My mom and Tom flew in Friday night for a weekend adventure with the family. Their adventure started right when they arrived at the hotel around 10:30 pm with all of us waiting there for them. Julianna and Jenavieve had their overnight bags packed for their sleepover with grandma and grandpa. They were so excited! Julianna would say "I get the best sleepover, I get to sleep with grandma!" and Jenavieve would chime in, " I'm going to sleep with grandpa!" So, the girls spent the night and the rest of us SLEPT IN the next morning until 9:30! It was amazing. Once all of us finally got us and ready we then went to the hotel and picked up the rest of our group (who woke up earlier that morning).
Our first stop of the day was Steak N Shake to eat of course and after that we drove downtown to the Indianapolis Children's Museum where we saw the Terra Cotta Warriors. It is the only appearance in the US in 2014 on loan from the Chinese government. Before going into the exhibit we watched a skit about the warriors which included a man dressed as a warrior. The warrior coming to life and moving terrified Jenavieve (keep in mind we hadn't made it to the exhibit). At home Jenavieve naps with a blanket Nana made her and she gets it when she is scared or sad as well so she was in tears and asking for her blanket. Not having her blanket, grandma and grandpa ran to the gift shop and bought her the closest thing which was a princess cape. The exhibit was amazing (to all but Jenavieve), they of course made it kid friendly with activities for the kids and lots of artifacts and reading for adults. They had a section where we all got to make our own mini clay warriors, the museum had a goal of making 1000 mini warriors. All of the kids and adults enjoyed this activity. The Emperors warriors were amazing to see in person, they are huge! It was interesting as well to see the other things made to surround him in his burial site such as a water park area with lots of birds.
After the children's museum we drove around downtown and went to the canal. We walked down the canal walk which was pretty and we rode paddle boats which the kids loved. The night ended by going to eat at a Japanese restaurant.
The next day we were all scattered, the two little girls went to a friends house, and Jocelyn went to a friends house for the day. The rest of us headed to the Indy 500! It was spectacular, the first hour we all took in as much as possible with our eyes being in awe of the size of the event. The first half was exciting, then it seemed long to my mom and I and right when we were a little tired of sitting in the hot sun, there was only 33 laps left. At that point we were standing and yelling, cheering on our drivers! It was non stop excitement till the checkered flag was waved. It was so much fun and now we all (except mom) want to go again next year!
The next day we celebrated Memorial Day and stayed around the house. We had a yummy bbq and ended the night setting off fireworks! Real Big Ones! Arron, Tom and Arron Jr were like kids in a candy store when they went to the fireworks store. When we got ready to set them off, we all felt like we were going to get in trouble like we were doing something wrong, but it is legal here! After our fabulous firework fun we gave hugs goodbye and some tears were shed. We are so thankful and