Hill AFB Museum

For our Saturday adventure we headed back up to Weber County but this time to Hill Air Force Base's airplane museum. If you're ever visiting Utah it is WELL worth a trip- at least if you have boys.
Isaac was so excited he almost got run over in the parking lot. Seriously. I was strapping Miles into his stroller and had instructed Isaac to stay on the yellow parking line (which 90% of the time he does) and then he saw someone else getting out of their car and had to run to tell them he'd just seen airplanes and missiles as we drove in. So luckily the other driver was going slow and the kind lady ushered him back to us and listened to his excited rant for another minute while we got situated.
And then we were off to see planes. Lots and lots of planes! Unfortunately I don't know much about planes and couldn't answer the hundreds of questions my boys had. Miles didn't fuss or try to get out of his stroller once- just sat and looked and looked. They have literally hundreds of planes and helicopters- the bigger ones outside and then tons inside. Apparently they even open them up for you to climb inside and explore the 3rd Saturday of September each year. So if you're in Utah then, that's where we'll be!

And if the planes weren't enough excitement, they also have the best hands-on lab I have ever been to. Flight simulators, science experiments, computers with joysticks so you can try your hand at flying, costumes to try on, blocks, balls, plastic airplanes to fly around, and way more things we didn't try out.
Here are Ethan and Isaac "flying" their plane while they watch their paths on TV screens inside the cockpit.

And of course I made them put on costumes and take a picture. Miles threw a ROYAL tantrum and to show his true anger that I even dared try to dress him up, wore this helmet around backwards and wouldn't take it off. I actually think it makes the picture better- so hilarious! Especially with "mel-mo" on his shirt.

The other 2 are cute though.

Isaac was so enamored with his outfit that he insisted on wearing it while piloting another simulator. The best part of the hands-on area was that it was kind of secluded and they'd close the door once they reached a certain number so my kids never had to compete with others for a turn and didn't even once have to wait in line. There were also numerous, very knowledgeable staff on hand (mostly cute old vets) who were so excited to teach my kids how to do something or show them some cool experiment. Every time I turned around to find one of my kids who'd wandered off, I'd see them with a kind old guy who was helping them do something new and fun. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the museum. Would recommend it to anyone!

And if all of that wasn't enough excitement, Miles came away with a new word too: "a-pane" which now we frequently hear him yell as we're driving around and he's looking up at the sky. Plus he's starting making the "fshoo" airplane sound which is just adorable.

At the Drive-in Movies

About once a summer, Taylor and I, okay just I, brave the idea of a drive-in movie with the kids. Taylor LOVES it. Every minute of it. Even the sleepy, crabby kids the next day he loves- cause he's happy to lay around the house and have a lazy day watching Phineas and Ferb with them. So I brave the crabby children once a year because it really is a fun evening together and it's a pretty cheap way to see 2 new movies.
So this year we went to see Cars 2. We enjoyed sitting in camp chairs, eating snacks and watching the "a-panes" fly by while we waited for the movie to start. Then we watched the movie together and when the second one started we piled all the kids into the car where they fell asleep (it was 12:30am after all) while Taylor and I enjoyed Pirates of the Carribean.
A fun evening and we'll do it all again... next year, thank goodness!

Yes, I really do love ketchup THIS much!

This was done with no help from me- just some leftover ketchup after all the chicken nugget dinosaurs had been eaten. Yum!

Swim Team

It was bound to happen. With a dad who swam competitively all through elementary, middle, and high school as well as college, and a pool in your own backyard, what did you expect. Taylor's actually wanted him on a swim team for years, but he's finally ready now.
Love him in his goggles! He's the funny looking blond-whitey boy in the front (green goggles, looks like he's cold).


And here we go. It looks like he'll make a great dive, but his entrances are actually usually a lot more entertaining- including some belly flops and some straight vertical jumps in with his arms in a diving position. Very cute though.

Here's how the meets usually go: warmup (ie, jump around in the pool with friends), wait, swim 25 meter free style, wait, wait, wait some more, watch others race, eat some snacks, and finally swim 25 meter back stroke, collect ribbons, rush home to dinner and bed (one sentence, lots of commas, 3+ hours!)

So to pass the time Isaac always finds other little kids to play around with- even if they're girls.

Ethan takes lots of random pictures. This lovely one is of a poor, lonely dropped frito on the pavement.

And a close-up of a leaf. Yep, couldn't leave that beauty out of the blog post.

