Air Force Museum

We drove north about 30 minutes on the first day of our vacation to the Air Force Museum in Dayton.  We had been once before but not on a family day so we decided to check it out.  

The last time we went was in the winter so we didn't go outside to see the planes, but that day we decided to trudge through the rain to see them.

 I just think this picture of Ella is funny

 The kids all liked this plane the best...I think it's nicknamed a snoopy-nosed plane.

 On family day they have a bunch of different booths set up to demonstrate scientific principles that apply to flight or space travel.  (I especially loved that the kids were learning without realizing it!)  This booth was about buoyancy.  The kids had to try to fill film canisters with different things and make them just the right weight so they would stay suspended in the middle of the water.  They use this principle in astronaut training because they do a lot of training for space walks in a giant pool at the Kennedy Space Center.

We also lucked out on this day.  Astronaut Michael Foreman was there along with some others from NASA.  He has been to the International Space Station twice, so he showed a film presentation and talked about his experience.  It was really fun to listen to.  NASA had also set up extra exhibits.   My kids really liked one about the vacuum of space.  Different things like marshmallows and Mountain Dew were put in a vacuum chamber to see what would happen. 

We had a great time and it was a great start to our vacation! 

Ella's date with Mom

We have been out of town at a lovely family reunion so I have a little bit of catching up to do!

Just before we left, it was Ella's turn for her date with Marc and I.  Marc was again unable to come because of surgery.  Ella REALLY wanted to go to King's Island (an amusement park) for the afternoon, but the weather did not cooperate...not really surprising!  So we tossed around a couple of ideas and finally settled on lunch and pedicures.  

She chose McDonald's for lunch which I really didn't mind, for two reasons.

1.  I actually really like their southwest salad.  The dressing is great.

2.  This girl is very nearly vegetarian.  She does not like meat.  She does like McDonald's chicken nuggets so by going there we get a little protein into her!  I think she may stop eating those too though because she asked me how they cook them and I told her.  the truth!

Ella wasn't sure she wanted to get a pedicure.   She asked me what they do to entertain you while they do your toes.  I told her I usually watch them or read.  She was fascinated and the guy who did her toes was pretty funny.  I don't think this will be the last time we do this together.

First week of summer vacation...

I am determined to ensure that my kids have a fun summer.  I am trying not to hear too many, "I'm boreds!"  But it may be the end of me.  I am exhausted after the first week of summer!  Here are the highlights.

Often I don't venture out with the kids as much as I should because it is a bit difficult with Rylee.  Sarah is speedy and always runs ahead and Mary is like molasses in winter.  The girl just mosies along.  I have hired a few of the young women from church to help me a couple of days a week so that I have an extra set of eyes watching the wanderings of my children.

Monday, we had Emilee help us and we went to a new park, had a picnic and played.  The park had a cute little manmade stream that the kids walked in.  They actually really liked it.  Then we walked around the lake a bit and found a frog, a turtle and lots of snails.  I either forgot the camera or just failed to take pictures.   After dinner, we spent a lovely evening at King's Island.

Tuesday, we went and bought Tanner a new bike and then met friends at our neighborhood pool to swim.

Wednesday, we had Brianne here to help us, so I went to the gym in the morning while the little girls went to a beach party at the kid's korner there.   Marc usually only works 1/2 day on Wednesdays so I thought that would be perfect to take each child out for some time with mom and dad.  Marc has been really busy at work though and has had to put surgeries on Wednesday afternoons.  Good for the paycheck but not so good for dates!  Tanner decided he wanted to go paddle boating and out for ice cream, so we did.  We lots of fun.  But I forgot the camera again.

Thursday was lunch with the cousins.  We packed a picnic and headed to another new park with a wet playground.  It was really crowded and the kids didn't last long.

 Friday we had to take the van in to have the AC checked out before our upcoming trip north, so we were stuck at home all day.  Tanner and Ella are trying to earn money to buy ipod touches!  They are always asking me for jobs they can do for money.  So, since we were stuck at home, I made them a list and they were my little worker bees.  They cleaned out drawers, vacuumed, watered the flowers and garden, brought down the laundry baskets, helped organize toys in the garage and organized all their school papers from the last two years. It felt like a really productive day and they each earned a little money.  Tanner even said, "Wow, this day went by fast!"  After we were done working we headed to the pool for an hour where Mary again launched herself into the big pool without her floaties.  Tanner jumped in to rescue her!

 This is the stack of papers that the kids threw away...

 Saturday, our HOA had invited families to come and help remulch the playground area.  They were able to save $1500 by spreading it ourselves.  So we dragged our not-too-enthusiastic kids up there with our rakes and shovels and helped out.  There are about 210 houses in our neighborhood and I think there were about 6 families represented.  Four of them were HOA board members.  Sad. 

Now it is Sunday and I am looking forward to a much needed day of rest!  I may have to scale it back a bit next week!

I guess we must have had a pretty good first day of summer vacation yesterday.  It is 9:05 as I start this and Rylee is the only child awake!  This is practically unprecedented around here.  I forgot my camera so I have no pictures but we stayed really busy and it was super hot, which I think made for some tired kids!

