More Indy Pics

Back to Indiana

Indianapolis has this amazing looking downtown, though we had no time to hang out there with our hectic traveling schedule, so it was all about the Indy Speedway. The Speedway, though cool, is in a pretty undesirable part of town.

Steve thinks you can tell rough parts of town by the fact that they have White Castle Burger or Popeye's Chicken restaurants. I made my judgement on an overall vibe, and the fact that when we called the Best Western 5 miles away and asked if they were the best place to stay for access to the Speedway, she said, "yes, come here. Do not stay by the Speedway. It is not safe!" Yikes!

The area was a lot better in the light of day. Following our everything-is-closed Taco Bell dinner the night before, and our tense Cracker Barrel why-is-Dell-screwing-with-us-and-should-we-get-a-divorce-over-it-or-just-eat-lots-of-applewood-smoked-bacon breakfast, we finally made our way to the famous Indianapolis Speedway.

Putting Dell aside, Steve was able to enjoy the historical site of lots of great car races, which made both he and Nathan happy, although Nathan was a bit miffed that he was only allowed to sit in one car. I was in a fat gram coma after my previous two meals, so Joey and I were just chillin'.

We took a shuttle tour of the speedway. This really sweet driver with a Southern drawl was accommodating and personable and hard not to like within the first 30 seconds we met her, so we were shocked when one of her co-workers starting yelling at her as we were getting in the van, and snarled, "you need to get it in your head that I'M your boss!!!!"

She was visibly shaken, but kept her smile and said, "sorry you folks had to see that. Now, let's get on with the tour."

Towards the end, Steve brought it back up again. "Was that your boss?" he asked.

"Oh, no," she said with a smile. "He's just a coworker. Again, I'm really sorry that he had to do that in front of ya'll."

Steve, good, fair manager that he is by trade, and especially considering the fact that he had to deal with a temper-tantrum throwing co-worker at his last job, took it upon himself to speak with the driver's manager and let her know about the incident. She was thrilled that he came forward. Looked like they were trying to create a file on Mr. Boss Man, who we confirmed was definitely not our driver's boss, and Steve's coming forward seemed to be what they were looking for - an eyewitness account from an outside party. Of course, we don't know the full story, but we know that our gal was gracious and professional and her coworker was just the opposite. After Steve gave his statement, they gave him free tickets to the museum we had just finished looking through for the last two hours. Ah well...

That was most of the excitement in Indianapolis. We got our fill of the track and museum and then headed on our way to Bowling Green, KY for more car-centric fun!

Preschool Blues

I interrupt the Indiana program to give you this brief diatribe that is psychologically necessary to get through the next hour or so.

Why, do you ask, in the world, would I be eating stale Cheez Doodles at 10:30 in the morning? Because Nathan started preschool on Monday, and we're both having a very hard time with it.

Monday wasn't bad. He cried for about 7 minutes and then was fine. I know the exact amount of time that he cried because the preschool is right next door to us, and I could hear him gasping and sputtering inconsolably, and I had to stop myself from going over and taking him back home about 112 times in that 7 minutes.

Having the preschool next door is a great convenience, but I didn't think about the fact that I can hear the kids from my living room. Monday's first 7 minutes were sheer torture, but then it was over, and I went on with my morning and hung out with Joey and when I picked Nathan up, he was happy, and had projects to show me, and all was well. Ah, maybe this wasn't going to be so hard after all.

Then, this morning came - day two for him, as he's going Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He opened his eyes and said, sleepily, "I don't want to get out of bed." He's NEVER said that. He's always ready to go when he wakes up.

So I said, "come on. Let's go have some breakfast!"

To which he replied, "and then we'll go back to bed?"

Now I knew I was in for it. The next half hour was basically him crying in his cheerios, literally, about how he didn't want to go to school. He even went so far as to tell me, "daddy said if I don't wanna go, I don't have to!" (Needless to say, Nathan was a fibbin' on that one!)

Miss Lisa, the teacher, had to pry Nathan off my leg, and I had to walk away from him as he screamed and cried hysterically.

So, now, I sit here and think, gee, I've been told parenting is hard, and it's frustrating, and it's rewarding, and it's all these things, but no one ever highlighted how painful it can be. The responsibility - ay ay ay. And I'm not talking about life or death responsibility. That's a whole other ball of wax that led me straight down a fast path to Zoloft.

I'm talking about the responsibility for the psychological damage. If I didn't send him to preschool, he'd surely have a harder time adjusting in elementary school, and then when he's a 30-year-old, unmarried, shy nerd living at home with us, he could curse me for not pushing him harder when he was small.

But by pushing him now, causing such tumult in his little being, maybe he'll come home in his late teens with a pierced forehead and a tatoo on his chest that says "Mom Sucks" with a knife through it, and introduce me to his girlfriend and his boyfriend, saying "we're polyamorous. Get with the program," while a gray haired Steve and I try to be hip and down with whatever the kids are doing these days, all the while wanting to go back in time and never have sent him to that darn preschool when he was 3 1/2!

I'm thinking too much, per usual, and the snacks are not numbing the pain, but rather just making me feel a little sick. Where does this emotional eating come from? Oh, yeah - Children's Corner Nursery School. I was four. They made me eat all of my food that was covered in gravy the consistency of snot before I could have a drink. I hated that place. And now I have a tattoo. It's a black cat on my ankle - nothing against my parents, but they hate it as much as I hated Children's Corner.

On the bright side, I still adore and respect my parents, and always have and always will, so I guess that's what I'll have to hold onto. This whole parenthood thing is nothing but a big your damned if you do and your damned if you don't, huh? In the end I guess you just have to hope that your kids know you're doing your best and don't hold too much against you when they inevitably rebel.

