Indianapolis - Cars and Friends

We have been enjoying our time here in Indianapolis even though the weather has not been cooperating.  So far, it's rained every day and been cold.  Please send some Texas heat this way!!  On Sunday, we had a gathering here at my mom's house.  Lots of friends and family came to see Evan and meet Caitlin.  It was so great to see everyone.

My friend, Marie, her little girl Moira, me, and the two kids

Mrs. Hamilton snuggling with Caitlin

Joan Luken with Moira and Caitlin

Great-Grandpa Richard and Caitlin

Cousin Sandy, Grandpa, Caitlin, Mom, me, and Evan

Will, me, Caitlin, Grandpa, Mom, Evan, Becca, and Aunt Sarah

Evan giving hugs to Cousin Ann

Monday, we decided to go to the Indy 500 museum at the race track since the weather was not cooperating and lots of things are closed on Mondays apparently.  Plus, Evan LOVES cars (vroom vrooms he calls them) so we thought he might enjoy it.  Here are some pictures of us at the museum.  Also, the museum is at the track and with it being the month of May, we walked down towards Gasoline Alley just in case we might see some drivers.  Unfortunately the bad weather meant no practice that day so we didn't see much action or any drivers.

Evan driving a racecar

Outside the museum

Me and the kids by the pagoda at the track

Mom, me, and the kids in front of the scoring pylon

I've got lots more to post from the last two days adventures so I'll try and blog about those outings soon.

Car Trip #2 - arrived safely

Well, we've started the Stacer Family Adventure #2.  My maternity leave is almost over so I figured I'd take advantage and visit our families in Indiana and Michigan before having to return to work, especially since Bryce needed to be in Michigan for Memorial weekend anyway. On Thursday night, my sister and I drove from Austin, TX to Indianapolis, IN WITHOUT STOPPING (I mean, except for food and gas).  WITH TWO KIDS.  I know, you think who is this crazy woman taking two kids on a 1,089 mile journey??  I guess I just usually block out all the things that could possibly go wrong with the idea and assume it will go to plan.  And fortunately, it did minus a few hiccups.

We got on the road by 8pm after doing bath/bedtime routine for the kids with the idea being they'll sleep through the night and most of the journey.  Well, Caitlin did great. She fell asleep when we got in the car and slept until about 5am.  Evan, he talked for maybe an hour then fell asleep as well.  We were doing great, made it past Dallas, then somewhere along I-30, I got pulled over for speeding.  Not that I was going that fast but when it's 1am and no one is around, it's sometimes hard not to go over the speed limit.  The cop was super nice and just gave me a warning (evidence of the fact that I wasn't speeding too much) but it woke up Evan.  After that, he really didn't sleep much again.  He just sat there, staring off into the darkness but he was mostly quiet!  We stopped at 5am to feed Caitlin and let him walk around a little.  After that, he slept maybe an hour and then woke up so we put the movie Cars on for him which he liked.  We stopped for breakfast around 9am.  We stayed maybe an hour so he could run around the playscape at the McDonalds while we fed Caitlin and changed lots of diapers and clothes (since Evan had peed through his jammies).  He still wasn't sleeping but he was SO tired that he was getting a little cranky.  We put on Nemo (his favorite) and that kept him occupied until we arrived in Indy!   Caitlin was pretty much quiet or sleeping the entire trip.  Evan did great considering he hardly slept after about 1am. 

I think the worst part was how tired Becca and I were from being up most of the night and not getting much good sleep in the car.  But, the kids... I probably couldn't have asked for much better behavior when you think about everything that could have gone wrong.  Let's hope the trip back in 2 weeks goes just as smoothly!  I'll try and update the blog with what we are doing while in Indy and Michigan if I have time.

Here's just a few random pictures of the kids because we know that's why you all read the blog anyway :)

Caitlin in the bumbo

Evan doing tummy time with Caitlin

Hamilton-Lowes come to visit!

We had another busy weekend with more friends in town.  Angie, my best friend for the past 25 years, came to visit with her husband Daniel and their little boy Hadley who is about 6 months younger than Evan.  We packed a lot into their 3 day visit but had a great time.  I haven't seen Hadley in person since he was maybe 6 months old so it was fun to see him as a boy instead of a baby.  He and Evan had a lot of fun together.  Evan definitely started to exhibit some of those two year old tendencies like not wanting to share, but overall, he did pretty well.  He and Hadley did lots of laughing together... especially in the stroller and the bathtub!

