Celebrating May 22 with Lots of Indiana

So yesterday, May 22, was our three year wedding anniversary! Does that qualify us as an "old" married couple now? Probably not, but when you eat dinner early, are sleepy at 11pm, and spend lots of time at home reading and doing crossword puzzles, you definitely are "old!"

In celebration of the day, Kirk flew back from a business trip in Washington, DC, and then we headed to an elegant dinner at Palomino's in downtown Indy. It was delicious, with the most amazing portobella and crimini mushroom soup, lobster and scallop ravioli, crab cakes, and 6 scoops of a killer berry sorbet! After that filling meal, we headed right across the street for opening night of the new Indiana Jones movie! It did not disappoint, living up to the tradition of the first three films as a fun action/adventure with witty dialogue, fun effects, inconceivable twists, and Harrison Ford rocking the hat and whip (despite his old age). The movie also brought some of the original plot lines full circle, which was a nice touch. Nothing like seeing Indy in Indy!


On the way out of the theater we nabbed a couple Indiana Jones posters (pic below), which Lynne really liked since they have "May 22" in bold lettering at the bottom.

In Memory of Grandpa Davis

The reason we had to cut our vacation a little short was due to the passing of Lynne's Grandpa, Maurice "Abie" Davis last Tuesday. The occassion was more a celebration than a sad event, as Maurice lived to the ripe old age of 101! It was nice to see Lynne's family in town and spend time with them. The service was beautiful, and he certainly will be missed. I enjoyed visiting him the last few years for his birthday as he would forget how old he was about every five minutes, and every time you reminded him, he acted astonished that he was so old :) Below are pics from his last 3 birthdays.

99!

100!

101!

Vacation - Part 3

Wednesday, we started the day with a nice walk on the beach. It was finally warm and sunny (like it was on Sunday). We had lunch at a cute little thai restaurant and then hopped aboard for a Gullah Tour, the only one in Charleston. Gullah is the language spoken by the African population in Charlestown since the original days of slavery. It's a combination of West African, English, and almost Creole. The tour was really fun and educational, and it showed a completely different side of Charleston and its history. It also included a visit to the home of the greatest living ironworker in the region, Phillip Simmons. Many of the most beautiful gates and iron fences around the city are his doing, and he has pieces all over the world and in museums. Unfortunately he is over 90 and now in a home, so we didn't get to meet him, but we saw his workshop and meet his nephew who is taking over the trade.








After the tour, we spent some time walking around Charleston some more and even got stopped by some people who thought we were locals! We had eaten so much heavy food that for dinner we ate at a little local pizzeria and had some delicious cupcakes.

Thursday was our big day in Savannah! A two-hour drive from our island, we got in at about 10:30 and hopped aboard a trolley tour to see the city. Our first stop, The Lady and Sons, Paula Dean's restaurant. Lynne is a big fan. Unfortunately, we couldn't eat there since they wouldn't take reservations and instead people line up around the block at 7am to put there name in for lunch and dinner. At 10:30am, the best we could do was dinner at 9:45pm! We were back to Edisto by 9:45 that night! We spent the rest of the day seeing the city, shopping, and had dinner at Paula's brother's place, Uncle Bubba's Oyster Shack. Oysters and scallops, oh my! Overall, Savannah was our favorite place to visit. It was very laid back, not too busy, and simply gorgeous. Many blocks have grassy squares that keep traffic slow and are jewels among the rich architecture. We saw so many great homes and really enoyed strolling around the city.

On Friday we played tennis, hung out at the pool, and packed for our return trip home, which got us home at about 3am Saturday morning. Overall, it was a great trip, but we were glad to get home and see Otis!

Vacation - Part 2

Monday was our day to relax and unwind on the island. Unfortunately, it was overcast and kind of cold. We spent the morning walking on the beach and finding shells (along with many beached jellyfish). We had a nice lunch (fish tacos) and dinner (ribs) while laying around, playing cards, and (happily) not driving anywhere.




On Tuesday, we headed off to Magnolia plantation outside Charleston to see the beatiful grounds, tour a plantation home, and meet some new animal friends in an empty petting zoo (not many kids at the plantation at 10am, just us and the retirees :)

Later that day, we took a boat tour from Charleston to Fort Sumter, which was really cool. We got to learn a lot about the Civil War, and it was fun to be out on the water (even though it was still kind of cool).

We ended the day with dinner at Hyman's Seafood, known for the best seafood in Charleston, and it was delicious. Crab dip, boiled peanuts, fried oysters, buffalo shrimp, and crab cakes with no filler...mmmm....the good eats continue. Driving back to the island at night was an adventure, but beatiful as the headlights shine on the live oaks stretched out over the road.

