Road Trippers, Vol. 4

This summer, as we have done every other summer since Maggie was six months old, we loaded up The Little Corolla That Could and drove halfway across America to visit family and friends. Mike and I both love road trips, and now we also love that the girls are getting to be quite the little backseat travelling companions. They hung in there beautifully - even across Ohio! - and they seemed to really enjoy the trip, despite the fact that Kate ended up with a scratch on one eyeball, a slight case of pink eye in the other eye, and an ear infection! Good times.

Our first stop is always an overnight stay in Pittsburgh with my college BFF, Val. Her kids are about the same ages as mine, so they were all immediate, fast friends. I was impressed with how well they got along, even though they were tiny the last time they saw one another and probably don't really remember. My girls are missing Noah and Annalise already.

The main portion of these trips is always spent in Indianapolis at the home of my aunt and uncle, who are the most gracious of hosts. Indy is midway between home and home, so my parents can also drive out and meet us in the middle. They usually bring my grandmother with them, but she was unfortunately not up to the trip this year. We missed you, Grandma the Great!

Kate specifically requested to, "swim and swim and swim," which we did and did and did.

This tiny butterfly landed on Mike's shoulder...

...and then it jumped over to Maggie!

It didn't take the girls long at all to get very daring in the water.

The past couple of trips, we've gone to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, the largest children's museum in the world, but this year we decided to visit the zoo instead. Indy has a great zoo! We've been going to both since I was a little kid.

The new orangutan exhibit

Peeking at zebras

Although Kate was strangely-for-her not into it, Maggie was super excited to Race a Cheetah! She ran fast, but a cheetah is faster (the little red lights on the line above light up at the point where a cheetah would've passed you, based on their average land speed).

Kate rode the seahorse on the carousel...

...and Maggie rode the seal. Picking out the animal they liked best was apparently more important than sitting together!

Stealing Dad's Hat

The sharks were too smart to swim close enough for Maggie to grab them.

On the way home, we stopped in Niagara Falls, NY, which we have never done on all our other travels because we either had a moving truck full of all our worldly possessions or a tiny baby child. Stop back by tomorrow and I'll try my hardest to have our photos of our day at the Falls posted. We had the most perfect weather and Mike got some beautiful shots!

"We really love staying in hotels." - Maggie