Fitztropolis: Uncle Josh::Indianapolis

Josh was supposed to come home over the 4th. Then the military happened. He had to be in Indianapolis on Monday so no coming home for the 4th. Since he was going to be so close we decided an impromptu trip was in order! We were already planning to go camping Thursday thru Sunday so Tuesday and Wednesday were devoted to Indianapolis. We left Tuesday at noon and got there around 4:45. My favorite device in the world, Garmin, decided to route us THRU Indianapolis. Thanks a lot. I really needed a tour right when everyone was getting out of work. My children like to take turns getting angry in the car. I can tell you, every single time, how it will play out. B falls asleep right away, J is awake, J gets angry because she doesn't want to take a nap, she gets so loud B wakes up, then she falls asleep. Now B is ticked because he's slept 15-30 minutes (this time 15) and he's angry and loud. Joelle would sleep through an earthquake so she doesn't care. Adelyn gets crabby towards the end. Usually when she thinks she should be fed snacks on an IV-like basis. Usually around the time I start saying no more snacks.

When we got there we hauled ourselves up to the nicest hotel room *I've* ever stayed in. It was beautiful and it was, relatively, cheap. We headed out for supper and the choices around the hotel weren't my favorite so we headed over to Columbus and went to Red Lobster. When we walked in the GM was standing there and showed the kids the lobsters. He promised them that he would take one out after dinner and show them some "tricks." While we were waiting for our food B was super annoying. He DID only get a 15 minute nap. He was breaking all his crayons, trying to write on everything, poking Josh with his fork, got ticked when I poured his juice into his sippy cup. I was telling him to stop the whole time and getting frustrated. Then he pulled out all the stops. He leaned over and pulled Josh's arm close to his face. He proceeded to farmer's blow alllll over Josh's arm. My mom and I were staring in amazement. Then we busted out laughing. Then I had to tell him it wasn't polite. Meanwhile, I think Josh threw up.

As we walked out of the restaurant Adelyn and Joelle did not forget what the GM had said! We walked to the front and he was waiting ;) He pulled one out of the tank and then they all got to touch it. He told them what their different claws were for and let them do some toothpick tricks. He showed them how and then they each got to hold out a toothpick and put it in the lobsters little claws. They were in awe.

We started heading back to the hotel and Brecken whined the whoooooole way. We were asking and asking what was wrong and he wouldn't answer. Finally he said "Big boy hurt me!" He kept saying it over and over. I asked him "Where did he hurt you?" He said "Big boy touch me!" Ookk "Where did he touch you?" B said "He touch my butt!" We all laughed out loud. Mind you there was no way anyone could have touched him since he was with me 100% of the time..

We headed back to put our suits on because the pool was going to be closed for cleaning Wednesday morning. It was super late already but there were going to be big issues if we didn't get to swim in the pool. I choose my battles.

Uncle Josh "sleeping" while we were getting ready. Adelyn had to put the doll blanket on him and give him all her dollies.

Uncle Josh and Brecken. Two peas in a pod. They look identical here.

2 of my 3 water rats.

Uncle Josh throwing B

Pretty little lady swimming on by

Three cuties dipping their toes in the hot tub. It was HOT.

Crazy Uncle Josh with the crazy babies

Josh was playing peek-a-boo with Joelle. He would go under and slowly come up and Joelle would shout "peek-a-boo!" and laugh hysterically.

After a while I thought I caught a whiff of some stink. I check B's drawers and, sure enough, there was a disgusting turd in there. I told him he could dip his toes in the hot tub one more time, then we had to go. While he was sitting by the hot tub (which he had been going back and forth too) I realized there were all kinds of poo particles on the floor surrounding him. Then I realized that they had been there, for a little while, since he just sat down. I was HORRIFIED. It's one of my worst nightmares. That *my* kid is going to be the one that let's the brown trout out at the pool. While there were no brown trout's swimming by, poo particles on the floor is equally disturbing. I tried to splash them towards the floor drain and we ran out of that pool area. We all headed back for a shower. And Josh was thoroughly grossed out for a second time. He will never want to have kids..

My mom had thrown a load of laundry in the washer while we were in the pool and she had walked up to put it in the dryer. I walked up to get it out while she was in the shower. Upon entering said laundry room a rather portly 45-50 year old man was in there. He says to me "Is that your stuff in the dryer?" I said "I don't know, it's been here a while..." I open the door. Sure enough. It's mine. So he says to me, while pointing to the top of the wash machine, "Then that's yours. I pulled it out of the washer before I put my clothes in." I look down to see a pair of my mother's tightie whities laying on top of the washing machine. I turned to him and said "Well isn't it your lucky day?!" And I fled the room. Yes, I grabbed the undies.

