Vacation's Over!

I'm sorry that it has been so long since my last post. I've gone from 3 weeks of out-of-town vacation, to the rush of sending kids back to school, to continuing computer problems. We're up and running now (at least temporarily), so I'll post some pictures while I can.

Erin & I went to Young Women's Camp on Catalina Island for a week in June. When we woke up in the morning and left our tent cabins, this was the view that greeted us. Beautiful!

A day after Erin & I got back, our whole family flew out to Indianapolis for a two-week vacation. This was our first time back to Indiana since we left 8 years before, and the kids were excited to see where they were born and lived. Only Erin really remembered anything, and occasionally we would hear her say, "deja vu!"

We left Erin in Bloomington at Indiana University for a week for EFY (Especially for Youth), and then the rest of us drove south. We stopped at the Patton Tank Museum at Fort Knox and then stayed in Mammoth Cave Park for a cave tour.

We stayed in Athens, Alabama, for three nights while I did family history research in Giles County, Tennessee, and Limestone County, Alabama. Kelly was a good sport spending her birthday at the Pulaski Community Pool and eating her birthday dinner at Shoneys. The next day David & the kids went to the Huntsville Space Center and had a great day looking at rockets and riding no-gravity space rides.
We drove through Nashville, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, and then picked up Erin in Bloomington. She, of course, had a fantastic time, and we continued on to spend the next week in Indianapolis.

We were glad to see our house was well kept and couldn't believe how much the landscaping had matured.

We had 2 must-see destinations, and the Speedway was one of them. The kids always loved visiting the Speedway--it's too bad no cars were on the track that day.

The Soldiers & Sailors Monument downtown. David, Kelly, & Brian climbed the stairs to the top.

We took a day to drive up to West Lafayette to visit Purdue. The disgusting married student housing (W.W. II era) we lived in is still there, but it looked like it was starting to be torn down to be replaced with new technology buildings. We shopped for souvenirs and ate lunch at our favorite greek restaurant The Parthenon.

We took a day to play and visited a family fun center. We bought two hour passes that were good for unlimited go-karting and laser tag, followed by an 18-hole miniature golf game. David & Brian loved the go-karting, both the outdoor open-road track and the indoor slick track.

Our next to last day in Indianapolis, David's brother Andy and his family came down from Michigan and met us at the Indianapolis Children's Museum, which happens to be the largest children's museum in the country. (This was our second must-see attraction!) We spent the whole day there, and it still wasn't enough time to see and do everything. We had such a great time! The favorites were probably the Curious George exhibit, the science hall, and the dinosaur dome. Thanks to Andy, Amy, and the kids for joining us!

One of our favorite parts of our trip was Ritter's Frozen Custard. We finished almost every day by stopping at Ritter's and getting a treat. They always had vanilla, chocolate, a nut flavor, a fruit flavor, and a miscellaneous flavor. We had so much delicious custard, but somehow Brian always chose chocolate. He would always tell us, "Why mess with the best?"

We had a wonderful vacation, but now we are into our 3rd week of school. Summer went by way too quickly, but it sure was fun!