Friday, September 5

Well, finally our vacation paper chain said "0 days, time to leave!" We had been counting down for about a month, tearing off a link each day. Our plan was for Dave to work part of the day then pick up the rental car in the afternoon while the boys and I napped. We would have a normal dinner and bathtime, then load the boys in the car in their jammies and let them sleep in the car while we drove. I would drive the first leg of the trip, having napped, and Dave could sleep awhile then take over driving while I rested. Ahhhh, the best laid plans. But that's not really what this post is about!

Most of the week was spent tweaking my lists, yes 3 of them - mine (clothes, toiletries, books and magazines, etc.), the boys (swim trunks, clothes, toys, food, bottles for Luke, etc.) and the car ride (snacks, sippy cups, baby food, a new toy or two, DVD's for the borrowed DVD player, etc.). And of course there was all the laundry to be done.

In the midst of all this "fun," the circus was in town. Seemed appropriate to me! Well, we couldn't make it to a performance but did hear that there would be some animals on the circle Friday around lunchtime. Clearly from the photos, the kids had had enough of mommy in packing/laundry mode! And I was feeling a bit guilty about how much Sesame Street Seth had seen during the week. So, I decided a diversion was in order.

I packed a lunch for Seth and timed out Luke's bottles just right so he would be good for the event. I dressed everyone in clothes that were appropriate to be seen in public but not yet packed into a suitcase. I loaded up the stroller and then both boys into the car. I drove downtown and parked in a parking garage. I got out the stroller, got both boys loaded into the stroller and trekked to the circle. Seth knew only that we were going to see animals, but not going to the zoo. Once we got to the circle, there was a Colts rally. So, the double stroller, the boys, and I fought through that crowd and tried to figure out where the animals were. We finally figured out, via the super loud Colts rally announcer, that the elephants were progressing through the streets of downtown, on their way to the circle. So, we made our way partway around the circle to have the best, least-obstructed view possible.

Then the elephants came by. And Seth cried hysterically and begged me to get him out of the stroller and hold him, all the while refusing to look at the elephants.

The end.

Ridiculously neat...

A friend of Dave's had extra tickets for the Lucas Oil Stadium tours this past weekend so we jumped at the chance to go. Okay, I think I jumped at the chance and Dave went along with it. I think he's hoping to go to a game and figures he could just see it all then. But I'm not so sure I'll get to a game so I thought it would be fun. It was a nice "date" as Grammy and Grampy kept the boys so we didn't have to fight the crowd with them. And the crowd was crazy!

Basically, you had two hours from your scheduled ticket time to give yourself a tour. The wait to see the VISITORS locker room was about 45 minutes. The wait to see the DOOR to the Colts locker room was just as long! Yikes. We decided on the visitor's locker room after a discussion of whether I had ever actually been inside a locker room (no, dear, marathon shopping is my only brush with athleticism and we don't need a locker room for that - just Starbucks!). Turned out we got to walk past the Colts locker room anyway, although this sign was seriously all you could see of it!
Dave did get into it and seemed to enjoy touching the turf. There were also a crazy amount of televisions, mostly huge, all over the place so he was very excited by all of those!

I guess technically I am scoring a touchdown as I am standing in the end zone. They kept making the same announcement, over and over and over again - no balls allowed on the field. They neglected to mention there were also no people allowed on the field, only in the one endzone and on the sidelines.

We had one brush with fame. We noticed a guy in a suit and all sorts of people standing around getting his autograph. Seemed exciting, then we realized it was Mr. Lucas homself. Not a talented ball player or a gifted musician but just a zillionaire whose name is plastered all over the building. We moved on to wait in another line.

So, all that to say, the whole building seems completely ridiculous but in a sort of neat, this-is-in-my-town, kind of way. So, if you like oversized and extravagant, this might be the place for you! It's certainly worth a look and I would be glad to go to a game there.

Oh yes, and to cap off our date I got hot chocolate from South Bend Chocolate downtown on Monument Circle. It is my absolute favorite hot chocolate, and I consider myself somewhat of an expert. Real milk and melty gooey chocolate, plus whipped cream, chocolate shavings, more gooey chocolate and finally a cherry on top. All for less than $3.00. See, I'm just a simple girl.

A "fair"ly good day...

Okay, actually it was a pretty great day! On the 11th, Dave took the day off and we all went to the fair. The weather was absolutely perfect and the boys were really good. Luke slept nearly the entire time and Seth loved all the animals - "I need to see different pigs; I need to see more horses." And Dave and I enjoyed the food - corn dogs and fried veggies and tenderloins and fried cookie dough. I think I'm gaining more weight just typing this! Anyway, it's great that Dave has enough vacation that he can take a day here or there to play with us. It was a good break for all!

