The Rest of Our Trip up North

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I went to the chiropractor for my injury to my tail bone. I was in extreme pain, so we canceled our plans to visit the three remaining museums and attractions I had planned to see. The kids weren't disappointed at all. On the contrary they loved hanging out at Grammy and Paw-paw's house, riding horses, doing yard work, and watching movies. They had a little cabin fever toward the end, but overall the remainder of the trip was fine.

On Friday afternoon, I took some pain pills and loaded up the kids in the van to head to Indianapolis. There we stayed with my brother and sister-in-law and their kids. Dear hubby drove up to Indy to be with us. The next morning we decided to brave the crowd (and it was a very large crowd!!!) to go to the Children's Museum. It was probably not the best idea, with a broken tail bone. The kids enjoyed themselves, but I was very miserable. The crowds were overwhelming at times, but at least the kids were able to see a lot of the exhibits. I am sure we'll be going back in the near future to see the rest of the exhibits. Maybe I'll be feeling better and enjoy myself, too.

We spent Saturday night in Indy, and attended Mass with my brother's family on Sunday morning. I was pleasantly surprised at how well all the kids behaved at Mass. Thank God! I think God was having mercy on me, because I was in so much pain and the pews were especially hard. After a wonderful lunch, we headed back home making only a few brief stops, to see dear hubby's sister, to make a potty break, and one to the Russel Stover's Candy outlet, again. Despite, my broken tail bone, the vacation went rather well. At least everyone else had a good time!

Tuesday of Our Northern Trip

Tuesday, my parents and I were able to go to Mass again in the morning. Later in the day we tackled the yard work. A few months ago an ice storm just about decimated my parents' trees. Limbs and sticks are everywhere. My oldest brother has helped them to cut some of it and put them into piles.
The kids enjoyed the tractor rides inbetween picking up piles of sticks. We worked for over three hours and are only about half way done.
After dinner, we went to a roller skating rink. It was the first time some of the kids have rollerskated. Uncle Eric, Aunt Susan, and Grammy joined us. Things were going rather well, until I was helping our three year old daughter to rollerskate. She insisted that we try the wooden floor rink and not just the carpeted area. As I was helping her she started to fall. To keep her head from hitting the wall, I grabbed her under the arms, but she fell backward onto me. I lost my balance and landed right on my tailbone. I couldn't move for quite some time. When I finally got up, I knew something just wasn't right. By that evening I was in excruciating pain. In the morning, I went to a chiropractor and she thinks that I may have broken my tailbone. Not quite what I had planned when I decided to take the kids to go rollerskating!

The rest of our vacation plans, which was supposed to include three more museums and a lot more horse back riding, are now on hold. Hopefully I'll be feeling well enough to go to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Monday of Our Northern Vacation

Monday was filled with only a few activities since it was colder. My parents and I left the kids home with Uncle Eric while we attended the 7:15 am Mass. The first picture is of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church (where we attended Mass). I used to attend Mass there in grade school. It looks totally different now than it did when I was a kid. The new alter and renovated sanctuary have been a vast improvement. The church used to scream of the 1970's and now it has been restored and returned to a very reverant appearance thanks to the most recent pastor.

After lunch, the ferrier came to trim the hooves of my parents' horses. Our oldest daughter was asked to help trim the gentler horses' hooves. She was rather impressed with herself. Of course, she said it was harder than it looks. Mr. Jessy Zink, the ferrier, was really great at explaining to the kids what he was doing and how to be safe around the horses. It was a great learning experience for the kids. I appreciate his patience with all our questions. Thanks, Mr. Zink!

Sunday of the Northern Vacation

Sunday was rather warm for this time of year for Northern Indiana. We were able to attend Mass, play outside, ride bikes, work with the horses, target shoot, and go bowling. It was a very long day.

The kids were very happy to have Grammy, Paw-paw, Uncle Eric, and Aunt Susan there to play with us. We were even able to play with some of the arcade games after bowling. Lots of fun and very tired kids by the time we finally went to bed. Lots more fun to come!

Northern Vacation

Our trip to Northern Indiana was very long this time because of so many stops. I planned ahead this time and purposely chose a few locations we've always wanted to see up close. Our first stop was the Russel Stover's Chocolate Outlet in Seymour, IN. The kids were in candy heaven! I couldn't believe how many choices and how costly some chocolates can be. The wonderful thing about this outlet, though, are the "Bloopers". They taste just as great as the originals, but aren't perfect in appearance. We got 3lbs of assorted Chocolate for $4.99! If you are crazy about chocolate and are driving on interstate 65, I highly recommend you stop at Seymour, IN and check out the Russel Stover's chocolate outlet. Yum, yum, give me some, please!

After that we made a very unusual stop at McDonald's for a sundae and then off to a nearby Rest Area. The kids were able to run off some of the candy and ice cream before we headed off to see the home of Garfield and James Dean, in Fairmont, IN. We saw lots of memorabilia from movies, books, and magazines for James Dean. The kids picked out a pretty cool magnet for Paw-paw that had two pictures of James Dean. When we finally gave it to Paw-paw he was very grateful. While in Fairmont, we also stopped at the VFW post where the kids were able to get their pictures next to a helicopter, airplane, tank, and very large boat propeller. That was probably their second favorite part of our trip, after the candy outlet.

Lots of fun thus far, but much more to come as we are planning to visit museums, ride horses, go to Mass at the cathedral, target shoot, bowl, roller skate, and much, much, more. I'll try to post new pictures each night. God bless.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

All in green and thinking about the wonderful example of St. Patrick today.

I am not the corn-beef sort of gal, so we will be having a roast and green mashed potatoes for dinner instead. We just might put a few drops of green in the milk glass, too.

We read our story about St. Patrick and watched a short Veggie tales movie about the life of St. Patrick. We also talked some more about how important it is to believe in the Holy Trinity as St. Patrick taught, three in one God. We did our St. Patrick's crafts at the First Friday activities earlier in the month, so we won't being doing any today. Later today, I am hoping to have the kids act out the life of St. Patrick to see if they remember all the important details of his life.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
St. Patrick pray for us!

Aunt Susan's Visit

Aunt Susan arrived safely back in the U.S. after visiting India for two weeks. Shortly after coming home, she came to visit us and show us her pictures from her trip. The kids were really impressed with the Taj Mahal, but even more excited when Aunt Susan told them she brought back gifts. A small hand carved vase, a wooden elephant, and an Indian flag were great gifts, but the best were the pieces of fabric. The kids have spent hours wrapping themselves up and saying they are wearing sari's or that they are a king or queen. Of course, the blue fabric has been used to portray the Blessed Mother, as well. Our little toddler fell in love with the bright green fabric. These pictures are of them dressing up just before going to bed, so if you see pajamas peaking through you know why.

Aunt Susan also attended our First Friday activities while she was here. We didn't have a very big crowd this month, but the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. They talked about St. Patrick, made a shamrock that represented the Holy Trinity, created paper flutes, and then watched a short play about St. Patrick. We were able to attend First Friday Mass with Aunt Susan and the kids behaved very well with the help of another adult. It is amazing what an extra pair of hands can do. I am so glad that Aunt Susan was able to visit.

It was a little selfish of me, but I took the opportunity Saturday night to go out with my sister to eat and do some shopping. While we were out, I got my hair cut, found some maternity clothes for the summer months, and picked up some shirts for Dear Hubby. All in all, a very good night. We got a lot accomplished in a very short time. I love it when my sister comes to town. She's my favorite sister...oh, that's right, she is my only sister! Love you Susan!