Game Day!!!

We have been counting down the days for a while now....football season is here! Daniel decided to get cable in the camper, so now we can watch all the football we want. We love us some Alabama football and couldn't wait to see the season opener against West Virginia.

Well, some of us were excited.

 

 

 

It was a successful night of football with a win for Bama. Roll Tide!!



Farmers Market and Arcade

This is one of the things I don't like about not working. I took the kids to this fancy suburb of Indianapolis called Carmel (which I found out I was pronouncing wrong. I like my way better). I saw a sign that said Farmers Market every Saturday and I was bummed because we didn't come on the right day. As I got further into town I saw the farmers market was open and I realized it was Saturday. All my days run together and I can't stand it.

The market was in the middle of the most beautiful town center. There were tons of restaurants there with their food. I really wanted a waffle, but so did everyone else there. I got some key lime gelato which Avery promptly spit out on the ground. It was surprisingly hot, so we made a quick round and left.

 

 

Told you it was fancy. When I was researching Carmel on the internet I read that it is one of the first cities to make its town based on roundabouts. They are pretty neat if you miss your turn, but they can be pretty confusing if you have no idea where you are going.

Sunday is Daniel's day off so we went to Circle Center Mall. Somehow Daniel smelled out the arcade all the way on the fourth floor. I am not a fan of arcades but Daniel loves them. He spent wasted some money and he and Avery played some games while I tried to chase Colt and keep him off the games.

Fail.

 

 

 

I finally dragged them away when I couldn't entertain Colt anymore. It was a good day spent with the family.

Brother for Sale

 

 

One brother for sale!

One brother for sale!

One crying and spying young brother for sale!

I'm really not kidding,

So who'll start the bidding?

Do I hear a dollar?

A nickel?

A penny?

Oh, isn't there, isn't there, isn't there any

One kid who will buy this old brother for sale,

This crying and spying young brother for sale?

 

 

 

 

So, I changed the words from Shel Silverstein's poem from sister to brother. I think about this poem every time this little brother starts acting a fool...which is often. Good thing he's so darn cute.

Sweet

So, I might be a bad parent, but my kids eat candy. I love candy more than life itself, and there is no way I could eat candy as much as I do and the kids (especially Avery) not notice. So occasionally they have some. One of our first days in Indianapolis I found this little treasure in Monument Circle.

It is the coolest store. They have all the old timey candy plus any other candy you can think of. They also have thousands of bottles of soda pop. They are everywhere. They even have soda pop flavors like bacon, ranch dressing, and other gross things that make me want to throw up in my mouth. We've been here two weeks and we've been at least three, maybe four times.

I took Daniel to the circle Sunday, and it was cold and rainy. But they were having some kind of Indian parade and festival.

I almost didn't get my ipod on in time to take this picture of the parade...it was the shortest parade I've ever seen. Everyone was dressed up in their Indian attire, and they all looked so pretty. We went into Rocket Fizz right when it opened. Daniel got a root beer and the kids got some gummy frogs. I don't like those soda pops. They are way too sweet, even for my sweet tooth. I like to eat my sugar.

Later in the week I took the kids to the mall. I realized it was super close to the circle, so we walked to Rocket Fizz...again. This is what Avery picked out.

She looked so cute walking down the street eating a lollipop. Don't worry, she didn't even finish half of it. I got a small bag of Jelly Bellies that were flavors of different cocktails. They were amazing. My favorite flavor was margarita...shocking, I know. Colt liked them, too.

I can't wait to take my mom there when she comes to visit so she can show me the candy and soda pops she liked when she was little. And I'm sure we'll be regulars at Rocket Fizz (and probably the dentist, too).

In other news, I bought a stroller from Craig's List for when we go to Chicago. I drove to her town to pick it up. The town is called Ninevah, which I found amusing. She told me to meet her at the corner store in her town. I was excited thinking it might be this cute little town with a cute little corner store. This place was literally in the middle of nowhere, and the "corner store" was just a store on the corner that said Guns and Ammunition on it. The two guys inside were super nice, but looked like they would fit right in in the south. It only took me two weeks to find the rednecks of Indiana!

Love

We have been in Indianapolis for a week now, and I am in LOVE with this city. The kids and I have had so much fun exploring. Downtown is so accessible and easy to navigate, even I can make my way through it. There is so much to do, and everything is so pretty. And the people are actually nicer than those two (I'll leave out my colorful adjective here) dads at the zoo. I even had a man come to my rescue when I found myself downtown with a three year old who needed to pee. We walked four blocks to a Starbucks which happened to be attached to a fancy hotel where we had to go to find the potty. Of course it was locked, but a nice man saw me in distress and unlocked the door for us. And my double stroller was still outside where I left it! Oh, and remember how I said it was normal to go 55mph on the interstate. Well, I just noticed that's the speed limit. On the interstate. Yikes. Guess I'm not as observant as I thought.

