Memaw Visits

Memaw came to visit in early September and as usual, we kept plenty busy. We did a lot of relaxing too!




Memaw reading books to Dakota after bathtime:







TANNER'S APPLE ORCHARD:

We spent a Friday morning at the apple orchard. It was a perfect day; great fall weather and almost no one there!


The kiddos were driving the bus while Memaw looked on.





Sis is really in to saying, "CHEESE!" Her face is so funny all scrunched up, I just had to put it on here. And as you can tell by her messy face, she had a great time.





MARIGOLD FESTIVAL:

Our little town has a fall festival each year called the Marigold Festival. Of course there are carnival rides, a parade, and lots and lots of arts and crafts. We had a great weekend!

Here's a few pictures of the kids riding the carnival rides:

Family Vacation to Indianapolis, Indiana

Jason and I have been wanting to take the kids on a family vacation for some time now. We decided on Indianapolis because the drive from here is easy (about three hours) and there's lots for families to do. We got there last Thursday and stayed until Monday (Labor Day). Friday was spent at the Indianapolis Zoo, then Saturday we went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and lunch downtown at a sports bar. Sunday we went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. We have been told that the children's museum is amazing and it did not disappoint. By far the best and biggest children's museum we've been to. Monday we slept in, made a stop at one of the malls and headed home. We needed this time away and made some wonderful memories. Enjoy the pictures:

Hotel Fun

Of course there were many memories made at the hotel...

Downtown Indy

Indianapolis Children's Museum

Jax exploring the Egyptian exhibit.



We were laying on a rotating couch looking at blown glass art above.



Jax and his best buddy enjoying some time together.



Our little "diver" exploring shipwreck in the Caribbean.




There was an entire room for children 5 and under. The kids had so much fun in there. Here they are exploring the water table:









Taking Sissy for a ride!



Our scientist digging in the rocks for dinosaur fossils.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

We took a bus tour around the speedway. It took us on to the track for one lap, and during the lap, the was narration to teach us about the history of the track. It was a great tour and Jaxon LOVED being on the track and really LOVED seeing all of the race cars inside the museum.

Indianapolis Zoo

Even though we did our research ahead of time and knew there was a spray park in the zoo, we still forgot to bring the kids' swimsuits with us! We thought about just walking past the park quickly and hoping the kiddos didn't notice, but the day was hot and we really wanted them to play in the water to cool off. So, I did one of those things that was on my "Things I'll Never Do When I'm a Parent" list; let them play in their street clothes and just a diaper for Dakota!











I've been told that seeing your babies sleeping never gets old, no matter their age!






The Indy Zoo just had an elephant give birth. Actually, they had several different animals with new babies, but I thought the baby elephant was amazing. She was just weeks old and I've never seen an elephant so small.












We caught a few shows that day. One of the coolest was the zookeepers giving an elephant his daily bath.

Sissy was waving at the elephant as he made his way to the arena.




We all took a turn petting the elephant. It felt a lot different than we expected.









A super cool exhibit was the opportunity to pet a shark. I was a little weary at first, but Jason thought I'd regret it if I didn't take the opportunity to do it. He's probably right, so I went for it. Jax wasn't as interested and never would stick his hands in the water.