squirrels...

You all will surly recognize this view...

One of my favorite spots in Indianapolis is the canal...

Samantha found some ducks...


More canal...

Samantha and I were thrilled to find Starbucks coffee in our hotel room!

View of the Court House from our hotel room window...

The trip home!

More Chihuly at the Children's Museum...

Dinosaur dome at the Children's Museum...

Another favorite part of the Children's Museum...

The Chihuly sculpture... Note the bottom portion... it is what you looked up at on the circle lounger thing...

Me and Samantha at the Indiana War Memorial Museum...

The lobby of our hotel where Samantha and John would wait for me... They are so impatient!

Samantha in her Aeropostale necklace... She doesn't look like a baby anymore...

Except when she's sleeping, then she still looks like a baby...

You never ever see me in a bathing suit let alone in the water... and if you do get me in the water I never put my face in but this time I did! I showed Samantha how to do summersaults under the water...

Samantha's first shopping trip to Aeropostale... She got a necklace, bracelet and a tee shirt... She said she has always wanted a peace sign necklace...

Here we are outside the Native American Museum...

We left on Monday but on friday Samantha was all packed... I love how she packed her vintage suitcase that I had decorated for her...

And she left this note that John and I thought was adorable...