Legacy Flight Museum

Today we set out to the Legacy Flight Museum and it turned out to be one of the most fun things we've done in awhile.  We picked up our cousins along the way so their mom could have some alone time with their new baby brother for awhile.

When we walked into the museum, they had hundreds of model airplanes hanging from the roof which the kids just loved.

 (My kids, by the way, are in their swimsuits because we hit the splashpark right afterwards.  And, yes, those are mismatched flip flops on both of the boys.  They insist on it and always have.  I choose my battles.)

The guys who volunteer at the museum are just awesome.  I can't believe that I didn't get their names.  This man was our tour guide and showed the kids his "flying bag" and told them all about the gear he takes.  Then he walked us into the main part of the museum, where they just so happened to be bringing out their Avenger aircraft.

Besides aircraft, the museum also had a few very old vehicles.  Everything in the museum is very old but in perfect working condition.

Besides airplanes and cars, we got to see parts of airplane engines up close.  This propeller could be turned on and the engine parts were open so you could see it working and moving (riiight up Alden's alley!). 

 

There goes the Avenger out of the hangar.  This particular aircraft is one that President Bush Sr. flew in as "wing" during WWII after he crashed his own plane.  What a neat piece of history!  The wings are folded down because it is designed to work with an aircraft carrier.  The wings fold down so that more planes can be stored on the deck.  It was so neat to get to see the wings fold out when they brought it outside.

 The man showed us some of the artillery used in airplanes as well.  I kept thinking how much my dad would absolutely love this place.  They had lots of WWII memorabilia as well - uniforms, medals, pictures, etc.  It was a good place to go in preparation for Independence Day celebrations.  With the war planes and the giant flags and pictures, there was quite a spirit of patriotism and national pride there.

Haha, I love this one.  Katelyn looks like she thinks that jet engine might start up at any moment!

 In one corner they had an old army Jeep and an old fire truck.  The kids were allowed to ring the bell on the fire truck which Alden thought was fantastic.

Then the kids got to actually get into the cockpit of one of the airplanes.  Eli is watching as the fins responded to him moving the controls. 

The best part of our experience was that we just so happened to be there when the Avenger and another plane were preparing to take off.  We got to go outside and watch them do their pre-flight preparations and then warm up the engines.  If you think your vehicle gets bad gas mileage, think about this: the Avenger uses 2 gallons of fuel PER MINUTE! 

I am still so excited that the kids got to experience these planes taking off right in front of them.  What a fabulous experience!!

These kids would've followed this guy to the ends of the earth if he'd told them he had more airplanes for them there!

If you are ever in or passing through southeast Idaho, you've GOT to check out the Legacy Flight Museum!

Here are the videos of the two take-offs.  I love how in the first one Gracen is running for cover as fast as she can. :-D

Oh What Do You Do In The Summertime?

I should be writing a paper on confidentiality ethics and law but...I'm blogging instead.  I'm just too tired to concentrate!  Working a part-time job is crazy, especially this week since I've been called in for a bunch of extra hours.  Thankfully, my AWESOME sister-in-law Kayla is willing to watch my kids when Jaron and my schedules overlap (even when I show up at her door unannounced - thanks Kayla!! :-D).

Between school and work, though, we're still finding time to enjoy the goodness that summer brings:

Riding our bikes:

 Drawing with chalk:

 Going Barefoot:

 Playing with Grandma's new furball, Mia:

 Bubbles:

 Trampoline with the sprinkler:

 Gracen gave it a try but decided to just watch after this little mishap:

 And plenty of jumping without the sprinkler too:

And as a sidenote, I had to add these pictures.  Sorry they're fuzzy from bad light but I just think this is too funny.  Little Miss has decided she can dress herself because her brothers can. (No, that is not a tube top - it's an upside-down onesie.)  Anytime I try to help she says, "NOOO!"  Then she ends up crying in frustration and then crying harder when I finally dress her.  Oh the joys of having a little determined one!

Kids at Play

I know, I know, I'm posting videos right and left these days.  But the kids get such a kick out of watching themselves on the tiny screen of the camera that we're always busting it out.  They'll sit and watch themselves, laughing and laughing, for a surprisingly long time.  Even Gracen has figured out how to replay her movies again and again on the camera.

I managed to capture a couple of cute little videos of the kids playing.  Alden and Eli are sooooooo into Transformers right now.  Everything they touch turns into a transformer from their Hotwheels to Gracen's fold-up doll stroller.  Here's a little video to help me remember some of all the Transformer action:

Gracen is obviously influenced - on the way home from errands today we were snacking on Transformers fruit snacks and she was singing, "Transformers: More than meets the eye!"  I laughed so hard - it made my day.

Gracen's just started really becoming interested in our storytime at bedtime.  I caught her re-reading a book about babies that I read a few nights ago:

I especially love the "waah, waah, waah!" part!!

(I've downloaded it twice and the sound keeps being off!  Darn, it was so cute!)

Alden's Faith and Busy Summer

I just read a cute story about my friend Kristin's little boy on her blog and it reminded me of a cute little incident I wanted to record but hadn't yet.

Last week we got a fragile book out of the library.  It was about the history of trains and had these pull-out sections that expanded the trains.  It was pretty tricky to get the pull-out sections back into the book so I asked the boys not to read it without my help.  They wanted to read it one morning and I told them to wait a minute while I got Gracen occupied.  When I came back into the room, the book was ripped and the two of them work trying their darndest to get those pull-out pages back together.  I asked what happened and Alden started crying.  With big teary eyes he said, "I said a prayer to ask Heavenly Father to help me fix the book and it didn't work!"

I couldn't help but chuckle.  And then I gave Alden a huge squeeze.  What a cute kid.  It absolutely made me happy that in his little time of distress, he thought to call on his Heavenly Father for help.  And it opened the door for quite a conversation about why his prayer wasn't answered the way he wanted it to be.  I don't know how much he got out of that conversation, but it's easy to see that Alden's on the right track.

I am grateful in my own prayers every night that I am so blessed with GOOD little kids who want to do the right thing!


We've signed up for our library's summer reading program and it's going to be an awesome summer of reading!  The kids were asked to make their own reading goals and then each week they complete them, bring in their log books for to the library for a prize.  The prizes range from a "treat coupon" to tickets for rides and indoor fun zones and the movie theatre.  Since this summer has become so busy so fast, I set a pretty non-challenging goal for us to keep reading 20 minutes every night before bedtime.  We did add to Alden's that he would read one book himself each week (a Bob-books type book).  He's really picking up on reading and the small Bob books are so perfect for him: words that are easy to sound out and short enough that he can finish the entire book and feel some accomplishment.   Gracen is becoming interested in sitting through storytime as well, especially if we've got a book about kittens or ducks in our stack.

Summer has become so busy all of a sudden because Jaron and I have both been able to find jobs.  Because we missed the financial aid deadline and weren't able to start rotations in May, we've found ourselves with a summer without school (for Jaron anyway) and decided it would be best to make some money if we could to help ease the financial strain during the next two years of rotations.  Jaron was able to get a job driving a delivery truck that has plenty of overtime - about 65 hours per week total.  I also got hired at a discount clothing store on evenings and weekends.  Thankfully my mother-in-law and sister-in-law Kayla are awesome and are willing to watch the kids any evenings our two jobs overlap.  Add in the library reading program, swimming, park runs, bike rides, and my Ethics and Law class (I'm 1/6 done my masters!! :-D) and this summer has gotten BUSY really fast!!