Walking the Canal . . .

Saturday Jackson, Mia and I decided to go on a "venture" to the canals. We had a blast! We parked at the White Water parking area, climbed the hill, and this is what we found first:

There were lots of huge wooden animals to climb on and slide down! The kids had a ball climbing up on the cat, sheep, horse, doggie and chicken!
Jackson liked the red dog because he could turn around and slide down his tail!

Mia was IN LOVE with the chicken!!

After that, we walked along the canal. We saw lots of water, waterfalls and flowers. Jackson made friends with Freddie, the NCAA Museum frog!

Next, we went to the Indiana State Museum to get a snack. Unfortunately they were closed for a special event, but the kids got a big kick out of listening to the huge steam clock play "Back Home Again in Indiana" on the hour! Jackson calls it "the hooting clock"!!

Wanna see what we saw next?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

These big boys kept us entertained for about an hour!! The kids loved climbing on the mastedon's trunk and twirling around it's legs.

We ended the day at Arby's eating curley fries and chicken chunks. Since it was Jackson's birthday, the kids got to ring the bell when we left and then it was home to Nana's. We had a great day!

Indy As I See It (Part 1) . . .

My good friend, Erland P, always told me to keep a camera with me at all times, just in case. I started doing this a few years ago, and take random photos whenever I see something that catches my eye. My one regret is that I didn't start this habit in time to get a photo of the "Ho-made Pies" sign before it was torn down to make way for a new truck stop. I always wondered how many "ho's" it took to make a pie ;0).

Anyway, from time to time, I'll post some random photos of curiodities I see in my travels in and around Indy. I hope you enjoy them.

This is what I see every morning -- a mama dino and her two babies coming out of the side of The Indianapolis Children's Museum. Even though the City of Indianapolis has a different idea, the street signs say these creatures are busting out at the corner of T-Rex Trail and Gorgosaurus Avenue. The Museum is getting ready to start a massive building project in October. Soon there will be another bigger dino looking down at these little ones. I can't wait to watch that build as it takes place! There used to be dino footprints on the street leading to the Museum, but these have long faded. I hope they repaint them when their new project is finished. Fun!

Thanks, Erl!

Stolen from my niece Karla's blog . . .

i am - writing this in my jamamas!
i think - Cheetos are little, orangie bits of heaven!!
i know - most people think I'm a little nutz.
i want - a new car (hang in their Red - not quite yet)
i have - too many plastic shopping bags under my kitchen sink.
i wish - it didn't snow in Indiana.
i hate - going to the dentist.
i miss - my good friend Connie (17 years November 4th).
i fear - retirement.
i feel - blessed!
i hear - voices in my head sometimes - I just don't always do what they tell me to.
i smell - No I Don't!
i crave - Mexican food, Chinese food, Cajun food, Italian food, State Fair food ;0)
i search - for my cell phone at least once a day (Wonder where it is now?!?!?)
i wonder - what babies are thinking about?
i regret - not moving to Indy sooner.
i ache - in strange places. I'm 54 years - give me a break!
i care - very deeply about my family and friends.
i always - wait too long to buy gas.
i am not - on time for anything, ever.
i believe - that my 4 grandkids are the most gorgeous grandkids on the face of this earth!!!
i dance - whenever 40% Steve has a gig!!
i sing - almost every waking moment of every day -- sometimes aloud, sometimes in my head.
i cry - very rarely.
i don't always - take a shower every day on the weekends . . . sorry!
i fight - going to Kohl's everytime they have "the biggest sale of the season".
i write - my name (on bathroom walls?) kidding!
i never - miss "Project Runway" or "Top Chef" unless it is an emergency.
i stole - post it notes from our office supply cabinet.
i listen - to Q95 all day long at work.
i need - a new fence.
i am happy - about my life. I'm having a BLAST!

Thanks Kar! This was fun! Anyone else?

Cheap Trick and Heart and JOURNEY, oh my . . .

On Wednesday nite, the 9th, my friends Carolyn, Julie, Robin and Jennifer and I ventured north to Verizon Wireless Music Center to see Cheap Trick, Heart and JOURNEY!!! The place was packed, the weather was great, and the music was FANTASTIC!!

Cheap Trick got us all going and then the gals from Heart took the stage! Ann and Nancy Wilson wowed the crowd and had us all on our feet! I first saw Heart about 30 (YIKES!!) years ago at the Indiana State Fair and have always been in awe of the power of Ann Wilson's voice. The gals didn't disappoint and really got the crowd going!! THEN . . .

