More Summer Fun

I was looking at my pictures on the computer and realized I never posted anything about a few other fun summer outings. Back in the beginning of summer (I think in May) we went down to Dayton to visit the National US Airforce Museum. It was pretty awesome. I believe they have on display almost, if not all, airplanes that have been built. And of course it had displays about every major event in flying history. Here, Grant enjoyed playing while an atomic bomb detonated in the background (wasn't there a commercial like that at one point?).
The boys really loved seeing all the planes, especially the biggest boy of the bunch. Ryan loves his military history so I had to move him along quicker than he probably would have liked in order to keep up the wee ones.
Grant liked the plane that looked like a shark the best. I liked learning about heroic pilots and the personal stories of what some of them went through during war time. There was one exhibit about the "candy man" who would fly over Berlin when it was blockaded and drop little parachutes attached to candy bars for the children who were in the city. I later found out he was from Utah (and LDS). It's a cool story.































This summer we also made good use of our zoo membership and would head up there almost once a week. It's a really great zoo and the boys and I love making a trip of it. All of these pictures are from the new polar bear exhibit, which is one of my favorite. I can't get over how massive and beautiful these animals are. I also can't get over how much I would not like to meet one in a back alley. Well, I would really not like to meet one anywhere without at least 4 inches of glass separating us.

To dunk or not to dunk

Ryan is a dunker. Any type of delicacy that could possibly taste good in milk, Ryan is dunking it. His favorites include graham crackers and cookies, but he also dunks muffins, cake, and even toast (in hot chocolate). Did I mention he dunks grilled cheese sandwiches in his soup. I, on the other hand, love to enjoy the texture of my food and then wash it down with a delicious glass of milk, chunk free.

This need to dunk apparently runs in the blood because the boys have taken right after Ryan's food-sogging ways. The other day I gave Grant a muffin to eat and he said he needed a glass of milk and a fork (Ryan uses a fork to dunk the muffin--more manageable that way). Since Tate is still required to have a lid on his cup, he has not had much experience with true milk dunking. But he gets in on the action whenever we eat something with a dipping sauce involved (ketchup, ranch, etc). Actually, he really just uses his food as a makeshift utensil with which to shovel the dipping sauce into his mouth.


Please note the careful technique of using the tip of the pinky finger as a finger-rest to prevent over-dunking the cookie. The finger-rest ensures that the maximum amount of cookie gets dunked without the dunker getting their fingers wet. It's as much an art as a science, really.

Summer of Fun, part One

At the beginning of May I declared this summer would be called the "Summer of Fun"! Last summer was fun too, but since I wouldn't have a nursing baby this year I knew we could go out more easily and hence have a lot of fun.
We definitely stayed busy as I planned several trips and would go out and enjoy the weather each day. Did I mention I love summer!! If we weren't on a trip, we would split our time between going to a pool, a park, the museum, the zoo, playing with friends, the library or wherever else we could find to go.
With all the traveling, we spent a decent amount of time in the car. You would think the boys would be sick of the car, but they still love to get in there whenever Mom isn't paying attention. Right before we leave to go somewhere and I am grabbing the last minute things, I come to the garage to find them having a good ol' time the car, pushing every button and turning every knob. As you can see in the first picture, I used to keep a stash of gum in the car, but I figured Tate is not quite old enough to handle the three pieces of gum he had shoved in his mouth, so gum is in the house now.
One of our fun summer outings was our trip to the State Fair. I'm not sure why I enjoy a State Fair like I do, I can't remember really going to many as a kid. But with the horse shows, petting zoos, people-watching, and kettle corn, they make for an entertaining time.
Grant enjoyed the kiddie ride as Tate screamed in betrayal. He couldn't understand why he had to watch while older brother had fun. I didn't want to let Tate try a ride for fear he would be ready to get out half way through. I guess next year will be his summer of fun.
One of our favorite parts of the fair are seeing the amazingly huge horses. We try to go the day they are showing the draft horse teams. It's a fun part of the fair that not many people experience. We were in the horse arena with the majority of the people being over 65. But come on, you get to sit there, eat your food, and watch amazingly beautiful horse teams strut their stuff. And to top it off, they have a real-live old lady organ player playing elevator music with a carnival pipe organ. Awesome!
Here are the boys in front of the biggest horse we could find. Sorry you can't see the horse too well, but just know it was huge!! The horse's shoulders were at least 6 feet tall, almost level with Ryan's head! That's a big horse.
Well, that is all for this installment in the Summer of Fun, but expect more to come!