Last year we went to Indiana to
visit our besties, the Adams. We had so much fun last year that we decided to
go again for our 12 year wedding anniversary. These awesome people are the
reasons for our visit to Indiana:
As soon as we arrived in Indiana, Lindsay and
Brandt had an itinerary full of fun-filled activities planned for us. Here is
the order of festivities:
Your Dad and Uncle Brandt signed up to do a triathlon
together. It was one of the hottest days in Indiana, and the triathlon started
at 4 in the afternoon, but they pushed through it.
You and Charlie were in the stroller, and
you were cheering him on. It was so cute! You kept saying, "Daddy, daddy!" and
clapping your hands.
The next event was the bicycle ride. Unfortunately,
Dad got a flat tire after the first lap and had to ditch his bike. He was a
champ and still finished the event even with the setback.
The last event was
the running, where Dad ran a 5K. As I stated before, it was a hot day, and I
was sweating just watching.
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| This is one of my favorite
pictures. Brandt getting ready to slap Dad's butt for a job well
done. |
After the triathlon,
we went home, took a shower, and headed out for our anniversary dinner at Ruth's
Chris Steakhouse. Lindsay and I had never been there, but everyone has told me
how delicious the steak is. I was so hungry and ready to sink my teeth into a
juicy steak.
We ordered
salads, calamari, a shrimp cocktail, ribeyes, asparagus, mashed and scalloped
potatoes, and creme brulee for dessert. Mmmmm, it makes my tummy rumble just
thinking about it. Dad even ate the tender meat right off of the bone. The
dinner was definitely worth the small fortune we paid for it.
Day 2: Indy
500
Can you believe we
did all that in just one day? The next day was our actual anniversary, and we
went to the Indy 500, courtesy of Brandt and Lindsay. They bought us the
tickets for our birthdays. Hailey was kind enough to babysit you and Charlie
while your dad and I went to the race. I'm sure you had a great time playing
with all the kids while we were gone.
Brandt also knows
about the back roads, and he was able to get us a free parking space that was
only about two miles from the stadium. (He said it was only a mile, but it was
definitely more like two.) It didn't matter though because we got to walk with
all of the other people going to the racetrack, and we were all pumped!
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The boys had to carry the
coolers all the way from the car to the stadium.
I was glad to be a girl that
day. |
These were the nice
covered seats we had. Thanks Brandt for picking good seats! I don't think I
could've stayed for the whole race if we were in the direct sunlight.
At the gate, they
gave us these free sunglasses to wear in honor of a driver, Dan Wheldon, who
died this year. They looked really silly, but it was a free souvenier.
This is what the
stands looked like. Almost the entire stadium was filled with people. I felt
sorry for all those saps sitting out in the sun.
Something funny that
happened at the beginning of the race was the ridiculous number of songs they
made us stand for. They started with "America the Beautiful," which was nice,
and I proceeded to sit down. Then they told us to stand for another song, which
I think was "Proud to be an American." Then we stood for the Indiana Anthem.
And finally, we stood for the National Anthem sung my Martina McBride. There
may have even been another song we stood for that I cannot remember. They all
started to blend together after the first song.
They also said a prayer
before the race. I guess I am used to the standard LDS prayer where they would
ask to bless the safety of the drivers and the crew, etc., but this was
completely unexpected. I felt like I was in a scene from Taladega Nights. The
preacher kept praying for "The awesome, powerful engines" and then he would
shout to the crowd, "Can I get an AMEN!?" The crowd would all shout, "AMEN."
Some people were actually touched by this. The four of us were looking at each
other and giggling uncomfortably from the irreverence of the prayer. Needless
to say, it was awkward.
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| After the race, we went down to
the track and took our picture. |
We walked back to the
car and stopped at a tamale place that Guy Fiery named as one of the best places
to get tamales. I personally liked the carne asada tacos better than the
tamales, but they were delicioso as well.
Day 3:
Breakfast & Splash Pad
Monday morning
started with, as written on the itinerary, "The Crappy Ward Breakfast" with
Brandt and Lindsay's ward. The breakfast was appropriately named. Since it was Memorial Day, the ward decided to have a
presentation in honor of our armed forces. The idea was nice, but there were
several flaws. The breakfast/program began at 9am. We arrived at 9:15, and the
program had already begun. The food was all cooked and sitting out on the
tables during the 1 hour presentation. By the time it was done, all of the food
was cold, and you were restless. (Honestly, I was a pretty restless
too. I couldn't hear anything they were saying, so I couldn't even enjoy the
program.) The highlight of the breakfast was that Lindsay snagged me a
scrumptious, homemade pastry stuffed with apple filling. It was totally worth
the wait. You also had fun playing in the grass at the park.
