Cookie Caking

Oh what do you do on a Friday night when you're watching someone else's kids?  Make sugary overloaded treats, of course!  Plenty of frosting, plenty of cookie, and plenty of creativity.  Perfect.  Let the cookie caking begin!

 

On one side we ended up with a rainbow and clouds, and on the other, some historical Constantinople symbol.  Both tasty and educational.

Indy Livin'

Well we have now officially been Indianians for two months (and four days to be exact) and life here is still rolling right along!  Though our picture taking and blogging activity for the last couple of weeks doesn't really show it, we are indeed still having a good time, still seeing lots of good stuff, and still learning a ton!  In fact, we have some new additions to our Indy Education archive ready to make their debut:

4. Milk product prices seem higher than normal and ground beef is even worse
5. Tap water and drinking fountains are not the way to go
6. Hospital conference room floors do not make for a good night's sleep
7. Freeways should be avoided at 9:00 am, noon, 5:00 pm and apparently 2:00 pm on Wednesdays

Tim is keeping nice and busy in and out of the operating room and finishing up some almost-publish-ready research projects.  I am exploring the life of an advanced intensive care unit nurse while working on some course work for my next nursing degree (if I weren't some kind of student I'm not sure I would know what to do).

We have developed a recent fascination with NOVA documentaries.  We stream them through Hulu and have watched several in the last two days.  We now know everything there is to know (or at least what NOVA knows) about Making Stuff: Smarter, Making Stuff: Smaller, Making Stuff: Stronger, and Becoming Human.  Tim became hooked first, and I initially made fun of his obsession, but between you and me I think I could get into this stuff.  It's pretty neat.

Needless to say we don't find a lot of time to be bored.  Which is good I suppose, but sure wears me out.  In fact, I think I might take a nap.

Two months down, two more to go...

Visitors

My wonderful grandparents live much too far away in sunshiny Florida and once a year they make the cross-country trek over to Idaho to visit my family. So much fun! We always have such a good time laughing and making memories with them. Of course, this year we aren't in Idaho and thus won't be able to see them while they are there. So they changed up their usual drive and rerouted through Indianapolis! They arrived yesterday afternoon and we spent a perfect evening enjoying each others company! They went to church with us this morning and then hit the road for another full day of driving... I would have kept them here all week if I could. I have never known anyone else quite like my MawMaw and PawPaw, they are wonderful. Sure love you both, thanks for the visit!

....now, if I can only get my family to save me some of those famous meatballs......

80 Years

 

My wonderful grandfather is turning 80 years old today!  That's a pretty big deal!  He's such a good man and has done a lot of good things in those 80 years.  And so, naturally to celebrate, my whole extended family is having a big party that they've been planning for months... and unfortunately our being across the country is going to make us unable to be there.  :(  I'm totally bummed.  But the distance didn't keep us from sending our best regards in the form of a card, a festive picture, and a dozen eclairs, a sugary passion he and I happen to share (a thousand thanks to my mom and Amy for making the trip to the bakery to pick up the order, you gals rock!!!)

Happy Birthday Grandpa, sure love you!

Oh Hi Ohio!

More pluses about living in Indiana just keep stepping forward! This week's discovery: cheap tickets and a mere 4 1/2 hour drive to one of the world's coolest theme parks. Introducing Sandusky Ohio's Cedar Point, America's Roller Coast! We're talking world records galore! We spent two days packing in as many adrenalin rushes as we could and loved every minute. Top heights, top speeds, and endless up-side-downs... yes please!

A visit to the pumpkin patch to wait for the Great Pumpkin, a dream come true! "The Great Pumpkin will rise out of the pumpkin patch, he'll fly through the air and bring presents to all of the good little girls and boys..."

can't... stop... roller coastering!!!

420 vertical feet and 120 mph in less than 4 seconds... amen

Day two of theme parking for some reason turned into Tim and DeeAnna have bad luck day. We had rides experience some kind of trouble while we were in line not once, not twice, not three times, nay not even four, but five times! Dare I review, I think so.

Bummer #1: Almost to the front of the line, ride quits, we decide to wait it out. 30 min later it's up and running and hey, we get front row seats at 120 mph... sweet!!!
Bummer #2: At the front of the line, ride quits but is back up in 2 min, not bad.
Bummer #3: We get in line, estimated wait time 10 min, someone throws up all over the ride. Ride shuts down for a quick bath, 10 min wait turns into 20 min wait.

Bummer #4: Again, almost to the front of the line, ride quits, we decide to move on to something else... 35 min wait wasted.
Bummer #5: Five min away from getting on ride, of course it quits, we wait it out. 25 min wait turns into 45 min wait. We get on and all strapped in and even start pulling forward... and then sit on the track for another 10 min, in the sun, while the ride thinks about things for a while. Was the 60 min of waiting worth it? Absolutely!

In the park's defense, it was so hot! I'm sure the rides were just getting tired, I know we were!

So much fun, we will definitely be adventuring there again! Who's with us next time?