What a Weekend

We are at the close of a very nice weekend. The weather was perfect, the baby was happy, and we got to see our friends. What more can you ask for? Our friends Jay, Kendra and their daughter Hailey came over from Springfield, Illinois, and we met up with them and Brad, Stacey, and their son Brayden at the Indianpolis Zoo.


Maddie and Daddy outside at our house - enjoying the sunshine.

Maddie and Mommy at the Zoo. Check out the expression on Madelyn's face. I'm thinking it says, "let's get on with it!" She loves a stroller ride, but I'm not sure she really picked up on the animals. Doesn't matter though, it was still fun.

QUESTION: What's the best type of bear?

ANSWER: This one.

Hangin' out in the trees with the Red Pandas. Sleeping in a tree on a nice day...what could be better?

Ah yes, that's better than sleeping in a tree. Maddie doing her best Red Panda impression. Talk about "Partied Out."

Thanks for checking in with us, have a good week. Oh, and by the way, Purdue Defensive End Anthony Spencer was taken in the first round of the NFL Draft yesterday. It was Purdue's first 1st-Round draft pick since Rod Woodson in 1987.

Go Purdue!

Today we took advantage of the nice weather and hit the road to go up to West Lafayette and check out the Purdue Spring Game. The conclusion of each spring's football practices is marked by this game, used by the coaches to gauge the team's progress, and by the fans to decide what to bicker about on the team message boards. Due to the rampant injuries, the coaches decided to have a controlled scrimmage instead of an actual game, so we only stayed for about 45 minutes.

After the game we took advantage of the nice weather and spent some time walking around campus. It was a picture perfect day to be outside. It's hard to believe that only 5 years ago Jill and were still in school here, without any idea of what it would be like to be a parent.
University Hall at Purdue. This is the oldest building on campus, and also the "tallest". Rumor has it that University law states no building on campus can be built taller, so when they constructed the adjacent Beering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education (Jill's former building) they had to somehow designate the top floor as being in a separate ZIP code (and supposedly the Math Building is on stilts to make it a "bridge" instead of a building).
The Spring Game is all about convenience. When you come to any Big Ten football game you know parking and access will be an issue. The Spring Game allows free admittance and parking right by the stadium. We were able to find this spot only about 15 minutes before the game began. That's the new press box in the background.

Thanks for checking in with us.

Hello and Happy Belated Easter!

This is more of a written update, rather than pictures, but they are all good, right?


We hope everyone had a great Easter. We spent our first holiday in Indy this weekend. We have designated Easter our "Indy Holiday" and we really had a nice day! My Purdue roommates, Cara and Christa, and Christa's fiance, Keith, came to join us for lunch. It was a super nice day being all together.


Maddie surprised us this weekend with a few new things she can do! She has the sweetest little wave now. She holds her arm straight out and just waves her fingers up and down. She also started saying Mama. Not to me, but just in her babble. This was a pretty big step!


Today Madelyn was in for her 9 month check-up and the doctor was really pleased with Maddie's progress. She is completely "average" with a weight of 18 pounds and 15 ounces and height of 28 inches. She is doing more and more crawling every day and if we ever figure out how to do video on here, you can see for yourself!


Chuck and I are doing well. After our trip we are just trying to adjust to being back at work. Only four and a half weeks until our trip to Europe, so that is something to look forward to. For those of you that don't know, Chuck is going to Frankfurt, Germany for his company's meeting on the 8th of May. I will be leaving Maddie with Aunt Randi and Uncle Joe on the 11th and flying out on the 12th. We will be visiting some friends near France and then going to Munich for two nights. We will then fly to London for two more nights and returning to Indy on the 18th of May. We are super excited! Now that will be a birthday for me to remember.


Okay, so enough of the update. I will throw some of our favorite pictures in just for those of you sitting there saying "Where are pictures of these completely awesome people??" Hope everyone is doing well and thanks for checking in on us!

Maddie tried to help decorate the eggs, but would rather eat them!

An outfit from Grammy (Shinevar). She also has her beany lamb from her Easter basket from Mommy and Daddy. At this age, it is hard to find stuff for the basket!!

A spring dress from Grandma (Carnes).


