Indianapolis

Again, I had impeccable (har har) timing and was pretty insistent that we leave early in the morning so we had the whole day Sunday to play at the water park (Caribbean Cove). Amazingly, we left at a decent time (8am) and arrived in Indy around noon.

Only to find out that since it was spring break week and obviously they had a full house that we wouldn't be able to check in until the actual 4pm and no, we couldn't use the waterpark until check-in time that day.

Oops.

So, we headed to a nearby McDonalds to eat and play for a bit and figure out what else to do in our 4 spare hours. We got directions to a mall with a children's place and decided to head there.

Yes... this is my mom... in the McDonalds PlayLand.

However, I seemed to be the only one in decent spirits about the little detour. Shopping, of course... why not? Everyone else was crabby and wanted to just check into the hotel. C'mon... look on the bright side!

As we drove to the mall, I oohed and aahed at all the stores along the way. Restoration Hardware. Crate and Barrel. DSW Shoes. Ahhh.

At the mall, we found an awesome boy-version of an American Girl trip.... RideMakerz. It is similar to Build-A-Bear but with trucks and cars... the perfect heaven for little boys! Porter was enthralled. He really wanted to make a truck but they were a bit pricey and didn't look super sturdy for a 3 year old so we told him when he's a little older and took better care of his trucks that we'd take him.

Once we checked into the hotel, which was amazing, we headed to the waterpark. Three big waterslides (Heather and I went on the big yellow one), a kids splash and play area with zero entrance, and a water sports/basketball pool for a little older kids. It also had a lazy river and two hot tubs.




The hotel itself... which you could stay in without using the waterpark, was awesome as well. They had a ton of kids activities.... games, dancing on the patio by the pool, movie night every night complete with complimentary popcorn and cotton candy, a kids club, coloring and games set out on the tables all day inbetween other activites and a cafe for snacking while at the pool. There was a hot tub and regular hotel pool in the holidome area. Ping pong and 4 pool tables, miniature golf and 3 restaurants.

It reminded me a lot of being in Mexico at the Iberostar. The staff was from all around the country and dinner was a big buffet (or order off the menu). The buffet was great.

Hudson loved trying to eat a pickle...
Sunday evening we went down to the patio to watch Cars. You can put on your pj's, bring downa a blanket and pillow and relax during the movie.

Our hotel package included tickets to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. I can't explain how amazing (yet insanely busy) this place was! There are 4 floors plus a lower level. The exhibits surpass any kids museum I've been to... and I've been all around Michigan to kids museums, as well as a few out of state.



I love this picture... see the blur Porter?
This one is soo cute to me... Porter and Aubri, dressed as dinos and trying to hatch their eggs.


We splurged on Porter at the gift shop and let him pick out a large Automoblox truck... which he's played with non stop ever since. He looked at this box and said "Hey, there's me on the box playing with my cars!" Funny... it does look a lot like him! He kept saying "How did I ever get on that box?"

We were whooped after the children's museum.... we were there for 6 hours and still felt rushed through it. It was packed, people and strollers and kids everywhere. Guess who I ran into at the food court? 2 of my students! Crazy!

We relaxed Monday night... went to the water park for a second, then to the pool to swim. Afterwards, to the Indy Sports Bar restaurant to have pizza.

On our way home yesterday we made a few detours... Cold Stone Creamery being on the top of my list. We also went to Old Navy and the Freemont Outlet Malls.

Let me say... I feel like we've been gone for more than 3 days. I have a list of things to do.... client galleries to proof, orders to send in, package and ship out, bills to pay, house to clean, checkbook to balance, dinner and groceries to deal with... gah! Ohh and of course... laundry. Ick.

So... I should definitely get off here.