Carmel Relay For Life Photos
Posted: June 8, 2012 Filed under: Doing Good | Tags: Carmel, indiana, Randy Clark, Relay For Life, Under The Radar 1 Comment »Last weekend, I got to photograph the Carmel Relay for life. Here are some of the photographs.
Crashing my friend Randy Clark and his band Under The Radar.
Steve Hill’s Skate Across Indiana
Posted: June 6, 2012 Filed under: Doing Good | Tags: Africa., AIDS, Christian World Outreach, CWO, endurance, EpiclySteve, indiana, Skate Across Indiana, Skateboarding, SkateIndiana, Steve Hill, Zambia, Zimbabwe Leave a comment »This Friday, my friend Steve Hill will attempt something that has never been done before. He is going to attempt to skateboard 160 miles across the state of Indiana to raise money to fight the AIDS epidemic in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Steve is planning on covering this amazing distance in two days. I learned about his endeavor on twitter and we met at the Monon Skate Park where he shared his story with me.
If you are in the Carmel/ Fisher Indiana area on Friday night, look up his location on Twitter. Steve is going to follow the RAIN ( Ride Across Indiana) bike route. Obviously, no highways and most of the street are skateable and allow for a slow moving support vehicle.
If you can donate to the Christian World Outreach(CWO), please visit Steve’s site.
If you’re on Twitter, follow him and show your support at @SkateIndiana and @EpiclySteve
Hot Wheels Exhibit at The Children’s Museum
Posted: May 30, 2012 Filed under: Family, Out and About | Tags: Bone Shaker, cars, family, Hot Wheels, indiana, Indianapolis., Kids, Larry Wood, sites, The Children's Museum Indianapolis, toys, Twin Mill Leave a comment »
Last week we visited The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to take the Little People to the new Hot Wheel’s exhibit. We were sure they would love it because their grandpa brings them Hot Wheel cars every time he comes over for a visit. I wasn’t sure it @GotChaBaby and I would because of all the cars we have stepped on in the dark. Come on parents, you know what I’m talking about. If it’s a small toy, you’ve stepped on it in the dark.
They have six full sized cars in the display area. All of these cars were either actual cars created into Hot Wheels cars or Hot Wheel cars fabricated into full sized cars. The centerpiece display is one of the cars designed by Hot Wheels Chief Designer, Larry Wood, called The Bone Shaker. It was cool to see this roofless vehicle with it’s skull grill because my kids have this car in their collection and I had one growing up as well. They also have a full sized version of the first Hot Wheels car that was made into a real automobile, the Twin Mill. We saw this car for the first time at the Indianapolis Speedway a couple years ago at the 35 th Anniversary Hot Wheels stop a couple years ago. Then, it was green, now it’s blue.
MaM took a liking to the exhibit right away. She loves cars. Her dream car is a sparkly blue Corvette The highlight for her was the twenty plus foot Hot Wheels ramp that had a loop in it. She figured out that she could line up ten cars and send them down the ramp at the same time. I caught her filling up her pockets with cars and waiting in line to send the cars on their way. She so liked the area that let her trace the parts of the car on paper. The museum had a similar display during the Barbie exhibit.
AfM liked the smaller track exhibits. He was happy to keep sending the cars down whatever ramp he was standing in front of, just going from ramp to ramp.
The workers in the area were really good with the kids and answered questions for the adults such as “How many cars do you think you’ll go through?” I was told that she wasn’t sure but it amount looks considerably less than what they started with that morning. GotChaBaby asked @TCMIndy the same question, via Twitter, and found out they started with 3000 cars. I wonder how many are left now?
The Hot Wheels For Real exhibit is at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis until January 27th, 2013. If you haven’t taken your kids there, you should, this is one of the best “hands-on” museums for little people.
@EpiclySteve Skateboards Across Indiana
Posted: May 29, 2012 Filed under: Doing Good, Out and About | Tags: Africa., charity, indiana, Skateboard, Steve Hill Leave a comment »On June 8th, a friend of mine will attempt something that has never been done before. Steve Hill is going to attempt to skateboard 160 miles across the state of Indiana to raise money to fight AIDS in Zimbabwe and Zambia. He will start on the Illinois/ Indiana border and head east towards Ohio following a route similar to the Ride Across Indian route. He told me that he hopes to hit Carmel by the evening of June 8th and hit the Ohio border by the following night.
