To The Indianapolis Zoo

Kevin headed back to Louisville on Sunday afternoon to pick up the dogs and to go to work on Monday morning, but Lewis and I stayed up north. On Monday, we went to the Indianapolis Zoo, which I also hadn't been to in many, many years. We spent 5+ hours there, so we had a lot of fun and were very (very!) tired by the end of the day.

 Cousins in front of the new Orangutan Center 

Lewis and Juni rode their first roller coaster! 

Cousins, waiting on the train :)

On the train

I see you back there, Auntie Schwee! #photobomb 

 Feeding a carrot to the giraffe

 Have rock, will climb

There was an area where you could try to outrun a cheetah, which Lewis tried out twice. He did his best, but he just couldn't quite get going fast enough. ;)

 Go, buddy, go! 

 Checking out the elephants

The last time I visited this zoo, you could RIDE the elephants, which had to have been a long time ago.

 At the dolphin show

 Snuggling up to Juni, who isn't such a fan of Lew's snuggles, hand holding, hugs, etc.

Lewis got antsy and wanted to leave after the first 5 or so minutes, so he and I slipped out while everyone else stayed for the show. We grabbed some ice cream and hit up a playground, instead.

 There's a polar bear lounging on that rock to the left, above the water.

 Trying to pet sharks with Gramma

I'm not sure than any came close enough, but they tried.

 Penguins!

I wish I could have gotten a picture of his face--maybe you can sort of tell that he is smiling from ear to ear. He loved these penguins--he loved to watch them jump in and dive down below.

We were going to leave but decided to head over to the bird area, and I'm so glad we did. I don't generally care for birds, but we were able to feed some and have them fly all around us (which, honestly, was terrifyingly similar to the movie Birds, but I think I kept my cool, for the most part). :)

While I was taking Juniper and Lewis' picture, with my camera in one hand and bird seed stick in the other, one landed and started chowing down. It was a little scary, especially after it finished the seed and moved down to investigate my fingers. I was sure my eyeballs were next, but it thankfully flew away. 

Attack of the Bird Man Lew! 

 Papaw and Otis :)

One last stop at the carousel on the way out

We hit up the roller coaster again, too, and then headed on our way.

Afterwards, we all headed to Mass Ave. for dinner at BRU Burger was very good (would have been even better had I been able to have a yummy beer with my yummy burger, but in time). :) We ran into an old camp friend (Betsy) as we got back to our cars, which was a nice surprise!

Lewis and I got stuck in traffic on the way home (overturned semi blocking both lanes on 65 near Seymour), which added an hour to our drive, but we made it back safely. Lewis finally fell asleep about halfway into the drive, and he went right to bed when we got home. So many days of fun takes a lot of a person--I had swollen feet that night and had to put them up on a pillow and chug some water. I felt like I'd been run over the next morning, but I feel pretty much back to normal today. :) Good thing because the Bergstroms are heading down here tomorrow for a few more days of fun!

To Conner Prairie with the Fam

Sunday we went over to Conner Prairie, which I hadn't visited in years (since I was a kid, I guess). It was even better than I remembered, and we all had a great visit (again, the rain held out until we were driving away). Emily has been reading the Little House on the Prairie series to Juniper at night, so they're verrrry into all things prairie right now, especially. We knew it would be a good day after the first building we visited--baby and mama animals!! Walking around freely for us to pet:

 I thought the baby goats were absolutely the cutest, but they weren't out for petting during our visit.

 I wonder what Otis is thinking as he looks at his new friend.

We started at the new Civil War exhibit, and on our walk back, came across some blackberries:

 Don't mind if I do. :)

 In the blacksmith's shop 

 We had the stroller, but sometimes you just need a lift from Dad. :)

 Stilts!

I remember walking on these and dipping candles (which you now have to pay extra to do) when I was a kid.

 Otis, taking the ride of his life, thanks to a jumping Lewis and Juni

 These baby pigs might take the lead for cutest baby animals :)

 Checking out the bed situation in the inn

They have a nice indoor toddler play area that I didn't remember (I think it's new):

 Train Table = Magnet for Lewis

His souvenir from Gramma was a bell he can add to his current train tracks--it rings as the trains pass by it, which is cool and something I'd never seen before.

 Juni, at peace with her chickens (they have 3 hens at home)

 Otie Man, checking out the vegetable garden

Juniper's souvenir was a bonnet, and later that evening or the next morning, I found Lewis wearing it. I took a picture while he was watching TV:

:)

We had such a great time there! I can't wait to go back.

Otis' 1st Birthday and Gramma Pat's 60th Birthday

First, a few randoms from last week. Lewis said, 'Take our picture!'

Best Buds, most days :)

Helping make cookies

I'd had a hankering for cookies last week, so I googled Best _____ Cookie (chocolate chip, peanut butter, chocolate, etc.) to see what the internet had to offer. The first recipe for Chewy Chocolate Cookies was divine. I made them with peanut butter chips, and yum. They were even better the 2nd day. I'm going to attempt some peanut butter ones, next, followed by a chocolate chip cookie showdown. I have two new c.c. recipes to try, but I'm skeptical of whether they can top my usual recipe.

Last week, we worked on a gift for Gramma Pat's birthday--Lewis picked out a butterfly-shaped picture frame at Target, and he painted it for her with a school picture inside:

So focused

At first he did one color at a time, until I had all of the colors out on the plate. Then he switched to dipping his paint brush into each color, every time. So the brush had a dab of orange, light blue, red, blue, and green. It all ended up kind of brownish by the time it reached the butterfly, but who cares. He did a really good job of painting all of the surface this time.

I told him he could cover the plate with the leftover paint, so he very slowly went to work on that, too. :)

Lewis had camp last week until Thursday, so he and I drove up to my parents' house that afternoon to see the Bergstroms (minus my brother-in-law, Joe).

Boys' Breakfast

Emily and I headed to Indy on Friday for lunch and Costco (for Mom's party) while Gramma and Papaw watched the kiddos. Later, Mom and I took Juniper and Lewis to the bouncy house place:

Juni's waiting up top :)

Eyes closed!

Cousin Love!!!

Later that evening, we had a pizza and cake party for Otis' 1st birthday (July 16):

Again, Lewis was trying to help Otis with the candles.

I don't think he (Lew) was successful this time (as he was with Carlton).

Mmmm, Concannon's cake. :)

Lewis' fork efficiency and speed greatly improve when there is cake involved. Same with spoons and ice cream. :)

Saturday, the grandparents took the kids to a horse show (for Juniper) and car show (for Lewis) while Kevin, Emily, and I got things ready for the birthday party. (Kevin drove up after work Friday evening.) Em and I headed over to the pool in the afternoon to set-up for the party while Kevin and the grandparents and Uncle Dave watched the kids.

I don't have many pictures from the party because I was too busy co-hostessing and catching up with people, but I do have some of Lewis swimming:

Moving up to water wings

Because Mama forgot his usual floatie at home :)

Thinking about jumping off the diving board

There goes Juni!!

And Lew!

I know Kevin has some pictures on his phone, too, of him jumping earlier in the evening, but we don't yet have Dropbox on this computer, so I can't get to those pictures at the moment.

The party was great! We went with a peace and love/tie dye/hippie theme, and had close to 50 family and friends, I think. There was a rain/storm chance all day, but it held out just until the very end. Lots of people helped us clean up quickly, so we were able to make it home before the rain came.