Soakin' it up at Lake Michigan

I know that the cold is barely beginning here in
Indy but here's to warmer times anyway.

Haunting the Indianapolis Children's Museum

We went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum and rode the Eerie Express, a haunted train that, even though visited during friendly hours, was not friendly at all. Even though the lights were on and the "scarers" were friendly, the displays were more than little scurvy pirates and tiny poohs are ready for. Very cool for older kids though.

Speaking of Remembering......

Eli and I took the kids and met some friends downtown for the Light the Night Walk put on by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We joined about 4,000 others and walked in memory of Matthew and for Steve as well as others who we continue to pray for. It was inspiring to see all the white balloons representing survivors and sad to see all the gold balloons which represented people taken by Leukemia and in general to see all the lives that have been touched in some way by these cancers (red balloons).

Matthew Tree

This fall has been awesome with a little bit of chill and lots of nice days. I was looking out the window the other day and noticed for the first time the brilliant red leaves from this Maple (I think it's a Maple) that sits on the back of our lot. It reminded me of Matthew and the tree that was planted in his memory back in Utah. It's good to remember.

Natalia Joins the Club.....Unfortunately.

The other day I took Alejandro and Natalia to her gymnastics place for some playtime. We had only been there five minutes when Natalia broke her arm. She was about to jump from the balance beam into the foam pit but somehow managed to fall sideways off the beam. She landed awkwardly on the edge of the pit breaking her forearm in the process. It looked like her arm had two elbows. I felt terrible. After x-rays we saw that both the radius and the ulna were broken. Initially they were thinking that surgery would be needed but when the pediatric orthopedic surgeon finally arrived (4 hours later) he set it and casted it on the spot. Aside from some swelling and itches Natalia is doing fine.

This picture shows almost exactly where Natalia broke her arm.

Here is a picture of some swelling the next day.

And of course her cast had to be pink.

Good Weather Slippin' Away.........Again.

It doesn't seem to matter how much time we spend outside during the warmer months, the canteen doesn't ever seem to fill enough to last through the winter. I used to look forward to winter months because they meant snowballing cars, sledding, doughnuts in parking lots and most of all snowboarding and skiing. None of that here in Indiana though.

Last year we had one small dusting of snow and a whole lot of mind-numming cold! Anyone need a snowboard? Anyway, winter provides us with plenty of time to sit indoors and look at pictures of warmer times like this summer when we helped raise these Painted Lady butterflies from caterpillar to butterfly. Good times!