Happy Birthday, Lance!

Lance's birthday was last Thursday. In an effort not to kill my children with their whining of "I'm soooo bored!" I put Tess and Cole to work at coloring a sign in Lance's honor. It bought me a good 20 minutes. Worth it.

That night we went out to dinner to Christo's - I think Lance was trying to choose somewhere we don't normally go. It was decent. However, we drastically lowered the median age in that joint!

We came home for presents and desserts. Can you tell I let the kids choose one of his gifts? Yay Costco fireworks! He also got a new rotary tool, some beef jerky, and one of those plastic things that you put underneath your office chair. (His was wearing out.) Let me tell you, getting that thing up to the register and out to the car was a PAIN since Costco doesn't roll them up. Sheesh.

Lance loves pies and berries. So when Spencer and I spotted this at Costco the day before we knew it was the dessert for Lance. (Can you tell we really enjoyed our Costco trip?) The picture doesn't do it justice.

It was so good! (Especially because I didn't have to make it.)

And of course we had to have candles and sing. Cole was disappointed we only had 8 candles instead of 38. One of these years I'll put the right number on for Lance, although we'll have to do it outside so the smoke alarm doesn't go off. (Hah! It's funny 'cause it's true.)

Cole was in fine singing form that night. And by singing I mean screaming. Oy.

The real party was the next night with his annual birthday LAN-palooza. Something like 16 people signed up to come. Over 30 showed. What the what, LANners?! And of course it was one of the hottest days of the year, so our AC had quite the workout. The utility closet was open in a futile attempt to cool things off.

One of the guys brought his virtual reality set. I even had a chance to use it and it was pretty cool! I never 'forgot' that it wasn't real, but it was really, really cool. I'd do it again. I don't think I'd pay $1000 or whatever for the whole set up, but heck yeah I'll try it for free! Spencer and Josh also had a chance at it and really liked it. (I suspect they would pay $1000 for one!)

Josh is in his uniform because he had a game that evening. I was a mean mom and forced him to go. Good thing, too, because his team actually won! (Not a common occurrence...)

Dad and Susie gave Lance a Panda Express gift card for his birthday, so the LAN party had lots of orange chicken, Beijing beef, chow mein, and fried rice. Other LANners chipped in and bought a crazy number of Little Ceasar's pizza and bread sticks. All I know is that they all overbought because we have SO MANY leftovers - even though our family had LAN food all weekend I still ended up freezing some of the pizza and there's still Panda stuff downstairs. Oh, and don't forget all the chips, cookies, and Mountain Dew (yuck) that was left behind. I guess it's a small compensation for all the electricity used that night!

Monumental Day

On Wednesday Josh had an eye appointment in Indy at 2pm. 2pm? What was I thinking when I made that appointment 6 months ago? Right in the middle of the day. Blergh.

So I decided we'd do a full day in Indy and make the drive down worth it. I had grand plans for the full day, and while we didn't get to visit everywhere I wanted, we still did quite a bit considering I had 4 kids in tow and this was our first expedition stroller-less. (You read that right - NO STROLLER! Woo-hoo! This new stage of life with older kids? Pretty great.)

We started by parking in a very overpriced parking garage. The app I used was totally wrong about the prices, dang it. But I figured paying a bit more to park right downtown was worth not having to drag children hither and yon from outside of the city center.

We started off with the state capitol. (Remember Lance and I toured it last summer. I love that building.) We missed the 9am tour and didn't want to wait around for the 10am, but I think going on our own self-guided tour worked out for the best. (I love history-filled tours, but my kids? Not so much.) The kids were properly impressed with the building and behaved really well. I complain about their antics, but when needed my kids can be really great.

Here's Josh in front of a fiberglass bison for Indiana's "bison"-tenial celebration this year. Hahahaha! You know I love a good pun.

Notice the hoodies - it was chilly that morning!

Indiana's Supreme Court room. Josh was especially impressed with this room. For some reason it gave Cole the creeps. (I think it was all the portraits of stern looking men and women.)

So it turns out that Tess is a bit afraid of heights of any sort. This proved to be a problem later. She wouldn't even go near the banister!

For some reason sitting on a chair next to the banister was okay, though.

The Indiana State Capitol building is in the geographical center of Indiana, and here's the center of the building. The kids were quite impressed with being in the dead center of the state. (We should take them to Four Corners some time.)

After a quick snack and dropping off the hoodies at the car (it was warming up to be a perfect day), we were off to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Monument Circle. This is the symbol of Indiana and Indianapolis. I've always wanted to climb to the top, and today was finally the day!

