Spring Sprang Long Ago...

My house is now completely organized (garage excluded) and relatively clean.  I am not teaching art lessons right now and we are in between trips out of town.  Callie and Matt are watching Barbie movies together and the house is nice and quiet.  In other words, I finally have a minute to sit down and blog!  And I have many months to catch up on.  So...here is the rest of our April!

Circus - Norfolk

There is a really sweet lady at the gym who gives Matt presents for Callie now and then.  In April, she gave us tickets to Barnum and Bailey Circus at the Scope.  Neither Matt and I had been to the circus in YEARS so we were as excited as Callie.  A lot has changed since our childhood circus days.  One thing that we don't remember having the benefit of was the pre-show festivities.  We were able to walk through the below stage exhibition area to see the animals close-up and then join the clowns in the center of the floor for an array of performances.  This part of the circus was so fun that we felt like we could have left before showtime and still have had a great night.  But we stayed for most of the circus and had an even more wonderful time.

 Watching the lions and tigers be released from their cages and play together was my favorite part.  They would wrestle with each other just like Chester and Ollie.  Cats are cats, no matter how big.

 Look at the baby in the center!

 We love elephants and it was a real treat to be able to get this close to them.

 What we really wanted to get a better look at was a jaguar up in that top cage.  They never let him out but he was pacing and feisty!

 Watching some of the pre-show acts.

 Most of the pre-show was interactive.  Callie would edge closer but was too shy to take part in the dancing.  She hung back with this martial arts performer instead.

 We got to watch an elephant painting act.  

 Callie wasn't too impressed with the snow cone but the tiger cup it came in has become a great bath toy.

 Callie pooped out half-way through but we woke her up in time to see the elephants before leaving early to beat the traffic.

 You might be wondering exactly WHAT this is a picture of.  This is our make-shift tiger cage.  And that brown thing is a chocolate egg, our attempt at luring the tiger out of her cave.

 She finally made her way out to investigate the treat...

 ...and she liked it!

 We had many of these tiger moments after the circus.  Callie was a tiger for weeks after, begging for us to build cages for her.  Then she went back to being a puppy and has been building dog houses since.


Indianapolis


We loaded up the car and made a three part drive to visit Michelle and Scott in Indianapolis at the end of April.  We stopped in Richmond, then on the mountain and finally made it to Indy the third day.  The way back was shorter, with just one overnight stop on the mountain.  It was a long trip but thanks to dramamine, it was fairly easy and enjoyable.  And we loved Indianapolis and had a great time visiting Callie-approved attractions while there.

 Reading with Janice on our first night at Ma-Maw's.

 Callie was excited to see Wrigley and they had a wonderful time together.  Wrigley still whines and runs for her toys when she hears Callie's voice on the phone.

One day was spent at the children's museum.  While there Callie did a little excavating of dinosaur bones...

 ...helped keep some dino eggs warm...

 ...got to hang out with some of her favorite creatures...

 ...played Mr. Potato head...

 ...built a large lego tower...

...and pink lego car that can climb volcanoes...

 (My dream job!)

 ...and then she did a little manual labor -- Coal mining...

 ...and some rock clearing in an Egyptian tomb.  She never seemed to catch on that the buckets of rocks dumped into the bin just tumbled back into the cave and she got a little upset that other kids were also trying to clean them up!

 Taking a spin on a revolving bench to view a glass ceiling.

And then a few more spins around the merry-go-round!

While in Indy, we also went to the zoo.  This lovely photo was taken to remember the spot where Callie puked as soon as we arrived.  She had gotten car sick on the drive into the city.  She made it through the parking lot and into the zoo but I think watching the seals swim in the tank by the entrance did her in!  Without thinking, I went into full mommy comfort mode and held her while she threw up all over me.  Fortunately, I had extra clothes for her but no extra coat and it was cold!  But Aunt Missy came to the rescue and bought her this purple zoo sweatshirt.  I wiped off my clothes the best I could, tried to dry them under the hand-dryers in the bathroom and just thanked God regularly that we were at a zoo where things smelled worse than me!

 Our first stop was the dolphin show.  It was a lot of fun but I will never forget how bad I smelled sitting in that arena!

 But getting near the elephants made me feel less self-conscious!

 Callie loves play-grounds no matter where they are!

 This guy was our favorite part.  He was particularly active that day because of the cooler weather and spent the whole time pacing in front of the glass.  It was amazing to get just a few inches from his face and be able to see that much detail.  He is definitely thinking I look plump and juicy in his picture.

 Not as much meat to offer on Michelle!

Callie took this picture all by herself!

 This was a shark petting tank.  It was full of little dog sharks.  Matt really wanted Callie to pet one but she could not be convinced.  He told her they were little and her response was, "They have teeth too, Daddy!"  Smart girl!

 Matt and I had a date night too.  We went to a Joshua Bell/Beethoven concert at the Palladium.  The tickets were from his parents for his birthday.

On our second stop at Ma-Maw's we woke up to a snowy morning before making the drive back to the beach.

We had such a wonderful time in Indianapolis and look forward to going back again before Michelle moves on to a new city.  This was the lion drawing that Callie did all on her own to send to Michelle.  She traced various round lids for the circles and did it all before I even had a chance to help her!