Ryan and Jordan's Wedding

We got to Chillicothe, Ohio Friday evening and checked into our hotel.  Ryan and Jordan's wedding was the next day.  Ainsley was excited to see Meghan, Joel's cousin, when we got to the hotel.

Neither one of the girls got a nap on Saturday, so we figured it was going to be a fun wedding and reception.  Ainsley was good through the wedding, but I can't say the same for Lily.  She wasn't "bad", she just didn't want to sit still or be quiet!  I finally got up and walked her out of the church, and afterwards, one lady stopped and told me how much she enjoyed Lily's "singing" during the service.  That was a nice was of putting it, I guess!

Ryan and Jordan had a small wedding, and Ainsley loved looking at Jordan in her "Cinderella" dress, as she called it.  While we waited for the bus to take us to the reception, the kids were able to run around and burn off some more energy.

Ainsley didn't want her picture taken!

We arrived at the reception, and Ainsley was excited to start dancing!  I think Joel was happy that we sat at a table with "Eb", aka Ryan's cousin (from the other side), Derrick.  Derrick had helped Jim and Joel on the farm last year.  Drake was excited to see Eb, too!

Joel, Drake, and Eb

I wonder what kind of story Drake was telling here.

The wedding party arrived, and then the dancing really started.  Ainsley loved watching Jordan dance.   She looked up at me at one point, and said:  "Mommy, I want to dance like that."

It didn't take long before Meghan and Katie had Ainsley out on the dance floor.

Ainsley went out and tried to catch the bouquet, but didn't have any luck!

Ainsley and Drake tore up the dance floor!!!  Ainsley wasn't afraid to ask Lauren, Eb's sister, to dance, and Drake got Eb out dancing, too!

Ainsley and Drake in the middle of the dance floor!

Dancing with Daddy

Ainsley, Lauren, Eb, and Drake

 

Lily was content watching from the sidelines.  At one point, Papa Jim had her asleep, but her nap didn't last long.

Joel's cousin, Bonnie, came down from Michigan and Ainsley constantly asked about her the whole time we were there.  She wanted to know if Bonnie would be swimming, at the wedding, reception, breakfast, etc.  It was so funny, because she didn't ask about anyone else, but Bonnie!

Ainsley, Katie, and Bonnie

Ryan and Jordan had everyone get together on the dance floor and they took a big group shot of everyone, which was really cool.  I got this picture from their photographer, Kaylina Norton Photography.

Ainsley walked up to me at one point, and said:  "Mommy, I'm tired.  I'm ready to go to bed."  That was our cue!  We started packing our bags and were on our way back to the hotel.  Ainsley was asleep immediately, and didn't even wake up when we got to the hotel!

Ainsley finally woke up when I started putting her pajamas on her, and then both girls got wound up again for a little while.

Congratulations to Ryan and Jordan.  It was a beautiful wedding and reception, and I know my girls had a blast!

We got up Sunday morning and started our journey back to Illinois.  It was an 8+ hour drive, and we made it all the way to Champaign before we stopped for lunch.  The girls did really well in the car, which made the trip a little easier.  Lily had been acting weird all weekend, and after we got home Sunday evening, I ran her into Prompt Care, where we discovered she had another double ear infection.  It's no wonder Lily was acting terrible for most of the weekend.  After a dose of antibiotics, the infection was gone and our happy girl was back.

Indianapolis Zoo

We got up Friday morning and went to the Indianapolis Zoo before driving the rest of the way to Ohio that afternoon.  Tim, a family friend of Joel's, works at the zoo, so we were able to get some behind the scenes tours.  At one point, Tim was the elephant trainer at the zoo, but is now head over the African portion of the zoo, so we got to see a lot that most people don't get to see.

Ainsley was so excited about seeing the giraffes, and they were one of the first things we saw after walking in.  The kids even got to feed the giraffe, and Ainsley actually did it!

Tim helping Ainsley feed the giraffe

In true kid fashion, they wanted to look at the animal, and then see what was next!

Lily even liked looking at the animals, and would do her famous "point and 'ugh'" whenever she would spot one!

We finished walking through the monkeys, lions, and zebras with Tim and then he had to leave, and we were left to explore the rest of the zoo on our own.  It was so neat to be able to see some of the behind the scenes things, and get the VIP treatment at the zoo!

Everyone with Tim

We ate some lunch, and started looking for the snakes, which was Drake's request.  He also wanted to see the sharks, which quickly became one of Ainsley's requests, too!  They had a shallow pool where you could touch the sharks.  Ainsley wanted to touch one so bad, but none would come over to her.  Everyone else had touched them and left to go the next room, but Ainsley was still waiting for a shark.  I waited with her, and a shark finally came close enough for her to touch it, and the look and excitement on her face was priceless.  She beamed with "I DID IT" and jumped up and down.  She couldn't wait to tell everyone else that she touched a shark.

The zoo also had a dolphin show, which was the perfect time for Lily to take a quick cat nap.  I think everyone enjoyed the show.  Afterwards, we walked underneath where you could see the dolphins swimming all around you.  We tried getting a family picture under there, but Ainsley didn't want anything to do with it.  She just wanted her picture taken.  By herself!

The zoo had a carousel, and even a roller coaster!  Drake headed for the roller coaster, while Ainsley ran for the carousel.  I wasn't making the mistake two days in a row, so I let Papa Jim handle Ainsley on the carousel and I sat on the sidelines.  She was an angel for Papa Jim and didn't fight him at all!

We were all wore out and ready to get in the car to drive the 4 hours to our final destination in Ohio.  The girls were snoring in their car seats within minutes of leaving.  I'm pretty sure that meant they had a good day!

Trip to Indianapolis-Children's Museum

At the beginning of August, we started packing for a weekend away.  Joel's cousin, Ryan, was getting married in Ohio, and we decided to stop half way in Indianapolis for a few days on our way.

We got to Indianapolis early afternoon and checked into the hotel before heading to the Children's Museum. Ainsley had a hard time grasping "staying at a hotel".  She kept asking where "hotel" was.  She thought "hotel" was a person and we were staying at their house!

We spent Thursday afternoon and evening at the Children's Museum.  I was thinking it would be more like the Magic House, but it was actually more of a museum.  Go figure!  There was still plenty of things for the kids to do and see, but there was definitely things they didn't care about.

Ainsley and Drake were able to dig for fossils, "go under the sea", walk through an old train, sit in a race car, and pretend to be a teacher.

 

Drake's a little like his mother, and thought he needed a stroller to ride around in.  If we could have found one big enough, I'm sure Jennifer would have hopped in too and loved every minute of someone pushing her around.

The two "babies"

Glass ceiling

Ainsley was even able to perform her rendition of "Let It Go", complete with dancing, in "Lilly Theatre".

Ainsley's favorite part was the airplane and the carousel.  She wanted to go back to the airplane, so we did it twice.

Ainsley didn't want to get off the carousel when it stopped.  She screamed and kicked (she even kicked Drake in the face) as I pulled her off of it.  Luckily, I was able to distract her with a maze of mirrors as soon as we got off.

A screaming kid always is the first sign that it's time to go, right?!  We left, grabbed some pizza, and went back to the hotel for the night.

Who needs toys at a hotel when you have a box of Kleenex and a roll of toilet paper?!?!