But I'll be damned if I'd give it up for even a second, of course.

This is just the beginning, Jen. Just the tiniest tip of the iceberg. Get ready!

Better go stock up on Cheez Doodles. And cookie dough. Yeah, there was some cookie dough involved. Did I leave that part out?

Indianapolis

So, we headed out of St. Louis after rushing back to grab the cats and barely making it for our super late checkout, following the great time at the arch, and made an afternoon drive to Indianapolis, IN. This was a little out of our way, but seeing the Speedway was on Steve's wishlist.

Unfortunately, it was at this point that Dell had held onto our money for the laptop computer order we'd canceled for about a week and a half, and since we were fronting a lot of our travel expenses before getting reimbursed by Steve's new company, things were getting a little scary. So much of Steve's good time was marred by multiple phone calls to Dell's frustrating customer service call center in India.

Though this guy isn't from India, it was a bit like this video on You Tube, but imagine each of us calling about 50 times a piece over the course of a few days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bF5bVi5wKQ

We wanted to show Nathan a good time, so we decided to take him to Chuck E. Cheese, a new obsession of his. It was definitely late, but we didn't realize that we had crossed another time zone that evening, and were informed that the pizza chef had already gone home and they were closing in 15 minutes. Nathan was pretty disappointed, so we at least let him play a few games.

Arch Tram Video

Inside the Arch

So, we bade adieu to David and Jason, and headed back to the St. Louis Arch visitor's center so we could board our 1:30 "tram" to the top.

This so called "tram" is actually an uber white, antiseptic looking, teeny-tiny little enclosed room - more elevator than tram. For someone that has a strong case of claustrophobia, this would've been a no go. My fight or flight reflexes tend to cofound the me and go regarding small spaces, but I wouldn't dare say that I'm fully claustro.

I had a tiny twinge of anxiety as I entered, but I was able to go zen and get through it. It was worth it for the view at the top.

This was the family favorite as far as sightseeing. We were all in great moods and arch experience really interesting and fun!

Pre Arch Lunch

We didn't realize that when you buy your tickets to go up in the arch, they give you the next available time window. Unfortunately, Jason and David had some other plans, so they weren't able to stick around for the 1:30pm tram time, but they were able to join us for a quick lunch, and we all enjoyed the company of both of them ever so much.

David made sure to order the toasted ravioli for the table as an appetizer. It's another St. Louis local thing and it was yummy!

The St. Louis Arch

What a pleasant surprise the St. Louis Arch was. All four of us Longs love, love, loved it. If you are ever in that area, go. In spite of being such a tourist attraction, it's just dang cool.

St. Louis - Dinner at Sage

David and Jason picked a nice restaurant for us to go to. It might have been a tad less kid friendly than we wanted, and the service was just a little slow, so there was a lot of tap dancing on Steve and I's part to keep the boys in check.

It was at this point that Nathan's behavior piqued at the absolute worst it has ever been - screaming, saying bad words, harassing Joey, and generally testing us. Looking back, he was just plum tired of traveling. We were expecting an awful lot of those boys, with really long days of driving. He'd get to a hotel and just be bouncing off the walls, and we'd have short fuses from the travel ourselves, so we probably didn't always parent with patience and poise.

Steve's reaction tended to be "this isn't fun and I just wish we were there already." Mine was more Griswoldian. "Hey, guys, we're probably never going to see this ball of twine again, so let's enjoy it, dammit!!"

Well, though our hotel in St. Louis was probably the nicest we had on the entire trip - a Marriott Residence Inn with a kitchen, king bed and pull out sofa, that was super clean and had parking right outside the door of our room - Steve had absolutely had it. He was so over Nathan's outbursts and insolence that he was seriously threatening to forgo dinner and stay at the hotel with Nathan as a punishment.

I was looking forward to David seeing my kids, since he moved away to St. Louis right about the time I was pregnant with Nathan, and had only been back to California a couple of times, I wasn't incredibly keen on Steve's plan. I was also in the throes of a bad cold, and so I was barely holding it together myself. Eventually, I talked Steve into giving Nathan one more chance, and so, under the impetus that if he misbehaved even once, Steve would take him out to the car, we made our way to David's place.

You saw the video of David, and how he made up for his shirtless-not-readiness with drinks and snacks and his usual amusingness, including a nude mannequin in his bedroom and a new wardrobe hanging to dry in his basement that consisted entirely of black t-shirts. It was just great to see my old gay boyfriend. It felt like old times, immediately.

We had a fair amount of trouble finding the restaurant, but we made it for our 7pm reservation. I enjoyed a glass or two of wine, Steve had a couple of beers, David dirty martinied, per usual, and still asks for a side of extra olives. I ordered the trio of sliders - burger, pork and chicken. Steve had a filet mignon, and David enjoyed the plank cooked salmon. I can't remember what everyone else had, and it would probably be a bit creepy if I did.

Anyway, we had a nice time, so much so, that David and Jason decided to join us the next morning for our most touristy endeavor on the trip, thus far - The Arch.

Back to St. Louis

Okay, so let's travel back in time about a month to my arrival in St. Louis. We went there with the main goal to see my good friend and former hairdresser (the best I've ever had!), and general little-brother-like pain-in-my-a** but cute-as-a-button gay boyfriend David.

Here's some David for you. I can't explain why he greeted us shirtless, but what a great host!! He surprised us with a choice of wine, beer, various sodas and juices that were all local, and went to the trouble of buying an age appropriate sippy cup for each of our boys. (Come to think of it, maybe he meant those for Steve and I...hmmmm....)