catching up...5-6 April

Thursday, 5 April 2007 and Friday, 6 April 2007

Thursday morning I was to meet my friend Carie and her four kids at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis at 10am. Well, life being what it is, at 10am I was still waiting for kids to wake up (we changed time zones the night before) and completely missed breakfast at the hotel. I loaded the kids up into the car, handed out some frozen granola bars and we were off to the museum in 28*F weather with a brutal biting wind. Now, the temperature in itself isn’t that impressive, unless you were recently in 90*F weather, shorts and short sleeves and are from southern California. Then it’s significant. Brrr!

We spent the day at the museum, with most of the rest of Indianapolis. I guess it was just too cold for anyone on Spring Break to play outside, so they all headed to the warmest, best kid place in town. The kids had a wonderful time! Our oldest decided she liked the mummies the best. Number 2 thought the dinosaurs were pretty cool. Number 3 thought the whole thing was his favorite, especially lunch and the mirrors (silly boy!). The little guy was pretty impressed with playing musical instruments in the Clifford the Big Red Dog area. All in all, it was a great day at the museum.

Then we headed north to Carie’s house for a giant slumber party! All 8 kids crashed in the living room and woke up to the wonderful smell of pancakes. We were definitely in heaven…a warm breakfast and we didn’t even have to leave the house! Carie also provided some real winter coats for the kids so that we wouldn’t freeze to death the rest of the trip. Thank you, Carie! You’re awesome!

After lots of hugs and saying goodbye to Carie and her crew, we packed up and headed north once again…in the snow. And it was 24* when we got up Friday morning. My poor car probably didn’t know what to think! I wonder if my engine oil is of the right viscosity and rated for such cold weather? Something I surely didn’t consider when I left our spring weather and headed north to Michigan spring weather!

After a short but snowy 2.5 hour drive, we arrived at Emily’s house, to a warm welcome and another winter jacket from Andrea for me. Thank you, Andrea! You have no idea how much I appreciate having a warm jacket and gloves! You’re the best!

We hung out with Emily & kids and Andrea & kids and had a great time. The kids loved having other kids and new toys to play with and I welcomed the chance to really relax. We will be here in Michigan until Monday, so it is a chance to do laundry, reorganize, repack, rest and enjoy the warm house, wonderful friendship and great experiences of being on a farm.

Our oldest is in horse lover heaven, since Emily has two horses and boards another. We got to join Emily as she fed the horses in the afternoon. It took nearly as long to bundle everyone up as it did to feed the horses, but it was definitely worth it! Hot chocolate with marshmallows was definitely in order when we came back inside.

After the kids were in bed, Emily and I stayed up until midnight talking about everything and nothing. We are definitely enjoying ourselves, and enjoying each other’s company.