The day of the potty incident we were just playing at some fountains downtown. I can't stand to just sit in the camper, so even though it was late in the afternoon we packed up and went.

 

 

Colt was carrying a wooden puzzle piece with him, and guess what he did at the fountain? That's right. Luckily I was able to fish it out.

Today we went back downtown to that same spot but visited this. It's called the Soldiers and Sailors Monument and it's in the middle of a big roundabout. It's really cool. It's got a ton of stairs for the kids to climb on and a pretty fountain.

Colt could do this all day.

We went up the 32 stories to the top of the monument. It was very hot and small at the top so we didn't stay long. But I did snap this one picture. The big pointed building behind the smaller pointed building is Lucas Oil Stadium. I'm a little obsessed with it, and I try to drive around it any time I'm downtown. I really want to go to a game this fall.

 

 

Avery in the elevator on the ride down. 

There is also a canal that runs through downtown. It has huge sidewalks. I was super nervous to let Colt out near them, so we played on the stairs (surprise). It's pretty cool, and I heard they have gondolas on the weekend.

 

 

 

 

I might change my mind when the "harsh" winter gets here, but I'm having so much fun and enjoying this big city, dare I say I might not want to leave? I won't have a choice, but a girl can dream.

 

So my other observations might not have been valid, but I have evidence to support my fat people observation.

 



We went to this amazing fast food Italian place called Fazoli's. If you ever see one, pull over. It's so yummy. Daniel got a large Coke with his food, and this is what he got. It's standing next to a roll of paper towels, and it's almost as tall. That thing was huge!

And an adorable picture of my Colt man to start your weekend off right. Have a happy one!

Goodbye to a legend

When you don't have cable or a fancy cell phone, you miss big things. My mom informed me tonight that Robin Williams committed suicide. I am heart broken. I am so sad that someone so talented, funny, and loved by so many thought that there were no other options. Depression must be a real bitch. There will never be anyone like Robin Williams, and I hope he will be remembered for his work and not for how he died. Daniel was reading me a list of his work, and I was surprised at how many of his films I have seen, which is rare for me. Here are a few of my favorites.

   Aladdin is the Disney movie of my generation. Who doesn't love Genie? He totally makes the movie.

 

 

The Birdcage is one of my favorite movies of all time. Nathan Lane is obviously the star of the show, but Robin Williams is his perfect match. He has a great balance of love and exasperation for Albert.

 

 



 

 

Such a good movie. It really shows that all the good in your life can't always make up for the bad. When I was looking for a picture I found this quote from the movie.

 

      "Poetry, beauty, romance, love--these are what we stay alive for."

 

 

I guess Robin Williams didn't feel he had this, even though I'm sure he did. What a legend. He will surely be missed, and I know the movie world will miss this wacky, loveable, vivacious man.  

Observations

I've always thought of myself as a very observant person. I notice stupid little things. Like, did you know UPS workers wear brown UPS socks? Anyways, so the kids and I have been in Indianapolis for three days, and I already have enough observations to blog about.

I was born and raised in the South, and I'm always interested in how people from other parts of the country are different from us dumb rednecks.

Observation #1: People in Indiana drive annoyingly slow. I even asked Daniel if it was just me...it wasn't. It's completely normal to go 55mph on the interstate.

Observation #2: I've come to the conclusion that most places look the same. The suburbs of Indiana look just like the suburbs of Birmingham. Except they don't have the pretty mountain background we do.

Observation #3: Don't let anyone make you believe the South has all the fat people. Holy cow, you would not believe the morbidly obese people we saw today at the zoo. And if that many were at the zoo, imagine how many are sitting on their butts in front of the TV. It seriously made me sick to my stomach, never wanting to eat again.

Observation #4: The people aren't quite as friendly. Today at the zoo we were at the playground and I didn't see a little girl about Colt's age standing next to me. I accidently knocked her over. I immediately picked her up and loved on her. She didn't even cry. Dad comes over and of course I start apologizing. He says nothing. Dad #2 comes over and asks what happened. This girl knocked her over, blah blah. I think I might have heard a "that's ok" after saying "I'm so sorry" about a million times. If someone did that to Avery or Colt, I would think nothing of it and make sure the person knew it was no big deal.

