Conner Prairie

Dallin had some doctor appointments in Indianapolis in September, which required him being out of school for the day. I figured that rather than drive all the way down and straight back (like I normally do), we'd do something fun and turn a missed school day into something educational. We met my friend Deidra and her 2 kids at Conner Prairie. It's an interactive history park. There's a small indoor museum, but most of the attractions are outside.

There were farm animals that we got to pet in the barn.

 Actors are dressed up in period clothing and they teach you about life in Indiana in the 19th century as you explore the "town."

The kids sat listening to this blacksmith talk about his job for like 10 minutes. I was amazed at their attention span.

The kids got to dress up and do chores.

 Connor in the apron/skirt is cracking me up. (It was his choice to wear it.)

I love these 3 cuties.

We got to play some games that kids played back then, like hoop rolling and walking on stilts.

Connor thought it was a hockey stick and kept trying to take slap shots.

They told me they were on their way to Florida.

 After a beautiful, warm afternoon spent running and playing, we stopped at the apple store (not the kind that sells iPods) on the prairie for some chocolate dipped pretzel sticks and apple cider slushies. 

Our kids sure are a silly bunch of apples.

We love having good friends to do fun things with; friends who talk me into buying an apple cider slushy. That extra cold, sugar rush kept me awake on the hour long drive home.

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Also in September, Mckay's parents came to visit. I didn't take many pictures when they were here, but I did get a few cute ones of the boys when we went to Fair Oaks Farm with them to see the pigs.

Dallin getting an up close look at a newborn piglet (kept behind glass, of course).

There are veterinarian coats and stethoscopes for the kids to wear as they learn about pigs. Connor kept his on for along time.

Looking at all the little piglets.

We love going to Fair Oaks Farms.

County Fair

We finally made it to the county fair this summer! It's been on our summer list for a few years, and the fairgrounds are only 5 minutes from our house, but we somehow have never managed to make it there, until this year. Unfortunately, we went on the last day so all the animals and livestock had already packed up and left, but the rides were still up. And a perk to waiting until the last day is that ride tickets were discounted.

Dallin looks a little scared in this picture, but I promise he did have fun. And yes, I did go on several of the rides even with my pregnant belly. None of the ride restraints but any kind of pressure on my belly, and I only went on rides the kids could go on too, so none of them were unsafe for me and baby.

Waiting in line for the next ride.

Connor was just barely tall enough for most of the rides (with an adult).

Several times when we measured him, he stood on his toes to look taller. Smart boy...

This was the only ride the boys were tall enough to go on by themselves. It was a very simple ride, but they enjoyed it. Mostly, I think they liked feeling grown up.

Next we went on the Ferris wheel together and got a good view of the whole fair.

Paying $8 for a junk food carnival dinner didn't sound that great, so we walked across the street to the Wendy's and got dinner from the value menu. Much tastier! Connor took forever to finish his burger, so we let him carry it to finish eating as we walked back to the fair.

He carried it around with him the whole time, taking little bites here are there. It was really entertaining to watch, though I'm not sure why.

We all had a lot of fun that night. And we made it back to our car and home right before a huge rain storm hit. Perfect timing!

Grandma and Grandpa visit

My parents came to Indiana to visit us for a week. My dad had a conference to attend at Purdue for work, so both mom and dad came out to stay with us.

Dallin and Connor were so excited for Grandma and Grandpa to come visit. They loved all the extra attention and story times.

We went blueberry picking one day. I love having so many local farms just outside of town, only a 10 minute drive from us.

Connor was a pretty good helper. Dallin kept insisting we were done and asked for lunch several times.

The boys carried the 6 pounds of blueberries for us.

We made a lot of delicious food while my parents were here, including blueberry pie, blueberry syrup and peach cobbler.

Mckay treated us to a selection of thai dishes.

Of course, we had to eat in traditional thai style by sitting on the floor.

He made two different main dishes (basil chicken and a spicy coconut curry), thai fried eggs, and rice.

and a delicious mango sorbet for dessert.