Miles generally gets locked in his stroller and fed snacks and handed toys the whole time. I know it's mean but he's so in love with pools that I just know I'd turn to help Ethan or Isaac for 5 seconds and he'd be gone and into the pool before I could do anything.

And finally it's time for the backstroke!

Not sure how helpful taking his picture during the race is- especially when he stopped concentrating long enough to smile for his dad. But oh well, he's the first, everything must be documented.

Ethan actually LOVES being on the swim team. He's in the water and there's friends, and he's a true Kitchen and very competitive. The first thing he does every time he gets done with a race- even before getting a towel or giving a high five, is to ask the timer what his time was. He's getting better at free style- dropping a full 25 seconds from last week to this week. But really he's a backstroker. He's won every time and continues to get faster- which helps offset his snail-like pace in the free style. But hey, sometimes it's better to be the slowest- if you're REALLY dragging (and look like you might be drowning more than swimming) you often get amazingly loud cheers from the crowd- especially when you're a funny-goggle-eyed-skinny-boy-6-year-old!

He's so cute and so much fun- we're just glad to be a part of his life.

What's new at Discovery

For our Saturday adventure we headed down to our local children's museum to check out their new exhibits for the summer. REALLY BIG games. Anyone for a game of pool? Thankfully there was a person assigned solely to this area and she seemed on top of watching that no little ones got "bowled" over.

Giant dominoes- I kind of want these in my basement!

Okay so we weren't that impressed with the new exhibit, but we love all the regular exhibits so it didn't matter. We spent literally 45 minutes playing just with blocks and I still had to drag them away. Apparently toys are more fun when they don't belong to you- cause we have these same blocks downstairs and they don't get played with that often.

After the museum we ventured outside to the Chalk Art festival which was good but I didn't take any pictures since my kids were begging to go play in the water sprinkler fountains.

A good adventure while Taylor got in a little golf.

Zuko Popsicles

Surprise! Guess what showed up at my house the night before Father's Day? A new Zoku popsicle maker. Taylor, ahem, may have screwed up/forgot Mother's day this year (okay so he was in crisis mode at work and also building our garden box last minute) and apparently felt like he needed to make things right before I went and showed him up the next day.
Okay so he may have won.
Have you seen these things. Totally fun! They freeze popsicles in 7 minutes. Yep, you heard that right. No more waiting overnight for your juice to freeze- just 7 minutes. Actually it's a good lesson in patience for my kids, cause 7 minutes is about all you can ask for from 3 little boys who want popsicles.

Yep, they're pretty good. Proof of that being that Miles won't even stop licking long enough to say cheese.

You can make regular ones or fancy ones. Here Taylor's making creamsicle pops- poor the juice in like normal and then when the outside starts to instantly freeze, suck out the middle and pour in the cream. YUM!

Seriously! How cool is that?

We can't wait to try all the recipes in the book!

Fun with Fondant

A few summers ago when I was feeling like I needed a little enrichment in my life, I found and took a basic cake making and decorating class at Michaels craft store. It was SO much fun! And I learned a lot which I've used over the years mostly for birthday cakes. I've always been in awe a little though of fondant cakes. They just look so perfect. But I hate the way it tastes and thought it was a waste of money if you weren't going to eat it, so I never got around to taking the fondant class they also offer.
Until this year! I decided I'd take the plunge. And it has been SO much fun too! And I take back all my thoughts about it not being worth it.
You learn how to cover cakes in fondant and how to make flowers and bows and lots more. For the second week we brought in a cake and then covered it there and decorated it with a bow. Can I just tell you how easy it really is- it's really like just playing with playdough, edible though.

For our last class we made another cake- round this time so we could learn how to cover a different shape. Here's my berry buttercream frosted, berry filled lemon cake all frosted and ready to be covered. So nice to not have to frost it perfectly!

And here's all the fondant flowers I made in advance, all ready to go!

Daisies- okay so they're blue since I was going for a 4th of July theme here.

Calla Lilies.

Carnations (Taylor's favorites- he likes the red tips- want to know the trick? Brush your sticky water on the petals and then brush on non-toxic crayola chalk. What? My kids eat chalk all the time, apparently it counts as edible- and it's pretty.)

And roses of course.

And here's the finished project- ready to be eaten in...5 days :) Can't wait for the 4th!

I'd take this class again in a heartbeat. It's so nice to have a few hours to be with adults, talking about non-kid things, and learning at the same time. And now I feel like I know at least the basics and can learn the rest from you-tube. Up next: star gazer lilies. Seriously though, where are all my daughters so I can make flower cakes??? Oh well, I'll just make army men and airplanes instead- just as fun and just as easy with fondant!