Last Week's Vacation - Part 1

So, we didn't post about our vacation during it (hey, we were relaxing!), so I'm catching up now. We were able to spend about 7 days on a road trip to and around South Carolina. Leaving Saturday afternoon, we began the 12.5 hour drive to Charleston, stopping somewhere south of Asheville, NC for a little sleep. We rolled into Charleston at about 12:30pm on Sunday, just in time to catch brunch at the Hominy Grill on the northside of historic Charleston. This local tradition, which we learned about on an Anthony Bourdain "No Reservations" special, lived up to expectations, especially with the "big nasty" I ate, which consisted of a giant biscuit, fried chicken breast, sausage gravy, and shredded white cheddar cheese. Oh, it was good, and it started the wonderful trend of eating well (and way too much) on our trip.

After that, we headed to the heart of the downtown to walk around the beautiful streets, admire the architecture, visit and old graveyard, and take a horse-drawn carriage around the city on a tour.

For dinner, Kirk was excited to get some seafood, and he enjoyed 14 raw oysters, she-crab soup, and hush puppies, while Lynne dined on a shrimp and scallop casserole. Mmmmmm...

After that, we headed to our condo on Edisto Island, about one hour southwest of the city. Thanks mom and dad for the timeshare!

Kirk on the News

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to be interviewed for a story that ran on Indianapolis CBS affiliate WISH-TV on DonorsChoose.org. The reporter, Leslie Olsen, was wonderful, and we had spent a couple months trying to setup the story. It went very well, and we got to watch as an IPS teacher opened some new materials (books, a human body model w/ removable organs, and geodes galore) got to open new materials for her 3rd grade students. Hopefully this will draw more Indiana donors and teachers to use DonorsChoose.org! To read the story click here, and you'll also see a link to watch the video segment. They all did a great job, and the kids were so cute!

The Sweet Start of Summer

Monday marks the official first day of summer, at least in my book. Why? Because it's opening day for the soon-to-be World Champion Chicago Cubs! Yes, "soon" is a relative term, so what?! Go Cubs Go!

New Friends!

wow, i made a lot of new friends on saturday. dad and grandma and grandpa (did you know i have six of them?!) took me to a park for some sort of doggy egg hunt. something called EESTUR. it was lots of fun and i met some new friends. they were all very nice and i didn't bark at any of them, just smelled and played (and tangled up the leesh). i also got to run up and down a big hill, which was fun, and i got to get muddy and dirty, which i LOVE. at the end I got a big bag of huge dog biscuits. dad says they are too big for me though and he's going to make them smaller. look at the picture, i don't think they are too big. mom sure missed out, because she had to "work."My big buiscit

Kentucky in the Snow

This weekend was an adventure. To celebrate John getting married, a few of us decided to take a weekend away in the backwoods of Kentucky to hang out, hike, drink beer, eat steaks, watch basketball, play poker, and do other manly things. The plan sounded great until the forecast called for blizzard and icy conditions from Indianapolis into all of Kentucky. Lacking better judgement (and not wanting to eat the cost of the cabin), we ventured to Rogers, Kentucky, about an hour southeast of Lexington. When I say "we," I mean one car containing myself, coming from a work trip in Evansville, IN, and another car of Andrew, John, Russ, and Sean, coming from Indy about two hours later. I missed most of the bad Friday weather; the others weren't so lucky, but after having to get out to push Russ up and down a hill, they made it safe and sound. The cabin and area were spectacular and definitely someplace we all hope to make an annual trip (maybe with the women as well). As the ice and snow continued to come down Friday night and all of Saturday, it didn't look like we would be able to make it through the hills to depart on Sunday, but it warmed up a bit, the sun came out to melt the ice, and (sadly) we headed home. It was definitely a great weekend with the guys, but it took another couple days just to recover. We didn't get in as much hiking or state park/national forest time, since we couldn't move our cars, but we still had plenty of fun throwing snowballs and sledding down the road. Congrats John, and thanks for planning the trip Andrew!


The cabin, "Big Ron's House"

Otis' Newest Friend

So we say that Hayden was Otis's first friend since she stayed with us right after Otis arrived and as of this weekend Hayden has a little sister, Emerson! She weighs in a little over eight pounds (just like Otis), and he is excited to get to meet this new play-toy, I mean play-mate! We were able to see the new addition this weekend and pray that the Hults family has an easy (if that is possible) adjustment from one amazing child to two. We can't wait to get to know her more.

Proud Father Shot.

Playing around