On Friday, we went to the local library for story/music time.  Afterwards, we headed downtown for lunch and to explore the Children's museum.  The kids had so much fun that they didn't want to leave.  They particularly liked the train and the fish tank.  Hadley was really into these hoses they had for the air exhibit while Evan enjoyed the balls (of course).

On Saturday, we spent another day downtown.  We headed to Zilker park and took a ride on the Zilker Zephyr which is a little train that runs through the park.  What fun!  I've never done it actually but I really enjoyed it and so did Evan... he kept signing more and was very upset when it was all over.  After the train ride, we played on the playscapes before heading to Chuy's for lunch. 

Sunday morning, the husbands cooked us breakfast for Mother's Day.  Then, we went to Brushy Creek park.  We played in the sand, then walked for awhile to some playscapes.  It felt good to just get out and do some walking.  Then we went up near Ikea for lunch before we had to head home and pack. 

Overall, it was an fantastic time for all of us and makes me sad that we don't live closer.  Thank goodness for the internet!  Hopefully, we'll see them all again soon.

Evan and Hadley enjoying the fish at the children's museum

Hadley and his hoses

Evan and Hadley in their wind capes - and matching guitar shirts!

The Construction Crew - Daniel and Hadley at the museum

All Aboard! Fun at the train exhibit

The Hamilton-Lowes on the zilker train

Angie, I, and the kids in front of the train

Evan and Daddy are ready for the train ride

Hadley really enjoyed the rocks at the playscape

Evan riding the dolphin!

Hadley and Daniel playing in the sand at Champions Park

Stroller time is so much fun

The ladies - Angie, Caitlin, and I

Aidan's Birthday party

Also part of last weekend's craziness was Aidan's birthday party at Kiddie Acres.  I have to say I was a little skeptical of this place from driving by numerous times so I was eager to check it out.  This place was so much fun for Evan! It's like a little amusement park for small kids.  Evan got to ride a ferris wheel, go on the carousel, drive a boat, a car, an airplane, and ride a train!  He got so upset when we had to stop and eat and then later leave.  He could have driven that boat and ridden that carousel ALL DAY.  I think Avery also enjoyed taking Evan on the rides ;) The one thing he didn't do was the pony ride.  The good thing is that a parent can ride with the child if needed.  Anyway, I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for something fun for their child.  Thanks Crandalls for inviting us!

Here are some pics from the day.

Evan and Avery in the airplanes

Waiting for takeoff

Evan and I riding the carousel

There's Daddy!

Camden, Nikki, and others on the carousel

Daddy and Evan on the carousel

Evan, Avery, and Camden on the boat

Another picture of the three of them on the boat ride

Evan taking Camden for a spin in their jeep!

Evan signing more after the ride was over - he did that a lot at the park!

Nikki took Evan up in the ferris wheel with Camden and Avery - he didn't want to go in it at first but after it started, he had fun!

Evan, Avery, Andy, and Daddy on the train

Andrew, Camden, Brian, and Aidan on the train

Avery and Evan - I'm on a boat!

The birthday boy and his dad on the carousel

The Dolvig's Visit

What a big weekend we had!  Our good friends the Dolvigs came into town so we spent a lot of the weekend with them and our other friends.  It was great to see them and their little girl Camden who is just one month older than Evan.  Evan had a lot of fun playing, taking a bath with her, and learning new words from her (she has a huge vocabulary compared to Evan).  Caitlin enjoyed meeting them all for the first time as well.  Nikki showed me how to put bows in Caitlin's hair since I had no clue.  She also gave me some good advice on how to sort all the clothes she has!  Overall, it was a fantastic weekend, and all of us were sad that the Dolvigs had to leave today.  We hope they'll come visit again soon or we'll make it to see them.

Here are a bunch of  pictures from the weekend.

The kids table at our bbq

Caitlin and Nikki

The ladies and the kids

The men and the kids

Family photo

Aunt Baba and Uncle Casey with the kiddos

Evan and his godparents

Caitlin and Andrew

Evan and Camden hanging out

Hanging out at the Conrads

Colleen and Caitlin

The kids chasing each other