Are You Ready for some Football?!

Living near an impressively large football stadium during NFL preseason time definitely has its pluses, of which we took advantage of in the form of Colts vs. Green Bay tickets! "Get ready to feel the thunder"... amen (never mind that the Colts lost 23-21 in the last 3 sec... sad day).

Let me go ahead and give some quick stats on this place: 8.1 million square feet, seats over 63,000, over 160 concession stands, fully retractable roof, $720 million in building costs, 14 escalators, 10 elevators, and 1,400 toilet fixtures... we're talking serious game time!

Sorry Dianna, this is as close as we could get to Peyton Manning...

and yes, this is a poster. Poor fellow was MIA due to PUP status, which (as I learned from Tyler) means "Physically Unable to Perform". That definitely sounds better than the "Person Unable to Play" that Tim and I had come up with... we may just use it anyway.

The Fair is a Veritable Smorgasbord!

Yesterday Tim and I celebrated the year of the soy bean at the Indiana state fair! It was a lot of fun. I fell in love with almost every baby animal and Tim decided we really need some goats...

And Flat Stanley had his first outing! He is so cute and had such a good day! What a fun little companion.

We stopped to see a lumberjack show, which I was skeptical of at first, but it was actually really kind of cool. And it renewed Tim's motivation to be more of a manly man...

Doesn't he look good? Tim on the tractor I mean

And the best part of the day: Introducing Reggie, the world's largest bore. This sucker was massive, 1,305 pounds... so gross!!

Flat Stanley is Born!

I have always liked the Flat Stanley idea and have always wanted to do a small scale family adapted type version, and for some reason just never have. But I am feeling artsy craftsy lately, plus Indiana is plenty far enough away from nieces and nephews for this idea to be totally fun, right? So Lola (the GPS) and I journeyed to Micheal's craft store the other day and purchased the makings of the little guy. Step 1, check!

Step 2, cut out all the pieces. I looked online for a pattern (see here for an idea of the real deal), but I decided to just make my own... so I guess we can't technically call him Flat Stanley. Perhaps we'll have to come up with a different name...

Step 3, assemble pieces and add decoration and voila! Flat Stanley is born!! And lookin' spiffy if I do say so myself, I think he turned out alright. Now to plan an activity worthy of Flat Stanley's first official outing and send him on his way.

Indy Education

We're settling into the easterner way of life and becoming more learned in its ways every day. Who would have thought this adventure would be so educational! I've collected a few priceless tidbits already that I believe everyone should know:

1. Glasses fog horribly and thin hair does nothing in humidity
2. 'Hoosiers' is not pronounced "who-c-airs"

3. Lola knows all and should never be questioned

Tim is practically becoming an expert on liver transplant surgery. Last Saturday morning Dr. Mangus had us both in to see one... most romantic date ever! I had been in the operating room before of course, but never for a transplant. It was pretty neat! And Tim was able to follow right along and explain things, I was impressed.

And the educational experiences don't stop there! We also discovered that baking while watching the Cosby show is a really bad combination, as made manifest by a pitiful batch of charcoal cinnamon rolls...

But never to worry, the loss was nothing a quick trip to Cinnabon couldn't remedy. Bon appetit!

We went to the Indianapolis Zoo, and would you believe I forgot the camera?! Serious slap on the wrists, I wish I had had it. It was a neat zoo. It was surprisingly big and unfortunately hot, but again, highly educational. We learned that 1. hungry penguins will do anything for the lime light, 2. polar bears aren't too interested in performing, 3. walruses don't even show up for the show, 4. baby monkeys dig in dirt, 5. elephants find humor in spraying water at innocent passersby, and 6. if tigers weren't behind glass, they would eat everything! Tim pet a shark, I chickened out. I did however try my hand at speaking Ostrich... it didn't seem impressed. Better luck next time

Indiana Chronicles Chapter 3: Becoming Cultured

This last weekend we went over to the Indianapolis Speedway. Little did we know a race was actually going on, and about the time we got there a couple thousand people were spilling out. So we didn't get to see a whole lot. But we did see a few cars make some laps, and luckily we got to see all the race fans in all their glory.... quite a crowd, 'nuff said

Later that evening we went to an Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra concert, obviously not Tim's choice! But they sounded awesome and the outdoor amphitheater show was really fun. Quite a different crowd there than the one we saw earlier at the speedway though... from cigarettes to fine wine, nothing like an Indiana culture crash course!

The timing worked out quite nicely, a trip across the country and the start of a new adventure all just in time for our anniversary! Two years ago today we sealed the deal and since then have been happier than ever! Happy Anniversary Tim, love you!