Call It What You Want...

This morning our MOPS group went to the Noblesville Airport (a grassy strip on Promise Road just NORTH of 146th Street) for a field trip. What a trip it turned out to be!

The kids got to get up into two different little planes (sorry to not know one plane from another, for those of you who might care). Adam grilled the teenage guy who was helping them in one with a never-ending series of "What's this?"es. I got a little on video. He did NOT turn the plane on, though one of the other children in our group did make it do something...

We got to ride around the property on a wagon pulled by an old Farm-All tractor.

We got to throw balls and draw with sidewalk chalk.

Then Carrie (who organized the outing) was going to get a ride in a real World War II biplane... except that Brendan was complaining and Drew wouldn't let go of her neck. And she said, "Does some other adult want to go?" And before I stopped to have the sense to THINK (and therefore talk myself out of it), I was climbing into the front seat of a real 1941 biplane!!!!

Seriously.

And I didn't just sit in the front seat. I put on the headset and the guy who owns the place (and the plane) started going and we flew all around! (In the above picture, there's a plane in the background that's just like the one I was in.) We flew over by Conner Prairie (not too close, friends, since the balloon was flying today, too) and I waved at Mel down in the Animal Encounters barn (she did not know that airplane overhead was me) and I took crummy pictures out the side to prove that I actually did it! the boys LOVE Carrie and didn't mind that they were waiting for me on the ground since they were with her.

Okay, so it was jiggly up there, and I had no idea how the camera was focusing, but yes, that yellow blob in the center of the picture is the Conner Prairie balloon, and that brown space is the "prairie" for which Conner Prairie is named...

How's that for a crazy turn of events today???

File this one under "Glad this didn't happen yesterday"

We took off for the library this morning. As we were leaving the neighborhood (the van seeming to drive a little roughly), it bucked a little and the "check engine" indicator light came on. I decided to go back home and call Tim to ask what I should do.

On the way home, I started feeling a little short of breath. So I put down the windows, and off we went (instead of the library) to the dealership. The boys complained they were cold, so I passed them blankets to cover with as all the windows were open (including the rear vent windows).

At the dealership, the boys played in the playroom for a while, checked out the vehicles on the showroom floor, wandered about...

The verdict? The Exhaust Gas Valve was stuck open.

I really did feel short of breath! It wasn't just me getting worried about the car! And I was not crazy making my babies freeze as we drove across town!

Sure, guys, you go ahead and fix that... but is there any chance we could spend the next hour at the library instead of here?
Sure, we'll have our shuttle take you over there...

So the man who drives the shuttle took us to the library (just up the road) and then picked us up when the car was finished. Just before the phone rang with the guy calling me to tell me they were coming after me, Mark started to whine about being hungry. (I was hungry too!) So $315 later (of course this isn't under the warranty; you're in bankruptcy), and with the car even washed, we went to Wendy's, had some lunch, and are back home.

Yesterday was a horrible day. The boys were rotten, it was raining, and I was overtired.

Today? Today I can take the car breaking and the change in plans in stride.

I'm glad this didn't happen yesterday.

We've always said that Mark was a very observant kid. He notices stuff. All. The. Time.

Thursday we were driving through downtown Noblesville to go get Adam's new glasses, and I pointed out the pretty hanging baskets that adorn the utility poles downtown. Mark asked why there were also microphones. Then I saw the speakers (that's what he was referring to) also installed on the poles. Hmmm, I thought, I hadn't noticed those before. Bet they've been there for some time.

This afternoon I read the following in a news release from the city of Noblesville in the Indianapolis Star's Ledger:

"Downtown Noblesville got a little more colorful last week when 38 hanging baskets...were installed.

"In addition, 12 new standing planters are being placed around the square, and a sound system that will play music year-round was installed recently."

Oh. So they're new. And Mark was the first in the family to notice them. Eeesh.