If you can help Steve on this never been done before feat, please click here to donate.
Click here to follow his progress on Twitter @EpiclySteve
Thanks.
LKM
I Get To Be Part Of An INDY Car Pit Crew
Posted: May 23, 2012 Filed under: Out and About | Tags: IMS, indiana, Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis., INDY Car, Naptown Buzz, Pit Crew, School on Wheels Leave a comment »I am getting to do one of the coolest things ever. And I have been to two state fairs. I am part of a media pit crew for Community Day being held at the Indianapolis 500 race track. This is going to be legendary. Possibly EPIC.
I was asked to be on the team by NaptownBuzz with CS_INDY, and Lance. We are going to try and raise $5000 for School On Wheels ( @IndySOW on Twitter). School On Wheels helps kids, impacted by homelessness, keep their education on track. We are competing against eleven other local media teams.
If you want to drive your car on the track, enter off of 30th street. I did this last year, its pretty cool. A couple years ago, I got to drive on of the parade truck around the track for the Brickyard. Circling the 2.5 mile track is pretty cool.
I hope that we win the for School on Wheels.
Tour De Carmel Bike Ride
Posted: May 16, 2012 Filed under: Family, Out and About | Tags: activities, biking, Carmel, Carmel Cyclery, Carmel Pedals, cycling, Family fun, free, indiana, Kids, recreation, SoHo Cafe 2 Comments »
We have a new activity to keep the family busy on Thursday nights. The weekly bike ride in Carmel with Carmel Pedals( aka #TourDeThursdays). I gave it a test run to see if the routes were going to be family friendly before taking my family. I was happy to learn that the routes selected are based on the bike trail system that runs through Carmel, Indiana. I initially thought that we would be doing a large amount of riding on the Monon Trail system, instead we rode through Carmel.
This bike ride is a free, weekly biking event open to cyclists of all ages and skill levels. The ride was created by Bruce Kimball. He told me on the first ride that he wanted to start a low key bike ride that got people together to ride on the bike trails in Carmel. Bikers are not locked into doing the same trail as the group. If they want to break off and explore another trail, they are more than welcome to do so. Best part about the ride, no spandex required.
Last week, I brought my family on the ride. Yes, two little kids on a seven mile ride. I pulled The Fox who sat in the trailer and Michelle pulled The Monkey on the hitchhiker. The kids enjoyed it. We were on the road for about an hour and completed seven miles. We stopped half way at a fire department open house and to re-fuel. The week before, we didn’t stop and kept riding. You ride at your own pace. The pace of this rice is not extremely fast, it is leisurely. We road on bike trails except for when we drove through a residential area. We rode on low traffic side streets and crossed four roundabouts. This is something that becomes a little tricky when hauling a bike trailer. Not impossible, just a little tricky.
The family enjoyed our time together during the ride. Some of us, post to Twitter while we ride. This is a great low impact ride if you are new to biking or are looking for a low pressure ride in the evening. Afterwards, you can enjoy a beverage and the open mic night at SoHo Cafe.
For more information
Carmel Pedals on Twitter
Carmel Pedals on Facebook
Carmel Cyclery on Facebook
If you want to ride, head over to the SoHo Cafe in Carmel this Thursday night at 6:30pm
Dr. James A. Dillon Park – Our Visit Notes.
Posted: May 2, 2012 Filed under: Out and About | Tags: Dr. James A. Dillon Park, family visit, indiana, Nobelsville, Parks, play, Skateboarding Leave a comment »
The Dillon Skate Park
MaM and I have been hitting a new( to us) park up in Carmel, Nobelsville and/or Fishers. We have been hitting Dr. James A. Dillon Park. It is in one of those places. No one can tell me for sure what city 146th and Hazel Dell is. I have heard it is an intersection of these places.
MaM on the scooter.
