Field Trippin'

This month Austin is learning about transportation at school. And because his teachers are awesome they are taking lots of cool field trips.
I tagged along too. Because I just can't say no to a regional airport and auto museum.

Ms. R reigning in the kiddos.

She doesn't get paid enough.

This is when I realized that the hangar smelled like my childhood.

Jet fuel and cheap coffee.

Having a helicopter pilot dad was pretty cool!

Austin raising his hand to ask a question.

"How do you get the wheels to turn?"

*Long pause by pilot*

I explained to Austin that the family prefer he not fly fixed wing aircraft.

Helicopters, baby. Helicopters.

He said he would think about it.

Alpha, Bravo, Cookie.

I'm pretty sure the young pilot will not be having kids any time soon.

12 at a time can kill the urge.

How rich folk get to and from Saratoga Springs.

And now to the auto museum!

An old car that served peanuts and popcorn?

Yes please!

Checking out the engine.

Monkeying around in the kids exhibit.

Shifting gears...

The safest way for a 5 year old to be driving.

And the only legal way.

Austin- Apple

Chris- Tree

Thumbs up for the Saratoga Auto Museum!

Afterwards we snuck back in to see the fast cars again.

This was Austin's favorite.

And this was Mommy's----

Don't forget that Mother's Day is coming up soon!

There is something fishy going on...

at Saratoga Spa State Park. And it's fish. That were put there by children a few weeks ago during their Annual Fish Stocking Event. It was crowded, and cold, and awesome. We will be there next year.

 This was the place to be for the 3 feet and under crowd.

 Fish stocking crew.

 Gentleman.

Mama told him so.

 That fish is about to be set free.

 The red bucket of freedom.

 Austin checking out dinner his fish.

 A bunch of children and their freaked out fish.

 This lasted for about three steps. Then mommy helped carry the bucket.

Cause that's what mommies do.

 Freedom!!

 I am not sure how none of the children fell into the ice cold water that day.

 You gotta feed your fish stocking crew.

Austin thinking about coming back here to go fishing when the weather warms up.

Mommy would love to reunite with his fish.

Maybe I could introduce him to my hot cast iron skillet...

Ringing in Spring

It's here. I can feel it. Spring is going to melt that gross pile of snow/ice that has been hiding in my front lawn landscaping since November. I may go outside and cheer it on.
We three had a relaxing Easter weekend which involved great friends, hours of hiking, teeny bottles of liquor, and tons of food.
Did I mention the teeny tiny liquor bottles?

An East German Tradition- drinking teeny tiny bottles of liquor whilst hiking on a cold day.

Chris is considering changing his citizenship.

The kiddos spent their time climbing fallen trees and searching for Easter eggs.

Austin is definitely more brave/daring/stupid with other kids around.

This looks like an L.L. Bean Kids photo shoot.

Man, our kids are good looking!

Eggs.

VERY difficult to hide when your kid is running WAY ahead of you looking for them.

There was a lot of "oh look! you missed one back here" going on.

Could she be any more beautiful?

The next activity involved breaking through the frozen lake by whatever means possible.

The ice was still pretty thick. As proven when our friend's dog took off running across the lake.

Heart. Attack.

And now, some artsy fartsy point and shoot nature pictures.

This place is ridiculously gorgeous.

"Do you think we could get that in the CRV and use it as an accent piece in the guest room?"

"No."

FACT:

No matter how old you are, throwing huge rocks onto a frozen lake is wicked good fun.

We went off the trail.

But it was totally worth it to let the kids enjoy the "M" Family's secret tree see saw.

That girl has balls...

Of snow that accumulate on her fur at an alarming rate when you have a foot of snow and she has to tinkle.
Wait, what did you THINK I was talking about?

It's exhausting.

And the few little chunks that I miss cleaning off of her end up murdering my wood floors.

Murder, in cold water.

And she has laser eyeballs.

Then I notice the dirt on her feet and nose.

Which means that she has been hunting wabbit under our deck.

Wabbit. Not rabbit.

Is it Spring yet?

They Blinded Me With Science

I couldn't resist. It was on sale. And I have a secret wish that Austin will grow up to be a total science nerd. So I decided to start encouraging such behavior with a science kit. Which Chris deemed to be lacking all of the "fun"chemicals and what not. Apparently I purchased the "please don't sue us" science kit. Whatever. I'll get Austin a dangerous in when he turns 6.
So far- two evenings of science filled fun for my two boys! And nothing has exploded, yet.

 I was WAY too excited about this.

And yes, Chris is wearing his fancy super safety glasses and Austin is wearing his starter pair.

He can get a nice pair after his first "A" in Chemistry.

 Experiment #1.

 Holy stromboli I LOVE this picture.

Austin loves his Daddy so much.

 Second night. Just as much fun!

 The closest Chris has come to cooking since we covered the grill for winter.

 Why do boys always want to stand on chairs?!

A photo taken as I'm telling at him to sit down before he breaks his neck.

 You can always tell when a mom has asked for a picture and her boys are merely complying because she makes the cookies.

Snow!

Brought to you by science.