Ind-we-apple-us

According to Alex, that’s where we went on vacation this year!  That would be Indianapolis, for those to don’t speak Alex-ese.  :)

We opted to stay close to home, knowing that a long car trip with two small boys wouldn’t be a whole lot of fun.  We left on Sunday after church and lunch, driving to the hotel, eating dinner there & swimming in the evening.  Seriously, check out Drury Inn if you’ve never stayed at one.  Their hotels are very nice, reasonably priced ($75/night for 2 queen beds), and you can get a free breakfast and dinner there every day!

This was Alex’s seat of choice in our hotel room.  He’s eating the free popcorn from the lobby while watching Curious George.  There was some construction work going on outside the window, and he loved to sit there watching that, too.

We swam in the indoor-outdoor pool every night.  Both boys were THRILLED to be in the water, but each in their own way.  Max happily stayed in our arms or floated around in his baby float.  He just loved the water!

Alex wore his life jacket and stayed on the steps.  We’d take him in the deep water for a little while each night, but he’d insist on going back to the steps.  He’s a lot like his Mama, and once his stubborn mind is made up, no one can change it!

Oh, and Mama and Daddy took turns enjoying the hot tub.  Ahhh!

On Monday, we visited the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.  If you ever have the opportunity to take your children there, GO!  It was highly recommended by friends, and now we know why.   This crazy mama thought she forgot the camera, has no pictures of the AMAZING day we had, and then gets out to the car to discover the camera is right there.  Sigh.

These two pictures were taken on my cute little cell phone, which is both a great phone and a horrible camera.  From top to bottom, this museum is SO much fun!  They currently have a “Rock Stars, Cars, and Guitars” exhibit – a ton of fun!  That’s where Alex rode the motorcycle….and danced…and played an inflatable guitar…and decorated a cardboard guitar…and stared with confusion on his face at the life-sized figures of Kiss.

Alex loved digging in the dinosaur exhibit.  I’m not sure he understood that he was unearthing dinosaur bones, but he had a lot of fun chipping away at the rubber gravel!

They have a toddler area called “Playscape” that both boys adored.  Alex would have stayed at the sand table all day!  He also loved getting to drive a kid-sized skid steer.

There’s so much more to do than just those things.  I’ll have to ask Keith if he wants me to add any more details.  It’s really hard to remember without pictures.  Here’s a link that expires in about a week – it leads you to an Egyptian e-mail postcard that Alex sent his grandparents.

http://www.museumbridge.net/indianapolis/email_anim.php?dval=20100628_114600 

Tuesday = Lucas Oil Stadium (home of the Colts)

We took a stadium tour meant to be 45 minutes long.  Ours ended up being almost 2 hours.  Our guide was a sweet, older man who told us lots of stories, answered all sorts of questions, and even managed to get us access to the COLTS LOCKER ROOM…which isn’t included in the tour.  A security guard happened to be available, so our group was allowed to tour it – which is very rare, I guess. 

standing on the field

     

the visiting team locker room

   

Colts locker room

 way up high – we toured the press boxes, VIP lounge (where Alex said, “this is church!” and caused a lot of laughter), and much more

The stadium has a tractor and a motorcycle.  What more could a little boy ask for…over and over through the whole tour? ;)  

Wednesday = Indianapolis Zoo

What a fun day!  Admission isn’t cheap, but there’s a lot to do once you’re there.  We touched sharks – even Max had his hand in the water!   We watched lots of fishies, which was Alex’s request for the day when I asked what he wanted to see.

We saw two different penguin feeding times, and we spent a lot of time watching the crazy penguins swimming, playing, and even fighting!

 We got a good laugh as we watched this polar bear lounging in a funny position…

…and you can’t help but laugh at this belly-up meerkat! We packed a picnic lunch (with bread and peanut butter from home, and jelly packets borrowed from hotel breakfast…don’t tell!)  Alex finished his sandwich, then used his crocs as shovels to scoop up the mulch and “get the sky dirty”.

 

This is what happens when I tell my husband he really ought to try smiling for a picture…

Alex loved petting the goats.  He’d been asking to touch animals all day long, so he got pretty exciting about the petting zoo.

Unfortunately, all he was able to pet at the time we visited were goats and COCKROACHES. (No, that’s not my hand!  Although when I was a teacher, I did bravely allow a cockroach just like this to crawl up my arm. I don’t care to repeat that experience.)

While Alex played at the zoo’s playground, Daddy snapped this picture of Max checking out the trees.  I’ll have to post a picture of Alex at about 6 months old – Daddy took a picture that looks a LOT like this one!He wasn’t any more daring than he’d been at Brookfield, but Alex enjoyed the splash park again…while staying as dry as possible.

He tried out a cave to see if he’d like to be an animal…

 

He looked for Curious George while he watched the monkeys.

 

We ended our day with a ride on the zoo train.  What fun for Alex!

  

I don’t remember what day we took these photos, but we definitely wore out our boys!  Max actually SLEPT THROUGH a trip to Don Pablo’s for dinner.  He never sleeps when we take him out of the car anymore!

Alex was so worn out at the end of each day that he slept like a rock – even when the baby cried in the early hours, Alex never budged!

He even fell asleep mid-sentence in the car.  “I don’t want to take a nap….zzzz.” Max found a cute little friend in the mirrored closet door of our hotel room.

      

Thursday = Speedyway

It’s a very cool place, and Alex was giddy with excitement at the thought of seeing all the race cars.  Unfortunately, it’s not designed with toddler entertainment in mind.  The museum has a lot of history of racing, lots of untouchable cars behind ropes, etc.  There’s only one car that you can sit in.  Alex was disappointed.

While he had fun looking at all the cars, he kept saying, “I just want to touch it” and “Why can’t I sit in it?”

 

Here’s the one and only kid-friendly car.  Alex tried it out several times. We also took a bus ride around the track.  Kind of cool, but just a tad bit slower than the race cars travel! ;) 

Afterwards, we stopped on a grassy hill to check out the track and get some pictures.  We also got a few pictures in front of the museum.

After lunch at Chick-Fil-A, we headed home.  Speaking of Chick-Fil-A, why has no one ever told me about this wonderful place before?!  Their lemonade is SO delicious, the food is excellent, the service is terrific, and it’s so CLEAN and KID FRIENDLY!  I think we need to start a local franchise! ;)

Max slept the WHOLE way home, and Alex took a brief nap and then entertained himself with a “Shake and Shake” hat.  (That’d be Steak and Shake, our favorite “feed the family for cheap” restaurant.”)

Oh, how nice it was to get away from real life for a while!  No laundry or cleaning or cooking or phone calls or Daddy leaving for work – just family time.  Ahhh!  What an awesome treat to have so much time to spend together!