But this post is not about yesterday.  It is about our weekend.  Marc was busy helping my brother move and helping from some tornado cleanup.  There was a tornado that hopped around about 5 minutes from here and blew down a lot of trees.  Some men from church went over with their chainsaws to help clear some of that debris.  Meanwhile, the kids and I did a little running around.

First stop was at the school.  Yes, the day after the last day of school, I took them back to the school to help the art teacher.  Every year, all the art classes get to work on a mosaic project that then gets hung somewhere in the school.  I'm not sure how long they have been doing this, but there are lots of tile pictures hanging around.  The art teacher needed help with the grouting so we went over.  Tanner actually didn't want to go and ended up enjoying it the most! 

 After the school, we headed over to grandma's house so Tanner could water her garden. Grandma and Grandpa were in Nevada for the high school graduation of their two oldest grandchildren, Haley and Jordan.  We had monsoon season for two solid months and now we have had a week and a half of 85+ degree heat and no rain.  Southern Ohio weather is the pits.  (I will admit to having longings for Utah weather)

 After Marc got home we went to Kings Island to use our season passes for the first time.  The kids had lots of fun.  Mary is especially fun because she is tall enough to get on some of the rides, but doesn't know enough to be scared!

 9:29 and I think everyone is awake..time to started on day 2

Last week of school!!!

Every year for his end-of-the-year party, Mr Hill takes his class to the park for a day of playing and lunch.    This is the second year I got to help put this thing together and the kids had a great time.  We have finally exited monsoon season and the weather was perfect.  I didn't snap a lot of pictures, since we were busy with other things, but I got a few of Ella and her good friends.

 Ella and Sammy

Ella and Marilyn 

 Last Thursday morning, we went to the school early for a breakfast with the other kids in the gifted program.  This is Tanner with one of the gifted teachers, Mrs. Hartsock.  I honestly cannot say enough good things about this woman.  She has made such a difference for Tanner.  She is such a gift to our family and to the school...such a GREAT teacher.

 Last year I made a finish line for the kids for the last day of school and they recently reminded me of that, so I repeated it again this year.  I made a video of them running through it but it took them longer than I thought it would to get off the bus.  That video is a bit long and boring and I won't add it here!

 And for a final treat some fruit and melted chocolate.  

Summer is here and I am SO excited.  We have a long to-do list.

Miscellaneous pics I haven't blogged

I made these cupcakes for April Fool's Day.  My kids actually believed they had to eat the mashed potatoes on top to get to their cupcake.  Sarah even said, "This gravy tastes like syrup!"

Marc is on a billboard.  The picture is poor.  I was driving when I took it!

Have you ever looked forward to your free night of the week only to have it spoiled by a 3 1/2 hour trip to the ER?  

Our little monkey bonked her head on the table this week and split it right open.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of kids at the Children's ER that night.

This little girl is VERY dramatic and cries at the slightest thing.  I expected a difficult night.  She was much braver than I thought she would be.  I think all the time sitting and waiting letting the idea of stitches sink in, helped a lot.  Now I need to get Marc to bring home some suture kits so we can avoid that whole mess, right?

Preschool Graduation and a new place to play!

Our little monkey graduated from preschool on Friday.  She was very excited.  As we were leaving, the director said to her, "Now you are a kindergartener" which she corrected by saying. "Now it's summer vacation!"

Mary really wanted to be in the picture.  Isn't it funny...These two are 27 months apart in age and nearly the same size.

This is a terrible picture of Miss Lesli, Sarah's teacher.  She told me during parent-teacher conference that Sarah is one of  the most well rounded children she has ever taught!  Wow!

 The three of us.

 Afterward, we met some of her classmates at the park for some play time!

Marc was out of town for the weekend and the kids were supposed to have their piano recital, but that was postponed.  We found ourselves with a Saturday completely void of any committments!  Not wanting to waste a beautiful day, we headed to a park that a friend had mentioned in an email.  We went to see an exhibit called Big Bugs.

They were REALLY big and there were a lot more, but that would be boring to post them all.  On the way to the field with the big bugs, we found that this place has a really fun play area that all the kids liked.

Tanner liked hitting this button to make it rain and filling up the rain gutter until one of the park rangers told him to stop pushing the button over and over!

 This is why Sarah's nickname is monkey.  That kid is a climber.  The 'stones' on the side of that 'mound' that she used to climb up are spiders.

 There was a little program where one of the park people talked about how bugs impact our lives.  She talked about beehive hairdos a little.  Tanner wanted to try the wig.  She also gave us the opportunity to pet a millipede and a madagascar hissing cockroach!  Sarah was the only one that touched them.

 This guy is part of a giant tree-house-climbing-thing.

 This metal thing is a giant worm that the sidewalk goes through.

 There was also a train, a cute little playhouse, some giant mushrooms that Ella loved, a suspension bridge that was really hard to push Rylee on, a free binocular craft and lots more!  Why haven't I heard of this place before?  We are definately going back.