A Day In Holiday Park, Indianapolis, Indiana

This week's travel post is part two of a series of our visit to see our grandchildren in Carmel, Indiana.  If you want to start at the beginning, go HERE. Other posts in chronological order are HERE!

While visiting my children and grandchildren in Indiana this past summer, we went to lots of parks.  One of the parks we visited was Holiday Park in Indianapolis.  This is such a beautiful, unique 94 acre park with a lush forest and a river that it's hard to believe it is located in a big city.

The most unique attraction of the park is "The Ruins".  In the 1950's, the St. Paul Building in New York City was torn down.  The building had three massive sculptures called "The Races of Man".  The owner held a competition among U.S. cities to submit plans for their display and preservation.  Indiana won the competition and was awarded "The Ruins".  

Here you can read more about the architect of the "The Ruins" and the history of the building.

In 2016 a children's water table, shimmer fountain, trees, and new gardens were added.  My grandchildren loved getting their feet wet in the water table while the older "kids" rested on the benches in the background.

Here are the three sculptures "The Races of Man".  To get a perspective of their size, my three year old granddaughter is walking in the children's water table in front.

I really thought this was a brilliant idea to preserve our architectural history.  I understand why old buildings may need to be torn down, but it always makes me so sad because we lose our history.  Keeping a piece of an old building alive in such a beautiful and creative way is amazing!

On the other side of "The Races of Man" is the shimmer fountain and gardens.

The flower beds surrounding the ruins are gorgeous.  There are also prairie and wildflower gardens on the grounds and over 1200 trees.

There are beautiful sculptures and other pieces of ancient architectural elements in the park too.

There is the"Rock Garden" near "The Ruins".  They are large tablets of stone with engravings on them.

After viewing the gardens and "The Ruins" we decided to go into the forest for a hike.  There are 3.5 miles of trails in the park.  They are densely wooded with natural springs and wetlands.  Hikers can also get a great view of the White River on the trails.

Our youngest grandchild wasn't walking yet when we visited Holiday Park, but the trails were good enough for a jogging stroller.  My husband did have to carry the stroller up the stairs at the end of our hike as all the trails lead down into a ravine.

The trail has some boardwalk in the wetter areas.

When we arrived at the base of the White River I could not believe I was in the middle of a city.  I felt I was back home in Wisconsin.  It was so quiet and peaceful.

The next two pictures show some of the stairs we had to encounter with a stroller .  It's not too bad if there are plenty around to give you a hand lifting.

After our hike we had a picnic lunch and then let the kids play on the playground.  I didn't get any pictures of the playground, but it is quite large and extensive.  The park also has a Nature Center, but it was closed when we were there due to Covid.  

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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Celebrating The Birthday "Boy": Coordinating Birthday Card and Gift Wrapping

Last month we celebrated my husbands birthday.  It falls around Christmas so the kids are usually here to have a little party for him.

I gave my husband a CD that he requested.  I know, it shows his age, but he is probably one of the last humans left on earth that still does not own a SmartPhone so he likes CDs to listen to in his car on the way to and from work.  

I made a card for his birthday and wrapped his present in white craft paper and I used the same ribbon on his gift that I did on his card.

To make his card I used an old embossing folder from Cuttlebug to create the background.  I then stamped an old image from Stampin' Up! and colored it in then cut it out using a Spellbinder's Circle Die.  I popped it up on a scalloped die cut to give it even more interest.  Then I wrapped some birthday ribbon around the card, placing the stamped circular image on top.

On the inside of the card I stamped a sentiment and colored in the candle.

The gift was wrapped in white Kraft paper, then tied with the same ribbon I used on the card.  I then created a tag by using my Spellbinder's Nestabilities once again and another Stampin' Up! stamp.  

And here are some photos of our little party.  Everything we do is for the grandkids, even the birthday parties for adults!  We get out the party hats, and paper horns and have a good ole time. Grandpa always acts super silly to the grandchildren's delight.

My daughter and son-in-law gave him three packages of his favorite cookies and a package of cheese curds.  I know, such big spenders we are!  But when you already have everything you need, what else do you need to give?

I just love Alethea's expressions in all these photos.  She seems so interested in all of Grandpa's presents!

 Have A Great Day! Amy

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Playgrounds and Parks In Carmel, Indiana

This week's travel post is part two of a series of our visit to see our grandchildren in Carmel, Indiana.  If you missed last week's travel post where we visited Coxhall Gardens, you can find it HERE.

This past summer we spent a week with our grandchildren in Carmel, Indiana.  We spent a good part of our week visiting an assortment of parks that the little ones would enjoy, but the adults found them just as much fun as the kids!

One of the best parks we went to was Central Park.  It is a 159 acre park that has six miles of trails that wind through native prairies, wetlands, and woodlands. It also has a fantastic futuristic playground called Westermeir Commons. This playground is nestled into a hill with 25,000 square feet of play space. It is wheelchair friendly so children with all abilities can enjoy it.  A colorful, soft outdoor safety carpet covers the entire play space.  

Below Alethea and I are playing "Airplane".  She loved running up and down the small hills.

The Commons area also offers a picnic area, outdoor classroom space, restrooms, an open meadow, a lagoon, and a boardwalk.

Like I said earlier, us big kids enjoyed playing on this playground as much as the little ones.  Below is my son flying in circles on one of the playgrounds equipment.

There is also a splash pad adjacent to the playground.  The splash pad is designed to match the nature surrounding it.  There are spray features and geysers resembling cattails, flowers, and animals.

After we played a bit, we headed out to check out the lagoon.  A beautiful, wide paved trail meanders through a meadow and alongside the lagoon.

A boardwalk takes you over the lagoon so you can get a closer look at all the waterfowl and cattails.

It is so fun to be walking on top of the water on the boardwalk.  We thought the bridge looked so pretty and interesting, we continue our hike to see what lay ahead.

This pretty photo was taken from the top of the bridge.

My family:  Ashley in the front, with her hubby and dad pushing Atticus in the stroller.  My son Jordan is standing on top of the bridge and Alethea is with him, but is too short to be seen.

Underneath the bridge...what a photographers dream, eh?  I have so many photos of Alethea following her Uncle Jordan from behind.  Such a cutie pie!

Another "park" we went to isn't a park at all, but just a fun spot in downtown Carmel.  It was our first night in Carmel and after a long eight hour drive we deciding to spend our evening taking a walk.  Downtown Carmel is only a short walk from my children's old apartment.  Here there are lots of posh restaurants and shops, but also plenty to entertain the kids too.  My husband and son enjoyed a game of ping pong while Alethea looked on.

Atticus enjoyed playing on the playground equipment.  What a handsome boy he is turning out to be!

My husband and I are not ones to sit on a park bench and watch the kids play.  We always get right in and join them!  I think the grandkids really enjoy having Grandma & Grandpa play on the equipment with them.

Alethea loves to climb and here she is right at the top!  I love the safety netting.

And finally, just a quick photo of Grandpa with his grandson.  This adorable picture was taken at my son-in-laws school.  Jason gave us a tour of his office and his school, and we stopped a bit to let the kids play on some equipment while we were there.

 Playgrounds have sure changed a lot since I was a kid.  "In my day" a playground consisted of a singular metal slide, some swings like the ones pictured above, monkey bars with concrete underneath, a seesaw, and maybe one of those spinning circular things if you were lucky.  Yet, I remember we loved it!  We never saw ourselves as disadvantaged and I don't remember anyone getting seriously hurt.  My have times changed!  I can't even imagine growing up with the playgrounds kids have today.  I wonder if they realize how spoiled they are?  😀

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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