Waterpark!

Yesterday morning the kids and I headed out for another day trip:) This adventure was to Deep River Waterpark in Crown Point, IN. It is about an hour and 20 minute drive from here. The kids actually enjoyed the van ride there. They spent the entire time racing each other on their Mario Kart game via their Nintendo DS's. Lorelle and Liam kept ganging up on Landan. I had fun just listening to them. We arrived at the park about noon and the kids were off:) We met some friends and the kids paired up and had a GRAND time! I hardly even saw the older 2 boys except when they needed a snack or a short break. They rode lots of slides and even Lorelle rode many of them this year. Liam and Lilyan mostly stuck with the Toilet Bowl, the Lazy River (my fave:) and the Wave Pool.

Liam and Lorelle playing in the water...

Lorelle and Lilyan having a snack:) I took a cooler full of drinks and bags full of goodies to eat.

Liam and his buddy Ashton going "down the toilet!" LOL! I got flushed with Lilyan;)

Right after they came out of the toilet...

The girls in the Wave Pool...

The back of the Landan and Leytan in the Wave Pool...I think this is about the only pic I got of them:(

We spent 7 hours there and then headed home. The kids (and I) were so tired. But...it was a fun and BEAUTIFUL day! Sunny and 70's...LOVE IT!

Here is a video of Liam and Ashton...

Downs After Dark...

I believe this is what they call the night races at Churchill Downs. Most of you probably already know this but Churchill Downs in a horse racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. Yah know...where they have the Kentucky Derby! Biomet Tri-State had a business meeting in Louisville over the weekend and we were invited to attend. Lance and I flew down late Friday morning on the Biomet jet from here in Warsaw. WOW...was that nice! A 45 min. flight was much better that a 4-5 hour drive:) They put us up at the Marriott downtown. It was a nice hotel and those who know me well, know how I like my Marriotts for their bedding, Bath and Body stuff and of coarse for the Starbucks that always seem to be in or nearby:) BTW...not sure if this is an official cheat or not but I DID have a Frappacino, with whip cream:( I just HAD to confess! LOL! BUT...I still said NO to the all the incredibly delicious looking dessert both evenings. Come on TA!!!

I think we were at our hotel by about 12:30PM on Friday. We checked in and then Lance and I went on a search for a restaurant with outdoor seating for lunch. We ended up at the Bistro 301. I had a balsamic vinaigrette marinated chicken breast sandwich with fruit and Lance had a pasta dish. They were both good. We sat out there sipping our cocktails and talking for a few hours:) We just LOVE our quite time alone! It is not always easy to do with 5 kiddos running around here at home. When we got back to hotel, Lance worked for a couple hours while I finished a book, took a bubble bath and got ready for our night out at the track.

Right after we arrived at the track...

This was my first time at the horse races and we got to watch them from a Jockey Club Suite:) We had an amazing buffet of food and anything we wanted to drink. I learned how to bid on the horses quickly and placed a few bids. There was a $2 minimum bid and the most I bid was $5. I did finally win 1 out of the 11 races and my winnings equaled $24! At the end of the night I came away even:) It was a long but FUN evening! The first race started at 6PM and the last race started at 11:20PM. It was after midnight when we got back to the hotel. It was such an AWESOME experience!!!

Close-up from the suite but it is a little blurry...

GO!!!

The cool couples:)

The next day, Lance had some presentations to do in the morning and I did a little sightseeing with some of the other Biomet wives. We took the trolly around the downtown area and visited a few art galleries, a glassworks gallery (where we could watch them blowing glass) and then to lunch at the Irish Pub on Fourth Street Live (which was a really cool restaurant/bar/concert area downtown). The food was REALLY good. I watched the last half of the soccer game with Lance when I got back to the hotel...BUMMER that the USA lost:( Then off to a dinner/awards ceremony. Afterward we flew home and arrived back at the house about midnight. It was a short little get-a-way for us but a much appreciated, FUN one! We are SO blessed and just a little SPOILED! LOL!

A video clip I took of one of the two sod races. Most of the races were on dirt.

Father's Day Weekend 2010...

Our Father's Day weekend was a pretty relaxing one. It consisted of swimming, movies, bike and motorcycle riding, lots of the card game "War" (this is the triplet's favorite right now) and a round of "You've Gotta Be Kidding!" My kids love this board game and get SO into it. They are literally standing in their chairs and screaming all at once. Ummm...my house is never that quiet but WOW is it loud during this game:) But the kids have a BLAST playing it and it can be FUNNY!

We had Grandma and Grandpa Perry over for a cookout. We grilled shish-kabobs...steak and sausage with veggies. We also had cheesy potatoes, Casa salad (Ken's favorite), rolls and Ritter's ice cream for dessert. YUM!