Please notice that everyone else around Seth is looking the other direction! I am sure he saw a tractor or a balloon behind him that was terribly exciting!

Here is what Seth was supposed to be seeing!

Luke didn't really even notice that he was at the fair. It's not a great picture but his sunglasses are in his left hand. He held them for hours, like they were his security blanket!

And finally, he had all the fun he could stand and fell asleep on the way home, with his sunglasses, sippy cup, and balloon (actually his third balloon!).

At Grammy & Grampy's

We went to Grammy and Grampy's house on the 9th so everyone could help with a landscaping project. Well, almost everyone. It's just miserable to have to hold the baby rather than work (ha ha ha). Anyway, Luke was sporting his new shirt - a $3.00 bargain that pretty much sums up Luke at the moment. Ironically, he fell asleep in the shirt, which made it all that much more amusing to me...
And Carson even got in on the baby holding (do you think he was trying to avoid working too?). Just so I don't get into trouble here, it really was a well-supervised hold, just a closely cropped photo so you don't see the hovering adults!

Overheard...

Today we headed out on a couple of errands. Seth had found a picture of a dog he was carrying around with him so it had to go in the car too. Seth and Luke have started to interact a lot more recently. Luke likes to touch Seth and Seth likes to talk to Luke. They can see each other when they are in their car seats. Apparently, Luke needed to see the dog picture too. Here's what I heard, "Wuke, Wuke, wook at my doggies. Wuke. Wuke! Wukey!! I called him Wukey but he's just wooking around."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Seth: I need to see my baby.
Mommy: What's your baby's name?
Seth: Brother.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mommy: Naptime. Maybe when you get up Daddy will be home.
Seth: Can Grammy come ober?
Mommy: No, Grammy is busy tonight but maybe we can go to her house tomorrow.
Seth: I wanna go to her house now.
Mommy: Grammy is at work. If we went to her house now we would have to sit in the car in the driveway. Let's go up for a nap.
Seth: I wanna sit in the car.

Finally!!

First, and thankfully, Seth seems to be just fine now and cannot get enough to eat. One morning last week he asked for Cheerios for breakfast. I gave him some and left the box on the counter. I was in the other room and suddenly thought that he was oddly quiet in the kitchen alone. I came in and found that he had pulled the box of Cheerios off the counter and was helping himself. All I could do was laugh.

And second, all the professionals lecture that babies should sleep only on their backs. This has always been fine with me as neither of my boys ever really cared to sleep on their tummies. I guess I just never let them so they didn't know any different as little babies. Seth loves to sleep on his tummy now and I think stomach sleeping is absolutely the best way to sleep! But Luke had yet to discover this phenomen. He will roll from back to front and just scream once he gets there. My mom informed me if I kept rolling him back over he would never learn to roll from front to back (I know it's true). Then she listened to him scream and suggested I turn him back over! Well, today I was getting Seth in bed for his nap and I had left Luke on the floor. I could hear him screaming away, clearly he had rolled to his belly, and then the screaming stopped. I went to check on him and this is what I found - a very content little baby sleeping away on his tummy! I did dutifully take him to bed and put him on his back, but maybe we've turned a corner?

A redneck barn painting...

Well, okay, only about 20 minutes of it was "redneckish." I always have a to-do list in my head: fold laundry, set out chicken to thaw, wash towels. Dave always has one too: paint shed, stain deck, hang new front door. Notice any difference between those lists? While you are probably saying that Dave's projects are much larger (and you are right), to me his projects are also much more fun. Don't tell, but I would rather play with power tools than wash dishes, so I try to help with some of his projects. This weekend we tackled 'paint the shed.' However, some friends of ours borrowed Dave's ladder earlier in the week and then they were out of town this weekend. We debated - wait until next weekend to finish or borrow a ladder from my parents. We opted to borrow a ladder from my parents. However, I'm not sure why they still have the scary scary ladder they let us borrow. I don't think I would trust it to hold the paint can, let alone Dave or me! In their defense, I believe there were other ladder choices and I'm not sure how we ended up with the one we ended up with! But, we were determined to finish off a project so Dave held the ladder while I painted some of the higher parts of the front. But in the back the ground is lower so the top was higher. The ladder wasn't safe to climb as high as we would have needed to. So, Dave pulled his truck around back and stood on the back of the truck and finished the paint job. Some might call it redneck. I call it resourceful!