Precious Family Time

Last week I got to see Becky & Marshall for the first time in about a year, and Dawn again!  My grandma Jackson is recovering from heart surgery (and doing well, thanks to God) so Marshall & Becky came down from Minnesota where they were with Becky's family, and Dawn came from Michigan, and we all crammed in my little studio apartment! :)  

It was so good to spend time with time with them and watch the Olympics and read late into the evening and laugh a lot.  We went to see the latest Pixar film, Wall-E (very sweet & fun & cautionary, but not in a Happy Feet kind of way :)  And while I was at work, they discovered our fabulous downtown library and Monument Circle, Indy's Civil War memorial, which is a passion of Becky's.  (Did you know Indy is second only to Washington DC in public memorials & monuments per capita?)  On Friday I took the day off and we went to the Indiana State Fair, a first for all of us, and worth the $8 admission (& free parking! who does that anymore??)  We saw 2 of the 30 white tigers in existence, Indiana raptors (the carnivorous birds, not the dinosaurs), and all kinds of great food and exhibits on pioneer life, farming and conservation.  Marshall even got to shoot an air rifle at the DNR's responsible hunting exhibit and never missed the target!  And of course we had to look at all the 4H exhibits and animals (Becky, for reasons passing understanding, flipped over the lamas - did you know you can dye their wool with Kool-Aid? :)  We ended the day by watching old-fashioned cart & horse showings - forgive me Jazlin, I have no idea what this is called!  But the horses & surrey wagons were gorgeous, even though we didn't have much luck picking the winner.

The only thing missing was Dad, working hard in California to get a promotion so they can move closer to the rest of us.  Love you Papa, and can't wait until we can do all this stuff for-real together! :)

P.S.  I unfortunately don't have photos because my camera is in the shop and Dawn's called in sick :(