J O U R N E Y!!!!! OMG they were marvelous! I know Steve Perry will always be "the voice", but new lead singer Arnel Pinela is fantastic! He is like a little spider monkey racing around the stage and his voice is amazing!! The guys harmony was spot on and I got to see my favorite keyboardist, Jonathan Cain! He is incredible!!! The crowd sang along as they started the show with "Don't Stop Believing"! They sang quite a few songs from their new c/d (which is next on my purchase list) and Arnel stopped the show with "Faithfully". Their part of the show lasted over 1 1/2 hours without a break! Finally, when we all were thoroughly exhausted and our throats were sore from singing at the top of our lungs, the guys ended the show with "Lovin, Touchin', Squeezin'"!!! It was one of the best concerts I have been to in a long time!!! We all went out to our cars singing "Na, na, na, na, na, na. . ." It was an incredible nite!!!

Blueberry Muffins, Butterflies and the Water Park. . .

Saturday morning after we got up, we decided to make blueberry muffins. Jackson and Mia helped stir them together, and after we got them in the pan, they decorated the tops of each muffin with more blueberries.

While the muffins were baking, I made a blueberry yogurt sauce to top the muffins. Jackson was too busy playing "Burger Shop" to pose for a photo, but Princess Mia loved her breakfast!!

After breakfast, we were ready for a "venture". We went to the Indianapolis Zoo, more specifically to the butterfly garden. The kids love seeing the butterflies and having them fly so close to them. Jackson wanted one to land on him so badly, but he giggled everytime one came close and they flew away.

Back at the zoo, we visited the walrus enclosure, saw the polar bears and some really big elephants. We stopped by to check out the carousel, the koala bears, some tree frogs and a couple of snakes. It was hot and lots of the animals were sleeping. After a snack, we decided to GET WET!!!

SOOOOO . . . we went to the Zoo's water park!!

We had fun!

Lots of fun!!!

Friday Nite at Nana's. . .

I kept two of my gorgeous grandchildren, Jackson and Mia, overnight last Friday night and into Saturday. Friday night, we went to McDonald's for dinner. Jackson loved his cheeseburger and fries.

No photo for Miss Mia. She was too into eating her fries!


When we got to my house, Mia headed straight for the penny bank. I have my Dad's Abraham Lincoln penny bank, and Mia loves to take the pennies out, transfer them to a bowl, and put them back into the bank, one at a time. She can spend all afternoon playing by herself with the pennies.

Jackson is quite the computer guru and loves to play "Burger Shop" whenever he comes over. "Burger Shop" is a game where you pretend you are the manager of several different types of restaurants (a diner, a cowboy watering hole, a surfer shop, etc.) and your job is to wait on customers and fill their orders before the time is up. Jacks is pretty good at this game! He loves the music and making the burgers.

We ended the evening eating nectarine slices and watching "Ratatouille" or "Rat-n-Tooey" as Mia calls it! I love having them sleep over and can't wait til Grant and Liam are old enough to spend the night at Nana's too!!

The Raffle Ticket Queens. . .

On August 23rd, my good bud Donita and I volunteered on Indy northside at a Cystic Fibrosis fundraiser called "Festivale". This beer and food tasting event is an annual fundraiser for CF. This was our second year selling raffle tickets and my third year volunteering for the event.

The prize for the raffle was the "Instant Bar" and believe me, they weren't kidding!! This is just a portion of the booze, bar tools, glassware, napkins, mixers, etc., etc., etc., that was the prize.

More bar -- coasters, stirrer sticks, pretzels, peanuts, cherries, et al. All of the goodies were donated by merchants and probably totaled around $2,000 in goodies. This is just a terrific idea for raising money!

The winner actually had two sons with cystic fibrosis. He and his wife were planning a party to celebrate!

The Cystic Fibrosis Festivale Committee declared us the Raffle Queens since we sold over $1,500 in raffle tickets. This is a really fun event and we hope to do it again next year!

Catchin' Up

I can't believe how far behind I've gotten with my posts, so over the next few days, I'm going to try to get caught up. On August 15th, my Mom came down to spend the weekend with me to celebrate my birthday. We spent the afternoon at my darlin' daughter's house playing with my gorgeous grandchildren and then in the evening, we went to Broad Ripple to The Spin to listen to my baby boy's band. We had a great time, but when we were getting ready to leave, my Mom fell and broke her knee in two places!!! After a long session in ER (we were up 27 hours without shut-eye -- it was ugly), I packed her up and took her home to see her regular Dr. and a specialist. Indeed, her knee was broken and on the following Wednesday, she had knee replacement surgery. To make a long story short, she is recovering so well that she left on the 30th for a 9-day cruise to Alaska!! Ain't modern medicine somethin'?!? (No pictures -- this was not an event we wanted to capture for posterity ;0)