Battered But Not Broken

My baby girl has mastered ;-) the art of riding a two-wheeler!

Over the Memorial Day weekend she got a lot of practice with her friends from the neighborhood.

How cute is my "Little Sparkler"?

Apparently this is what happens when you "aren't really good at turns yet" mamma...

Owwww.

But that didn't slow her down a bit.  And neither did this...

The backsides look worse.

But alas, it will not spot the two-wheeled bandit!  She's off to the races!

Happy Summer Everyone.  It has begun!!!

Beacon In the "Night"

Is there anything you miss when you've been away from home for a long time?  Any "creature comforts" that you took for granted and now wish you could have?  Old "haunts" that you wish you could walk back into?  

Well, I've been away from HOME for nine months now.  NINE long months.  And I missed something that I never thought I would miss because I always thought it would be there....

That's right baby, SONIC!!!!!

You see, in my part of Indiana (Central) there are NO SONICS!  I know!  Sacrilege.  At first, I didn't think anything about it.  I thought there had to be one somewhere.  But alas, no Sonic in Carmel, IN or Fishers or Noblesville or Zionsville.....  I could go on for a while here, but you get the picture.  No Sonic.

Then yesterday in South Central Indiana (after the death hike in Clifty Falls State Park), we stumbled upon this Beacon in the "Night" (or day).  I was so excited.  I couldn't believe that after NINE months, I was going to be able to buy a Large Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper with that wonderful iconic "Sonic Ice".  You know what I'm talking about.  That ice that is chewable but seems to last all day.

Oh yeah baby, that's what I'm talking about!  Ahhhhh...

And to make it even better...IT WAS HAPPY HOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!  

[Not] A Walk In the Park

Earlier this week I decided that we needed to "get out and explore" this great new State that we are living in.  So, I grabbed my Travel Indiana guide and started reading.  South Central Indiana seemed like the place to start.  At a nifty little destination called Clifty Falls State Park in Madison, IN.

I thought that we would go hiking and have a picnic.  To enjoy the gorgeous scenery and take in mother nature on this 74 degree day.

How pretty is that?

The hike started really well.  Paved paths and gentle slopes.  My 38 yr. old body though...this might not be so bad.

Then we saw this...

WHAT??!!

So I drug myself up these steps thinking "hmmm, maybe not horrible".  Then we saw this...

Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.  Can we turn back?

Needless to say the HIKE took on new meaning for me at this point.  We encountered uneven ground.  Mud.  Rocks.  Steep inclines.  Lots of shade.  Beautiful weather.  Nice people.  Mud.  Rocks.  Steep inclines.  Lots of steps.  Did I mention steep inclines?  Tia was ready to go and ran ahead most of the way.  Wish I had her energy.  

The best hiking partner in the world...because she waits on me :)

This was back at the easy part...remember...

when I thought I was going to be okay...

We ended the day at a picnic area.  Tia laid on the table and picked animals and signs of Jesus from the sky.

What a cute little diva hiking partner.

And the moral of this story is that even though I'm old and heavy on my feet, I can survive a small hike through a beautiful Indiana State Park.  

Where to next weekend........?