The monument doesn't open until 10:30am, so we had a few minutes to kill.

The kids were a little miffed when we got inside and realized that they could ride an elevator for a small fee. But nope. I wasn't willing to pay - we were going to hike up and down and 330 steps! Because we could, that's why. "But why?!" they complained. "Why can't we just pay? Tess is FREE! It would only cost us all $5!!!" "Because," I calmly replied, "This will be a good experience. You'll be able to say you did it. And it's not that far."

And it wasn't, really. Heck, Josh was full of energy and went up and down so many stairs he probably climbed the thing twice. It wasn't that bad, but it was hot and stuffy inside, which helped us all gain a glistening complexion. We soon learned that Spencer is a little afraid of heights and has a bit of claustrophobia. The stairs get narrower and narrower as you go up, but he survived. Just complained. A lot.

Tess did great, all things considered. I only had to carry her up the last little bit, where the stairs turn into a spiral staircase with no backings. I was huffing and puffing, but we made it! And it was awesome!

Despite their complaints, I think the boys thought it was really cool. It was really cool.

Tess was terrified by the windows. This was the best I could do.

The process down was arduous for the first few flights. I ended up picking her up just so it wouldn't take an hour to get down. I basically carried her at least 2/3rds of the way, which doesn't sound bad for going down, but at the end my legs were JELLO.

All of this totally reminded me of when I was 10 or 11 and my family went to New York and we climbed the Statue of Liberty. The stairs for that were crazy scary (this was the late 80's, I don't know how they are now), straight up spiral staircases and shook. My brother Kevin was 3 or 4 at the time and I remember he held up thousands of people because he had to go down the stairs one at a time on his bottom while my mom walked down backwards, coaxing him the entire way.

Classic Roper family story.

I didn't want to repeat it. Hence the carrying.

It's hard to see, but the kids are flexing.

After our climb we went through the little Indiana Civil War museum at the bottom of the monument. It was pretty good for being free, but not good enough to take any pictures. Ha.

After the museum I had planned to take them down to the big War Memorial, about 2-3 blocks away, but I could tell it wasn't gonna happen. Time for lunch! I had planned on taking them to this little hot dog place I found online, but they all griped about it. So I went on Google Maps and in my searching discovered the Hard Rock Cafe.

Now when I was a pre-teen and teenager I lurved the Hard Rock. Exactly why now escapes me, but I loved it. And when I mentioned this place to Spencer his eyes lit up and he got very excited. And while I would much rather eat somewhere a bit less touristy, I knew this was where we needed to go. Spencer's a pretty easy going kid, and as the oldest he has to often give up what he wants to cater to the needs of the younger crowd. He deserved this. So we trekked down there, and as soon as we walked in I knew I had done the right thing. He was so excited, but he was also far too cool to show this. (As soon as I walked in and saw the menu I was a little shocked at the prices. Yikes! I had to keep telling myself it was okay - it was worth it for Spencer. And it wasn't that bad; it's just that if I'm gonna spend that kind of money on a meal I'd prefer it be food a bit better than Hard Rock!)

Spencer got to order from the adult menu. He chose a fancy mac & cheese dish and loved it. He was very pleased.

Cole ordered cheese pizza and was in heaven. Seriously, this kid? He was SO GOOD the entire trip! In fact, I think his behavior has improved markedly since his surgery. Oh sure, he's still a bit of a short fuse when his brothers are bugging him, but on the whole I think he's doing better because he's sleeping so much better now. Hooray for practical surgeries!!

Tess was pretty good. And Josh? Josh was a PILL. I seriously wanted to leave him on the corner and let him fend for himself. Complain complain complain. He was actually fine until we got to the restaurant, but during our meal and all after? The PITS. That boy. Growl.

In fact, it was Josh who made me give up on any more sightseeing for the day. I knew he would just make us all miserable. No thanks.

We did run into the cool Indy sign, though!

Tess did not understand the concept of being the "I".

Even Josh deigned to take a picture!

We eventually got out of Indy and drove up to Carmel (just north of Indy), where Josh's pediatric optometrist is located. Since we had some extra time we made a quick stop at the temple, which is only 2 or 3 miles from the doctor's office.

Tess can be super sweet when she wants to be!

Everyone loves a fountain. The water used to come out the sides, but doesn't anymore. I suspect there were too many drenched children in wedding parties...

Josh refused to take a picture. Also, it was super bright.

