2017 Catch Up - May

MAY 13 - Neta had what they called a Spark project at school. They were supposed to do some sort of service project, I think, or something within their neighborhood. Whatever it was, Neta decided she wanted to pick up trash on 9th Street on the underpass of the railroad track. She needed pictures to put on a poster, so I was the camera person and wheelbarrow pusher of filled up trash bags.

This part of the street is always a mess, often with stuff like mattresses, dumps of old clothes or furniture and we recently had a tub that sat there for a week or so. Neta did a good job and it looked so much better after about an hour of work. If we'd had more people and/or tools, we could have done more.

Under the bushes & thru the trash
to clean up 9th we go!

This is the flat part of the underpass
that collects the most trash.
Today, thankfully, nothing to large.

Our friend helped paint the designs;
sadly, others liked graffiti better.

All cleaned up!

Just a little help (helper) can go a long way to keeping things beautiful.

A wheel barrel full of trash;
Neta likes the smell. :) 

Today was also Mormon Prom, where the 16-18 year olds have a formal dance at one of the larger church buildings. Xela didn't really want to go this year (she had a great time last year) because she had a jazz concert during part of prom (required for a grade) and didn't want to have to go back and forth like she did last year.

Then, she was asked by one of her shyest friends and she couldn't say no. If it had been anyone else, she would have explained the situation and backed out, but not with Jacob (I think that's his name) because she knew how much courage it took for him to make the request.

Pining of the corsage...

...and then the boutineer.
(I know I've spelled that wrong)

Ready for Prom
(Xela in typical prom footwear)

I think this year, they went somewhere downtown, then went to her concert, where they got dinner from one of the food trucks on campus (which is where the concert was - a fundraiser for the school). Intermediate Jazz was almost last, so poor guy was in the warm spring sunshine for over an hour waiting for Xela to start and finish her gig, after which they headed up to the Fishers church building and participated in the rest of the dance. 

 MAY 27 - Memorial Day weekend, which, in Indianapolis, means Race Weekend, which means parade. Eric is not big on parades or frivolous wastes of time, but for some reason, I convinced him that me taking those that wanted to see the parade was okay. The boys wanted to go with me (I think parades are fun - part of my childhood memories) so we left shortly before it started, hoping to find someplace decent to see the goings on. 

Nate was a little excited about this parade because the racers of the Indy 500 are part of the parade and they sit on the pace cars for the race. There are also older versions of Indy 500 race cars that roll the "celebrities" past the onlookers. Nate loves the Indy 500 and was really hoping for a rain out so it would be on Monday so he could attend the race. No such luck this year, Buddy.

Anyway, we found decent seats, rather, places to stand, and I snapped some photos. 

Graigry had a turdy attitude;
Nate & I enjoyed ourselves

Guess what children's book character
came crawling up Meridian.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

The Penguins of Madagascar!

Thing One and Thing Two
Parade balloons are so fun!

We also saw the Mayor of Indianapolis, the racer (Nate would remember some of their names), the World's Largest Drum (Purdue University owns it), different cultures and flags from around the world, and military tributes. I love a parade, like I mentioned. Didn't want to sit around all morning on the hard cement curb for a front row seat, but this worked out well enough. Maybe I'll get to go again next year. :)

MAY 29 - Kayaking is one of our favorite family fun things to do and we took some time to go do that on the 29th. I didn't bring a plastic bag for my phone so I only took a few pictures of us getting ready to launch. The White River, in Broad Ripple, is where we can shove off for free, so we go there a few times in the summer or as long as the warm weather allows. 

Nate waiting permission to trade this ship
for the floating one. :)
OR
Maybe he was tired and/bored
because he had to double up with me
in a kayak instead of get his own.
(I can't remember - it's been too long)

MAY 31 - Pool time! We figured as long as we were burying ourselves in debt to finish one of the rentals, we might as well do something fun for ourselves, so it was time to fix and reopen the pool. I think it had been two, maybe three years since we had it up and running; it just sat there mocking us every summer. Not this year! It took some working, but Eric got it up and running for our summer enjoyment. 

All filled up with water and family

Aurora & Neta
splashing around in the summer sun