I have met some nice folks at the campground plus one creepy little girl at the playground who wants to drag Colt around like a baby doll. You know I'm not a people person, so I might not love the people, but I'm still super excited to be here, and I'll deal with the fat, rude people and they can deal with the fat, dumb redneck from Alabama.

On the move

The kids and I loaded up last Thursday afternoon and headed to...Indianapolis!! Daniel is doing some contract tree work until November 1, so we will be campin' it up for a few months. I'm really excited to go somewhere new and see a different part of the country. I named this blog Project Simplify, but I didn't know it would get this simple...

Daniel went down a few days before us, and I packed a bunch of stuff for him to take. I spent Wednesday and Thursday packing, and this is most of what I had to put in the van. I just knew it wasn't going to fit.

But it did...yay! We headed out right after lunch with the hopes that Colt would take a good nap. We didn't even make it out of Fayetteville before Avery had to go to the bathroom. Oh, the joys of traveling with a not quite potty trained toddler. And it's even more fun to have to take her potty in public while trying to hold a fat 17 month old. She needs help getting onto the potty, so I have to lift her while holding Colt. I'm usually a sweaty mess by the time we get back to the car.

It wasn't the best trip, having to take several potty breaks, going through the nightmare that is Nashville, losing cell service completely for 100 miles, and more roadwork on 65 than you can imagine. But seven and half long hours later, we made it!!

We are staying at a KOA campground, and it is super nice. It has a pool and a playground, and it's not far from downtown Indianapolis.

This is our home for the next few months. Thanks to Cousin Harold for letting us use his camper.

 

Home Sweet Home

 

 

 

 

I was worried Colt would be the youngest shower taker ever, but luckily there is a small tub in the shower.

 

 

 







No room for kitchen table, so we just eat on the floor. The kids are having fun exploring and playing.

 

Daniel was off today, so we went to the Indianapolis Zoo. It was super hot, but we had a blast seeing the animals, and I always have fun people watching.

 

 

 

Avery got her face painted soon after we got there. Later she decided to have a meltdown for no reason and her tears smeared it all up.

 

 

They have this huge orangutan exhibit in this really big building. We got to see two of them wrestling, one laying on his back relaxing, and this one just enjoying all the company.

 

 

 

 

We had fun playing in this little park before we left. We were all exhausted, but so glad we went!

 



 

And this is what Colt did when we got home. We finally woke him up so he would sleep tonight. He was pooped out!

 

 

 

 

While Colt was napping, Avery and I walked to the playground. She has such an active imagination, and can play for hours. I usually can persuade her to go back if I say Capri Sun.

 

I am loving Indianapolis, and I'm so excited to keep exploring with my family. I feel so blessed to be able to travel and visit new places before our kids start school. Maybe I'll home school and we'll just live like gypsies...

Catching up

I feel like we've been living the crazy life lately instead of the simple life. But our lives are about to get super simple very soon (more on that later). So I'm just catching up on the last few days. Last Friday we went to Joe Davis Stadium to see the Huntsville Stars take on the Jacksonville Suns.

I think their mascot is a bear? And I never could figure out his name. A fan called him Riley but the back of his shirt said Homer.

 

 

 

It's really hard to get my child to stay still to get her picture. She wants to dance around while she says cheese. This is the best I could do.

 

 



We left in the 5th inning, and no one had scored. We still had fun being outside watching the players and all the interesting people. And Daniel told me a good story about him jumping over that wall that's right behind his head when he was in high school. A friend had jumped over to get a ball and jumped right back in the stands. When Daniel did it he couldn't get back over the wall and they had to stop the game and someone had to help him get back over. The place was packed, and the crowd booed him. Love it.

Sunday I took the kids home to Birmingham for a few days. It was so stinkin hot! Monday night I got to meet my two sweet girlfriends at my favorite spot, Pablo's. I can't go home and not have a margarita (or two) from Pablo's. I dream about those things. We got to catch up, and it was nice to have that coveted grown-up time.

 

 

I'm not the best selfie taker, but we had a blast.

 

 

Tuesday my mom and I took Avery, Colt, Jack, and Tate to the park at Mt. Laurel. The kids had fun playing on the train and swinging. We went to Area 41 for pizza, and I think Tate ate three huge pieces of pizza. It was so good, even Colty ate it.

 

 

 

 



I guess I didn't get any pictures of Jack. He was a trooper playing with all the kids. Avery and Colt just love their cousins.

We came home today, then heading out again tomorrow. Lots (and lots) of packing tonight. I think everyone who reads the blog knows where we are going, so just humor me and anxiously anticipate my next post on our new location.