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to take a hot-air balloon ride with a friend's family. I was in first grade. Unfortunately, when the day came (the parents were going to pay because I had told them I was "financially embarrassed" at the time), the weather conditions were unfavorable, and I never did it. Later, my fear of heights overcame my curiosity, and I had never done it.

Until today. In a way.

Today was the employee preview day for the 1859 Balloon Voyage at the Prairie. The boys and I went, with the understanding that they would go play with Auntie Mel in the Conner Barn while I rode the balloon. At the last minute, though, Adam decided he wanted to ride too, so we got in line while Mark helped feed the chickens and the goat and other chores that Melissa "needed" help with.

Photo evidence is a little lacking as, er, I was a little too afraid to take my hand off the side of the gondola. And as I was holding Adam, who wanted cuddled.

This is the only photo I managed to take, so I'm hoping that Becky got a good one that she'll share with me. :) This was even before we took off.

So up we went, more than 300 feet in the air. I could see the Pyramids over on the west side of 465, I could see downtown Indy... I could see the quarry ... probably if I'd been more attentive I could've seen our neighborhood...

Then we came down, landing, and while I was nervous, it wasn't so bad. Probably had I not been holding Adam, I'd have been a little less nervous. It was quiet and still and very pretty, and I am very glad I did it. I'm sure Puppy (see him in the above picture?) is glad he got to go up, too.

 

This morning, in a drizzly haze, we went off to the strawberry patch to pick.

We were assigned a row, and we went down to the end as instructed and started working our way back toward the parking area. Mark picked about 15 strawberries; Adam may have picked three. But it was fun, there was straw on the rows so we didn’t get muddy, and when it started to rain a little harder than the drizzle in which we started, we packed it in and headed out.

We ended with about five pounds of locally grown farm strawberries, which are yummy.

I won’t be in a jam tizzy or anything like that, but I consider it a fun activity.

Since it was rainy, it wasn’t too hot, nor were there hoards of people… it was a fun thing for the boys and me to do on a school’s out sort of morning.

Want to go pick at our strawberry farm?

http://www.spencerberryfarm.com

I learned a new "getting along" technique from Linda yesterday and thought I would try it out on the boys. I explained the details, and only have tried it once. Just now I heard Mark trying it out himself.

Mark: "Adam, don't throw sand on me!" (Louder) "Adam, don't throw sand on me!" (Pause) "Now's your chance to say 'I'm sorry.'"
(very short pause)
Adam: "I'm sorry."
Mark: "See, now no one has to get punished!"

I like.
Linda's suggestion is that this helps her kids stand up for themselves without escalating with fighting. ("Don't hit me!" rather than hitting back.) I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.
I loved hearing Mark try it out.
We'll see where that goes.

It only takes a cousin.

Preferably one just enough older to be doing the cool stuff.

Like peeing standing up (that was a couple years back. Jonathan taught Mark to do it, and he was gung-ho for potty-training).

Or riding a bike.

After a weekend spent with the cousin who just turned five, I offered Mark a chance to go out and try out the training-wheeled bike that he's been shunning for quite some time. One offer was all it took. He was on that bike quick as a wink!
The helmet on, we walked the bike down our steep driveway and across the street to try it out. It was hard to pedal. We came back and pumped up the tires. Mark did the pumping, I just did the hooking up and un-hooking.

Then we rode again. Up to Laurel and back, then up to Tamarack and back. Back up to Laurel, up Laurel a little, then back to the corner and back home. Then a little ride in the behind-the-dad-bike trailer, then back onto the bike again to ride up to Laurel again (and ride fast enough down the sloping sidewalk that I had to jog to keep up).

The training wheels keep the bike very upright right now, but since it's his first attempt (and he even had the bike fall over when he was walking it down the driveway and got teensy scrapes on his elbows and was still excited to ride some more), I'm just excited to see him trying it.

We also have an even smaller training-wheel bike that Adam can get on. His pedaling skills aren't quite there yet. But if Mark's doing it, the little brother can't be far behind!!!