We started our sleeping arrangements with Adelyn on the pull out sofa, me sleeping with Brecken and Joelle sleeping with my mom. B fell asleep right away and J started to get mad because she wanted Momma. I traded with my mom and Joelle fell asleep. Sometime in the middle of the night B woke up crying for me. So I traded back. Then B woke at 7:30. After going to bed at 10:30. He was laying quietly for a while. Then he started scratching everything he could find. So we headed to the bathroom with the intention of trying to sneak out of the room. Wellll the door opened really loudly so Adelyn woke and had to come with us. Sigh. We headed for breakfast. The kids thought it was a real treat to get a TV right at the breakfast table! I had to head up at 9:30 to wake Joelle so her and my mom could get some breakfast.. When we came back down, again, I got to introduce my mom to her underwear thief. Just kidding.. But I did point him out.

Wednesday morning we headed to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. I have always wanted to go to the "World's best Children's Museum" but have heard that it is more for an older age group. I figured, since we were in the area, we might as well go. It was ok entertainment...expensive entertainment... Granted we didn't have time to see 2 of the floors so I can't give it an accurate review..

Adelyn watching the trains go around. They had an area kids could crawl under and look through to the side the adults were standing on.

Sweet little Jojo

Brecken and Joelle walking on the moon..?

They had lots of dinosaur exhibits. This one was pretty cool. All that sand/rocks were kinda attached and you could chip at it and brush it away. Just like you were really looking for fossils.

B touching a REAL 800lb dinosaur leg. A man was working on the other side (you can see his arm) and they actually restore fossils in the Museum.

Playing in some dinosaur nests.

They had some sticky foam ball stuff laid out and you could make faces with it.

Adelyn's face;)

One of their traveling exhibits was Avatar stuff. My mom and I had to go see it.

Standing in front of one of the machines they used.

Standing in the Avatar shoes

Adelyn standing in the shoes. She looks angry because she was. She didn't want to step in the shoes, but she wanted too, so I told her if she didn't do it then it was somebody else's turn. So she did. Angrily.

Nana and Adelyn making light up flowers

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to the Children's Museum is because they were showing Rapunzel in the theater. I knew Adelyn would LOVE that. It was a 45 minute show so it was perfect for the kids. We sat down and they were all excited. Someone came out to thank everyone and explain a couple things. Then she called out "the dragon." Just to show everyone he was a nice dragon and a real person. The show started and 2 minutes in, right when the dragon came out, Joelle started screaming and crying "No like dragon! No like dragon!" We had to head out. No amount of convincing would get her back in there. Every time I suggested it she would tear up and say "No! No like dragon!" Sooo we played dress up.

When we got back to the hotel we headed over to Columbus again. They had a really fun ice cream parlor/restaurant called Zaharako's. They had huge old organs and this other musical machine that played all kinds of instruments. We ate supper there and had ice cream. Supper was pretty good. Ice cream was amazing.

B ran off with Uncle Josh and the girls really wanted to put a quarter in and hear it play. So I obliged. So fun!

As we were walking from Zaharako's to our next stop we heard a BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! We were almost to the cross street and Josh was a couple steps in front of me. I was like what the heck was that?! He said it was a van hitting a bunch of parked cars. We ran up there and the van had hit 2 cars, bounced off, missed the third and hit the 4th and 5th. Turns out the guy got out of the van and said "He fell asleep." Yeah right. The first lady who stopped in her car had called the cops a couple roads back because he was swerving in and out of traffic. We never did find out if he was drunk but the van and 2 of the cars had to be towed away.

I had gotten the name of this place from the attraction list the hotel gave me. It's called The Commons. It's this amazing indoor play area. I always think why don't they have anything like this at home?! Oh yeah. I wouldn't go anyways because you are swimming in germs.. Anyways. It was so cool. It was HUGE. The area that is super tall is supposed to be for the older kids but that didn't stop mine! Uncle Josh went up with Joelle and Adelyn. Adelyn went to about as high as you see her in the picture (far left). She did that three times before she would go further. Meanwhile Joelle and Uncle Josh were all the way at the top.

A couple pics of how big it ACTUALLY is.

Going down one of the slides. Love the picture of Adelyn and Joelle. Sweet sisters.

I took these next two pictures straight up..

When we got back to the hotel we had to get some Uncle Josh pictures before we headed home.

Adelyn didn't want to be in the pictures, at first, so I started snapping.

Then she decided she wanted too ;) This picture makes me laugh. Joelle was being a stinker and wouldn't sit still. It looks like she's taking a chunk out of Josh's arm..