Indy Pictures Posted

I have added an album to the Keller Family Fotocast of our trip to Indianapolis, including Conner Prairie, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Children's Museum, and DCI finals. If you're family/friends and need the password, just email us and we'll send it to you.

Olympic Fever

The kids - especially Maria - have been excited about the Olympics. Unfortunately they missed most of the Opening Ceremonies since we were in Indianapolis and returned to the hotel late, and we forgot to DVR it from home. But Maria has been watching some of the contests on TV, and Sam like his Mario and Sonic at the Olympics Wii game.

Right now they are out in the yard playing Olympics. Maria is Australia, Sam is China. And they set up "hurdles" in the driveway (bike helmets, bats, and other stuff they found in the garage), and are now throwing the javelin (jump rope with ball thing) in the front yard. I did have to break up an argument about rules, although they both agreed on the rules, and the fight was about Sam wanting to tell Maria the rules even though she already knew them.

I am just so glad they are doing something together today - they have been fighting all day, and they usually get along really well. Could be they are both tired - not only did we get home from vacation yesterday afternoon where they went to bed late every night, but last night we had to take Ben to the Emergency room and they didn't get to bed until almost 11:00 again. I think its time to go back to school - they are spending too much time together.

(Ben's fine now - just had an allergic reaction to something - the hives moved into his throat making it difficult to breathe. He had been having hives for days, and we don't know what he is reacting to, but they got much worse last night. In the hospital he received a breathing treatment and IV drugs and was able to come home a couple of hours later feeling much better. He continues on steroids and antihistamines for several days - and hopefully that will take care of it. Finding out what the reaction is to could be a long adventure.)

I'm hoping the kids get to watch some of the more exciting Olympic events soon. Problem is, they show those after their bedtime, usually. The badminton and water polo we watched this afternoon is just not the same.

Number Issues

In the car on the way back to hotel tonight.

Sam: Daddy, what is the fastest?
Ben: Fastest kind of car?
Sam: No fastest ride, like a motorcycle?
Ben: Probably an Indy car, they can go 240 miles per hour.
Sam: Wow, that is fast. That's almost a hundred.

Vacation Day 2

Wow, what a busy day. We started at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 9:00, so we could get a space on the 9:30 "Grounds Tour." They take a bus on the track, and stop at several places where you can get out and look and take pictures. I was surprised - it was actually very interesting. We stopped and walked around on the brick start/finish line, the media room, the press conference room, hospitality suites, and winner's podium. Ben and I enjoyed it, but the kids got bored off and on. Probably would have helped if they had ever watched any of the Indy 500, then they would have something to relate it to. They did mention Helio a few times - Maria likes him from his Dancing with the Stars victory.

After the tour we went to the Children's Museum, where we had lunch and then spent four hours at the many exhibits. It's the best children's museum I've been to, and the kids had a blast. We went to the Planetarium movie - a comparison of the fictional Star Wars planets to actual planets. The kids loved it - of course combining Star Wars and astronomy is heaven to Sam - two of his favorite things.

Then back to the hotel in the late afternoon for a swim. We decided on dinner at Cheesecake factory, a poor decision on my part since it was almost a half hour drive (we got caught in traffic due to the Indiana State Fair on our way) and the food wasn't event that great. Finally we're back at the hotel room trying to catch up with the Opening ceremonies, and the kids should be in bed in a few minutes. Having them take baths tonight prolonged bedtime even longer, but it had to be done. At least they can sleep in tomorrow.

Brickyard

Maria and Sam sitting where race car winners have press conference. Pretty cool tour.
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Poop?! in the Pool

So we were at the hotel pool and the kids were swimming. Everyone was content. Until I noticed a small group of teenagers leaving the pool area for what they thought was poop at the bottom of the pool. I looked at the area (the pool is made entirely of stainless steel), and saw a rust spot in the area they were talking about, so I thought it was no big deal. Maria and Sam had fled to the hot tub with the other kids, and I knew Ben was on his way down to swim, so I thought I would ask him to check it out when he got there, since I did not have my suit on the investigate further.

After I told Ben about the debate and he got in the pool, he agreed the spot was rust. So he and Maria and Sam swam for a little bit, then Ben noticed some stuff in the drain ledge, looked at me, and said "THIS could very well be poop."

So I went to the front desk to report it. Nothing brings the manager as quickly as the phrase "What looks like human feces in the pool." When he got there, he told Ben he thought it looked like mud. "See, there's rocks in it." Ben mentioned to me later that the manager was young enough that he probably didn't have kids, and that we've seen a lot more poop than he has. Then again, maybe they learn that in hotel manager school - "Always insist its mud, no matter what." Regardless, they closed the pool for a time and we left to go have dinner.

Now, 3 hours later, the pool is back open and Ben took the kids back down there. I just have this bad feeling that whenever I look in there, I'm going to see poop whether its there or not. It reminds me of Caddy Day at the Pool in the movie Caddyshack.