Tragically we don't have a birthday in the family for 4 more months! Anyone nearby need a cute cake???

A Little structure and fun for the summer

Okay, I admit it. I miss teaching. And part of what I miss is the structure of the day. I like knowing what's coming next and feeling a sense of accomplishment when I accomplish things. Last summer to help give our days a little more structure, we did craft projects and it was a lot of fun for the kids and for me.
As this summer was approaching and I was searching blogs for craft ideas, I stumbled upon one blog where instead of crafts, they were doing daily activities. Just the basic, old fashioned, tried and true, kids love it and remember it fondly activities: build a fort, make paper airplanes, run through the sprinklers, play board games. The things my kids do sometimes but we don't seem to get around to as much as I recall as a child (probably because we're busier with acitivies).
So anyways, I decided I'd follow this woman's example. I made a list of activities and cut them up and put them in a jar to be picked out each day (makes the whole thing more fun).
But to earn the activity, the boys have to do 6 things first.
1. Eat breakfast
2. Get dressed
3. Brush hair and teeth
4. Read for 20 minutes
5. Do workbook pages (3 for Isaac, 6 for Ethan- takes about 20 minutes)
6. Ethan does a 1 sentence journal with a drawing.
They do everything but the workbooks on their own which allows me to get myself and Miles and the house ready for the day. It works most days. Some days they'd rather just play around and they just play and play and we get around to getting dressed and moving by 10:30. Which is fine with me. I think there's great value for all of us in having SOME lazy days.
But on days when they want to do something or when they're bored, I help remind them to work on their routine and then we all do an activity together.

Isaac's workbook is mostly cutting, clueing, coloring, and matching. No ABC's and very few numbers. Perfect for this energetic 3 year old. He's making a chain caterpillar here by cutting straight (semi) lines. What I love about this is that he feels like a big boy like Ethan. He's so excited to be part of "school" and is so excited when he cuts or makes something mostly on his own.

Ethan's workbooks are your basic 1st grade ones- short enough to not be frustrating but a good mixture of reading and writing practice.

And Miles refuses to be left out. I was hoping he'd just happily play but himself, but NO WAY! He wants to be in on the action and if you don't provide him his own action, he'll make his own by coloring on his brother's workbooks or taking their scissors/glue sticks.

So I found an Elmo coloring book and that has been a hit. He's part of the big boys now!

And then we all do something fun together!

Homemade popsicles! Who doesn't love pouring and blending and measuring, and waiting... 6 hours!

And folding paper airplanes and taking them outside for target practice.

Making homemade popcorn and watching a show together.

And more paper airplanes. Unfortunately I've forgotten to take a LOT of pictures. Can't wait for more this summer though!

It's finally Isaac's turn!

This little 3 1/2 year old has been waiting and waiting and begging for his turn to finally be on a team. Unfortunately, no sports start until the kids are really 3. Which makes sense because even at 3 it's not much of a sporting event- more just good entertainment for the spectators and friends for the kids.

Isaac is so hilarious. He's really only interested in socializing with the other kids, and in keeping the ball out of his team's goal. I'm sure he learned that from watching Ethan and hearing us comment on that. But he's funny. He's been knocked down twice already by his coach who assumes all the kids are off in front of him chasing the ball and instead Isaac is staying back to defend his goal, or to examine a bug in the grass, or just because he's watching something else that seems interesting to him.

This little girl scored on her own team twice in a row which is why the coach and ref and Isaac(who was very upset that she scored on him) are all trying to explain to her which way she should be kicking. LOVE 3 year old soccer!

Miles passes the time drinking (pouring on himself) water and then loudly yelling "yo, yo, yo" at the players (that's go if you don't speak Milo monkey).

Isaac in his slightly, okay totally, girly looking uniform. Seriously? Did the cute, curly-haired, long lashed, doe eyed boy really need to be stuck on the only girl color jersey team? Oh well. He's in love with his uniform and asked almost daily when he next game is and if he can wear his uniform. He's even in love with the color since it's close to REAL Salt Lake's color and he SO wants to be their goalie Romando. He goes around talking about Romando all the time.

Ethan spends his time cheering on the team. Have we raised good spectators or what? You can even see him jumping up and down in this shot.

Isaac doesn't even care he's out of the game because he has a friend to talk to.

And sometimes Miles and Ethan wander off to play in the empty fields. So nice that I can watch Isaac and these 2 are getting old enough to play on their own a little.

We've got another month of games and Isaac is loving each and every one of them!