April 1, 2010 - Indianapolis, Indiana

Has it already been almost a week? Good grief how time flies.

We arrived in Indianapolis on Tuesday afternoon about 4pm, losing yet another hour as we move East. At least it will be the last one! We're staying with my mom's sister and her husband. When we lived in St. Louis a few years ago, we made a couple of visits here to meet up with my aunts and uncles, whom I haven't had the opportunity to spend much time with in the last 30 years or so.

There was a family gathering Tuesday night, so we got to see all my aunts and uncles as well as two of my four cousins. It was fun to watch the interaction between their kids and my aunts and uncles.

Caedmon had a bit of a time settling in here. Almost a week and a half in St. Louis had left him rather unprepared for another change of venue. Coupled with the extra numbers of people Tuesday night, he was a bit overwhelmed. But he worked through it well, we thought. The kids are entitled to a little meltdown here and there. They are incredibly resilient overall. Perhaps even more so than me, at times.

Wednesday my aunt took the kids & Gena to the Indianapolis Zoo while I took the opportunity to do a little work on the online classes I'm teaching. There are some cool photos that we'll be posting this weekend, God-willing.

Today was more laid back. We ran errands, picked up sandals for the kids and snacks for the long trip tomorrow. And it's going to be a long trip - 10 hours rather than the 8.5 hours I had originally estimated. To boot, there's a record heat wave right now - it was in the 80's here today, and it's projected to be in the 80's in Maryland for the next few days. We really weren't counting on warm weather so soon!

This leg of the trip will be completely new for Gena & I. We'll head straight east on I-70 most of the way - across all of Ohio, into Pennsylvania, then dipping down into West Virginia and continuing east through northern Maryland on I-68. We're excited about the newness, even as we try to brace ourselves for the long travel day. Our destination is Brunswick, MD. It's the home of Gena's youngest aunt and her husband, and also the home-for-the-moment of Gena's paternal grandmother. Should be a great visit!