Below is my attempt at getting the "perfect" picture of Lance with his children. I gave up:) LOTS of mouths open, eyes closed and heads turned. I had to put my foot down about bunny ears before I even took the first photo:) LOL!!! So...I didn't get a "perfect" one but I still LOVE them all! I can't wait to bring Levi home and stick him into this CRAZY, AWESOME, family! We are getting closer. I am guessing we are about 5-6 weeks from Travel Approval. I am still thinking an August 20th departure is a very good possibility:) I am ready but NOT ready at all! LOL!!!

Lance is such a GREAT Dad!!! I LOVE him SO much!!!

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis...

On Friday morning we were off to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. It is the LARGEST Children's Museum in the WORLD! I must say...I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this museum! There is SO much for the kids to do and see. It is VERY hands on with lots of dress-up stuff, pretend play and tools...that make learning FUN;)

My Fab Five right after we arrived...

This is one of the cool dinos trying to break into the museum:) TOO cool!

DINOSPHERE...

This is a really COOL area where the kids are immersed in the sights, sounds, and smells of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth.

My gang...

Lorelle and Liam working hard at the Dino Dig...digging out dinosaur bones.

The triplets x-raying a dino...

The kids touching and asking questions about a REAL dinosaur bone at the Paleo Prep Lab. These bones came from South Dakota.

Leytan and Liam playing... Leytan still loves this kid of play:) Give him some action figures and some plastic animals and he is HAPPY!

My baby dinosaurs...

STAR-WARS...

They had a small Starwars exhibit. Here are the boys in front of Boba Fett...

Lorelle is that you?!

MODERN-DAY EGYPT...

Next the kids took a pretend jet to Cairo aboard Egypt Air:)

Learning about Egypt...

Lorelle on Sphinx...

And on a gator near the Nile...

Trying on Egyptian clothing...

Lorelle and Leytan working at a market...

ROCK STARS CARS and GUITARS...

In this area they had lots of rock star's vehicles, guitars, outfits, etc.

The triplets cruising...

Liam and Lorelle showing me their moves...

My little Rock Star...

Kiss...

My little recording artists...

BARBIE...

Lorelle is much more into Barbie than Lilyan is:)

The girls looking at Barbies from all over the world...

Lorelle with the first Barbie, I think it came out in 1959...

Lorelle with more life-size Barbies...

Lorelle dressed up and walked the Barbie Runway. You can see her bothers taking pictures in the background...

Giving us a spin...

SCIENCE-WORKS...

The kids really enjoyed this area too. Especially the interactive watershed tables, construction site and the slide.

Landan and Liam playing in the water...

The triplets loved the slide...

LOTS of hula hoop and stilts FUN...

I made Landan get his picture taken with "Mr. Health NUT" in the Health House:) Ummm...I know this is family friendly blog but what exactly is that green thing between his legs...LOL!!! Stem? Stethoscope? I know I am a little twisted but I didn't notice it when I took the picture...HONEST;)

We spent about 5 hours at the museum and this was keeping the kids moving at a fairly good pace;) They could have definitely spent more time at some of the exhibits. And we did not do everything. We drove our 2 1/2 hours home and then went to dinner with Daddy. I think he might have missed us just a little but probably enjoyed his peace and quiet here at home too:) It was a GREAT little getaway!!!

Indianapolis Zoo...

On Thursday morning, I loaded up the kids for a road trip to Indianapolis, IN. Our first stop was the Indianapolis Zoo. In the Oceans area the kids got to pet baby sharks. This was new since our last visit and the kids really enjoyed it. They actually feel kinda like sandpaper and not as smooth as I thought they would:)

SO cool!

Liam and Lilyan trying to reach another shark...

It is not my favorite zoo but the kids DO get to see some animals that we don't have in Ft. Wayne like... bears (polar and brown), elephants, rinos and even a dolphin show. The animals weren't super active but it was pretty HOT! We were also excited that Aunt Mindy and our cousins...Ashley and Angela were able to meet us for a couple hours. We hadn't seen them since Christmas:(

The gang on the train...

We road the Kombo Family Roller Coaster...not very big but the triplets especially enjoyed it. And a couple of the kids also rode the carousel. Back in the Plains area, in front of the Cheetah cages, they had a Race-A-Cheetah challenge. Leytan paid his $.50 and tried to see if he could outrun a Cheetah:) Umm...no luck since they run like 70 miles on hour or something crazy like that. LOL! It is sponsored by the Tony Stewart foundation.

Leytan trying his best to out run a Cheetah...

Lilyan and Lorelle feeding the giraffes...

Leytan and Lorelle got their caricatures drawn. I thought Lorelle's was better than Leytan's but we did not buy either. Too expensive! They thought they were funny to get done though:)

Leytan...

Lorelle's picture...

After the zoo, we headed to our hotel downtown to cool off and relax for a while. Then we walked over to the Circle Center Mall and enjoyed dinner at Champps. We also picked up some Cinnabons for breakfast. NO...I did not have one:( UGH...was that HARD! Back to the hotel for some pool, hot tub and sauna action.

My goofballs...

To end our evening we popped popcorn and watched a couple movies. I think it was close to midnight before we went to sleep. It was a long, tiring but FUN day!!!