Another Long Walk at Sidecut

Another llllllooooonnnnnggggg walk at Sidecut. This time 5 miles. After coasting around in the stroller for the vast majority of the walk, the boys went for a run by themselves up the sledding hill and then decided to roll down the entire hill. I was too tired to get pictures of that, though. 

Planes!

Two Saturdays' ago, we took the boys to see their first theater movie - Planes. They both did excellent at watching the movie in the theater! They weren't very comfortable in their seats so they ended up sitting in Adam and I's laps, but that ok. And the movie was very good, too! [Ben was present, but did not want his picture taken]

Cicadas

Last weekend Ben rounded up all the cicada shells he could find in the yard. I think he had at least 20, if not more. The willow tree is infested with them! As he was looking for shells, he found one that was not quite vacated yet. The boys were enthralled with the cicada shedding its shell. 

A random video I took one night when the cicadas were crazy loud.

Imagination Station

Ben has been bugging to go to Imagination Station most of the summer, so I took them over there a few weeks ago. Their current travel exhibit, Grossology, is only there through Labor Day, so I did want to take them this summer for that. 

The Grossology exhibit had this air gun game thing where you shot ping pong balls into a huge nose. Wow, can we say major hit with my children. They would have stayed and played that thing all day and into the next if I had let them. Nick was completely self-sufficient with it, too. He could load the balls into hopper, aim and shoot all by himself. I was surprised that Ben never told me he wanted one for Christmas (which has already become a regular saying around these parts...)

Play equipment shaped like the digestive system. Just what I always wanted - catching my child as he exits the stomach slide and lands in the small intestine. 

Nick loves the air floating ball thing like nothing else. He played ball for probably 10 minutes, which is like eternity at IS.

Ben's Artwork

A select of Ben's latest artwork. 

He drew his first stick family. Even included Monster. 

He practiced letters one day

An Evening Walk at Sidecut

One nice evening we took a walk at Sidecut. The boys loved it - they got to throw rocks (or small boulders in some cases) into the river, got to see other dogs, run wild and even see some deer. 

So Sick - For At Least 3 Hours

A few weeks ago, we did our normal morning routine but Nick was really weird - he didn't want to wake up and was very clingy. We got to Sharon's and just as I was turning the door knob to leave for work, Nick throws up. Awesome. I took him back home, in which time he spit up/threw up 2 more times. He laid down to watch a show and slept on and off for the rest of the morning. He woke up at 11:30 and was no longer sick. He was the opposite of sick. All he wanted was food. He ate 3 pieces of toast, 2 containers of applesauce, crackers, goldfish, and a muffin. 

Always Wear Your Helmet!!

Adam proved to the boys that you should always wear your helmet! He took a bit of a spill while riding his bike and cracked his helmet. He also had some road rash on his shoulder and hip, but is healing up well. We replaced his helmet and got Ben a better helmet that fits his head, which apparently grows as fast as his feet. We just bought a helmet in January that no longer fits. 

Balloon Glow

It got a bit rough (Nick) but we stuck it out for the balloon glow. Only half the balloons come back and do the glow on Friday and the other half do it on Saturday. The boys loved that a balloon crew pulled up right in front of us and set up. They were very excited about the fire used to lift the balloon. Shocking.

A Helicopter - Up Close

In addition to the hot air balloons, there was also a helicopter available for rides. We obviously didn't take a ride, but the boys did like walking around and seeing it take off and land. Ben and I had a lengthy conversation about rotors and propellers and helicopter flight in general. I made most of it up, but he won't know that for a long time!

Findlay Balloon Festival

There were 46 balloons at the Findlay balloon festival this year. It was pretty impressive. I was really glad we went. The boys loved watching the balloons take off and watching them fly through the air. We had 'front row' seats so they got to see the vans pull up, unload the balloons, the crews inflate and lift the balloons. Ben of course had a ton of questions. Nick just went with it. And I liked all the colors ;) There were a lot of balloons we had not seen before like the football, rocket, desert scene and the tourist penguin.