We truly are happy in Indianapolis, and I couldn't be more grateful for the way God has orchestrated both the big and small details of our lives here!
One of the first things I thought about, upon hearing the big news that the great state of Indiana was going to be our new home was, how close we would be to our dear friends, Mark and Becky, in Chicago! Mark was Zack's roomate at Notre Dame and he and Becky started dating their freshman year, so when I would come and visit Zack, often times, I would stay with Becky or one of her friends, since they didn't have coed dorms. It was a great way to get to know these wonderful people that would be in our lives, long past college! : )
So, when we moved up here, a visit to Chicago was one of our first items on the to do list! We told Bekah it was another Little Einstien's adventure, picked out a piece of art, and of course, had her listen to Sinatra's Chicago, to get her all geared up!
( the art was that of a horse race since they would be taking us to one that Saturday, Bekah was so excited!)
Mark and Becky have two sweet, sweet boys, Jack, who is 8 and Tom, who is 2!
Cute guy Tom
Bekah was excited about the idea of having a sleepover with these boys, so even brushing your teeth is more fun! Jack let her sleep in his big boy bed and slept on the floor in the room he shared with Tom.
First night of the "sleepover" we had to work out some kinks, and Bekah ended up sleeping with us, but by the 2nd night, all went smoothly.
Bekah instantly adored Jack, and I am not surprised, he couldn't have been kinder, more considerate or more fun! Bekah is learning early on from Jack, how a boy is supposed to treat her, what a lucky girl! Bekah is so much younger than Jack, and a girl at that,I was just so charmed by his interest in her and the way he honestly wanted to play with her!
That silly Tom!
Bekah also enjoyed playing with this fun guy!
Just like their daddy, those boys had our whole family smiling all weekend long!
Here we are at the horse races, what a cool experience for Bekah!
Haha, well, when she was awake that is! Poor thing was overcome with allergies the minute we drove into Chicago, and she was exhausted from all the sneezing and kleenex acquisitioning!
Love how she is 3 1/2 and still can fall asleep so easily in a stroller or carseat, not the case with her brother!
Benjamin is too interested in all the fun around him to stop for a silly nap!
And with Mr. Mark, there is always fun to be had!
I will forever be grateful for the way God put Mark in Zack's life as his pot luck roomate his freshman year. Those 4 are like family to us!
Look at how she has her head on Jack's shoulder? My girl knows sweetheart when she sees one!
The 2nd night, we got a babysitter and us parents got to have "a night on the town!" It was our first date night since we moved and it felt AWESOME to be out with my hubby, and in such an exciting city at that! Wish we had taken a picture!
Thanks again Smeraglinolo family, can't wait to see you again in November!
Back to Carmel!
( the small town just north of Indianapolis where we live)
This new home of our is full of things that we are coming to love!
Downtown for starters is just so darn cute!
The other fellow who works with Zack has a baby girl Benjamin's age and we enjoy seeing them whenever we can. It's wonderful to have another family going through the same stage of life that we are going through : ).
There is always something going on in our neighborhood, such as carnivals and concerts.
This is a concert we were able to make it to.
Bekah enjoyed herself a balloon "crown" and lots of yummy popcorn!
(Funny how she gets sooo much more attention than ever before, for those pink cowgirl boots, now that we are up here! I hardly even notice when she is wearing them, except when someone makes a comment. It's kind of fun to "represent" here!)
The kids continue to learn how to play together, as Benjamin gets older and older, and though they always have more fun if the other one is nearby, Bekah now more than ever before, has to muster up her "big sister patience" when he gets "into her stuff!"
Our frequent visits from Aunt Sarah continue to be highlights of the month.
Here is Aunt Sarah in the "fort" Bekah and her built under our table : ).
It's been fun showing Sarah our "Indy lives" up here!
When Daddy was on call, we took her to a favorite brunch spot.
Favorite for it's yummy french food,
and the fountains outside that "welcome visitors!"
We had a visit from our favorite "furry friend" , thanks to my mom and dad making the drive up. In the end, we decided it would be best for Charlie to have a yard and protect his wiener dog back from all the stairs in our townhome.
We miss him so much, but look forward to giving him the backyard he deserves next year in SA!
Our visit with MayMay and Grandpa though was so nice, the kids were thrilled to spend a whole week with them!
And just like with Aunt Sarah and Gramommy and Pops, it was so special to give them a glimpse of our lives up here!
Thank you so much Grandpa and MayMay, we love you!
Thank you also for taking such good care of our Charlieboy!
Thank goodness Indianapolis has Chuckee Cheese as well! After an awesome first week of school,
Bekah earned herself a trip to this toddler hot spot!
She was on Cloud Nine the entire time!
And look who else jumped on the Chucke Cheese band wagon! It was soooo cute to see how animated he got about the "rides!"
The parks continue to be so pretty, and so plentiful!
We only wish we saw more kids there when we went, we are used to the "hopping" parks of West U!
(this one is right down the street, we call it the "daddy park" because Zack was the first one to take her here)
Jill's Hill
This park is huge, with a hill you can climb, lots of green grass to run in, a water park and a great playground area. I would say, this one is Bekah's favorite.
Benjamin always crawls through the grass and ends up throwing himself backwards in delight, it's so funny to see what he does with so much grass!
( we really do miss our backyard!)
That's the hill in the back of the picture that Bekah loves to "hike up" with daddy. She is really into nursery rhymes right now, so the fact that it is called "Jill's Hill" makes it uber cool to her and often wants to act out the song with daddy and her "falling" down! : )
Here they are trying to help Benjamin walk : ).
It was pretty chilly that day and we did not come prepared, so we played musical jackets, Bekah got mine, I got Zack's and Zack, well, he got left with not much but a short sleeve shirt! Dad's are tough!
One of Benjamin's favorite things to do, ride on daddy's shoulders!
It makes him feel VERY important!
We got to go to another concert in another park one weekend and it was just lovely!
They had jazz music playing, everyone brought their own wine, very cool : ).
The kids loved playing on the steps, eating a picnic dinner and listening to the music. Benjamin actually started to cry when they took an intermission!
With the cool fall air here and the bright oranges, yellows and reds surrounding us, I couldn't be more grateful , for how God has given us the opportunity to experience a real autumn too, just another reason why I truly am content with our circumstances here!
I will post some fall/pumpkin patch pics, Benjamin's One Year and our trip to Texas soon!
1 comment:
I loved reading all about your life in Indy! Looks like so many great family outings!!
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