OrlaDIPO!!!

We bought season tickets to the Pacers this year and were elated to get to see our friend (OK, so he doesn't know us) Victor Oladipo return to Indiana for his first NBA game. 

I love the Pacers coach, Frank Vogel. Yum. :)

We rooted for the Pacers to win and Oladipo to play well. That's fair, right? 

VICTOR!!!!!

Victor guarding

I was like a proud parent watching Victor play

Seriously, the halftime shows are 67% of the fun of going to a game

Victor sinking his foul shots

Our rooting worked and Victor played well, but the Pacers still won. Woo hoo! I got my new Pacers gear for the season: a Roy Hibbert t-shirt. His number, 55, is my favorite, he went to Georgetown and I love that place, and he is funny. It was a perfect fit. We're excited to go to our next game which is against the Miami HEAT. BIRDMAN!!!!!! :)

St. Louis

I had to go to a seminar in St. Louis in late October so Jackson came along since he had not started working yet. I learned stuff about taxes all day and Jackson did fun stuff around the city. 

Jackson is "holding up the Arch" only no one can tell....

We had a couple of really pretty days to explore after my classes ended.

We didn't go up in the Arch because the lines were too long. Annnnd because Jackson was too scared. True story. I've done it before so I didn't need to do it again. He's just a weenie. Please note that.

The park around the Arch was lovely and we wished MacKenzie had been with us to play ball in it.

The Arch at sunrise

We went to a few local restaurants that were highly reviewed on TripAdvisor. We weren't all that impressed with the town. It was a little rundown and sad. 

The.Best.Custard.Ever.

The Cardinals made it to the World Series so the town was amped about that. Jackson took a tour of the stadium during one of our days in the city. He was really impressed. 

A cool view! The arch is waaaay back there. See it?

An old man snapped his photo for him! 

All access

I'd write more but there is not much to say. The city wasn't our favorite and endless amounts of tax made even me grumpy. We were happy to come back to Indy!

Silly Things People Have Said to Me When I Tell Them I'm Not Having Kids

I've never read something that so accurately portrayed my inner feelings. Honestly.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tuenight/silly-things-people-have-said-to-me-when-i-tell-them-im-not-having-kids_b_4098642.html

J.P. to J.P.

Pre-interview selfie

Jackson's sabbatical came to an unexpected end. He applied for a job while he was still at the mortgage company and heard back from them on September 26th. He was out car shopping for Susie's new ride (an Acura RDX if you're wondering) when the call came in. After a few days of playing phone-tag with the HR rep. he had a phone interview. That went well and then he had a second interview on October 10th, a third interview on October 14th and got the job offer on October 18th. It sounds fast, but it felt like forever to me. Jackson is like a little grandma when it comes to worrying. I wanted to kill him for most of the month, honestly, and not just because he was about to make my dreams of moving from Indiana die. Anyway, he starts with J.P. Morgan Retirement Services on or around October 30th and will be a Financial Education Consultant working with IU Health. Basically he will travel around to any and all IU Health location to teach employees about their retirement plan. He's so excited.

We went shopping this weekend so that he'll have three suits to wear to work now. Suits are expensive and shopping with a man is no fun so any new suits he gets will have to be gifts. I'm not even going to pretend to be kidding. Thank goodness for the t.v. in the Macy's fitting room area.

So, we're staying put in Indiana for the foreseeable future. I'm still adjusting to that. I'm a rolling stone. A wanderer. A free spirit. I need my space. I like change. The idea of hitting two years in the same job (I will on January 3rd) makes me hyperventilate a bit. That's OK. This job is pretty much everything Jackson has ever wanted so I'll find a way to cope. So far my coping has been in the form of buying Groupons for exercise classes. To each their own. ;)

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers for Jackson during the interview process. He thinks this job was truly a "God thing" and is really excited. Life is good.

