More Indy

We've hit a record...5 weeks at the same campground. But we did move spots last week, so I guess it doesn't count. As much as I'm ready to go home, I don't want to move this thing for a long, long time. If you've never moved a fifth wheel camper, count your blessings.

Avery had been begging to go to camp this summer. She loves the show Bunk'd and really wanted to go to a sleep-away camp. Those were a little out of our budget, but I did find her one called Camp Indy. It's a Christian-based camp. I was only able to sign her up for one week, but she was so excited.

First day of camp

She got to do lots of fun outdoor things, including swimming. She had a blast!

On Thursday she got to have a campout and spend the night. They got to build a fire and eat s'mores and tell stories. Unfortunately, the weather forecasted rain, so the campers had to sleep inside. It didn't end up raining...so disappointing.

The disappointment didn't end there. On Friday the parents were invited to watch the kids climb a rock wall and go on a zip line. I was beyond excited to watch Avery tackle this. One kid made it, two kids cried halfway up, and Avery got this far....then it thundered. I was so sad! I knew how much she wanted to do it. They ended up not going back to the wall, but we are invited to try it again Labor Day weekend. Hopefully I'll have a great story from that! 

While Avery was at camp, Colt and I found our local library (which is awesome!) and a super cool park in Carmel.

We waited all summer for Hotel Transylvania 3, and it did not disappoint.

One Saturday we went to our most favorite Indy place, Tuttle Orchards. It's not even 10 minutes from the campground, and we will be spending lots of time there come fall. This day was Peach Day. We bought some yummy South Carolina peaches. I had never had peaches from SC, and I have to say, they might be better than Georgia or Chilton County peaches. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day, so we were only able to play for a bit. It was lots of fun, though!

Another Saturday we went to Colts Training Camp! So cool! It was kids' day, so they had a field full of fun things to do. They got to do a (not quite) 40 yard dash, an obstacle course, throwing practice, and bounce houses. We also got to meet some of the cheerleaders. We did watch the Colts practice for a minute on our way out.

I just couldn't help myself.

I am so excited about this. I found a gym a mile and a half from our camper. And it's Jaycie Phelps's gym. Avery started gymnastics a couple weeks ago, and she is having so much fun! I really hope we can keep her in it wherever we go. 

The next day was the first day of school! I had planned to start a week later, but I got bored. We are doing well so far. We go to the library on Wednesdays, and have already had two field trips!

First day of school ice cream. 

Our first field trip was to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. The first Thursday of every month is a discount day. They added a huge new area outside called the Sports Experience.

We played tennis...

football...

hockey...

baseball...

drag racing...and apparently I didn't take pictures of basketball, soccer, and golf. We were exhausted!!

Yesterday we took another field trip to the Hundred Acre Park in Indy. This one actually went with what we are studying. I'm doing a unit on insects, so we came here to hunt bugs. We found several different kinds while exploring and playing. This "sculpture" is in the parking lot. The sign says no climbing...surely they can't expect a kid not to climb! We spent a while here because someone might have locked the keys in the van. Oops. 

Can you see the butterfly?

This thing is pretty cool. It's a skeleton!

We had a fun morning exploring outside.

I didn't realize how busy we've been since we got to the KOA! Looking forward to a visit from Meme, two races for the kids, a pre-season Colts game, and most important, FALL!! 

The First Half of 2018

And....we finally have Wi-fi!

We have had a busy year! For a few weeks in January we were in Birmingham. Daniel and I decided to put our house in Helena on the market. We literally painted every wall in that house...by ourselves. It was a task! But it paid off...we had an offer a few hours after it went on the market. God is good!!

The kids were looking for Pennywise at the Helena house.

No longer homeowners! This makes me so happy.

We spent the month before closing in Winchester, IN. Don't blink or you'll miss it. I thought Fayetteville was small. This town is a dot. There's a Wal-mart...and not much more. Oh, and did I mention the temperature was in the teens most days? It was a miserable few weeks.

This was the silver lining. Indoor pool at the hotel.

We left Indiana and went back to close on our house. We always said we just wanted to come out even selling the house. We got lucky and walked away with a little bit...which meant after all the work we'd done, we deserved a vacation! We left the kids with Meme and headed south. We went to Tampa for several days. I had never been. It was pretty and we got to go the beach in February, but I'll stick with my panhandle beaches. Then we went to Orlando, and my dream of going to Harry Potter World came true.

So cool. 

We ended our trip with a night in Panama City Beach. It was definitely a fun and much needed vacation.

Oh, I forgot that before we left for our trip we celebrated Colt Man's 5th birthday! We invited some Birmingham friends to Let's Play and back to Meme's house for games.

Ford and Avery

March took us back to Paducah.

Fishing

Soccer

The weather was so bad in Paducah we practiced once and had maybe 2 games. It was a rough spring.

Bowling

Easter

Avery was a trooper...it was beyond cold on Easter. The cold just wouldn't go away this year. 

Avery turned 7 and got a guitar for her birthday. The kids did choir at church, and the day before Avery's birthday was their end of the year program. Even though we had only been going a few weeks, Avery was given a solo. She got up there and killed it. I was so proud of her. 

We celebrated her birthday at Pizza Inn and Chuckie Cheese's with Meme. 

In May we went to Panama City for our annual beach trip.

We had a great week. Colt taught himself how to swim. 

Two days after we got home it was time to head to Indiana for several months of work. By the seventh week there, we had stayed at 5 campgrounds. It was exhausting!

I forgot the name of this campground in Greenville, OH. This one was rough living.

That was the only campground without a pool, so one day we drove to Muncie to swim.

Then we went to Grandpa's Farm in Richmond, IN. The pool was (thankfully) heated, and Avery fell in love with tetherball.

We visited the Cincinnati Zoo one Sunday. It was a pretty good zoo.

We spent a week at the KOA in Richmond. They had fun crafts, putt putt, and Spongebob popsicles.

We moved on to Indianapolis. We stayed at S&H Campground for 2 weeks. Fireworks for the 4th, bounce houses, marshmallow eating contest. The kids had fun.

Meme, Beth, Jack, and Tate came to visit. I only took a couple pictures. We ate at Binkley's, went to the tall tower and Rocket Fizz, and ate pizza. Beth and Jack went to Chicago. It was a good time.

And now we are at the Indy KOA. The kids got new bikes, and we are having a blast. 

I'll do another post on what we've been up to since we got to Indy.