An outfit from Grandpa Shin and Roberta. She wore this Monday. You can't see it really good in the picture, but it has a "backpack" on it with a real pocket. Still not sure what to store in there.......

Washington D.C. - April 1st and 2nd, 2007

I'm sure anyone who checks our blog frequently knows that we're on vacation with Randi, Joe, and Rachel. We took off from Indy on Saturday morning at 5:12 a.m., and after stopping so Miss Rachel could "leave her mark" on Ohio and Pennsylvania (motion sickness), we ended up arriving at our hotel in Gaithersburg, Maryland at 5:10 p.m., just shy of 12 hours. Jill drove the red-eye leg of the journey, handing over the wheel after breakfast in Columbus, Ohio. We got some weird looks in our Purdue gear at the local Cracker Barrel. The trip was happily uneventful, and it was fun to drive through some of the Appalachian foothills.

After spending the first night at the room, we got up on Day 2 and drove down to Arlington, Virginia, to hook up with my cousin David and his family. They were nice enough to act as our D.C. "tour guides", and we all headed over to the city - 3 babies in tow. Madelyn was happy to meet Jake, Chang and David, and Rachel had a good time exploring their condo in Arlington. The picture above is obviously taken in front of the White House, on the Pennsylvania Avenue side.

On Day 2 we saw DuPont Circle, the White House, the Treasury Department (and many other Departments), the Blair House (official guest house for visiting heads of state), the Ellipse, the Washington Monument, the World War 2 Monument the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the World War 1 Memorial, the Cherry Blossoms along the Tidal Basin, and the Jefferson Memorial.
The Cherry Blossoms were nearly in peak bloom, which was a lucky break for us considering they can be there as early as mid-March, and as late as late-April. One look and you can understand why this is a special time for the city to celebrate these 3,000 trees donated by the Japanese government. The picture above is David Ellison, his wife Chang, son Jacob, and myself, Jill, and Maddie.
Maddie liked all the monuments and open space of the Mall. Our first day was a little cool, so she had to leave her jacket on all day, but I think she had fun. In this picture she's parked in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the West side of the Mall.
Mommy and Maddie in front of a blossoming Cherry tree. The Washington Monument is just over Jill's left shoulder (it seems to pop up in every picture:).

Day 3 weather was considerably better than Day 2. We all had short sleeves and got some sun (the girls had SPF 60). We did a LOT of walking today, and I'm pretty beat as I type this post from all of it, but it was definitely worth it. We saw the Smithsonian "castle", the Mall, the National Gallery of Art, the National Archives, the National Air and Space Museum, the Capitol Building (above), and Union Station.

Since the American History Museum was closed for renovations, some of the most popular exhibits were in the Air and Space. These included Dorothy's shoes from The Wizard of Oz, the hat Abraham Lincoln was wearing at Ford's Theater, Thomas Edison's first demonstration light bulb, Alexander Graham Bell's first phone, and Jerry Seinfeld's puffy shirt. I was most impressed by the Air and Space exhibit on the Wright brothers. Their original Wright Flyer is on display - hard to believe that the original has survived to this day. Also on display was the Spirit of St. Louis and WW2 fighters from the U.S., Japan, Italy, Germany, and the U.K.

"The Thinker" was on display inside the National Gallery of Art, as were many paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, and Renoir. Great success!

Maddie playing with Daddy in the Mall. It was a perfect day to be outside. We spent some time laying in the grass relaxing in the beautiful weather. Madelyn found some chocolate in the grass, and decided to sit in it. Savages in this town...
Rachel was very willing to help, as always, as you can see here. Although in this shot, I think she was testing Aunt Jill's patience :) She had a really great day exploring and seeing lots of new things. I asked her if she saw the big Capitol Building down the Mall, and she said, "Yeah...look, a rock!" Ah, being two.
The girls with the girls in front of the Smithsonian Castle (administration building). They have a nice garden area south of the building.
Maddie had a chance to get acquainted with Jacob at David & Chang's house in Arlington. They played well together, since they're within a few months in age.

Thanks for checking in with us. It's been a fun trip to far, and we're off to Hershey, Pennsylvania tomorrow, to learn how chocolate is made and maybe sample some if we're lucky. I'm scared of the Chocolate River, but maybe that's just fictional...