Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Sweet Flower Girl

We were in Indiana for the last week of January for our nephew, Jared's, wedding.  Evelyn was the flower girl, so that made it extra special for us.    Here's a look at our week - a whirlwind, but fun trip!

We had to wake up the girls and leave our house at 4:30am to get to the airport on time.  Neither one of them are very good at staying asleep, or going back to sleep once we transfer them to their car seats, so they were pretty much awake from that point on.  We had a minor hiccup at the airport when I thought Dan grabbed everything out of the back of the car when we unloaded, and he didn't realize I had the Boba (baby carrier) back there for a reason.  Realized it after we went through security, so I ran out to the car to get it.  The security line was super long when I got back, so I ran up to the front, picked the most sympathetic looking guy, and told him my husband was in there with my two kids waiting for me...he let me cut in front of him. :-)  Other than that, the trip out was pretty smooth.  Lillian slept during the flight from Corpus to Houston, then we had a 3 hour layover.  We grabbed some breakfast, then tried to find some things for Evelyn to do.  She's always a fan of the moving walkway - so we took several laps on that.  
We also found this, which she thought was hilarious.
Lillian took another short nap on the flight from Houston to Indianapolis, but Evelyn thought it was too much fun to get to watch a movie and eat snacks.  I was fortunate that Dan held Lillian so I could get some sleep (I had averaged about 3 hours a sleep per night that week and was running on fumes!).  It was about -14 degrees outside in Indianapolis when we arrived, so Dan went to get the car outside while I waited with the girls inside the airport.  It took about 30 seconds after I got them bundled up and in the stroller/carrier, and they were both out.
She loves hats, coats, and gloves...we need to be where there is snow!
Lillian loves to bury her face into anything to sleep...her bed, a blanket, my chest...
We drove up to Fishers when we got into town, where we were staying with Dan's brother and his family.  Mike and Kendra and their sweet boy Micah have a gorgeous house that was so perfect for our stay.  They had set up their pack-and-play in their guest bedroom for Lillian and us, and had a toddler bed ready for Evelyn in a play room.  It was so nice to spread out!  Mike coaches high school girls basketball and had a make-up game scheduled for Wednesday night when we got in, so Dan went to that with his parents while the girls and I stayed so Evelyn and Micah (who are 5 months apart in age) could play and Kendra and I could catch up!  I was getting Lillian ready for/in bed while the older kids were playing before bed, and Kendra started up Micah's bath.  Evelyn thought she needed to join in the fun and tried to strip herself down to get in with him.  Fortunately Aunt Kendra helped her out!
These two are ornery...and they know it!
On Thursday, we met up with Dan's parents and took the kids to the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  Evelyn absolutely loved it.
She got to play in a restaurant (and apparently share germs with 7,000 other kids)
Go fishing with Grandma
Climb up to the top of a maze
Get stuck at the top of a maze so Daddy has to climb up and help you get down
(her poor legs were about 2 inches too short to feel the level underneath her coming down, so she freaked out)
Play in sand with Mommy and Lillian
Lillian liked taking in all of the sights
Next up was the carousel - first with Daddy
Then she wanted to ride the lion with Mommy and Lillian
We had lunch at the museum, then got bundled up to head home for afternoon naps. 
And a quick stop to ride the bouncy pals with Grandpa
These two LOVED playing with each other
And this one loved watching them play around her
We had plans to meet most of Dan's family for dinner that night.  Aunt Leann brought over Evelyn's flower girl dress so we could try it on and make alterations before Saturday.  She loved it and would have worn it all night if we would have let her! 
We had to cut a little off the bottom so she wouldn't trip
We had a pretty lazy day planned for Friday.  Mike took the day off of work so he could be home with us (yay!), so it was a slow-moving morning with breakfast and playing.  I got up early to have coffee with my very dear friend, Nicole at Panera (I miss Panera!) and Kendra had a meeting, so it was Daddy Daycare at the house.
Evelyn liked playing with Micah's busy board that Grandpa made for him
Lillian loved hanging with Uncle Mike
There was some dancing fun
(It's amazing what 2 grown men will do when their 2 year olds ask them to!)
 Some jumping on the trampoline
And car rides a plenty!
Micah got to try on his cute little tux (he was the ring bearer)
Cousins discussing their plan for the evening
 Fortunately she took a good nap before the rehearsal
All dressed up for the rehearsal
The rehearsal was right during dinner time, so we packed PB&J for the kiddos to eat while we waited
This one was her normal, smiley, self!
Seriously, the cuteness.
Micah giving Evelyn a kiss!
The wedding was at the Indianapolis Propylaeum and they had an event that evening, so the room the wedding was in wasn't set up for the wedding.  We had Evelyn and Micah practice walking down the aisle that was there in hopes that it wouldn't be completely new at the wedding on Saturday.
She has perhaps seen a few too many princess movies...when we told her she would be wearing her princess dress, she started holding the dress she had on like this
Cheeeese with Mommy!
Some more practice (we had them do it 4-5 times!)
Evelyn wanting to dance with Micah
Still trying to dance
The best family picture we could muster
After the rehearsal, Dan and Mike headed to the rehearsal dinner and Kendra and I took the kids home so they could have a normal bedtime and get good sleep the day before the wedding.  We got Monicals pizza (my favorite pizza in the world) and had some more catch up time while the guys were at dinner. 

