Lucas Oil Stadium...

...is a beautiful place to see a football game. These pictures are from the first pre-season game. It was a lovely, breezy August evening. Nate still hasn't had the chance to go to a game, even though we have season tickets. Its a real shame. Looks like it will be December before he gets an opportunity.

For those of you who don't follow Colts football, Lucas Oil Stadium is brand new this year. It is the replacement to the RCA dome which can be seen in the picture below. Since the picture was taken the dome part has been deflated as part of the demolition. The new stadium is a prominent part of the ever-changing Indianapolis skyline. As you approach downtown from the west (from the airport) the stadium looks like it could swallow the rest of downtown - its so big!

Pump It Up!

This new place called "Pump It Up" just opened right near Children's Village a couple weeks ago. It is a giant bounce house place. Sarah and I took the kids tonight to check it out. The kids cost $7 each and the parents jump for free. And it was a blast. Its a franchise type outfit, so if you live near one, you should pay them a visit.

First Day of Kindergarten

My baby started Kindergarten today. :(

Like I told Nate, I think I have this fantasy that I'm tougher than I am because I was pretty beside myself all day today. Anyway, she did great. Her teacher's name is Ms. D. So far, so good.

Of course, part of moving on to Kindergarten means that she has to leave her Pre-K class behind. We have been SO fortunate to have Colin and then Megan under the care of Ms. Rachelle at Children's Village for the past couple of years. Ms. Rachelle has made Nate and I so comfortable about where the kids have been. And she has taught them so much - academically and socially. She is a special teacher and we have been completely blessed that she has been part of our kids lives - and ours. Thank you Ms. Rachelle!!!

1st Day of 1st Grade

Monday was Colin's first day of first grade. His teacher's name is Mrs. Scott. And everything seems to be going along smoothly so far. No lost kids on the bus this year, thank goodness. Looks a heck of a lot less nervous here than he did last year, huh?

State Fair 2008

As we do each summer, Lindsey and I took the kids to the Indiana State Fair. This year we added a new member to our tradition - Sarah.

So we ate till we all had stomach aches, watched the kids ride the rides in the midway, saw some animals, and went home exhausted. The weather was terrific. All in all, a successful trip. Next year, Lindsey will be have a 6 month old in-tow. We're hoping she'll still be up for it...

San Francisco

My parents and I took a trip last month to San Francisco - just the three of us (no Nate, no kids). It was terrific. Here are few of the hilites of our trip.

Day 1 - We rented bicycles in downtown S.F. and biked across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, had lunch, then took a ferry back to downtown S.F. to return the bikes. Then we went back to the hotel and collapsed.

There were 2 "Emergency Phone and Crisis Counseling" spots on the bridge. I found the smaller sign down below a bit startling. In case you can't read it, it says...

Crisis Counseling

There is hope.

Make the call.

The consequences of jumping from this bridge are fatal and tragic.

Besides that the bridge was absolutley stunning. We were there on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in July. I think most anyone with half a brain would expect there to be a significant number of tourists on hand. However, there were also many "Lance Armstrong" types who wanted to ride as fast as they could across the thing. These arrogant riders acted all put out and inconvenienced if they were slowed in any way. They were pretty rude. I still cautiously took my time crossing the bridge. Careful not to get run over by the crazy "Lance Armstrong" types. My parents were way ahead of me and when I finally caught up with them, they were about ready to turn back and search. But as I told them - they sent me to Purdue to be a CIVIL ENGINEER! I wanted to check it out in detail. Not just a drive by. To all my bridge engineer friends...eat your heart out. :)

This is picture is taken from where we crossed underneath the structure south of the big spans. Lots of utilites were along for the ride.

This picture shows what all the cables are attached too. It amounts to sections of approx 36" pipes connected together.

At a pier looking up.

At a pier looking down.

If you are in civil engineering - you've got to put this on your "Life's To-Do" list.

Day 2 - We drove down south down the pacific coast to Carmel. Then back north to Saratoga where we went to a Marc Cohn concert at a venue called the Mountain Winery. The drive was spectacular. The concert was awesome. We liked the concert so much that the next day we purchased tickets to his Indy show and went again in August.

The drive down the pacific coast was great too. There are lots of places where you can pull off the roadway and go down to the beach. Another striking thing about the drive to me was the amount of agriculture going on.

