Fun in the Sun and Not-So-Sunny days

I bought a slip-and-slide on a whim last week. One of my favorite memories of childhood is zipping down our hill on a slippery piece of plastic. Of course, hills in Pennsylvania are a lot larger than hill in this part of Kentucky, but you work with what you have. We set it up and then called our friends Chris, Angie and Sarah to come over and try it out. It was hilarious to watch the kids on the slide. They couldn't get up enough momentum because they didn't understand the concept of running and flopping down on their bellies, but their daddies solved that problem by picking them up and throwing them down the slide. It made for some pretty nonstop laughter until the kids finally turned blue and we decided that that was enough. Tristan especially loved the slide. He kept trying to run down it and would slip and fall.

What a happy boy! I think he consumed his body weight in water on this particular evening. Sarah looks like a little model while flying down the hill. Angie told her to smile for the camera and she did! Maura made some of the biggest splashes, flying over the bumper pad at the bottom. The kids loved this and we'll have to get it back out someday soon.

On Saturday, we headed up to the Dayton Airshow. My sister, Lorie, is an aircraft aficionado and has gone to the airshow for many years. Brent and I have gone once before and always talked about taking the kids back. This seemed to be the year to do it. Brent had an interview scheduled in Dayton on the same Saturday and it was supposed to be nice weather. We decided to pack up the kids and head to Dayton for the day.

Of course the rest of my family came along too. We're always up for a good time! This was Alex's first airshow. We're going to look back at these photos someday and wonder if it was January or July. It was very unseasonably cool and cloudy. Emily and Brad covered up in a quilt.

Maura and her Grammy. Grammy helped me out with crowd control while Brent was gone for his interview. Grammy and her sweet Tristan man.

I took Maura over to the demonstration area of the show where they have a lot of aircraft parked that you can get into and look around. She decided to fly away in this Coast Guard plane. Then she figured she'd try her hand at this Seahawk. This helicopter is the same one that her Uncle Jeff is learning to fly right now in Jacksonville, FL. We can't wait to take pictures of him as a proud pilot someday. Maura really liked looking at all the planes. At one point, Emily and Brad took her over to sit in a very small model jet. She was apparently having a great time driving it until a plane went by very close overhead and she jumped out of it and into my sister's arms. When she was asked why, she said, "I thought my plane was blasting off!"

Tristan was such a good boy at the airshow. He hardly got any nap at all, but he stayed pleasant for the whole day. We bought some earplugs for Maura and Alex because the jet noise was REALLY loud. We also attempted to place some in Tristan's ears, but he would have none of it! I thought Alex looked adorable!

Lorie, Micah and little Alex. Our family enjoying the Thunderbirds. Well, enjoying might be too strong of a word for Maura's experience. She did NOT like the loud noise, trembled every time a jet went overhead and pleaded to go home. We're thinking that our girl does NOT have a future in the Air Force!

Tristan with his bird. One of the kiosks behind him flew a bird kite all day long. At least a hundred times during that day, Tristan would look up, point, and say "Tweet, tweet, tweet!" It was so adorable. I asked about buying one, but they wanted $30! I didn't think it was THAT adorable! We had a really fun day at the airshow and Maura talks about it now with glowing terms, so we'll see if we can convince her to come back next year!