Fort Ben

We had a pretty quiet week. I tried out a new, incredible workout on Thursday called "Barre Bee Fit" which is at 121 & Cumberland Road in Fishers. I loved it and cannot wait to go back. Then Friday morning I had my yearly physical here in Indy so I worked remotely. I'm healthy as a small horse and appear to be 24 years old on paper. I'll take it. My health has significantly improved in the past year thanks to big efforts to clean up my eating and be more active. It was nice to get good news from a doctor. I feel like no one ever gets that.

Since I was working remotely and needed to visit the Indiana Department of Revenue to clear some issues up, Jackson and I headed downtown Friday afternoon. We had an awesome lunch at one of my favorite places, Bosphorus, before getting back to work. Well, I worked. Jackson took a walk around the city. Life is just not fair, friends. 

A gorgeous day in Indy

Anyway, we had a nice time while still getting things done for work. Saturday we spent the day in Upland working in the yard at my folk's rental house. I'm still not sure how they convinced us to do that. ;) Sunday we decided to head over to Fort Benjamin Harrison to hike around with MacKenzie. We always talk about getting over there and never do so we made the effort on this gorgeous day. 

MacK and Jack in nature 

Jackson told me he found a 2.5 mile trail for us to hike.

Early Fall in Indiana 

My favorites.

The hike turned out to be 5.7 miles. Yep. TWO plus times what Jackson sold to me.

MacK and Momma hitting the trails

If you never slow down, you never grow old

Despite the mileage mixup, we enjoyed the hike. It was a beautiful day and the Fort is super nice. We spent the afternoon recovering before heading over to the Porterfield's house to play with their little ones.  

The cutest little lady. EVER. 

Jenna's daycare? An iPhone is a must! ;)

Jax and Jackson lining up for a play

Jax said, "LOOK MEAN!" and Jackson took it to heart

Heidi texted to say that Jax said he wanted to eat dinner at our house. That was all it took. Jackson just HAD to get over there to play. Boys. :) Jax delivered the exciting news that he's pooped in the potty 5 times now. WOOT! We were so happy for Heidi as that had been quite the struggle. One of the sweetest things I've ever heard was that Jax had been praying for Jesus to help him to poop on the potty. I love the innocence of children. Anyway, we played with the little ones until it was time for bed for all of us...between that hike and those little ones we were beat!

Louisville weekend

We've had a busy couple of days. Thursday Jackson came to Muncie with me in the morning because we were going to see Bobby Knight speak that evening. He spent the day hanging out in Upland with my folk's dogs, had lunch in Marion's "ghetto" (you guys, Jackson texted to tell me he was eating with Guy in the ghetto. I later find out that he ate at what used to be Jackson's and now is Horner's Butcher Block. It is NOT the ghetto as I used to walk there when I was little to get penny candy! Guy laughed his butt off when he found out Jackson called this area the "ghetto" to me. That's my 'hood, Jack, back off!) and then came back and hung out in my office while I finished up for the day.

We then headed to Cammack Station just outside of Muncie for dinner with Kort and her new FIANCE(!!!!) Jason. Skip Cammack Station. It is a cute place, but the food is terrible. It was nice to get to see the love birds, though, so all was not lost. The four of us headed back to BSU to watch Bobby's speech.

The General, Robert Montgomery Knight

We had pretty good seats. I think someone in the group had connections at the University or something. ;) He was entertaining enough, but is getting to be an old man anymore. Bummer. It happens to the best of us, Coach!

The next day we ran errands around Indianapolis before heading down to Louisville for a little teeny, tiny getaway. We stayed at the Galt House which is an old, tired hotel. Don't stay there, friends. Don't do it. The location was nice, though, and we got a 23rd floor room with a view of the river. That wasn't all bad. We headed down to Bardstown (their version of Broad Ripple) for dinner at pretty awesome pizza joint (Impellizzeri's) and then visited an ice cream shop that was ranked really highly on TripAdvisor.com. We were NOT disappointed.

My handsome date

Cow Tracks. Go to Louisville and get it NOW. You won't regret it. Ever. 

It was raining but we headed down to 4th Street Live! to check things out before turning in for the night. We woke up to the most beautiful sunrise. I told you the view was the only good thing about the hotel. :)

Sunrise from the Galt House

We were right on the riverwalk so we put in 5 miles wandering around. It was so fun to just explore a new place. Even if the humidity was 789%. :) They've been redoing this bridge for years to make it pedestrian only so I was really excited to finally cross it.