MaM wanted to try a different skate park after hitting the skate park at the Monon Center one too many times. We found out about Dillon Park from another skater and decided to try it. It’s a very quiet park compared to the other ones we have visited. There have never been more than a couple of people. One difference that we noticed compared to the other skate parks is that there are more stunt/trick bikers here than at the other parks. The kids on the bikes travel a lot faster than the kids on the skateboards. We didn’t see this as a big deal, just something to be aware of while skating.
The Dillon Park playground
MaM really loved the playground part of the park as well. The playground is approximately a quarter mile north of the skate park. Easily within walking( or scootering) distance. This area is really under unitized as well. There is a lot of play space for the kids, but I have never seen more than four or five kids playing. The playground has lots of places for the kids to climb. We did have a little accident on our first visit. There is a strange see-saw type ride in the middle of the park. We experienced a small fall from it after MaM was trying to get off of this one. The only thing damaged was her pride. She walked it off. All the equipment look new and damage free. Overall, we are pleased to return to this park again.
There are two different entrances to the park. One for the skate park, enter off 146th just past the McDonald’s. The other is off of Hazel Dell, about a quarter mile north of Hazel Dell. If you happen to run into The Fox, please don’t mention Dillon Park, he has not been here yet.
Take Care,
LkM
The Dillon Park playground.
Running Tunnel
Posted: April 21, 2012 Filed under: Out and About | Tags: Fishers, indiana, Monon Trail Leave a comment »
Blog Post Topic I Never Thought I Would Ever Get To Write
Posted: April 19, 2012 Filed under: Out and About | Tags: chicken, class pets, Green Acres, indiana, indianapolis, rabbit, School, stolen chickens, theft 3 Comments »
M and I as American Urban Gothic
I have lived in Indiana for the past ten or so years. I grew up in Chicago. AKA The City
Recently, some chickens were stolen from my kids school. YES, SOME CHICKENS WERE STOLEN FROM MY KIDS SCHOOL. That is a phrase that I never thought I would type out, let alone say out loud. We got a letter from the school last weekend telling us about the situation. I wanted to post about it then because it was written in a way that made this incident extremely serious. But, like you, I really wanted to laugh and post it on the twitter. I decided not to. Until last night, when I got some more news from M. Then it seemed even more ridiculous.
I always ask about the class rabbit, Freckles T, Rabbit, and the chickens. Especially Hazel, because all the chickens are named Hazel. For the record, two chickens were missing and there was some blood found on the cage. For the record, Freckles was unharmed and is not considered a suspect.
The Coop with the missing chickens
Tonight, M told me “the rest of the story”. One chicken was left behind.(AKA Hazel) Unfortunately, the chicken left behind died this afternoon( RIP Hazel). Which is even funnier to me because Hazel is the color of my eyes, the name of my mom’s best friend, and the name of a friend who makes me laugh. thought that I would type. I am not sure what I find more humorous, the Chicken Man asking if an animal would have used a hammer to crack the lock and rip the door off the hen house or that some of the parents wanted to go question some people that live under a bridge near the school. I am leaning toward the Chicken Guy.
Don’t get me wrong, I love living in Indiana. However, as a city kid who didn’t see a live chicken until he was 23 years old, I think this is funny.
BTW, I am not a chicken hater. I HEART chicken. Also, the school named all three chickens Hazel. To me, all the chickens looked alike anyways. The more I thought about this incident and what the school told us, I started thinking that there must be a conspiracy! What else are these jokers trying to hide from us. Yes, there is only one word for this, Chicken Gate. (Which would be the second thing I typed in one night that I never( in two million years))
The Missing Chickens
We have a parent teacher conference at the school on Friday. If they read this post, they may ban me from the school or at least the chicken coop. If they haven’t, I am going to try and get something on video. Maybe a plea for the Chicken Murderers to come forward. I will do this while trying not to laugh. I plan on dropping the Chicken Gate line. I think I may have to pass on this conference because I know I will not be able to stop laughing.
Do you remember the show Green Acres, yeah, that’s me.
LKM
Indianapolis Sunset
Posted: April 16, 2012 Filed under: Photography | Tags: indiana, photo, sunset Leave a comment »
