The Midwest, Baptized by Fire

Patrick came to visit the Midwest for the first time! He told me he wanted to experience as much of it as he could. I took him very literally and packed as much in as possible for the 5 days he was visiting!

Day 1: Arrived in the afternoon.  Had dinner with an awesome ex-racecar driving couple from the church.
Day 2: Hang with the kiddos and their new go kart.  Shoot guns. Steak n Shake in Bloomington. Visit another awesome couple from the church. Go to Story on the way to see Brett and Nicole.
Day 3: Run errands. Pizza lunch at my restaurant. See some of Brown County. Drive to see cousins Steve and Dalene and their new baby girl.
Day 4: At Steve's. Go fishing, and eat fried fish. Hang out. Drive to Illinois in the evening.
Day 5: Breakfast at Yoder's, an Amish restaurant in Illinois. Play in a grain silo. Take part in corn harvesting. Ride quads. Horseback ride. Beachy's whole food. Stare at some Amish. Family Cook out.
Day 6: Drive from Illinois to airport.

Now in pictures:
Day 2:

Oh, and the go kart did not have any brakes :) I am quite sure us big kids had way more fun with it than the little kiddos.

Give some inexperienced suburban kids a gun, and we are liable to take silly pictures with it.

Days 3-5 will be in the next post!

O'Dell Lovin'

I spent a long weekend at the O'Dell home.  Four redheads, a couple sassy brunettes, an adorable Kenyan housekeeper, and a large muzzled St. Bernard made for a wonderful laughter-filled trip.  I could not possibly do the trip justice by writing about it, but some pictures will help to tell of our adventures through the wet, but mostly sunny, post-hurricane Maryland, Virginia, and DC.

Day 1: Arrived in Baltimore and took two hours to drive back with Courtney due to thunder storms and traffic.  Then enjoyed an evening dinner and movie night in the attic.
Day 2: Courtney had an interview and got the job.  I chatted with momma O'Dell in the morning and then hit up Georgetown, DC with Courtney.  We then ended up at a neighbors house for an evening filled with side splitting laughter and planning out the dating life of the eldest two O'Dells.
Day 3: Hiked around the national park with Courtney and Josh to see the raging Potomac river, which was swollen and churning from all the hurricane rain.  Then the three of us drove to their cousins farm for some goats milk, pregnant cows, and horseback riding.  We made it back that night to celebrate Josh's 15 birthday with cake, ice cream, family home videos, and a Bourne movie.
Day 4: Took the Metro with Courtney to DC for sightseeing, walking, exhibits, and sweat.  The evening was filled with a family trip to the lawn at Wolf Trap for an ABBA concert.  Swedish singers, old ladies dancing off beat, and the O'Dell women convincing the O'Dell men to boogie down to "Dancing Queen."
Day 5: Relaxing morning and a flight back to Indy.

Pictures
Day 2: Georgetown, DC

Day 3: Potomac River

The water was crazy from all the water been poured in from the hurricane rain

Just after my snake-in-the-wild sighting

An old ferry sitting in the locks, which had been drained pre-hurricane to avoid flooding

An old inn and tavern from the 1800s

Day 3: Cousins farm

Day 4: DC sights

Smithsonian Archives

I got to see this, the very first Star Spangled Banner.  Its huge! And kept under special lights and air temps to avoid it falling apart even more than it already is.

WWII Memorial

Added security at the White House for 9/11

Jefferson Memorial

 Day 4: ABBA

This woman was decked out in patriotic attire for 9/11

And Momma O'Dells car.  She has 6 kids and finally got to get her dream car :)

We Remember

I can remember September 11, 2001.  The phone rang before school, Jr. High.  It was Dad.  He told me some airplanes hit the Twin Tower in New York and I needed to turn on the TV.  I had never heard of them, so I asked what channel.  He said every channel will have it on.  I did, and had Mom come look.  It took a few minutes for the magnitude of it all to sink in.

This weekend I had the rare privilege of being in Washington DC for the 10 year anniversary.  I did not realize I had booked my trip for that weekend.  But what a neat experience.  I was able to go to the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History.

They had an exhibit for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 which was only up for 10 days.  Courtney and I went to the last day of this exhibit.  They had pieces of scraps and debris and recovered items from each of the three locations that the planes hit.  A very moving exhibit, to say the least.

I will post the rest of the pictures from this visit soon!  But it doesn't seem fitting to pair these somber pictures with silly fun ones.