Conner Prairie

After our fantasic balloon voyage we headed out to visit the rest of Conner Prairie. It's rather big so we only hit the Indian Village and the barn during the visit. Here are the boys working in the field preparing it for corn. Seriously? Are these the same children that refuse to even pull a weed in our own yard??! But a fake pioneer gives them a hoe and they can't be torn away!

Here's Alex grinding some corn. Again, they won't help at home with food preparation...perhaps I should try to incorporate more giant sticks in my kitchen appliances.

Here is Nick learning how to throw a tomahawk at a target. I've spared you the video of this endevour, however I have to share that after he had a few tries I felt the need to learn as well. My second try? Dead on. Who knew I had crazy tomahawk skills???

Then we headed over the the barn where they have animals just running around free for you to pet. Here are the boys petting the sweetest, softest bull! He had another name but I'm calling him Ferdinand after one of our favorite books.

The boys even got to brush him and he just allowed them to do whatever. He's seriously giving bulls a bad, or rather GOOD name!

Andrew enjoyed talking to all the animals and kept saying "Hi bull, my name is Andrew, what is your name?"

This shot is funny simply because Alex said "Here Andrew, you drive and I'll ride in the back seat."

After a bit they got out the baby chicks that had just hatched two days prior. Honestly, I was a bit afraid that the boys would accidently crush one and they'd ask us to leave but they were both surprisingly gentle.

Balloon Voyage!

Last weekend we got to ride a giant helium balloon at Conner Prarie! They have an exhibit there where you can experience somethig like a balloon voyage from 1859. (Conner Prairie is a living history museum similar to Colonial Williamsburg except set in the 1800s, for those who aren't from around these parts!)

I couldn't resist this cute photo-op of my boys!



















While we were waiting our turn we tried out the various experiments they had to explain how balloons work. Here are Daddy and Andrew having a race to see whose balloon will fill up first.




















Then it was our turn to board! Here is the gondola, made especially for this exhibit...
















More photo-ops with the boys...

















Here is what the balloon looks like underneath. It is not a hot air balloon but is filled with helium so it is almost perfectly round.















All the ropes that surround the balloon come down and are secured to the tether line and a motorized wench in the hollow middle of the gondola.
















The gondola has a walkway all the way around so you get to see 360 degrees when you get up in the air.















Here is a view of the parking lot from about half way up. I have to say that I didn't realize how high we were going to go and it freaked me out a bit! When we were landing the wind was catching the balloon and causing us to swing about 30 yards back and forth. Both Nick and I were a bit motion sick during the landing--balloons always look so floaty and peaceful but in fact it was quite violent!















Here is a picture I took from the parking lot of the balloon about half way up so you can see what it looks like from the ground:



















And here is the view from all the way at the top. It was so neat to see everything up high like that! The boys thought it was so cool and kept telling us to look at the "doghouses" which were really the houses at Conner Prairie that just looked small! For fellow Hamilton County residents, you can see White River running through the middle of this picture. So fun to experience this with my family!!!

Kindergarten Science Day

Alex had Science Day at school last week and had a blast! The first station he went to was making bouncy balls and he had to don this adorable lab coat and goggles.


















The next station was the ice cream making station. As an aside, I was manning this station with a few other suckers...uh, I mean moms. Yes, something about me must say "Put her at the super messy, super crazy station where all the kids will do is complain that their hands are cold." It was certainly an experience and when it comes time to volunteer for Andrew's class, I will request another station!

Anyway, the kids had to shake up their zip bags of milk, vanilla and sugar until it turned into ice cream. They worked in partners and his partner was a girl from his class named Brooke. The angry look on his face is exertion from shaking!














But it was all worth it when you got to eat your tasty treat!














Next it was onto the bubble station where the kids got to stand in a baby pool full of bubble solution and they used a hula hoop to enclose the kids in a giant bubble. Sadly this didn't really work that well and they couldn't get the bubble to come higher than their waist but it was fun to get your feet all slippery nonetheless!





























Then they were off to the rocket-making station. I truly didn't understand what was going on there but they put something into those tubes and it shot out across the yard. Very cool!
















And last but not least, they made sidewalk chalk. Which Alex spilled all over his shirt and shoes. Luckily it comes out easily! Yay for science!

Hoppy Easter!

Here are the boys dying eggs...















We also got these cool "Color Snaps" that are basically Q-tips with dye inside them. You snap off one end and the dye goes into the other and then you can paint your eggs. Here's Andrew's lovely egg:
















Alex made a heart on his...


















And he even wrote his name on his:














Here are the finished products, handpainted by Alex and Andrew:














Here are the regular dyed eggs all decorated with Easter stickers:














The next morning we went on our traditional Easter basket hunt. This year the Easter Bunny left clues for Andrew to find his basket in the dryer and Alex's was in the oven. In Andrew's basket was a Darth Vader shirt, which he loved!

















After baskets, we headed outside for the egg hunt!













And then later that day we headed over to Nana's where the bunny had left eggs there, too!














Here are my boys all decked out in their Easter finery. Many thanks to Grandma Schoenherr for the adorable outfits! They couldn't look more springy!

Boys Birthday Party

We decided to celebrate Alex and Andrew's birthdays together this year since they are getting older and share a lot of the same interests. This year we went to the indoor water playground at the Monon Center in Carmel since they love to swim so much.

Here are some of our friends having some watery fun:

















Here's Alex coming out of the waterslide...














A rare shot of both of them running through the fountains together...


















Andrew and Katie going down the mini-slide together...












Our big six year old and Nick having some fun together...














After everyone dried off and changed into some clothes, it was cake time!
















One of the birthday boys enjoying his Jedi cake...













...and the other birthday boy enjoying his cake!




















Then it was onto presents! By far, the best present opened was the Star Wars Light Sabers, given by Grandpa and Granma Schoenherr. They light up and make the light saber sounds and everything!
















"I shall call her 'Excaliber'..." Ha haha! Andrew was so excited about his green saber!

Of course an epic Jedi duel broke out almost immediately...
















Even the Youngling Sophie got in on the action!