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...

Weigelia

Every year I love our garden more and more...

New Patio Furniture

I thought lay away at K-Mart was a good idea when I saw the commercial on TV but it turned out to be more trouble than it was worth... We thought it would be nice to have the store keep it until we had stained the deck and then bring it home... So, you have to make payments every 2 weeks which was a pain because the K-Mart store is icky and full of really dumb people... Plus it smell funny (the store not the patio furniture)... Then we picked it up and when we got home we discovered that they'd given us the wrong set... the style was correct but we got a side table, 2 chairs and a big table instead of the big table and 5 chairs... It was a hassle loading it back in the car and going back to K-Mart where the nicest but oh my goodness was he slow guy helped us... then we got home and discovered that the table was minus it's hardware so we had to go back again... but now that it's all up it is perfect and we can sit on the deck and laugh about the really nice guy who moved at a snails pace...

Our Peonies This Year...

Samantha's Mosaic...

Franklin Park Conservatory

Almost 11!

The bunnies: Buttercup, Daffodil and Petunia are still in the backyard. It was so tempting to reach out and grab Petunia last night, she was so close and sitting so still. Yes, we can tell them apart. Buttercup has a white streak on her forehead, Daffodil is darker and Petunia is lighter. I want to pick them up and snuggle them but we are concerned that the mother will take offense. We are hoping that they will get used to us checking up on them every evening and stay in the yard. they are so adorable that I would almost be ok with them eating my plants!

Samantha is turning 11 in 9 days! Last night I was sitting on her bed while she tried on her new shorts. I noticed her brown clogs and slipped them on. They fit perfectly! OMG! We are entering dangerous territory here. The brown clogs are now in my closet because Samantha said I could borrow them!

Baby Bunnies

We have 3 adorable baby bunnies in our back yard. On Saturday evening we were enjoying family time out on the deck. We had hamburgers on the grill and after we ate John and I relaxed and chatted while Samantha played on her swings. I absolutely love times like these and try to presently imprint them in my mind to recall on those dark and cold February days when summer seems a long way off.

Samantha saw a baby bunny from one of her swings and we went to investigate the little guy. Oh so tiny, furry and cute... and we named her Buttercup!

A little while later I asked Samantha where Buttercup was. She said she was sitting there in the garden watching her. I said I was too... we have 2 baby bunnies! We named the second one Daffodil.

Then Petunia, the third appeared. We had to make sure we could see all three at once as conformation that there really were three. Their nest is under one of our Weigelia bushes and I'd love to see them all snuggled in there.

We had a wonderful time watching them and then checking on them the rest of the weekend. I'm glad they have a beautiful and safe yard to grow up in.

Misc. Updates (since I haven't posted in forever!)

I got a new camera for Mother's Day! It is just like Samantha's so she taught me how to use it. (I feel old...) There are a bunch of pictures that I need to post but I just haven't gotten around to it... Lately I've been quite busy playing Path Words on Face Book and John and I were just elected President and Vice President of our Home Owners Association.

We are really enjoying the HOA. It is a lot of work currently because we are just learning the ropes and figuring things out. And, we have met so many interesting people so far.

Samantha only has 4 more days of 4the grade left! And, only 19 more days until her 11th birthday! I can't believe my baby is turning 11! She said she wants a puppy for her birthday... she's getting a new bike instead.

Over the weekend we went an saw Peter Pan at the Great Southern Theater. I used to stay at the Great Southern when I was at Ohio Wesleyan and it was parents weekend but I'd never been to the theater. It was really beautiful. I think Samantha really appreciated the architecture as well. and the play was cute.

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to the Franklin Park Conservatory. I got some great butterfly pictures that I will post soon. Every year they have butterflies among the gardens in one area. They are really neat... I love it when there aren't too many people in there and it's really quiet... it is so relaxing watching the butterflies fluttering around. My mom had taken Samantha there when she came to visit and it was cute to hear Samantha point out the things they had seen together. It made me smile listening to her recall their outing.