First Day

So far we are having a good first day. We arrived at Connor Prairie around 1:00 and spent over 2 hours experiencing the cultures from 1816, 1836, and 1886. Maria enjoyed herself and learned a lot - she especially liked the schoolhouses. Sam survived and continually asked "How many more buildings until we can go to the gift shop?". But we expected that. We are at hotel now. Kids are swimming.

Sam's Nintendo broke on the walk into hotel. He didn't drop it - it just finally gave out after almost 2 years of his being rough with it. The lid won't close anymore. Kind of made his reward Guitar Hero game that he got a few hour ago worthless, and he was VERY upset, so Ben went to get him a new one. Considered an early birthday present.
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Kids and Politics

This afternoon while watching TV, a McCain ad came on - the one with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, and they say something like, "Sure Obama's popular, but can he lead?" Then it goes on to point out some points of Obama's platform that Republicans aren't supposed to agree with. I wasn't really paying attention - Jon Stewart is my source of most election news, balanced by the Today show when I get up early enough. But apparently Maria was, because she asked why it was "endorsed by John McCain" when the ad was all about Obama. Good questions, and her first experience with negative campaigning. And it made me realize two things. One, how much more negative is this campaign going to seem as I witness it through the eyes of a curious 9-year-old, and two, how do I answer her questions while still trying to encourage her to make up her own mind.

And then I ask myself, if 9 year olds were capable of making their own decisions about the world and its leaders, wouldn't they be allowed to vote?

I guess I struggle with political discussions in general. It seems that most people only enjoy getting into political discussions if they are trying to change your mind. And so I would rather not discuss politics with most people. I have my beliefs, but don't feel the need to defend them to anyone else, or to convince others that they should believe what I believe. And I think this attitude has developed after living in an area where my beliefs are not popular. We have been here for 15 years, and it is a strong Republican county. And when you don't believe what most people around you believe, many of them try to convert you. And its much easier if I just leave that topic alone.

However, this is going to become more difficult as Maria enters 4th grade in the fall and this historic presidential election is studied. We've told Maria before that we are not Bush supporters, and given her some basic reasons when she asks (mainly that we don't like the direction the country is heading and we are ready for a change). But we don't go into it in extreme detail - it would bore her to tears at this age. And I also tell her that our opinion is different than most people around us, so that she should be aware of that when discussing these topics at school. I don't want to alarm her, but want her to be prepared for a possible attack when she supports Obama and everyone else in the class supports McCain. We've also impressed upon her that voting is a private matter, and no one has to know what she feels if she doesn't want them to.

I guess we are trying to walk the thin line of encouraging her to have her own opinion (even if it differs from ours), but also trying to teach her the values that we think are important.

So I guess I'll figure all of this out as it happens. During the last presidential election, Maria was 5 and Sam 2, so I didn't have to think about how a parent handles political discussions. It will be quite a learning experience, I'm sure.

On the Road Again

I'm happy to report that we are back to our family bike rides after a brief break due to band camp and then Maria's fall on Thursday. Last night we took a short ride to see how Maria's knee felt, and today we did another 4+ miles over to the bike trails at Walker Meadows and back. It was a slow ride coming back as we were all tired, but we made it.

In other news, I stopped at school today to pick up some PO's and stopped in my room. I was surprised to find out its in very good shape - the media people even returned all of my equipment that has to be turned in at the end of the year. Usually you spend at least an hour on the workday finding it, signing it out, getting it back to your room, making sure it works, etc. Everything was back, including the all important Smartboard and projector, which they will never guarantee you'll get back since there isn't enough for everyone. And it didn't feel too cold - usually my air conditioning is at about 60 degrees. I'm hoping all this means it will be a smooth start this year, but you can never tell.

Lazy Sunday

Our lives have been pretty hectic the last week. Ben has been at band camp, so the three of us tried to stay busy while he was gone. Since the three hour trip home from my parents' house on Wednesday, the kids and I have been very active. Its good, since busy kids are usually not causing trouble or complaining because they are "So bored!" But when we are constantly running the house shows it, and it was getting pretty bad around here, especially since we hadn't even had time to wash the huge amount of laundry that Ben brings back from camp.

Today we had nothing planned. After Ben returned Friday night, we were off to Tiffin for a family reunion Saturday morning and returned late the same afternoon. Last night was a fire at the Smith's, and we didn't get the kids to bed until 10:30. The kids were having so much fun playing Hide and Seek in the dark and playing with Sparklers we didn't see any need to get them home early. Its been nice not havig any activities planned for today, even though we do have some house work to do.

Unfortunately, Sam seems to have a pretty bad cold and is fairly miserable. We're hoping that it gets better before our trip to Indianaplolis on Thursday. And Maria's knee is doing much better - all scabbed over and healing well. She only limps sometimes now - its taken her some time to get used to that pulling feeling on her knee with the scab there. Hopefully Ben can get her bike aligned again and we will be going on our family rides again soon.