Carolinas Aviation Museum

A friend texted me first thing this morning to let me know that a local aviation museum was offering free admission for the day. I was excited to take advantage of a free event that I knew would offer lots of interesting subject matter for us to see. Jesse did not share my enthusiasm, but he agreed to join us. There were commercial and military planes and helicopters on exhibit. Some were more interactive than others, but all were interesting.

The picture below is of a helicopter used during the Vietnam War. As I've gotten older I find myself blindsided by moments where I am flooded with thoughts of my father. It's almost an out of body experience where I think, "Oh, I wonder if Dad took helicopters into Vietnam. I'll have to ask him about it later."  I haven't had that luxury for sixteen years, which makes me mourn the fact that I will never have a relationship with him as an adult.

Back to reality...
Jackson was able to sit in the pilot's seat of two different planes. This 2-passenger plane was used to train future pilots. The museum staff member was quick to provide information about the plane.

The other interactive exhibit was actually just the cockpit of a plane. Another boy smaller than Jackson sat on the right side. It reminded me of driver's ed because both of the steering wheels moved together. We unfortunately figured this out when Jackson moved his controls and the other controls kept hitting the little boy in the face.  Oops! Jackson would have happily spent more time in the pilot's seat if there wasn't a growing line behind us.

The biggest claim to fame of this museum is that it houses the "Miracle on the Hudson" where Captain Sully was able to safely land the plane in the Hudson River. (You can watch a flight simulation of Flight 1549 here.)

The only time we let James, Amelia, and Maddie out of the stroller is when they were allowed to play in the emergency inflatable slide that served as a life raft for the passengers. 

Here's a picture of the damaged tail of the plane. I wish I had taken a picture of the placard because I really don't know what exactly this is, but I know it should be connected to the rest of the plane!

Because the museum lacked air conditioning, the outdoor exhibits felt quite pleasant in comparison thanks to the occasional breeze. The big boys walked up the stairs as if they were about to board the plane. Jackson wanted to open the door, which was inaccessible. I'm sure he'll have the opportunity to do so one day.

After learning about Flight 1549, Jack was quite concerned about dead geese and kept inquiring about the geese with every plane we saw.

I've taken the kids to an airport overlook park to watch planes land and take-off a few times. However, the museum parking lot provides a much better view with much less volume than the overlook park. You can't see the runway or the planes taxiing, but there are perfectly clear shots of the massive planes taking off.

The best part is that there are huge open fields. The triplets were getting antsy from being confined in their strollers for so long. We let them eat their lunch in the grass. (Random fact: At 13 months old, the trio had their first peanut butter and jelly sandwich today.)

Since there wasn't any shade in the grass Jackson found a secluded concrete tunnel to rest inside.

My happy boy...

We had a really fun morning. Events like this make me especially grateful that we live in a large city that has a variety of fun, free activities for us to do together as a family!

Village Park

Our family of six headed to the booming town of Kannapolis for a fun morning at the park. Even though none of the babies are walking yet, there is something about them standing with shoes on that makes you think they're about to take off running any second.

James normally loves the swings, but he was much happier playing with Amelia as she swung towards him. The two giggled each time Amelia got close to James.



Jackson and the girls were happy simply swinging.

The mulch wasn't the best surface for the trio to crawl around in, but that didn't stop them. Luckily, there was plenty of fun equipment for them to pull up on and explore.

Jackson enjoyed climbing, sliding, riding, and making silly faces.

The highlight of our morning was riding the train around the loop of the park. Jackson was nearly giddy when the conductor shouted, "All aboard!" The boys took up one seat,

while us girls filled another seat.

Our summer days are numbered, so I'm especially grateful for any adventures we can go on as a family of six.

Adventures Uptown: Romare Bearden Park

Ever since my girls' night out in uptown, I've been itching to take the kids to Romare Bearden Park. I don't often venture uptown anymore simply because I hate having to pay to park and have never had the best sense of direction. It was another unseasonably cool day, so our family of six decided to spend the afternoon in the heart of our city. Despite gray skies, we had a fairly dry picnic in the park. The park has a lovely view of the Charlotte skyline, waterfall fountains, interactive chimes, colorful gardens, and open fields of clean grass.

After eating and playing in the park, we walked around a few blocks. The babies were so distracted they didn't know which direction to look. Every pedestrian, bicyclist, and car that passed by was something new and exciting for the trio. Jackson was perfectly content walking around hand in hand with Jesse.

Hopefully I'll be brave enough to wander around uptown alone with the kids this fall.

Backyard Fun!

Our children have been blessed with all the clothes, toys, and books they could ever need during their first years. However, we really haven't had any kind of outdoor playsets or large toys that all four kids could play with. Until now!

With only a small fraction of the babies' birthday money, we were able to purchase two Little Tikes playsets off of Craigslist.

Jesse's brother and sister-in-law bought the babies the water table we had wanted.

Jesse's mom bought this extravagant climbing playset with tunnel. We chose to keep this toy inside so the babies would have a safe place to climb in their playroom/nursery.

And finally, Jesse's father built a sandbox that all four kids can enjoy.

We've been able to spend our evenings in our own backyard playing with water, sand, slides, swings, etc. I predict many afternoons will be spent playing in our backyard once the weather is cooler, Jesse goes back to work, and the babies are walking. Here are some action shots from the past few days.

In addition to all the big toys for the triplet's birthday, they were also blessed with food, wagons, electronic toys, shoes, gift cards, cups, and more.

There are so many fun things for James, Amelia, and Maddie to explore!

Silly Headshots at the Park

Yesterday our family of six took advantage of the unseasonably cooler weather and headed to my favorite park. This was the first time Jesse had ever been to Freedom Park, or as Jackson calls it, "the obstacle course park". We leisurely enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shade.  Since my father-in-law's camera is still on loan, I snapped some close-ups of my favorite crazy expressions the kids make. 

This was the first time the trio could safely sit in the wagon now that Jesse has installed the seat belts. The three sat still and seemed to enjoy the ride.

We brought moldy bread so Jackson could feed the ducks. He was especially fond of the tiny baby ducks.

After feeding the ducks we played on the obstacle course. Jackson eagerly showed Jesse around the various obstacles while I struggled to keep mulch out of James' mouth and the girls from being trampled over by big kids.

Exhaustion began to set in so we strapped the babies back into the wagon. I seized the opportunity for one more close-up of my favorite one-year-olds.

And of course, we had to see the train on the way back to the parking lot.

The van was full of four sleeping children on the ride home.