Trip to Indy

This weekend the Shirts family took its first official "Family Vacation." Well, it wasn't as much of a vacation as a weekend trip to Indianapolis, but you can't really do a whole lot when Mom is 7 months pregnant. We began the trip by stopping at the Louisville Zoo...sure, we've been there about a million times but it's free and the kids never get tired of it. This time we splurged and rode the train and the tram. Let me tell you, the tram is the way to go. You get to see the zoo and you don't have to walk. Kate also enjoyed it, saying "The tram is not scary. The choo-choo is scary." (She thought the train was a little loud). However, when asked their favorite part, both the kids said that they enjoyed seeing the baby elephant sniffing/eating his mommy's poo...potty humor in preschoolers. (Just a note...my legs are really not as chubby as they look in the picture. Sorry, I just had to let it be known.)





Next we got in the car and headed to Indianapolis. Mom's favorite part was stopping at the outlet mall and hitting the clearance sale at The Children's Place--15 items for $35! It was truly a shopping victory.


We made it up the hotel and checked in, then went to dinner at "Cheeseburger in Paradise." It was pretty good food and the atmosphere was fun--who wouldn't like dining to the sounds of Jimmy Buffet? Then it was back to the hotel to swim. Jonah commented on the way, "Are we only going to be living in that one room?" I guess we haven't stayed in a hotel room for a while and he was thinking of something a little more upscale. We were going to watch a movie that night, but nature had other plans. Severe weather hit, taking out the phones and cable and even the electricity for a few minutes. The kids were good sports and didn't get too scared...it was our adventure of the trip. We all piled in the same bed and the lights soon came back on, and once Kate stopped cracking jokes we were able to settle down for the night.

The kids chillin' in front of the hotel

The big stop on our trip was the Children's Museum. Our tickets were a Christmas gift (thanks Uncle Jeff and Aunt Monica) and we had a blast. This museum is 4 stories of fun, fun, fun. We did it all...from the planetarium show to the carousel to meeting Curious George. By the end of the day we were all bushed but had a great time. Here are some photo highlights:

Both Jonah and Kate loved the Curious George exhibit.

Kate didn't warm up quite as fast to the real George, but Jonah gave him a big hug.

Micah is pretty studly next to the actual Batmobile, and the kids and I make pretty good superheroes ourselves.

Watch out, Spiderman...the Shirts crew is figuring out your moves!

Jonah loved driving the race car, and Kate had a blast in the ice cream shop. She played with the ice cream scoop and one scoop of ice cream for like 20 minutes. Whenever another kid tried to take them from her, she would literally scream and the other kid knew to back off. You don't mess with a woman in the kitchen! She wasn't too happy when we had to move on!

Amazingly, despite six hours in a busy museum full of kids, we managed to walk out still happy to be a family. The kids loved it and we will definitely go again. We feel blessed to have had such a good trip and made lots of memories.