SAC Museum and Joslyn Castle

October has been a whirlwind: LDS General Conference was the first weekend; the second weekend we went to Colorado; then we were home for four days before leaving Friday on a 10-day roadtrip! The ultimate destination was Madison, Wisconsin for the Protospiel convention to playtest and demo our game Make a Killing. We left Friday to Omaha first, then Sunday drove to Rochester, Minnesota, and finally on Tuesday we drove to Madison. Shad was at Protospiel all day Friday, I went with him all day Saturday (my aunt and uncle, Emily and Aaron, watched our kids!), and after getting back to Aaron's at 1 am, we woke up at 8 am Sunday morning to drive 10.5 hours home to Kansas, arriving at 10 pm. That is another tale. Here is Omaha:

We visited the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum in Ashland, NE.

This rocket is called Thor.

Two missiles in front of the museum.

Close up missile.

I don't know what all these air crafts are, but that's a jet. Ask someone else what numbers identify it.

Inside the hangar.

Thora loves airplanes! She was so excited that morning when we woke her up and told her we were going to see airplanes.

"Mom, ah-pane!" She's pointing to one suspended from the ceiling. Couldn't get it in the same shot as her.

Tuskegee fighters. I love the looks on their faces. Especially the guy second from the left.

A Tuskegee Airman portrait.

Katie returning salute to the video. Thora was there too, but got upset when she saw me taking the picture. Goddess of Thunder...

The Tie Towers. Designed to depict the Twin Towers from the World Trade Center in New York City, these towers are made up of neck ties, one for each life lost. I don't know if that's lives lost of people in the towers, or if that includes rescue workers too.

Blurry, but there's a straight up view.

After touring the hangar, we went to the kids' interactive discovery zone. They had lots of activities that had to do with physics and engineering--creating force to shoot tennis balls vertically like rockets, building Lincoln Log structures that could withstand an earthquake simulator, really strong air blowers to hover balls (demonstrating the Bernoulli effect), an air flight simulator, and Keva planks and foam bricks.

Dancy exploring the Bernoulli effect

Tommy, Thora, Katie, Dancy and Megan quaking Lincoln Logs

In the gift shop. Love my boys!

Ladies, salute!

Don't you lick random things when you're bored, too?

This is a SR-71A Blackbird. Capable of going Mach 3+, this air craft actually grows a few inches due to heat causing the metal to expand. Shad was really excited about seeing this!

Shad liked this angle that caught all 4 rockets and missiles.

And then we picked up some pizza and hung out in our hotel. You know how TV kinda stinks after Netflix? Well we lucked out this weekend! An all-weekend-long Harry Potter marathon! Commercials were still there, but hooray for Harry Potter every time we pushed the power button!

After our late lunch/early dinner, we went to see Joslyn Castle!

This tree just really interested me. Half green, half red!

Little Things

Literally. These are pictures just of my little two.

Chubby baby hands are one of my favorite things. I love the soft skin, the joint wrinkles, and most of all: knuckle dimples.

I love this baby face looking up at me while I hold him and he holds his bottle.

Cute new outfit from Grandma Pam, huh? Well if he'd only hold still for a good picture. But then maybe he's posing intentionally. Oh, yeah, and did I mention it took me a good five minutes to wrestle him into his clothes? He thinks it's hilarious to immediately flip over any time I lay him on his back for clothing or diaper changes. Oh, the shrieks of laughter!

Thora loves playing the piano. I feel like life is starting to settle a little bit and I might be able to try some piano lessons with Tommy and Katie. Thora might enjoy the music if I can manage to keep her away from the keys during lessons and practice time...a task I'm sure will be easier said than done.

Samson joins us for meals now! Sometimes he eats the same thing we do, other times he loves gumming graham crackers. Following suit with the other four kids: eight months old and toothless.

He may be following suit on teeth, but he's sure breaking the mold with mobility! He's been crawling for over a month now (others started Army crawls at 6 months; Thora not until 11 months), but he's already progressing to figuring out getting his knees and feet under him! A feat not managed by the others until 11 months (or 13 months in Thora's case).

Yet Another Weekend in Colorado

We went to get some shopping done, but managed some time for Lori. And my cousin Anna from North Carolina happened to be there that weekend! This was the most dysfunctional group of humans to try taking a picture of.

Playing Kids

Remember how Samson learned to crawl? Well it was only a week before he figured out how to get his toys.

Go, baby, go!

Birthday balloons tied to a paper box, trying to reenact Up!

Thora hanging out on the floor with Sam.

Movie night with popcorn!

This guy! Cuddles are so rare with him anymore because he's always too busy with places to go and things to see. I soak it up anytime he decides to have some down time.

Tea party with the brothers.

Smile!

She loves it when she can be in control of things without others smothering her with policing.

Thora Playing Geography

Miss Thora on the Piano

Momma Thora

Soccer with Sam

Happy Birthday, Thora!

I grew up reading a poem in a nursery rhyme book: 

There was a little girl 

who had a little curl,

right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,

she was very good, indeed.

When she was bad, she was horrid.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

That's been on my mind for the past several weeks, wondering if someone knew my daughter when they wrote it. Little miss curly brown can be the sweetest thing ever, but this Goddess of Thunder sure knows how to throw a good fit! At least she's past the days when I equated her with terrorism...

Thora is a fiesty, opinionated little creature. She wears her emotions on her sleeve. She may get upset about things, but at least we know she's upset and she works through it. She's pretty reasonable and can be talked through whatever emotions she is expressing. She does things in her own time. Crawling at 11 months, teeth at 14 months, walking at 15 months. In June we started feeling concerned about her lack of language development. In August she finally started saying a few words, and it exploded over night. She just wanted to make sure she was fluent before she spoke, that's all. She is the most polite little lady, grateful for food, gifts, and compliments. She threw a fit one day because I offered her food she didn't want. I simply told her, "No, you don't scream at me like that. You say, 'No, thank you.'" And from that one moment of teaching, that's been her phrase. I hear it all day long and it is music to my ears! She also says, "Pees be dismissed?" at the end of meals. She loves piggyback rides, "Sammers" (Samson), Tinkerbell, Strawberry Shortcake, bows, dress up, dancing, airplanes, motorcycles, and the moon. She loves saying her own prayers every night and gleefully asks me to help her as she kneels down and holds my hands.

Little diva Thora got all dressed up with her bows, necklace and Cinderella shoes. Yes, I know they're Ariel shoes, but don't tell her that. She insists they are "Ci-rewa."

Hooray! It's my day!

There was a song back in the 90s..."It's my party and I'll cry if I want to! Cry if I want to, cry if I want to. You would cry to if it happened to you!" We told her she could get her presents.

When she got over her fit of defiance, she was thrilled to get new fridge magnets. The electronic device broke on our last set. She wore it out. You know how sometimes you feel like you didn't get enough presents? I really only got her two things, then grabbed a couple previously confiscated toys to give back. And then you give the gifts and the kid only cares about one thing and you kick yourself for having wasted effort on the others? Yeah. This girl only cared about the magnets. Not the necklace, doll, Minnie Mouse or Lincoln Logs.

You wanna open another present? "Um, no, thank you!"

Blowing out candles.

Happy birthday to Thora!