Tourists in our own town ...

Kevin and I got a hotel downtown without kids last weekend. Our main goal was to play. But we also squeezed in a few hours of planning and writing down some goals we have as individuals and as a family for 2009. It was pretty much amazing. We had so much fun being carefree and just doing whatever whenever.

I embarrassed Kevin by taking pictures of our food and getting a picture at the symphony (but at least I didn’t take a picture of the stage!). So, here is my photo journal of the weekend …

Our first stop was Friday night dinner at The Villagio in the Zionsville village. I had a really light and refreshing lasagna with two sauces—béchamel and a marinara.

We went to hear a Beethoven piano concerto at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. I was completely swept off my feet by the performance of Brazilian pianist Ingrid Fliter.

Breakfast at Café Patachou—amazing omelets and gooey cinnamon toast!

Yes! We went to The Bodies exhibit, which is only here in Indy for a short time longer. This was by far the most interesting thing we did. Even though we were hesitant because it sounded like it might be gross, we both ended up really enjoying it. In fact, we both decided we’d like to see it again sometime. It was absolutely fascinating!! Understatement! We stopped and read every single piece of information and talked to the docents on several occasions. We even held the human brain at the end of the exhibit. We highly recommend it!

We climbed the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument at the downtown circle!! This was such a spontaneous thing (Kevin’s idea-so he gets the credit) and so much fun! As we were walking to the monument, we were stopped by a reporter from 93.1 WIBC and he interviewed us on stuff we were doing that weekend. Then he took this picture.

We rode the elevator to near the top and then climbed the last 48 steps, which got very narrow. Here is Kevin on the ascent.

View of the capitol building from the look-out deck.

Next we went ice skating! Here is Kevin, who is a natural. What fun winter recreation!

Afterwards we decided that we should bring Meredith sometime soon. After watching some other little kids, maybe she’s not too young after all … we’ll see.

We were FREEZING afterwards so we went to warm-up at Rock Bottom Brewery. It was very comforting to de-frost while watching the game. Were the pretzels really as amazing as we think they were … or were we just STARVING?

Next we went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which we agreed was thought-provoking and very interesting. We liked it. I think I will get the short story from the library and read it.

Here is a picture of our hotel room.

Here I am looking out our window—we had a great view of downtown.

Here we are at our little “planning” time. It was really nice to put stuff on paper. We want to try to be more intentional with how we live our lives and spend our time. We talked about everything—family goals, spiritual goals, career goals, and money goals. We already have it on our calendar to meet, review, and discuss this stuff again in January of 2010.

Of course, you don’t usually take kids to browse at Borders for “fun.” Usually you take them only when you absolutely have to. So it was nice to leisurely look at books together.

The last thing we did, before getting a late lunch, was take a tour of the new Central Library. Yes, Kevin posed for me only because I made him.

A special thanks to Kevin's parents for loving our kids and taking such good care of them while we were away--they made this weekend possible for sure.