indiana with libby and lottie--children's museum

As soon as David recovered from his bout with Covid, it was time for us to take our granddaughter, Charlotte on her trip with the grandparents.  My desire has always been to take each of the littles on a specially designed excursion around the time they are eight or nine years old.  I took my own son on a cross-country trip when he was eight, and we had already taken our first grandson, Campbell on his trip.  My daughter recently wrote that she was raised “on the philosophy of road trips as THE DESTINATION.”   

Charlotte’s trip was to Indianapolis, my hometown.  Our first stop was the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.  Outside the museum there’s a sport center with hockey, golf, soccer, basketball, tennis, football and baseball.  We raced pedal cars and played a few holes of mini-golf.  Charlotte also showed off some of her soccer skills.  

We went back in time to the era of the dinosaurs and heard an actress portraying Mary Anning talk about her fossil findings on the southern coast of England.  We also “boarded” a plane for Greece where Charlotte worked in a taverna, preparing and serving food. 

We took a yarn-painting class, working on companion pieces, “Sun” and “Storm”.  We rode a carousel, attended a dance party and tried on fashions from bygone eras.  Charlotte’s favorite part of the museum was the mirror fun house.  She loved dancing and posing and making funny faces, seeing an infinitesimal number of Charlottes looking back at her. 

We called our vacation “Libby and Lottie’s Big Adventure (with Poppy Do Too!)”.  A family member started calling Charlotte “Lottie” during the reunion, and that was fine with her.  I told her that I had some friends a few years ago who called me “Libby” behind my back.  When I found out, I embraced the idea.  It’s fun to have an alter-ego.  For the week in Indianapolis, we wrote our own story, chronicling all we saw and experienced. 

I recently read that the colonial preacher, Jonathan Edwards was a nurturing father to eleven children.  He took each of them on trips, one at a time.  I’m tapping into that tradition with my own children and grandchildren, and loving every minute of it. 

Love, Liz aka Libby