downtown indy

This past weekend, we spent a ton of time at Dolly & Jason's. They live at 19th & Talbot, and had the best location for the Talbot Street Art Fair!

Leah & Kaden couldn't wait to get in to say hi to Dolly and people watch from her balcony! We even had some great music happening right up the road!

Papaw & Totsie arrived and we had a great meal prepared on the grill before heading out to the street.

The kids enjoyed snow cones (thanks, Totsie!) while playing in the yard with Dolly & Jason. The rest of the adults went for a stroll to see all the amazing art. Mike & I were really in love with some ocean scene oil paintings ... maybe someday that'll fit in our budget! Leah left with Papaw & Totsie for an overnight, and the rest of us headed home for the night....

On our way home, through the magic world of Facebook, we realized that an old friend (and former babysitter) of mine & Lindsay's, Kathleen Kennedy, had been in the same building on Talbot! We made plans for breakfast with Dolly & Jason on Sunday morning, and arranged to meet up with Kathleen and her boyfriend Tom to catch up. It was so good to see Kathleen and visit with her! Looking forward to planning a night of dinner and more conversation with her soon.

Dolly & Jason had to get to work, so since we were already downtown, we decided to brave the heat and stop at the Zoo to see the cheetahs. The kids noticed as we got close to the Zoo and started asking if we could stop. When Mike veered toward the parking lot of the Zoo you should have heard the chorus of screaming excitement from the backseat!

Zebras, which seem to be one of Kaden's current favorites.

White with black stripes?

Or black with white stripes?

Can't help myself and have to make the Monty Python reference here:

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

Always enjoy the giraffes.

Had some great views of the cheetahs!

Our first time to the Zoo since their arrival. Very elegant animals.

Umm, I'm not sure what to say about this picture of the elephants.

Loved these pictures of the kids silhouetted against the sea lion glass.

Definitely another great weekend!

one hell of a night

Brad Paisley is one of Mike's favorite artists. Last year, he signed up to work the concert at Verizon with Seals in the hopes of at least hearing some of the music. Unfortunately, he had one run after another after another ... and didn't get to hear a single note! This year, I surprised him with tickets as a belated anniversary and early Father's Day gift. Amy & John joined us, and we had a blast! We purchased lawn seats, but opted to upgrade to pavilion seats for fear of rain. Definitely a good option - can you see how packed the lawn is back there??

There were many a fun moment for the evening. First, we opted to get autographs from Josh Thompson, Steel Magnolia, and Easton Corbin. Josh Thompson is a ladies man for sure! He paid me a very nice compliment on my dress ("I like the motif you've got going on there."), then scored points for correctly guessing that my name ends in an "i" and not a "y". ("Some girls look like an "i", and some don't. You've got the dot thing going on with those eyes.") We bought a copy of the Steel Magnolia CD and told them how much we enjoyed watching them on Can You Duet.

Then it was off to get drinks. After seeing someone that I thought I knew from work passing out (why do people get so drunk before the show?), I had a bit of dumb moment myself. When checking ID, I handed the officer my ID upside down, then completely was in my own world when I was supposed to be placing my hand on the cardboard for my stamp. Amy swore to him that I hadn't been drinking, but I'm not sure he believed us!

While Mike & John stood in line for drinks, Amy & I were people watching. A guy came up to near where we were standing, another person already intoxicated, and was juggling 2 glasses of beer and a pretzel. He stuck one of his beers out at Amy and said "Hold this!" Laughing, we obliged. We encouraged him to take some sips of his beer so he didn't continue to slosh it all over his shirt! Amy asked where his friends were and he said they were already on the lawn. He tried to get Amy to drink some of the beer she was holding! We finally passed his beer back to him and off he went, spilling more beer on his Dr. Pepper shirt. One of the best moments was seeing Pepper, as we dubbed him, in our area of the pavilion a few minutes later! He wasn't carrying anything anymore, but his shirt was soaked with beer! As we gestured at him and laughed, security approached him and pointed him back to the lawn. He opted to stand really close to a couple of girls at the back of the pavilion - I think he was creeping them out! Too bad I couldn't get my camera out in time for a picture of Pepper!

Darius Rucker was awesome, sang some songs from his Hootie & the Blowfish days, and did a great cover of Purple Rain. Then it was on to Brad Paisley, who put on a really amazing show.

Brad will definitely be on my list of concerts to see next time he's in town!

'nastics

Hannah had a great time with gymnastics this last couple of months. It's seemed to help with her excess energy and her coordination (or lack thereof). We're taking the summer off from all activities except swimming lessons, but we're hoping to get her back into gymnastics in the fall.

summer nights

Key ingredients for a perfect Russell summer evening:

• cheapy firepit
• plenty of smiles
• fixin's for smores
• ladder ball

Yup, we're ready!