A cute guy walked with me on the bridge

We were up higher than I like to think about but the view was nice! 

Jackson looking deep... ;)

It started to rain as we headed for the pumpkin patch to meet up with my sister and nephew. Bummer!

Wild Alex. 

We met them at a McDonald's and hoped that the rain would pass.

When did Happy Meals become bite-size?! 

I'm not used to eating with 3 year-old boys. That was an adjustment that made my sister laugh a lot.

"Is there anything on my face?!"

We decided to scrap the pumpkin patch idea and head to the Louisville Slugger factory and museum instead. (I'm so thankful that our friend Ashley who lives in Louisville with her two little ones sent me some indoor ideas! This whole entertaining a kid thing is foreign territory for us.)

"I prefer to be carried in the rain!" 

It was just a short walk from our hotel down to the factory. It was POURING, though, so it felt like a long walk. This should also explain why we're all a little wet in the following photos. We had SO much fun doing the factory tour and playing with Alex at all of the exhibits.

Jackson hates the Yankees

Hide-n-Seek in the big glove

My poses always look like dances! Hmph! 

Alex photo-bombed Jackson

Alex's idea of "smiling pretty"

Let's hit towards the target and not your Aunt...

Jackson with Big Papi's bat

Worker: Please don't swing it
Jenna: JACKSON DON'T SWING IT
Jackson: WHAT?! *SWING*

BABE RUTH'S BAT!!! 

Pee Wee Herman's bat? 

"Walk softly and swing a big bat?" 

Alex "pitching" the ball to me

Jackson: "The cool kids sit on the top of the bench"
Alex: "ME TOO!"
HA! :)

I told you smiling nicely wasn't his thing...

Jackson trying his hand at batting practice 

Pulling a Babe Ruth and pointing to where my hit will go

"THAT IS A BIIIIIG BAT!"

BABE RUTH'S marker. I love Babe Ruth. Leave it alone. 

I took a few videos while we played at the Slugger museum. I cannot recommend this place enough. It was really neat. Kid or not!

We left there and went to a park to burn off some more energy since the rain had stopped.

Running around together

Alex is like the Energizer Bunny. He doesn't get tired. He just keeps going. After we played outside for a bit we headed to the Louisville Science Center to play. It is kind of like the Children's Museum in Indy just less overwhelming. :) Jackson and I even watched a 35 minute IMAX movie on weather while Alex and Kylie played. Those of us without kids don't have the same stamina built up and we were exhausted already. HA! :)

Kylie loved the big bubble

Jackson did, too! 

I COULD NOT FIGURE IT OUT! YOU GUYS- those punks wouldn't help me either! 

Alex's speed shown in a photo

HE. NEVER. STOPS. MOVING.

Please notice who the two are in line to roll a ball...

"Helping Alex" build

Jackson giving up the illusion and building himself

Both "boys" in the space explorer

I think the funniest part of the Science Center was how much we ALL LOVED it. It was seriously just fun! It wasn't too crowded since it was after 5 on a Saturday so we spent hours in there without really noticing it. We had a quick dinner at Qdoba before Alex and Kylie headed for home.

Kylie getting waaaay too close to me to say goodbye

Agony. What I really felt.

Kylie likes to make me feel uncomfortable by hugging me. Jackson enjoyed my discomfort so much that he documented it. Thanks, babe. We were so exhausted from the day of playing that I slept from 10 p.m. until 8 a.m. without waking up once. (I do not know how parents function every single day. I really don't. I'm still recovering.) It continued to rain all night so we headed home early the next morning instead of sticking around to explore the city as we had planned to. Bummer.

World's best homecoming present

We did get to come home to the world's cutest puppy, though. That was nice! :) We also got to have a quick dinner with our friend from Denver, Meg, before running her to the airport to head home. We wished we were going to Denver, too. Siiigh. Maybe next weekend. ;)