Friday Favorites: Indiana Edition

Happy Friday Friends!!!! Today is a half day at work for parent/teacher conferences and I am counting down the hours for Spring Break!!!! I have big plans of just being with my girls (and DJ's off too), and we have a fun little staycation planned with a little get away to wrap up next week! I'm super excited for the break and for the countdown to the end of the school year!

I'm linking up with Andrea, Erika, and Narci for Friday Favorites today!

This past weekend, DJ and I had to make a trip to Indiana. Monday afternoon we visited his grandfather in the hospital and then made a trip to the local candy factory. We bought the girls a gigantic bag of gummy bears and stocked up on truffles and Easter candy! 

And, I remembered that the weather in Indiana is GLOOMY! Y'all, I just cannot deal. 

We skipped lunch because we had a late breakfast, so we had an early dinner. Chicken nachos are my favorite. 

And, it's spring practice in the football world, and while DJ was away he still had to work. I'm totally use to him working through our dinners. 

Wednesday afternoon we met my parents and picked our girls back up! We were so excited to see them, but staying with their Gee and Ya-Ya was their favorite! Thank you Aunt Tiffany for stepping in and helping!

Saying good-bye isn't a favorite, but the girls and their Gee had a great time together, and I am so thankful for family that will step in and be there at a moment's notice. 

Addy's favorite thing is still making silly faces! 

And the 5 of us + our pup were packed like sardines, but at least we were all together again. 

Once we made it home, DJ headed to practice and the girls and I worked on laundry before taking Bailey to the groomer. 

After dropping the dog off, we checked out the fish, birds, rodents, and reptiles. 

Addy was a little afraid that the bird was going to fly right at her!

And then Gretchen wrote us a sweet letter saying that we really needed a fish. 

#shemayhavetalkedmeintoit

Thursday afternoon, Gretchen had a school presentation on a famous American. She chose Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. And she chose to dress like her character. I was so proud of how hard she worked on her project and she did fabulous during her presentation!!!

Alright peeps, that's it for today!!! See y'all back here on Monday!

Fair Oaks Farm

While we were in Indiana, we spent Sunday (Adalyn's 2nd birthday) at Fair Oaks Farm. It was a quick drive from my mother in law's house and I had always wanted to visit when we lived in Indiana. The boys spent the morning golfing, so we made a girls trip to the dairy farm. 

Just sitting on a pig waiting to learn more about cows. 

They had a cow-a-sel that the girls loved riding. The only bad thing is that it was operated by human power. Meaning, the adults got to push it while the girls sat on cows. 

Addy enjoyed sliding down the ice cream slide. 

I can't believe she's 2!

After we played and explored a bit, we went in to watch the 3-D movie so the kids could learn a little bit about what they were going to see on the dairy farm. 

She was all smiles until the 3-D turned into 4-D, and the mist sprayers turned on! She freaked!

The big girls sitting on the bus waiting to tour the farm.

We drove through the barn that the cows hang out in after they've been milked, and then we saw baby cows, and finally we were dropped off at the milker and we could watch cows being milk. 

I for one, had no idea that this is how cows were milked. They walk on to this carousel, get hooked up to hoses, and when they reach the end, they get off. 

Some of the cows turned to look at us watching them. 

After we watched the cows get milked, we went into another room where the girls could feel two bars. The first bar was the same temperature as the milk when it comes out of the cow. The second bar was the temperature of how cold the milk has to get within minutes. It was cold!

The bus dropped us off again and we went back into the indoor play area to explore some more. 

Gretchen practiced her cow milking skills.

After we milked our cows, we went outside. Gretchen really wanted to climb their rock climbing wall, so I let her. Which only terrified me a little bit, but she was so brave!

As soon as I snapped this picture, she had decided she had gone high enough and was ready to get down!

The kids rode the train.

And Adalyn sat in the pretend train car because she did not want to be locked in the train car. 

Such a big two year old! 

After the train ride, we headed over to the Birthing Barn. 

The kids climbed on the cow and we snapped some pics. 

When we got in the birthing barn, two calves had just been born. We watched them stand for the first time, and then we headed out to play. Megan bounced on the trampoline, while Gretchen waited in line for the bungee trampoline. While Megan was bouncing, I noticed that another cow was about to give birth. Megan wanted to go, so we headed over to watch a cow give birth. 

Megan asked a lot of questions, and I'm thankful that Gretchen didn't want to go! I'm not ready to go there with her yet! I think Megan is still young enough that she didn't get it all. The baby cow was born in it's amniotic sac, and the assistant ripped it open. I really have no words for how the cow was born. I mean, I've given birth three times, but I've never watched a birth. My mom is a labor and delivery nurse, and she sees it every day. I'm thankful that God gave her and other nurses that ability, because I just can't even. 