Day 3 - Alcatraz & Fisherman's Wharf

We did the US Park Service Alcatraz trip. It was ok. I guess in comparision with all the other amazing things we did, a tour of a super old prison just doesn't take the cake for me. But I'm glad we did it.

Fisherman's wharf - I guess I feel the same about Pier 39. Kind of a low point for me. A crowded over commercialized tourist trap. We did see the actor who played the Hulk on the original series there signing autographs.

Day 4 - Muir Woods & Chinatown

Muir woods is a majestic, breath-taking place. I LOVED it. Its hard to describe the beauty of these trees. They are ~1,000 years old. They are huge.

Megan's New Haircut

Megan got her back to school haircut - a bob. She loves it. And I love it. But I think Nate is still recovering from shock.

She has a lot easier time taking care of it and keeping it out of her food. :) In this picture she is sporting her new Disney Princesses backpack too.

Colin's First Loose Tooth - Update

As of today - the new tooth has erupted...but the old tooth is still hanging on.

Going Green

Nate and I have been going green lately. We signed up for the curbside recycling (about $5 per month). We replaced most of the lightbulbs in our house with those compact flourescent kind. We signed up with our power company to purchase 100% green power (adds about $3 per month to our bill). We started turning off the computer at night. We are growing a garden as I posted back in May. And we installed a rain barrel so we can use rain water to water the garden.

Our garden is really doing great. These pictures were taken on June 17. The plants are even bigger now. We might have 100 tomatos growing (we have 2 cherry tomato plants and one regular) - none ripe yet.

Camping at Ouabache State Park

One weekend in late June, Nate, Colin, and I went camping at Ouabache State Park (pronounced Wabash). The park is near Bluffton and Fort Wayne, Indiana. For an Indiana State park, it is on the small side - but super nice. There weren't too many people there and the weather wasn't too hot. Just the way we like it.

After we first arrived and got checked in to our camp site we had to hit the playground. We het the playground about 94 times in the two days we were there.

But while we were at the playground that first time, Nate and I started to notice there was a storm blowing in. So Nate checked the radar on the Blackberry. How did we used to function without cell phones? There was one of those storms with the blinking red blobs headed right towards the park.
So I did the smart thing and climbed the 100' fire tower. Megan and Colin pressured me into it - but Colin bailed out after the first flight of stairs. Megan pressed on all the way to the top. The fire tower is pretty flexible at the top. It was really moving around in the wind (what a shocker). I think I asked Megan if she wanted to turn around and go back down every 4th step, but she was determined to get to the top. So when we got to the top I lifter her up so she could see out. We could make out those storm clouds quite nicely from up there. After about a 5 second stay, we headed back down. By the time we got back to the bottom, I was shaking like a leaf. She wasn't even phased. Maybe next time we go it will be better weather.We almost threw in the towel and headed out while the storm was going on, but it moved out in about an hour. So did the heat and most of the people. So it was perfect for us.

We had brought our bikes, so we decided to try out the park's bike trail before we set up our camp site. We figure we rode about 4 miles in all, which is pretty good considering we had a 5-year old with us and I hadn't ridden a bike in maybe seven years?? The bike trail there is very nice. The grades are pretty flat. Not much traffic. Shady and sunny spots.

The most challenging part was riding with Megan. She was going a snails pace at first and as an adult bike rider, there is a certian minimum speed you have to go to stay upright. We were definitely riding right about that speed for the first mile or so. Then she got a bit braver and sped up. Colin crashed a few times, but as a rookie rider without training wheels, we kind of expected that. So Nate and I just took turns switching between riding with each kid. It was fun.

After the bike ride we headed back to camp and set up the tent and stuff.
In the picture below, you can see the kids and Nate in our tent. After this picture the air mattress you see below got thrown away. It deflated in the middle of the night. We're going to try cots next time.
First thing in the morning we went on a short trail around the wildlife exhibit there at the park. They have a herd of about 5 or so buffalo.

All in all the camping trip was a success. I ended up with very sore leg muscles for the next couple of days. I don't know if it was climbing the fire tower, riding bikes, or sleeping on the ground that did it, but I was really sore. We're planning another trip this fall when the weather cools back down.