We eventually made it over to the optometrist. I had thought it was only going to be a quick visit, but turned out to be a very thorough exam. Poor Josh had to have his eyes dilated again, which he was NOT happy about. I thought it would make him even grouchier (if possible), but it turns out that when you have fairly blurry vision you quickly learn to be nice to those who will need to lead you around. Okay, no, his eyes weren't that bad. But he still sweetened up a bit.

Also, good news - his eyes are getting better! He probably won't need the surgery now. Hooray! This is awesome news!

After the doctor we made a quick trip to Costco, because that is what you do when you're in Indy. I sugared everyone up with churros and ice cream, and it was actually a really good shopping excursion. Like I said, my kids can be pretty good when they want.

All in all, a pretty great day. I had wanted to do more, but feel pretty proud of myself for not pushing my luck. (As I have been wont to do in the past.) I must be finally getting the hang of the mothering gig.

Breakfast of Champions

Tess: Can we have milkshakes for breakfast tomorrow?

Me: Oh, you mean smoothies? Yeah, we can have smoothies - we have lots of yummy strawberries!

Tess (looking at me as if I'm an idiot): NO. I mean m-i-l-k-s-h-a-k-e-s... I like chocolate.

(In case you're wondering, we had cold cereal.)

Cracker Barrel Redemption & The Park

In past years we have had weekly lunches around town to decide who had the best kid's meals. (I don't remember who won... maybe DQ? Or was it McDonald's? We're very scientific around here.) We decided this year to instead try places around town that we don't normally go to. I gave each kid 2 slips of paper and they each wrote down their picks for places to go, and then we put them in our Goblet of Fire (saved from the last doughnut party) and will pull one out each week to determine where to go.

This week's pick? Cracker Barrel.

My kids have had a sordid history with Cracker Barrel. I don't know why. But each time we've been, since the time Spencer was little until just last year, the experience has been HORRIFIC. At least one child has thrown an epic tantrum or thrown food or just been all around naughty. You get the idea. So why in the world would we put this place on our list? Because I decided it was time to break the curse!

Also, I really like pancakes.

On the way to meet Lance for lunch I lectured the kids about what kind of behavior I expected. No yelling or screaming. No meltdowns. No fighting. NO. PROBLEMS. You'd have thought we were going to a 5 star restaurant; not one that sells rocking chairs from the front porch.

Then I had a mini meltdown/tantrum of my own because I discovered on the way that yet ANOTHER road in town is closed for construction. Seriously, Lafayette and West Lafayette are awash with orange barrels and "road closed" signs. It's driving me batty. I know it'll be better once it's all done - 18 months from now - but still. Between the detours and the traffic produced from these, going anywhere is pretty much a nightmare.

Anywho... we finally made it to Cracker Barrel. And while we had a few minor skirmishes, overall the kids did great!

Tess was her normal, charming self. Sheesh.

Another reason why we aren't judging kid's meals this year: Spencer now orders off of the adult menu 75% of the time! He ordered a BIG meal, and ate a lot of it. I was impressed. That boy is a-growin'! (Josh wants it known that he also ordered and ate a big meal. Now stop reading over my shoulder, Josh.)

Poor Cole had to use his ice water as an ice pack for his head. It still gives him problems sometimes since his surgery. (No medication at all today, though. Woo-hoo!)

Tess ordered mac and cheese, and then claimed "I've changed my mind! Take it back!" when she saw my pancakes. Fortunately, Cracker Barrel meals can easily feed 3 people, so I shared my lunch with her. (And Cole finished her meal for lunch today!)

After lunch we hit Columbian Park, which Cole had been begging to go to for quite a while. The kids had fun running around like crazy lunatics. That park used to be stressful for me because it's so big and spread out, but now that my kids are all older and I'm a more negligent mom, I just let them run free and they always seem to return. Everyone's happier for it.

These two boys fight NON-STOP. Unless they are playing and having fun together. Unfortunately, the former happens much more frequently than the latter.

The water features at the little zoo are always a hit.

Too bad Spencer wasn't standing on the other side of Josh. (What with his shirt and all.) Also, Josh is going through a pink phase. More power to ya, Josh.

I tried to get a good shot of all four for the grandparents, but it was bright and this was the best I could get.

Josh demanded his own picture with the fiberglass caterpillar.

Tess the butterfly.

Spencer and a rooster with an attitude.

Josh and the rooster with an attitude.

A five of my kids. Ha! (Okay, that's probably a grown goat. Still... I'm funny.)