Saturday morning, we met Dan's family in Greenfield for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  It has become a little bit of a tradition when we are home for Thanksgiving, so we worked it out for wedding day as well. 
The whole family (including the groom!)
Lilly and I were there, too!
Evelyn enjoyed stacking the coffee creamers and golf tees
She was a little distressed that there was one hole left without a golf tee in the triangle/golf tee game - it was hilarious
 Spreading some gravy on her biscuit
After breakfast, we had some hang out/play time for the kids at the house before it was time for naps and weddings. 
Uncle Mike got the fun end of this play time!
A picnic lunch and a movie
This is how we do picnics in Indiana during winter
Naturally, the one day we really needed two 2 year olds to take a nap, neither one did.  Great.  Within about 5 minutes of getting in the car to drive to the wedding (about a 30 minute drive), Kendra and I were texting each other pictures like this...
Sleeping Beauty
The wedding was great - Evelyn loved her dress - and they both did great coming down the aisle.
Her favorite part was spinning
Sweet angel, ready to go!

The cuties coming down the aisle.  When they got done, Evelyn said, "Let's do it again!"
Micah and his Mommy across the aisle during the ceremony
The kids did great coming down the aisle, as well as during the ceremony.  It was a pretty quick one, so that helped.
Daddy and Lillian while we waited for pictures
And another attempt at a family pictures
Then it was dinner time.  The dinner was a little longer than we were anticipating, so it was a chore to keep the kids entertained (and settled enough to not break the table decorations that were not so kid-friendly).
Evelyn liked the bread
Lillian liked the naps
Aunt Kendra enjoyed the flying carrots (*grin*)
Grandma helped pass the time with the stuffed lizard they gave to Evelyn
We never did make it to the dance because the dinner was still going at 8:30 and we had kids with very short naps running on fumes.  We had to leave and get them home.  I know Dan was sad because he was really looking forward to dancing with his girls.  I was really looking forward to watching Evelyn and Micah together.  I guess we'll have to wait for the next family wedding (no pressure, Jacob!).
Evelyn did get to dance in the hallway with Grandpa before we left, though!
On Sunday we slept in and had a lazy morning at the house.  Poor Kendra was sick with a stomach bug all night, so I made breakfast for the crew and we had a lazy morning.  We had lunch with Dan's parents and geared up for the Super Bowl! 
Ice cream with Grandpa
Seriously, I want this Manning jersey to fit her forever 
(or at least she stays little for longer!)
No need to talk about the stupid Super Bowl...it wasn't exactly the capstone on a great trip I was hoping for! We went over to our friends, Jason and Emily's, house for the game and met up with them and another couple, Josh and Katie, who are some of our closest friends from Indy.  We were in a small group with them when we lived there, and have stayed close with both families through the years and across the miles.  The game being such a nightmare made me crabby, which then hacked me off because I barely got to talk to my friends - who I never see.  So it was a double crappy crap game.  But I did get to see them, and eat scotcharoos...which brought some solace at multiple points throughout the nightmare of a game.

We had another early flight out of Indy on Monday morning.  This time we were only supposed to have a little over an hour for a layover in Houston, but ended up being there for a little over two hours because of a mechanical issue on our plane coming from Dallas.  That extra hour proved to be the melting point for Evelyn.  It wasn't long after takeoff that she was drooling on the seat. :-)
Sweet, sleeping angels
Sans Super Bowl, this was probably my favorite trip back to Indiana since we left.  Hopefully next time I will enjoy my friends presence instead of being hacked off at the Broncos! :-)

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