July 7

One of the reasons we came to Indianpolis this week is to attend the North American Christian Convention. Daniel is going to the whole convention; I went for the day today. And Audrey got to spend the day with Mimi and Papaw.

I commented to Daniel tonight about what a busy day we had today. He didn't think it was all that busy, but it felt busy to me compared to my normal days at home with Audrey (when a trip to Wal-mart is the highlight of our day)! We didn't really start the day until 11:00 or so, but then we: had Chick-Fil-A for lunch, walked around the NACC Exhibit Hall, listened to Tony Dungy speak, went to an interesting workshop, walked to Steak n Shake for a shake, went to another interesting workshop, browsed the books at Borders (and added 10 more books to my ever growing to-read list), had dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory, attended the evening main session, and went to a reception for OCC alumni. That sounds like a busy day to me. Now it's 11:30 and time for bed! I'm looking forward to spending the day tomorrow with Kellie, Ava and Truett! (We will miss you, Amy!)

July 6

Today we went to the Indianapolis Zoo. On the first Tuesday of each month, they offer half price admission for everyone, so we thought that was a good deal (it saved us $14). But I think everyone else in the city thought it was a good deal too, because the place was packed! And it was really hot! But still, we had a good time. I think Audrey's favorite animals were the elephants, the horses, the sharks, the sea lions (which she called sharks) and the dolphins (which she also called sharks).

Audrey also got to try her very first Dippin Dots ice cream. I'm pretty sure it's the most overpriced ice cream ever, and it's really not all that good...but hey, it's vacation!

July 5

Since this trip to Indy is our big vacation for the summer, we're trying to make it a little more vacation-like by doing some fun activities while we're here. Today we took Audrey to a nearby pool. It was a really nice pool, and we were excited for Audrey to go swimming again because she had so much fun at the pool in St. Louis. It was about a 20 minute drive to get there, and the whole time, Audrey kept saying, "Hoo Hoo" (her version of swim suit) and "Wa Wa" (her version of water). We knew she was going to be so excited to get in the water.

And then we got in the water. And she was not excited. For about 20-30 minutes, we heard about a million whiny "Noooo"s from Audrey. We tried the kiddie pool, the kiddie slide, the big pool, the stairs going into the big pool, sitting on the edge of the pool--and she didn't like any of it. The water was really cold, so that may have been the problem. You would think that cold water would feel good on a sunny, 90 degree day, but it felt really, really cold. Audrey was much more interested in playing with Mommy's sunglasses (see picture above), than she was with playing in the water.

And then, all of a sudden, Audrey liked the water. And she started laughing and having fun, like swimming was the best thing in the world. We went back to the kiddie pool, the kiddie slide, the big pool, the stairs going into the big pool, sitting on the edge of the pool--and she loved it all! We don't know what caused the switch in her, but we were so glad. Swimming with a happy Audrey is so much more fun than swimming with a whiny Audrey!

July 4

Happy 4th of July! We are on vacation in Indianapolis this week. Today, Daniel's parents hosted their annual Backyard Bash. It was a good time! I was a bit disappointed with my pictures from the day though. Not my best photography day. But I did get a couple that I liked...like this one of our niece Mariah!

July 3

Baby Julia got to see her first Muni show at just three months old! We went with some friends to see Into the Woods tonight. It was a fairly good show. I like the show itself, I like the music, but I was a bit underwhelmed by the performance tonight. I think my expectations were a bit too high. Plus, the only other performance of Into the Woods that I have seen is a recording of the Broadway production. It's probably not fair to compare our community theater to Broadway. It is a really hard show, with really hard music...and most of the cast did an excellent job. There were just a few rough spots and some things that bothered me that distracted me throughout the night. I guess I am just getting too critical in my old age. Regardless--a night at the Muni with friends is always a good time!

July 2

Tonight we went to see Eclipse. It was pretty good, probably the best of the three Twilight movies so far. This picture was taken as we were standing in line to get into the theater. (I should have taken it next to the Eclipse sign or something...). We got there about an hour early, but it wasn't quite as crazy as we expected. I guess all the die hard Twilight fans went to the movie at midnight (or at 3 am!) earlier this week.

July 1

July--go away, I am not ready for you yet! VBS is just 18 days away; I'm beginning to freak out a bit. Especially since I still need about 7 more people to help me out. And especially since we are going to be out of town all next week. And especially since I have SO MUCH left to do!

Now that that is out of my system...on to today's picture. Audrey and I went to the park this morning. The weather this week has been absolutely perfect. I love it, and I wish we hadn't been quite so busy so that we could have enjoyed it more. The park was fun, but I think everyone else decided to take their kids to the park this morning as well. It was pretty crowded. Audrey and I ended up on this little slide that the big kids probably thought was too boring. It wasn't boring to Audrey; she had fun sliding down on her "mummy" (translation: tummy; I'm starting to feel like we need a dictionary to understand Audrey's own language!).