Colin's First Loose Tooth

Colin is proud to announce the he has his first loose tooth! He can't eat corn on the cob or apples right now, but that's ok. I think a loose tooth is some kind of right of passage for kindergarteners/first graders. And most of his friends already have a couple big kid teeth...

Below he's displaying the tooth in question. It is the lower front left tooth. What a ham. Just wait till he actually loses it.

Megan's 5th Birthday

On Wednesday, June 11, 2008 we celebrated Megan's 5th Birthday! She had her Grandma and Grandpa Smoker, Aunt Lindsey, Aunt Sarah, Mom, Dad, and Colin with her to celebrate. We went out to supper then came back to our place, opened a few gifts, and had cake and ice cream.

On Saturday, June 14, 2008 we celebrated Megan's 5th Birthday again - this time with a few kids, party games, streamers, balloons, and a Little Mermaid birthday cake. She loved it.

On her actual birthday (June 11) Nate's sister, Amanda, had her new baby - Brendan Murray. He and Amanda did well and are healthy.

Besides being related to Megan's 5th birthday, these three events unfortunately have another thing in common. We don't have a single picture. :( If you have any picture of these, could you share with me?

Kindergarten News

Well, Colin's last day of Kindergarten was today. I can't believe how fast this year has went. He had full day Kindergarten and learned SO much - academically and socially. He is certainly set-up to succeed in First Grade in the fall.

Remember his picture from the First day...

He looks so much bigger and so much less worried in the picture below. :) Last day...

In other Kindergarten news, Megan is all signed up to begin Kindergarten in the fall. She'll be in full day k too. This is a picture of Megan and her best pal, Sophia, from daycare.

No Training Wheels!

Last night, Colin kicked off the training wheels on his bike and rode like a big boy! He is super-proud of himself. It was pretty rough at first, but he quickly got the hang of it. It was like watching an butterfly emerge from a cocoon...

He's not ready for the Tour De France, but he should be able to get around the neighborhood like a pro soon.

This first picture is actually a video. Just push the Play button to see him riding for yourself!

Megan is doing much better on her bike this spring too. She is much braver riding it WITHOUT mommy holding her constantly. Which makes it a lot easier for me to go over and scrape Colin off the sidewalk as needed.

Garden

We built a 4'x4' raised bed garden in our backyard last weekend and planted a few of our favorite vegtables. We really haven't had a garden since we became parents, so it feels pretty good to do so. Its inspiring us to go "green" so...we're making more of an effort to reduce electricity usage and reduce what we throw away. Maybe start recycling again. But I really love paper plates. :(

Churchill Downs

HNTB had a spring company event at Churchill Downs last week. Churchill Downs is the horse racing track in Louisville where the Kentucky Derby is held in early May each year. Nate and I went and had a good time. We'd never been to anything like that before, so it was a learning experience. We picked a few winners and a few losers, but didn't leave too much money behind.

Spring 08 Soccer

Colin played soccer this spring. What a difference a year makes! He actually played the game and somewhat paid attention when he was on the sideline. Colin was number 4. Megan sat on the sideline with us - she didn't want to sign-up. Maybe we can convince her this fall??

IU Graduation

My sister, Sarah, graduated from IU yesterday with her bachelors degree from Kelley School of Business.

My sister, Lindsey, also graduated from IU this month, but with her masters degree in education.

We attended Sarah's commencement ceremony yesterday at IU's Assembly Hall with thousands of other very proud familys.

Even though I'm a boilermaker, I decorated my house in Crimson and Creme and held the celebratory open house because I couldn't be prouder of my little sisters.

To make the situation even sweeter, Sarah starts her real job in a couple weeks at Rolls Royce. So she's moving to Plainfield this week - just a stone's throw away from our house! We're all pretty excited to get to see eachother much more.

New Addition

This week we made a new addition to our place...a 10'x12' minibarn. We haven't moved our stuff into it yet, so the kids have been using it as their very own fort and basketball court. It's bigger than I expected.

Besides filling it, the only thing left to do to it is paint it. Our homeowner's association covenents prescribe painting it to match the house. Nate is contemplating painting it black with a big yellow smiley face just to spite them. Hopefully I'll talk him out of it. I'll probably be doing the painting anyway, so maybe I'll get to chose the color scheme? :)

Just doing our part to stimulate the economy...