Visit to the actual brickyard!

Today was a full day of being a tourist!  One thing that was high on Olivier's list was to visit the speedway and we got to do a very slow lap on the track.  They also stopped at the bricks and allowed us to take photos.  

We also got to "kiss" the brick like the winners do!  

They have engraved bricks for the four who have won four times!  

Olivier wanted some solo photos too!  

Where they wave the flags.  

After lunch we went to the children's museum.  It was nice to check things out.  They had a lot of fun exhibits and we learned a lot about the mission to the moon.  

In the center of the museum they have a very cool glass sculpture!  

And in their pop culture exhibit they had a Taylor Swift outfit!  

There was a fun mirror maze and Anna got this fun photo!

And to close out the photos from the day, there was a car on exhibit that Olivier was very happy to be able to sit in!  

 

 

Indianapolis Brickyard Battle - Day 3!

Today was a morning day so it was a busy morning!  The first game started at 8 a.m. and the boys were sleepy heads which made us all very nervous to watch...  After losing the first set, they woke up and got a solid second set win and won the third set!  Great news since today is elimination day!  That moves them on to the next round of play!  The team they played against tied for 21st out of 32 teams.  

They had a break which didn't end up working out for them because they really lost their momentum.  The team they lost two ended up ranked right above them in the standings.  

After the game we headed to Matt's aunt and uncle's house where we got to visit with them as well as the aunt and uncle from Michigan.  It was nice to get to visit with them and it has been a long time since we have seen them!  

Indianapolis Brickyard Battle - Day 2!

We used this morning to do a little site seeing.  Unfortunately the capital building was closed but we were able to climb the twenty flights of stair in the soldiers and sailers monument and get a great view of the city.  

This is a few flights up!

And here is the view of the capital from the top!  And the blue mirrored building is our hotel!  

We also saw this but I am not sure what this was!  I can't seem to find any information.  

We also walked through the Indiana War Memorial Museum.  It was very interesting and had a beautiful amphitheater in the building.  

The first game of the day was similar to yesterdays second game, they had a great first set but seemed to struggle in the second.  (One update - this is the team we ended up tied with for 19th out of 32 teams at the end of the tournament.)  

One cool bonus from today, Matt's aunts and uncles live in the area and had gone to the football game and came over to see their second game of the day.  They were super tired and I have a funny photo showing that but I won't share!  One of Matt's aunt got a couple good photos from today too!  

They brought some positive vibes and Mason's team won their game!  They took it to the third set and kept their focus for the win!  (Update - this team ended up a few ranks below Mason's team, 25th, out of the 32 teams in their pool.)

And although they were hungry (literally, it was past dinner time!), they kept their focus and pulled off a strong win!  Funny enough, this team was also called Flight Academy which is why our team was called FAV for this tournament (Flight Academy Volleyball).  (Update - this team was tied for the bottom of their pool.)

After the game they took a photo in front of the banner and were feeling positive about their effort.  

Indianapolis Brickyard Battle - Day 1!

Yesterday we made the trek to Indianapolis for Mason to participate in the Indianapolis Volleyball Brickyard Battle that starts today.  Travel went well but traveling is always so tiring!  But thankfully Mason's team was in the afternoon wave of teams so we got a little more sleep.  

Before the first game we explored the giant convention center a bit and saw this funny mirror frame that took a photo of us.  

And this gives you an idea of how crazy it was!  There were 84 courts going at a time!  Today Mason's team played on court 77.  

They played three games.  They lost their first game and struggled to find their groove.  (One follow up update - this team ended up tied for fifth in their pool of 32 teams.  It was tough but good to see it was a great team in the end.)  They then had a break for an hour, then they reffed a game.  While they reffed we walked around and we saw the Detroit Lions arriving for their football game tomorrow at the stadium next to the convention center.  Here is some of the buses.  The police were closing the streets as they were arriving.  

We did some exploring of the hotel and this is a view from the top floor of the convention center (building at the bottom left with the black roof), the football field, and the minor league baseball stadium (on the bottom right).  Busy area!  

And as you can imagine, all those volleyball players had the hotel a bit nervous!  This is one of the signs they posted!  Thankfully I don't think this happened! 

Their second game they had a great first set but were still struggling to find their groove in the second set.  (One follow up update - this team ended up second out of 32 teams in their pool!  Great work for our team to get close in the first set!) 

Their third game they started finding their groove, getting close on the first set, winning the second set and falling short in the third.  (One update - in the end Mason's team ended up finishing higher in the pool bracket that this team!) Getting some momentum made it a plus for the end of the day.  

Celebrating Corbyn's Birthday!

Today we managed to get schedules to align and get together to celebrate Corbyn's 10th birthday!  It is always nice to see this group of eight cousins enjoying time together!  

 

Another year wiser!

This week we had a lot of birthday celebrations!  It has been a bit mixed with all the other activities but we still worked to celebrate!  On Monday we had Mason's birthday dinner choice because he had practice on his birthday.  And we gave them their gift on Monday.  Not a surprise but they didn't mind getting their gift early!  :-)

And I wanted to see how much they are growing, or I should say how much I feel like I am shrinking!  Olivier is just shy of 6' and Mason is just shy of 6' 2".  Shesh!  

Thankfully they are good sports and put up with sharing a birthday week with me!  

On Monday the cats were enjoying being in the blanket we have on a chair.  For some reason Star sat up and was staring at me; she looked so silly with the tassel on her head I had to take a photo.  

And not all that much later, Luna decided to take over Star's spot and did the same thing!  Weird!  

On Saturday we enjoyed having a normal day, and Anna even got a ride in!  She was on a horse she has never ridden before and did a great job!  

We went out for dinner since we had such a disjointed week and it was nice to spend the evening together!  

More volleyball!

This weekend Mason had the last of the volleyball tournaments in the northern part of the state.  They started with three games on Saturday and really started humming!  

On Sunday they ended up with a very weird schedule which had them playing basically all through lunch and it showed during their third game  They kept pushing and all the parents are proud of the work they did all weekend!

Now there are three more travel trips before the school season kicks off!