Life from my view

I still can't believe this is my life.

1. Hot husband.
2. Adorable girl with curls.
3. IKEA light fixture.
   

Our little Ansel

This weekend, we had a mini roadtrip to the IKEA in West Chester, Ohio. If you live in Indy, you must do this trip at some point.

It's a super easy drive (exactly two hours from leaving our house) and, well, there's an IKEA at the end of the road. Need I say more?

Recently, Madeline has been very interested in taking pictures herself. On the very rare occasions that I actually have our camera out, she wants to snap some and when I take pictures with my phone (much more frequently), she wants in on the action too.

On our way home, she entertained herself by taking photo after photo (and accidentally calling a couple speed-dials).

It entertained us too to see the trip from her car seat perspective.

open road

classic shot of Mommy with a McDonald's diet Coke (I'm sure when she looks back on her childhood, she will remember me with a red and white Styrofoam cup in hand)

classic shot of Daddy being over-the-top goofy

her view

Uncle Greg's truck driving next to us

Sprouts

They're a beautiful thing.


My daughter in mismatched, muddy outdoor clothes is pretty beautiful too.

Nap Time in Naptown: ARTSPARK

Now that warm and beautiful weather is finally here, it's time for our family to go outside for outings and dinners.

On summer evenings, we love to bring a picnic dinner and fishing poles to ARTSPARK, the open-air studio at the Indianapolis Art Center.

It's got a bit of everything.

Art. Nature.

Sunny lawn. Shady benches.
Sculptures. Fishing.
White River. The Monon.

Finally, my personal favorite:

Clean, indoor restrooms.

In my opinion, that perk alone makes it better than any other outdoor space in Indianapolis because your experience will not be haunted by a nasty toilet with blue plastic walls.

Just like the Art Center, ARTSPARK is totally free and open dawn to dusk. There's plenty of free parking but if you're up for a bike ride, ARTSPARK is right off the Monon and has funky bike racks. (Of course.)

And if you're really adventurous and equipped with a canoe or kayak, there's a canoe launch to White River just for you.

There are interactive sculptures throughout the grounds, including the Twisted House which is Madeline's favorite.

I could show you a gorgeous, glossy photo of the grounds and art to convince you to take your family there.

Or I could show a photo of Madeline clearly loving ARTSPARK with smeared Arby's on her face and watching her daddy fish by the canoe launch.

I think this one is more convincing.

The glitzy-er, the better

I used to be hesitant to say that Madeline is super-girly because I didn't want to pigeonhole her in case her interests changed and she became the neighborhood tomboy who ran around with a dirt-smudged face and a ripped baseball cap.

But I was just thinking about that way too much because, honestly, who can pigeonhole a 2-year-old if her interests change when she's 3 or 8?

The truth is that right now she is obsessed with anything pink and glittery.

She loves jewelry and painted nails with the passion of 1000 burning suns.

She will wear satin, black velvet and my four-inch heels even if no one else in the world will see her except me and Mickey the Fish.

She needs make-up (aka my lip gloss) to be applied 4,592 times a day.

If her interests change in a matter of months or years and all this girliness is left in the tomboy dust, I'm perfectly fine with that.

Because I'll have photographic evidence that the glam stage did exist at one time and that she and I both loved it.

Madeline + TJ Maxx shoe aisle = this kid's dream date

Bring it on, Summer

Last week, Madeline was constantly covered in dirt from helping Daddy plant our vegetable garden and is sporting skinned knees and bruised shins from playing at the park and going on full-body contact walks.

Bring it on, Summer. We're ready for you.