Planes, Trucks and Carnival Rides

Our second action packed day with Megan started out last Friday morning with a visit to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space museum.  Recently, the boys have been talking a lot about the Space Shuttle and the SR-71 Blackbird (which they have a little toy version of at home) so we decided to pay the real one a visit.  Owen is more into the Blackbird than Oliver and wanted to bring his toy with him; if you look hard you can see him holding it up above his head in the first picture below.  He's so cute when he says, "Mommy, it's the SR-71 Blackbird!"  The boys enjoyed their usual run around on the second level overlooking the Space Shuttle and other planes.  And they all seemed especially interested in the astronaut hanging from the ceiling, wondering about the person in the suit and how and when they were going to come down from way up there!

After a nice long nap, we headed back out in the evening for one of the opening nights of the Frying Pan Farm Park 4H Fair, where they were holding a free big truck event.  In addition to buses, a firetruck, ambulance, cement truck, and other work trucks there were several farm tractors the boys could climb up on and explore behind the wheel.  Given their fascination with tractors this summer, needless to say this was a hit!  

After everyone had their fill of big trucks (and also the noise level with all the horns going!) we walked by some of the farm animals and headed over to the carnival area.  We thought the boys might be able to try 1 or 2 little rides this year...it turned out there were a few they could ride and they wanted to do them all!  They barely passed the 36" height requirement for the ones they did ride (and since Owen has 1/2" to 1" on Oliver he technically shouldn't have been allowed on some).  They started out on some trucks that went around a winding track, then on to a merry-go-round type ride where Oliver rode in a pink car and Owen in a yellow bus, then the tea cups (Spencie got to do this one with Megan), a whale ride, and finally a mini roller coaster!  I rode on the dragon roller coaster with them, which we called the "Dinosaur Train" after one of their favorite shows.  Oliver insisted on riding alone in the front car behind the "dinosaur" head and so Owen and I saw together behind him.  This ride was not for babies...it moved pretty quickly and made sharp, fast turns at each end.  We didn't expect our outing to see trucks and tractors on the farm to turn into fun blown carnival mania...but it was a fun surprise!!  One thing's for sure - these boys love thrill rides like their Mommy and Daddy!