Indiana trip: Part III: The fun

I never really finished documenting our trip to Indiana last month, and in fact I'm not sure I've posted any pictures since then. After spending a couple of days at Ben's parents' house, Darcy (G-ma), Eli, Julie, and I drove up to Indianapolis, where Ben was attending a conference for work. We stayed overnight with him at his hotel, then went to a museum the next day, while he was finishing. We went to the Indiana State Museum.

This monument was in the main lobby of the museum, stretching up three stories.
Since Darcy homeschools Eli, this was definitely a school day for him. It was a fun one, though. There were several exhibits to see. The primary reason we chose this place to spend our day was because of the traveling chocolate exhibit (which I'd actually already seen in Cleveland with my mom). They also had a Girl Scouts exhibit (really small) that wasn't due to open up yet for another two weeks, but they happened to be opening early -- the very day we were there, in fact! I was excited because, having been a Girl Scout for 13 years, I was bummed out that it looked like I was going to miss it. Turns out I didn't have to.

There was also state history from initial settlement to present day. The most enjoyable to Eli (and perhaps the most educational) was the exhibit he and Darcy went through after Ben, Julie, and I headed for home. It was the Birth of Earth exhibit -- all about natural and earth science.

Julie was a trooper all day long. She'd been so thrown off in her schedule the whole weekend, and it only took her one or two days to recuperate after we got home. Here she is just chillin' out in her stroller:

This was the gorgeous view looking out of the museum. This is the front of the museum:

And this is looking out the back side of the museum, toward downtown Indianapolis. That's the capitol building in the middle of the photo. The cranes were part of an exhibit inside.