After we watched the cow give birth, we met up with the rest of the crew for ice cream!

And as we left, I got all sentimental that my baby was 2 and I snapped some pictures of her. 

Gretchen had to have her picture made too.

We watched the fish swim around.....

and then headed to the car to head home for naps!

The dairy farm was tons of fun! I loved all of the activities that they had for the kids. I'm sort of questioning the fact that we drink milk because maybe I learned and thought about where it comes from a little too much- ha! But, seriously, we had a great day!

Red, White, and So Much Fun!

Be aware of picture overload! This 4th of July, was spent in Indiana with DJ's family. We typically spend our 4th on the lake, but this year was his grandpa's 80th birthday- woot woot! His family decided to throw him a surprise party on the 4th. 

We woke up and left his aunts house to head to their lake house in Monticello, IN. 5 points if you know where that is! It was a little over an hour drive, and I read Girl On A Train during our drive. 

Once we arrived at their lake house, Gretchen hopped on a bike and started riding WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS! We had left our camera in the car so we ended up with no pictures of her, and then I told DJ that he had to go get the camera! 

At this time, his grandpa had no idea there would be a party for him. He just thought we were there to spend the day at the lake house. Here they are with just a few of their great-grandchildren!

Meggie took off on this little bike and then played in the dirt. 

Doesn't she look mischievous!

Addy Pearl and I did some swinging. 

Her very last day as a 1 year old.

The kids were having too much fun playing.

We finally loaded up for a "drive" and headed toward Indiana Beach. A kitchy little amusement park on the lake. 

I tried so hard to get a picture of my girls in their 4th of July dresses. These were about as good as I got. 

His aunt had reserved a pavilion so we hung out waiting on more family to arrive before heading off to ride rides. 

Megan would not take a picture with us!

We tried and tried, but she would not cooperate!

These girls just wanted to ride rides! Our first stop was the boats. 

Then they went on this swirly ride, that Megan was so excited about and then terrified once it started!

She did not love this ride!

Next up was the motorcycles! Gretchen was a serious driver.

Megan chose the planes next, she was so excited, and then the entire time, she just sat there like this. 

My two divas! They were finally all about striking a pose!

Adalyn with her Nana.

We took Addy on some rides, and she was super thrilled, until she realized I was leaving her strapped in with her sisters! 

I did what any mom would do, I rode with them in these giant whales! It was the worst kiddie ride ever.

Next up was the pumpkin ferris wheel. 

After the kiddie rides, we went over for lunch and his grandpa's party. By this time, he was well aware that we were there for him.

We feasted on BBQ and Hot Dogs, ate too much cake, took more family pictures, and then headed off for more rides. 

Thankfully, DJ's sister brought her stroller (we forgot ours at home!) and Addy fell asleep soon after we put her in it!

The next few hours were spent riding Bumper Cars, the Tilt-A-Whirl, taking too many bathroom breaks for Megan, and riding a roller coaster!

DJ and his brother in law went off to ride another roller coaster, while several others went off on the log ride, so I hung out with the littles. 

Addy was too fascinated with the ride to take selfies with me!

Megan had a blast playing near the log ride. Every time I log boat would plunge in, water would come flying around. She stood here forever playing and getting soaked!

She had lots of giggles and fun, and ultimately, that's what matters most!

We decided that we were ready to leave around 4, and we headed back to his grandparents house. DJ, the girls, and myself all changed into our pajamas and then we had dinner! We were exhausted!

It was about 7:30 and we were both ready for bed!

We did end up staying up a bit later and we let off paper lanterns. Think Tangled. 

These were way cool!

We watched it go up, up, up!

DJ's mom had three lanterns that we let go.

We ended up not shooting any fireworks. The mosquitos in Indiana are FIERCE, so we let the lanterns go, and watched a few fireworks from the neighbors. See those little light dots in the picture above? Those are our lanterns. 

We came in and I cuddled my baby for the last time before putting her to bed. I always get all sappy tucking her in the night before her birthday!

We had a great 4th! It was busy and full of family and fun!

PS: It's totally my birthday today! I complete forgot until my mom reminded me last night! I bet she gets all sappy the night before my birthday too ;)

You'll want to join in on my Facebook Group page, because I'm opening up for back to school shirt orders, football/spirit wear, and fall! I'm only taking a few orders and today is the day!

Also, this Sunday night is an Essential Oils 101 class! If you're interested in oils and learning more about the amazing benefits, you'll want to join in! One person will win an amazing prize pack to help get you started on your oily journey! Shoot me an email to find out more! Just put "EO 101" in the subject line, or if you want information on the Starter Kit, put "Starter Kit" in the subject line!

Have a great day HPAers!