Last days....

Let's see, where did I leave off?  Oh, yes.  Saturday of vacation we went out on the town for awhile.  We went to Goofy Golf for some miniature golf.  Technically the place was closed for the season, but we caught them on the one day they were open doing a charity event.  Golf was "free" with donation and basically we had the run of the place.  I really did more of chasing Molly and trying to keep up with the other kids than I did golfing.  The kids had a blast and it really was a neat place to go.

Can you find Molly in this picture?

After lunch, we decided to go out onto the pier.  Brian and the boys (friends that stayed the weekend with us) went fishing off the pier.  They caught quite a few fish including a flounder.  We also got to see some other fisherman go fishing with a net off the pier.  How awesome to see them pull that net up just full!  Molly sure thought she was big stuff on that pier.  I again spent most of my time just trying to keep up.

We topped Saturday night off with dinner out.  You just have to go to a sea food restaurant when you are this close to the ocean.  Sharky's Restaurant it was.  I enjoyed the fresh catch of the day - Trigger fish and also some crab legs.  Daniel opted for a burger.  :)

The kids with Sharky

Sunset on the way to the restaurant.

One more full day of fun in the sun.  Stay tuned.

A sure sign of Fall

Autumn is upon us, which means a trip to Anderson's Orchard for some apples.  There are orchards that are closer to use, but the u-pick is the draw.  It's all about the experience.  David is like a monkey in the trees.  The boy has no fear! 

Madelyn was a little more cautious than her brother and had a few times where she got stuck and had to be helped down, but she picked quite a few apples too.

Molly did a lot of her apple picking from the ground, but also wondered why she couldn't climb too.

She also did a lot of taste testing.

 

One more start of fall down in the books.  I see a lot of apple desserts in our future!

City escapades

Labor Day weekend deserves some fun.  After lunch Sunday at Chuck E. Cheese's we headed to the city.  Our first stop: Lady Victory.

Lady Victory's sword and her future home...

Lady Victory was unveiled in Indianapolis on September 5th, 1893 atop the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, also known as "The Circle".  She was recently taken down for the first time to be restored and cleaned and is sitting on the Circle until Tuesday morning when she will be hoisted back to her original position.  The 38 foot tall statue attracted quite a crowd!

Molly enjoying the sights and sounds.

The kids sure did have fun exploring the city.  There were doors just at their height with surprises inside.....

 

Mirrors like you would see in a fun house....

This particular one made me look skinny.  Bonus!!

  A petting zoo...

And lots to just take in...

After dinner at Steak n' Shake downtown, we headed to the canal for some more fun.  We rented a bike / car and cruised the canal.  We had more fun!

And the perfect ending to a perfect day?

 

A beautiful sunset of orange, yellow, grey, purple, pink and blue.  God is good!

Wind Farms

A 10 mile stretch of interstate 65.  As far as the eye can see on both sides of the interstate.  Wind turbines.  There has to be thousands of them.  We used to see them up in Wisconsin and I was always so mesmerized.  It's hard to understand the shear size of these energy savers until you get right up close and personal.  And so that is what we did.

A few side roads and down the middle of a bean field and we were there listening to the low swishing sound of these massive wind mills.  So cool!

And just so you get an idea of how large these things really are:

Workers dwarfed by the size of the turbine blades.

Amazing "go green" energy producers.  Truly beautiful against a farm backdrop of green field and blue sky.

A Dairy Good Time!

Nothing beats a good Day-cation.  Today's destination: Fair Oaks Farms. 

I have been wanting to go here for years.  It is right off of interstate 65 between Chicago and Indy.  We had driven past it several times, and it just looked so fun!  Believe me, we were not disappointed!  We experienced a 4-D movie all about life on the farm.  We then walked through a forest, a corn field in the harvesting process, and an old time dairy farm.  So fun! 

How appropriate we rode in a bus painted like a dairy cow!

Next we took a bus tour out to the dairy barns.  We saw the HUGE milking carousel.  This resembled a very large merry go round.  There were 72 cows able to be milked at one time.  The cow walks into a stall and someone below cleans the teets then the electric milker is attached.  They are milked as the whole carousel moves in a circle.  It never stops moving, but when the cow returns to the beginning she backs out of her stall and is ushered back to her place in the barn.  It was one of the neatest things I have ever seen.  Fair Oaks is one of the largest dairy farms in the United States.  40 tanker trucks pick up daily producing 250,000 gallons of milk.  Not bad for a day's work.

 

We stopped into the cafe to refuel.  We had a grilled cheese sandwich with cheese made on site.  We also had fresh ice cream.  I had the butter pecan and it was the BEST ice cream I've eaten in a long time.  So creamy.

Molly enjoyed some ice cream too.

The kids then had some play time outside.  There was so much to do!!  Their favorites were the electric tractor.

After playing outside for awhile, we headed into the birthing barn.  When we 1st arrived, 2 mommas were resting easy with babies by their side.  But before too long, a first time momma cow was escorted into the barn.  We had the privilege of watching her bring not one....but 2 babies into the Fair Oaks Family.  That's right!  Twins!

They were born about 20 minutes apart.  The 2nd twin had a little trouble.  She had to have some assistance in getting her out, and the farmer performed C.P.R (including mouth-to-mouth) to get the little calf to breathe.  The whole place cheered when the new little calf began to move and kick.  The mother then spent lots of time cleaning her little calves and encouraging them to get up and move.  The kids really enjoyed seeing the baby calves come into the world.  They befriended an older couple in their early 70's and the 4 of them really got into the whole process.  It was really a great experience!

