Post-Christmas Trip to Indy

The day after Christmas, we drove up to Indy to share the holidays with our family.
It was a very quick trip. We left at 7am on Friday and arrived at Chris' older brother's house before dinner that evening.

Here are the kids playing a game with Uncle Tim.

The next morning, Chris & met some good friends for brunch.

The same group - except Joan swapped places with Jill this time.

After brunch, we picked up James & Hannah and went to my dad's house for the afternoon. Then for dinner, we went to Holly Hock Hill to have dinner with our Lizton family.

Hannah with my cousin Katherine's daughters Emily & Juliana from Missouri.

My cousin's other kids: AJ, Katelyn, & Levi.

Levi, Katherine and her husband Darrell, and my brother, George.

Uncle Ken & Aunt Brenda from Lizton (with Dad's girlfriend, Judy)

James, Dad & Judy

Chris & me with my cousin, Kevin.

Missing from the group was my cousin Kerry and his family from Texas.

Some more pictures from that evening.

Hannah & Emily

Dad & Judy

Katherine & me

Levi with Uncle Ken (his grandfather) and my dad.

The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast prepared by Chris' mother, then we stopped to visit Chris' stepmother and we were heading back to Georgia by 1pm. It was a fast, but nice visit.

Summer Trip to Indy

Hannah & I went up to Indianapolis for a short trip to visit all of her grandparents.

We drove up on Sunday. We left nice & early so we could arrive early at Dad's. However, our efforts were thwarted by construction on I-65 in Southern Indiana and we arrived about 2 hours later than we had expected.

On Monday, we went to the Hamilton County Fair. When I was a kid, I was very active in 4-H, so the county fair was an important part of our summers. Hannah was excited to see all the animals.

It made me sad that 4-H isn't that big in North Georgia. I know Hannah would have LOVED to be a part of it. Of course, I probably wouldn't let her have a llama.

 Or a chicken.....

or any sheep.....

The food at the fair was super cheap! Here Hannah is enjoying a Lemon Shake Up. We also enjoyed cotton candy, soda, & the Farm Bureau chocolate milk shakes. Back in the day, I remember those milk shakes were sold for 25 cents. They were $2 each now, which is still a bargain.

On Tuesday, we met Chris' mother for a nice breakfast at The Original Pancake House.

Then we went & visited Chris' stepmother. Hannah wanted to visit the cemetery to see Chris' Dad, so we took Jeannine with us. That's something Hannah wants to do every time we're in town.

On Wednesday, we drove out to North Salem, Indiana to visit my mother. This was our first visit to the cemetery since she had been buried.

Hannah & I had a very nice lunch with my longtime friend, Joan in downtown Carmel. Joan & I met in high school & worked at the Carmel Clay Public Library together. We both went to Indiana University, so just about every Friday night, Joan came over to my dorm so we could eat dinner together. We continued that tradition even after I started dating Chris.

Then on Thursday morning, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Georgia. Here is Hannah is Grandpa Karl. It was a short, but sweet trip. It's difficult living so far away from our family at times.

Star Wars Exhibit at the Indiana State Museum

In July, the kids & I went up to Indiana for a week to help my father go through some of Mom's stuff. The traveling Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit was at the Indiana State Museum while we were in town. We missed it when it came to Atlanta a few years ago, so I took James & Hannah to see it. Chris' older brother met us there with his family and so did our friends from Georgia who were also in Indy visiting family.

There were lots of real movie props on display.

There were also lots of hands-on type activities. Here is Hannah on a hovercraft.

Hannah & her cousin Daniel building some kind of lego vehicle.

It was fun seeing the costumes!

Our Georgia friends who were in Indy while we were there.

James and Ryan having fun.

 

 Now that James has his learners permit, he's in the market for some transportation!

Hannah, James, & Darth Vader

The pendulum is something I always associate with the State Museum.

James is standing next to an old WFBM tv camera. My grandfather used to be one of the camera men for WFBM "back in the day". He actually used that camera to film the first broadcast of the Indianapolis 500.

James & Hannah with their cousins outside the museum.

A great day at the museum!

Snow in Indiana

It's been a while since my last post. I've had some technical difficulties with Blogger, but I finally had a chance to have Chris work on it last night, so I'm back!


On the day after Christmas, we drove 500 + miles north to visit our family in Indiana. Central Indiana was under a blizzard warning that day. The kids became excited at the prospect of real snow, not just the light dusting we get down in Georgia.

In the end, I'm not sure if it was really a blizzard, but it definitely was snow. Over the 5 days we were there, there was at least an accumulation of 12 inches or so. Had school been in session in Indy, it probably wouldn't have resulted in any school closings, maybe a 2 hour delay. Now, if this had been Georgia, the schools would have been closed a week!

Here are the kids at Grandpa Nick's house. See the little snowman they built? James even helped by shoveling the sidewalk.

Here's a closer look at the snowman.

Here's Hannah with Grandpa's kitty (named Cat).

Here's Hannah at my parents' house.

Snickers LOVED the snow! We've had such mild weather in Georgia, her hair has been shedding in clumps. She was very frisky in the cold and snowy Indiana weather.

The kids went sledding for the first time ever at Cool Creek Park in Carmel. We met up with Chris' brother, Dave and two of his three boys.

You had to be a wee bit careful because this creek was at the bottom of the hill.

James preferred belly sledding. We picked up some super thin snow boards from a discount store that worked pretty well on the packed snow.

Cousin Evan

Chris and his older brother, Dave

Hannah & Chris went down the hill together.

Here they are on their way back up.

Cousin Daniel

James had a blast!

Daniel and Dave's turn.

Now Evan has a turn with his Dad.

We weren't properly dressed for sledding. The kids lasted about an hour before we had to call it quits. Without snow pants, their jeans got pretty wet.

I'm so glad that the kids got to see some snow, but I'm glad to be back in the South!