My cousin Chris had a baby shower in Indianapolis this weekend, Saturday afternoon. We left from Chicago at 6:00 AM Saturday morning and met Mom, Dad, Tim, Lisa and Shawn at the Holiday Inn we stayed at. Mom and Dad were in the lobby when we got there, so we sat, talked, and caught up for a little bit. Tim, Lisa, and Shawn stopped by the lobby not long after that.

Sheri went up to the room to freshen up, and then the three of them drove to the shower. Tim, Dad, and I decided we wanted to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We took the 10 minute bus ride around the track, and then visited the racing museum. It was pretty interesting.

By the time we got done with the museum the baby shower was over. Mom and Dad drove to Chris and Jim's house to visit. Tim, Lisa, and Shawn went to get Tim a haircut and a couple of other errands. Sheri and I were running on five and four hours of sleep respectively, so we needed a nap.

When they got back from Tim's haircut, about an hour, we drove to Jim and Chris's house together. We hung out there for a little bit, and then convoyed about 20 of us to Buca di Beppo's. We were there for about three hours. Very enjoyable.

We went back to the hotel and I joined Mom, Dad, and Tim in a glass of wine (3 Buck Chuck!) that I picked up for them from Trader Joe's. Sheri had her heart set on swimming at the hotel, but we got back from dinner after the pool closed, and we didn't get up early enough for a morning swim.

This morning (Sunday) we met in the lobby during breakfast. Tim and Lisa had to leave early to pick up the dog from the kennel before they closed. We sat for a good while longer and talked with Mom and Dad in the lobby.

We said our good byes, checked out, and then went to a nearby mall, and Mom and Dad went to a Trader Joes in the area to see what it was all about. After we walked around the mall for a while we stopped in the food court for a soda. I thought I would call Mom and see what they thought of Trader Joes. They were in the same mall we were! They stopped by our table and we talked for another 30 minutes.

On the way back to Chicago we stopped at the Purdue University campus to pick up a t-shirt, see the campus, and have a little lunch. Neither of us had been there, and we enjoyed it.

Tim and Lisa gave me my birthday present early; a food dehydrator. Tim has the same model and made some really good beef jerky. I was excited to make my own jerky so we stopped at Meijer and picked up about three pounds of round steak ($2.30/pound) before we even got home. I was going to put it into the dehydrator tonight, but I decided not too in case it took longer than I expected to dry. I didn't want to be up until after midnight watching my jerky dry. Instead I sliced it into thin strips and put it in a simple marinade of teriyaki sauce and some liquid smoke. I will put it into the dehydrator tomorrow night when I get home from work.

I shot about 20 minutes of video in Indianapolis, and I have already uploaded it from the camcorder to my PC. I might start editing it tonight, but I won't be able to finish it tonight. Look for it to go up tomorrow (Monday) night.

Sheri is in the shower. I am going to unpack, brush my teeth, and then make some first stabs at editing the video.

Have a good week!