We had a blast in Indiana visiting Grandma and Grandpa Sweeny and our cousins. We stayed with Brendan and Whitney in Indy the first week and then Grandma and Grandpa Sweeny in Bloomington the second week. Kyle and the four oldest also went to Comic Con for a few days, and Kyle ended the trip at a Journey Continues workshop, which is part of the Brothers Road series he's been attending / volunteering at.
The kids did really well on the drive. Audrey also made sure her baby doll was taken care of during the cross country journey.
We rented pedal boats and kayaks at a reservoir and our kids had their first-ever raccoon sighting. They were sooo excited. A chubby little raccoon walked across the picnic area and climbed into a trash can to get some lunch. The kids followed and tossed snacks into the trash can for their new friend. We then found the rest of his family camped out in a nearby pavilion. Tad also found a hermet crab shell at the reservoir which is now a treasured possession. There were a lot of geese near the water which also meant lots of goose poop in the picnic area. Audrey saw the goose poop and said, "Roxy is here!" Roxy is our dog, who we did not bring with us to Indiana haha. But I laughed that Audrey associates poop in grass with her fondness for our dog.
Aunt Whitney got a set of floor scooters and we had such a fun time playing sharks and minnows together at the church gym. It was a blast.
We met up with Grandma Sweeny at Bryan Park Pool in Bloomington, which is where I would go to swim as a kid. It's exactly the same!
We met up with the family for a potluck dinner at Yellowwood but I completely forgot to get any pictures. We visited Ben's grave and I still miss him fiercely.
Tyler had a sleepover with Roan and they had a blast doing archery, cardboard construction, and playing games.
Grandma researched top books for each of the kids' ages and got each of them a stack of new books from the library for the week. What a kind gesture. She also got puzzles and other toys ready for a fun week and planned lots of activities to parks, thrift store shopping, pickleball, etc.
We were able to do baptisms with Grandma & Grandpa and Brendan & Whitney's family which was neat. It was our family's first time in the Indy temple. After going to the temple we grabbed dinner at Steak and Shake and their frisco melt is just as good as I remember. Alexa said that was the best burger she's ever had in her life :). And we of course tried all their milkshake flavors as well. Yumm. I told the kids about working there in high school and Uncle Ben coming through the drive through and throwing his voice so he could ask me on repeat to list all the milkshake flavors.
We spent the last day in Indiana at the Children's Museum. They had a cool dinosaur area where you could draw and color your own dinosaur and then it would scan and project your drawing onto a shared screen where your dinosaur walked around with everyone else's.
Kyle stayed a few days longer and flew home separately while the rest of the crew drove back. We needed to get back for the kids to start school and I had to fly to Vegas for a conference. So we made it work. We stopped in St Louis to go to the top of the arch and then in Kansas City for a delicious BBQ dinner on the first day. We even drove past an Audrey Motel and had to take a picture.
On Day 2 we stopped at a Chick-Fil-A play place for lunch and at Little America for dinner and to run around their playground. We listened to the first 3 books of the Alcatraz and the Evil Librarian series while we drove across the country. Alexa and Tyler loved that they got to take turns riding shotgun. I look forward to the day when Alexa can drive!
We made it home in time to go straight to school! Alexa is in 9th, Tyler 7th (now at Middle School), Tad 4th, Liam 2nd, and Nathan started Kindergarten. 5 of the 6 are in school full time and poor Audrey doesn't know what to do with herself. We're hoping she can start preschool a couple days a week in January.
Nathan turned 5 and wanted a Mario birthday. His favorite gifts were Mario and Luigi action figures and magnet blocks where you can build your own Mario level. He and Liam also did a sleepover with some of their friends, Lincoln and Sawyer, which all of them thought was pretty cool since none of them had done a sleepover before. The only downside was that their friends didn't like their white noise machine and kept turning it off which would result in Nathan scream-crying like his arm was being ripped off haha. It was an adventure to say the least.
Funny Quotes:
While driving through Nebraska we saw a Tesla drive by and Liam said, "I wonder if when Uncle Mikey dies he'll give me his Tesla. But I hope he doesn't die. He's the best Uncle ever."
Tyler in NE, while stepping out of the car at a gas station: how do people breathe here?!!!! (because of the humidity. He was beside himself)
We were playing an animal guessing game while we were waiting in line at the Gateway Arch. The word was dolphin. Tyler’s clue: Alexa swam with them in Hawai’i. And when you kill them you get tuna!
Liam: Ugh we’ve been gone for 2 weeks and the city is STILL under construction?!! Why is it taking so long? They should be done by now!
Comments
Post a Comment