After the breakfast,
we headed over to the splash pad, and the kids played in the water. You weren't sure about the cold water at first, but you eventually warmed up to it.
Days 4 &
5: Chicago
Chicago!!! We rented
a car and drove out to Chicago, which is about 3 hours away from Indianapolis.
We stayed at the Hilton, and it was beautiful. It had a baby grande at the top
of the staircase with a live pianist to greet us.
They also had a
life-size version of one of my cow parade cows "Lucky Cow" out in the
front lobby.
After we
dropped off our stuff at the hotel, we headed out to the Willis Tower, formerly
known as the Sears Tower. This is the tallest tower in the US and the tallest
structure in the world.
They had a skybox at
the top of the tower where you could look out at the city. I am terrified of
heights, and it took a lot of courage for me to step onto the skybox and also
allow you and Ella to. You were not afraid at all.
Since we were in
Chicago, we stopped for some deep dish pizza. It was yummy, but I think I am
more of a NY pizza kind of girl.
After I finished my pizza
I took you and Ella back to the hotel and put you to bed. The adults stayed
up and played cards and then went to bed.
The next morning we
went to see the sights of Chicago.
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| Buckingham
Fountain |
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| Side Note: This is the same
fountain shown at the beginning of a show called "Married with Children." It
was very popular when I was in high school. |
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| Hailey is an amazing artist.
Maybe she'll go to school there someday. |
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| I know it's silly, but this was
one of my favorite parts of Chicago. |
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| The Bean - I love the view of
the city reflecting off of it. |
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| Which one is the real
Lindsay? |
The next part of our
trip was soooo cool! The Adams told us that we were going to a Cubs game, but
what they didn't tell us was that the Cubs were playing against the Padres!!!
As soon as I found out, I was kind of bummed that I hadn't brought any of my
Padres gear. Then, they surprised us again by telling us that they had called
your Nana and arranged for her to send us some Padres gear to wear at the game.
It was so cool to be routing for the Padres at Wrigley Field. I thought that
people would get really angry, but they were pretty nice about it.
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| The Adams routing for the
Cubs |
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| Go
Padres! |
Brandt also told us
that we had to have a Chicago hot dog at the ballpark. Well, I never object to
a hot dog at the ballpark. (That's usually the only place I will eat them.) As
he was going to pick up the dogs for us, I asked him to make sure mine had
mustard and relish. He laughed and said, "No. You'll see." This is what he
brought back:
The picture doesn't
do the relish justice. It is a bright green color, so bright in fact that I
think they add food coloring to it to make it greener. It was yummy and full of
flavor.
On our way home we
stopped by Navy Pier, but just to use the restroom. Maybe next time we go we
can spend more time there.
Dad loved
Chicago so much that he said he wanted to live there. I loved it too, but I
think the winters would be too cold for me. We thought that maybe we could
become snowbirds when we retire and live in Chicago in the summer. I'm excited
to go back and see more of the sights.
Days 6 to 10:
Around the House & Children's Museum
The rest of the visit
was spent hanging around the house in addition to a visit to the Children's
Museum. I hope someday we can get a Children's Museum in Yuma.
Daddy spent a lot of
time playing the Wii.
We played cornhole
(bean bag toss) outside.
You were either watching from the stroller or hanging out on the trampoline.
We also discovered that you and your Dad make the same face. He always says you look like my family, but I have the pictures to prove that you look like your Dad.
Lindsay let you try all kinds of new foods, which you loved. You ate some of her homemade wheat bread, graham crackers, and asparagus. You really enjoyed being able to hold something in your hands and eat it.
You also liked to scoot around their house and use their chairs as a jungle gym.
It was nice having
your Daddy off of work to snuggle with too.
Our trip to the
Children's Museum was tons of fun for you. You really liked looking at yourself in the mirror. They had a
Hot Wheels exhibit and a Legos Exhibit that wasn't there last year.
I accidentally forgot to take this car away from you, but luckily Dad found it and put it back.
We all had so much
fun at the Adams' house. Although we miss them terribly, it is nice to have an
excuse to go and visit other places and have fun in a big city. They really
went out of their way to make sure we had an amazing time while we were there.
I hope some day you are as lucky as I am to have such great friends.
Love,
Mom