Hmmm, we had a lot of really good fruit desserts...

We went to Fair Oaks Farms, the best agro-tourism destination in central Indiana. We got to tour a dairy farm and a pig farm.

The pig farm specializes in breeding and birthing and you get to see newborn little piglets.

Dallin was really good at this exhibit: using ultrasound to see how many piglets the mom is carrying. We had the ultrasound for our baby #3 the day before, so Dallin knew exactly what to do. (Oh, I guess I should do a separate post about the baby's ultrasound...)

Part of the dairy farm experience is seeing the live birth of a cow.

We had delicious grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch from the cafe, and then enjoyed a few of the outdoor toys, like the train ride.

On the last day of their visit with us, we took grandma and grandpa to our local, free zoo.

Dallin played in the water for a bit.

And Connor slept.

We saw the monkeys.

There are several chickens who walk around free at the zoo and Dallin chased them.

Connor woke up just in time to see his favorite animals at the zoo: the goats.

He gets a little too friendly and we have to remind him not to pick up the goats.

We fed the goats some little food pellets and tried not to get pushed over by the wave of hungry goats that hit us when they saw food.

Connor loves getting as close as possible to the goats.

Dallin prefers a little space sometimes.

We rode on the zoo train.

I feel I hardly need to mention how much Connor loves riding the train.

After the train ride, we had my dad take a few pictures of our family.

The sun was working against us, so we didn't get many great shots.

Dallin in this one makes me laugh so hard everytime I see it.

Ahhhh, this way was so much easier for the eyes.

We had such a wonderful time with my mom and dad. We loved being able to spend time with them and we're really happy they could come out for a visit.

Day 17: our house

I am thankful for our house.

(I think I need to take an updated picture. Our yard looks much better now, 2 years later.)

 A big thunderstorm came through our city today, and there were tornados nearby. We didn't get hit too hard at our house, but we were a little nervous for a bit. We had just gotten home from church/choir practice and finished eating some lunch. It was getting pretty windy outside. And then it started raining hard and we could see lightning. And then it got REALLY windy and I could barely see out of our windows. It almost reminded me of the time there was a small tornado by our house in St. Louis. When the sirens came on, Mckay and I looked at each other and we knew it was time to run for the shelter of our bathroom. Having no basement here, the bathroom is our safest choice. We've recently put together some 72 hour emergency kits, so I knew right where the flashlights and other important things were. I reluctantly grabbed the sleeping Connor from his bed and met Dallin and Mckay in the bathtub. Dallin was confused about what we were doing and was a little nervous. (Remember, he's good at sensing people's emotions.) I very calmly told him that there was a big storm outside with lots of rain and wind, so we were being extra careful and hanging out in the bathroom for a while because it was safe in there. Mckay told him that as long as we were all together we would be fine.

The rain and wind left almost as quickly as it had come. And we left the bathroom after 10 minutes. The sun was already coming out and there was no visible damage outside, no fallen trees. Other places in town were not so lucky. A Middle School had the walls blown off the gymnasium. The Elementary School where Dallin attends preschool (which is right next door to that Middle School) has some roof damage and broken windows. As a result, school is cancelled tomorrow. The Subaru Plant (which provides a large chunk of the jobs here) had some damage and has cancelled some shifts for Monday. Some nearby roads (like 2-3 miles away) are closed because of debris. Many of our friends were without power for some time.

This is a picture that a local man took from downtown today. This was about 5 miles from our house.

I am very grateful that we did not get any damage to our house. I'm grateful that we have a wonderful home to shelter us and keep us safe.

 Some cities a few hours away sustained a lot more damage and homes were destroyed. I can't imagine how difficult that would be. Beyond the obvious difficulty of not having your house to live in anymore, I would be devastated to loose everything inside our house.

I love the home that we've built here. I'm so grateful that we get to live in it. I'm grateful that we were protected during the storm yesterday.