First stop, Heidi's place. Lily had lots of fun playing with Captain Keys, and we had some lunch and got to admire Heidi's spiffy new sofa. Next stop, TIS Bookstore, where I spent four good years of my life and made a lot of friends. We hadn't seen any of those folks in way too long, and it was fun to catch up and let everyone meet Lily. After that, we hit Monroe County Martial Arts where we caught up on what was going on with lots of our old Tae Kwon Do and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu friends. It's amazing how much changes in five years. Marriages, divorces, deaths, people off to college. There is something nice about getting to see people you haven't seen in a long time, to have them be excited about seeing you, to know that you are remembered fondly and missed.

All weekend we stayed with the ever hospitable Nick and April, and made twin unfortunate discoveries about our child. First, she is allergic to cats. Second, apparently all we need to keep her endlessly amused is a cat house.

The rest of the evening consisted of grilling hamburgers, drinking beer, and playing Heidi's Wii. This is one of the benefits of occasionally hanging out with childless friends–playing video games sans guilt.

Saturday we spent the morning in Indianapolis at the Children's Museum, which was just a blast. It is one of the largest in the world, and is considered among the best. It is completely and entirely designed around children, and has tons of stuff to do for kids under 5. We spent most of our time in "Playscape," which is a hands-on activity wonderland for the toddler set. Lily ran herself ragged playing with the water and sand tables, giant dollhouse, birdhouse slide, and other stuff. She was thrilled to see Martimus, the museum's stuffed polar bear, as Nick and April had given her a book about him for Christmas. She was a little afraid of the "Dinosphere," an IMAX theater that has been converted into an immersive dino environment, complete with dinosaur skeletons, sounds, sky simulation, and smells. She was fine with the dinosaur noises, but got frightened when the thunderstorm started. She thought we were really outside. Adam tried to explain that it was just a CD with storm noises, but now the way she tells it is "Daddy turned storm on. Too scary for Lily. We go back inside." Before leaving, we had time for a ride on the big carousel.

Next it was off to Broad Ripple, our old stomping ground, for lunch with Jamie and Susanne and littles Jordan and Claudia. We've known Jamie forever, but Susanne and her girls are a new addition and we had corresponded via email but never met in person. It was one of those situations where I met someone and felt like we already knew each other. Of course I always feel completely distracted during lunch conversation because I'm usually trying to keep Lily from choking on her grapes or running into the restaurant kitchen, but we had a really nice time and hung out a little bit longer, walking up the Monon by the canal to check out the ducks until rain started falling and Lily started falling apart. She was so beat that she was asleep by the time our car was out of the parking lot.

Saturday night was more of the same in Bloomington, including yummy, yummy pizza from Aver's, which we never get any more.

Sunday, we said our goodbyes to Nick and April, and headed out to McCormick's Creek State Park to go for a short hike and say our final goodbyes to Sophie. We used to do the .8 mile creekside hike all the time, and never thought much about it. But I discovered that scrambling over slippery, wet hunks of limestone is a little bit different with a 27-lb person strapped to your back. It was a good workout. I forgot how beautiful it is there. You almost forget you're in Indiana.

After our hike, it was brunch with old friends Brian and Maria, and their new baby. We had a very brief visit on our last trip to Bloomington, but had to make a hasty retreat when Lily started throwing up all over the place in their front hallway. (Unbeknownst to us, she was coming down with rotavirus, and picked a really choice moment to start the vomiting phase...)

Memorial Day was spent mostly at Home Depot and Menards, though we did end up going to a last-minute backyard barbecue. It was a wonderful, happy, packed-full weekend. Goodnight everyone.