Science, Friends, and Sunshine

INL hosted a family day (the first one in five years). This time there seemed to be more kid-friendly activities, or maybe it's just because we were looking for those things. One group was set up with power distribution demonstrations, which harkened back to Owen's interests a year ago. He got to play lineman for a bit with tools and gear, which was fun.

They even had a tank that the kids could climb around in! Another popular demo was a remote-controlled camera for nuclear device detection.

Then we headed inside for some more "sciency" exhibits, like virtual reality, electrical safety, 3-D interactive modeling, and cotton candy.

Finally, the piece de resistance was Dad's desk! Woohoo!  But don't tell them that I took a picture here. It's top secret. ;)

We did the Walk for Eli again, but we just signed up for the mile walk this year. Neon orange for our team this time.

We had to wait for all of the 10k and 5k runners/walkers to finish before we could start the mile walk, so there was a lot of time for the kids to run around, play together, and cheer on the finishers. One of our teacher friends organized a Duck Duck Goose game to quell the insanity of a dozen bored kids.

Hadley with her medal after the mile walk. Dad had to take Owen to his first football game, so they didn't get to do the walk. (I wish I had it on film, but Owen broke away on the first offensive drive and was on his way for an easy touchdown... until he spiked the ball at the one-yard line! Oh man. Believe me, we talked about that a lot!!) 

And Owen got some more time with his buddy Carson, while they were in town. They still look related and always pick up right where they left off.

Hadley's been accompanying me on Owen's pick-ups from school the first week. She misses him a lot when he's at school! Evidence? 1)The first day he was gone, she asked if we were going to go bring him home for lunch. She was very disappointed to learn that he'd be eating lunch at school without us from now on. 2)One day she cried real tears because he crossed the street to school without saying good-bye to her. 3)She declared that she missed him the second he hopped out of the car for football practice and asked if we could go home so that she could make him an 'I miss you' card. Keep in mind that football practice is only one hour long! It's so sweet!

Of course, lots of time on our bikes and at parks. Sometimes both!

One more tiger-pose for the kids at the zoo...

And although our own yard has plenty of raspberries making their appearance now, we couldn't resist a last-of-summer trip with some friends.