We had a great day.  We took our time, did everything we wanted, some things even twice and stayed until almost closing.  We all decided that we want to go back and do it all again some time soon.  Day-cation a success!!

Busy bees....

I recently found out that Ben Weaver, a friend of ours from church, was an official bee keeper.  Intrigued, I asked if we could come over for a field trip of sorts and see what this was all about. In addition to just being plain cool, I thought it would also help the kids to not be so afraid of nature's honey makers. 

Ben was great with the kids.  They truly learned a lot and he made them feel so comfortable.  They never once cowered in fear.  They listened intently to Ben and followed each direction he gave them.  He is going to be a great elementary teacher!

Ben explaining the ins and outs of the hive

Of course, to get a closer look, proper gear is required.

Ben also let them help use the smoker.

David smoking the hive

And finally, a look at the frames.

Looking at the bees filling honey cells.

No fear here!

The kids had a great day.  When we got home, I had them draw and journal what they learned.  They are no longer afraid of bees as they were before.  In fact, the other day, I found them bent over in the yard watching a bee collect pollen from some clover in our yard.  Thanks Bee-Keeper Ben for teaching us about the amazing honey bee!!

Cookies and Canvas

A couple months ago, I found the neatest place on the Living Social deal site that we just HAD to check out.  The studio is called Wine and Canvas, but on certain days and times they do Cookies and Canvas for younger artists.  Everyone who attends that day paints the same picture.  They provide the canvas, brushes, paints etc. and the artist walks you through each stroke, no experience necessary.  I knew Madelyn would have a blast!  She loves to paint and draw.  She chose which day/picture she wanted to do, and off we went.

A blank canvas....

I had prepped her a little before hand.  I didn't want her to become discouraged or feel intimidated.  I also didn't want her to be upset if her painting didn't look exactly like the original.  But she took off with wings and began to paint with all confidence.

And what would be a day at Cookies and Canvas, without a cookie in one hand a paint brush in the other....

She ate that cookie and didn't skip a stoke!!  So proud!

Having fun!!

And finally, the finished product...

There was not much at all that I helped her with.  She did most of it by herself.  I am so proud of her!  Her "Perfect" Panda Bear will look beautiful hanging in the play room.  I can't wait to do something like this again.  In fact, we even talked about doing some of our own paintings at home.  I think we've found a new hobby!

So proud of her work

And just so you can see how well she did, here is the original... (just ignore the sold out written across it.  I stole this from the Cookies and Canvas website.)

Spring is here!!

And what a better way to usher in spring than a day at the Zoo!  

 

We were able to see some of the new exhibits.  This year they have added bats and a wart hog.

The bats just hung in the corner and slept.  But this warthog just stood at the window and let people take it's picture.  Extremely ugly little thing, but Molly didn't seem to mind.  It was also nice to visit some of our favorites again.  Sharks are always fun.  And since we went later in the afternoon, we saw the Cheetah's and also the elephants pretty close.  Here's Madelyn with some rhinos.

 

 We also got to admire some of the new spring flowers already in bloom.  It was a fun day!!

Toy Story 3 on Ice

Last week, Daniel was at a Pacer game doing magic.  During half time Conseco offered 2 free tickets to Toy Story 3 on Ice for this weekend if you text in.  Well, the house was packed but Daniel decided to try anyway.  And what do you know!?  He actually won!  Tickets were kind of expensive and we could have never afforded to take the whole fam, but when it was all said and done, we paid $39 including parking and all got to enjoy the show!  What a blessing!

The show was really cute.  It included a lot of characters.  Of course Buzz, Woody, Jesse, Bulls-eye, Hamm (my personal favorite), Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Slinkie, Rex and even Barbie and Ken.  Lots 'o Huggin' Bear made an appearance.  Then there were about 30 Army men, 30 Aliens, 30 Barbie's and lots more.  So much fun!

 

Daniel and I were really amazed at the price of everything.  Snow cones in a cute little Jesse, Alien or Woody cup were $10 and if you get a Buzz Snow cone it was $15.  They had these Buzz light up whirly things that were $20, and a simple cotton candy with a foamie alien hat was $12.  Needless to say, our kiddos were content with the juice box and their fruit snacks from home.  Except for Molly.  When she was not watching the show or dancing to the music, she was trying to steal my neighbors popcorn and the snow cone from the family behind me.  :)

Jingle Rails

The fam and I went to the Eiteljorg Museum for the Jingle Rails exhibit this year.  It was impressive.  This exhibit is exclusive to the museum and they add to it every year.  They said we could sponsor a building from downtown Indy for about $100 grand.  Um..... Lusk Entertainment Group, Inc. is successful, but not quite to that caliber yet.  :)

Everything is made out of natural products.  All of it except for downtown is out west. There was Old Faithful.

There was the Grand Canyon Lodge.

It also had replicas of Yosemite Falls, Mount Rushmore, several mining towns, Indian reservations and much more.  It was truly a neat exhibit.  We will definitely check it out again next year.

Since we were there, we visited some of the other parts of the Museum.  We had never been to this one before, so I didn't know quite what to expect.  It is primarily an art museum, so the kiddos were through the exhibits at lightning speed.  We did find some hands on experiences for the kids though.  The kiddos had fun dressing up like Spanish Americans.  'Ole!

It truly was a good family outing.  And as a bonus, Madelyn and Molly were free, we had a buy one get one adult ticket and a $2 off coupon on a kids ticket.  Not bad for $11 worth of enjoyment.