The trip home.

Sunday morning, after the wedding, we all woke up at our regular time of 7:00am.  Carl and Estelle were already gone and Audrey and Andrew had plans in Chicago, so we brainstormed a bit on how to spend our day since we weren't in any rush to drive straight home.  Pete mentioned Chicago but I didn't really have any clothes packed for a day in Chicago and spending a couple of hours in Chicago wouldn't shorten our trip home at all.

Then, Pete remembered the Children's Museum in Indianapolis!  The perfect way to break up our seven-hour drive home.  We got pretty excited as soon as we saw the building.

There were four floors of fun and we took advantage of every exhibit that was age-appropriate for Ellie.  First up was Discovering Dinosaurs.

 Ellie participated in an archeological dig,

 and met a paleontologist. Her daddy liked the real tooth from the saber tooth tiger best, while she liked the fish impression.

 But best of all, was dressing up like real dinosaurs!

Then we learned a little about Indiana railways, saw different sized models, and toured a real train car.

Ellie probably spent the most time at the next exhibit - a work of art by glass artist, Dale Chihuly.  The actual sculpture was on the floor above us (and extended 3 stories), but we got to view it from below and Ellie got to make her own 'glass' sculpture by arranging and rearranging pieces in the children's area.  It was the bean bag toss all over again!

The birth-to-four area wasn't the most fun for Ellie, but Pete found some entertainment.

And Ellie scaled some train tables.

She also liked the babe-sized tractor.

Of course, a children's museum in Indianapolis has to have a race car.

Ellie practiced walking on cans, and, to prove I was there, Daddy took a picture of our tea party with the bear family.

Last, but not least, we rode on the carousel!  This carousel was originally built in the early 1900s, and was refurbished in 1964 (or something like that).  Then it was moved one last time when it was donated to the museum.  We chose to sit on the three giraffes.

Ellie was pretty scared of it, and spent most of the ride clinging to Pete, but she was talking about it yesterday at breakfast, so it must not have scared her too much.  

 

 

After two-hours of fun, all three of us were ready to get back in the car.  This is pretty much how Ellie spent the last three hours of our trip home.  She woke up as we pulled off the interstate in Lexington.  Perfect.