Field Trip Friday II - Henry Ford Museum w/ the Kreigers

We had another "Field Trip Friday" today, but this time we went along with our friends the Kreigers, Elena & Eshton. Erik was able to join us for lunch as well. Since they are members at the Henry Ford Museum, they were able to take us along with them for free to see a bunch of very cool stuff. We will definitely have to go back sometime because one whole section of the museum was under construction for a future exhibit about some more automobiles. But what we did see was very interesting:

Kiddos in front of the Weinermobile.

Eshton pretending to be hot dog.

Mikaela's turn.

Look at my cute little Aiden hot dog...

Apparently Trevor Bayne had been to the museum recently - I believe this is his actual trophy (not sure though).

Off to the Model T area...

This is where the kids could help put together an actual Model T car. They assemble the car every day. The guide explained it's easy to make because children put it together every day ;)

This is the bus made famous by Rosa Parks:

These are two ski runners for an airplane.

Replica(?) of Wright brothers' plane.

Check this out - a cross between a helicopter and a plane :)

This train is absolutely massive...

Kids were able to pull the whistle and other levers.

I just thought this looked so cool :)

Aren't they cute?

They looked so small sitting up in the cab of that monster...

Next off to the K'nex area where they each got to build/race cars down some slopes.

The K'nex area was part of a Travelling through Time exhibit where they also included some music from the past. Here Aiden and Eshton are getting down to some old school Dire Straits:

There was a whole section on engines, generators, power, etc. but I didn't get too many pictures of that area because the motors and things were so large that I could not capture it properly with our camera.

Not sure what we will do for our next field trip, but we have been enjoying the ones we have done throughout the year. And I loved that Andy was able to join us on this one too!

Swim Party at the Kreigers

Both this weekend and last weekend have involved one of the kids' new found favorite things to do - swimming! Last weekend we were at Andy's boss' house for his annual pool party. That was nice because the kids were able to get their feet wet, literally and figuratively, for this weekend when we got to go swimming with our good friends the Kreigers. Their little boy was born only one day earlier than Mikaela so they are practically the exact same age which has been fun to watch them grow up together.

Here are some pictures and videos from today:

Aiden was very proud of himself when he jumped into my arms over and over. He also thought that Eshton's swim goggles were pretty cool so he wanted to wear some too.

Eshton and Mikaela

Mikaela has become braver and braver by the water. Thankfully, the Kreigers pool has a shallow 3.5 foot side so she didn't have to worry when she jumped in - she would be able to touch the bottom. However, she's still getting used to the idea of letting her head go under the water. I think with some more practice, we'll have our own little fish on our hands :)

Eshton, on the other hand, is a little fish. Elena said that they have been in their pool pretty much non-stop this summer so he is very used to jumping, diving, and even doing tricks like somersaults and everything.

And this little guy loved being there so much today that he literally cried when we had to go home. He would have loved to have stayed there all night playing cars with Eshton if he could. I promised him that we would come back again someday. He was so tuckered out that when we sat down to supper tonight he told me, "Mommy, when I'm done eating, I want to go to bed."

But before we did that, we made sure to try out Mikaela's "new" soccer shoes and shin guards that we borrowed from Eshton. In a few weeks, she'll be starting off player soccer with AYSO, and Andy has volunteered to be her coach. I'm sure we'll be posting some fun pictures of that soon. Her first game will be Sept. 11th. She is very excited. Aiden was disappointed that he didn't have special shoes and special shin guards, and he's already voiced his disappointment that he won't be playing soccer on a team either. Unfortunately, he's going to have lots of moments of jealousy because he will always be younger than her. How do you explain this to a 3 yr old? :)

Well, I'm off to bed, I think. I love the tired feeling from a fun day in the sun and water. I only wish summer could be all year long! :)