Noe News is Good News

THe Kentucky Aviation Museum

On a day that was really really hot, some friends and I decided to pay the Kentucky Aviation museum a visit. Kids got in free and adults were fairly cheap. The place where they display all the planes only has a huge fan on the ceiling so it was HOT inside too... but the kids still managed to find things to do for almost an hour. The biggest hit was the helicopter they let you get in. Landen rarely left the seat!

Joselyn thought the little plane was so cute... it was apparently a baby plane.





Forgot what they are watching... but it had everyone's attention for about 5 seconds...



When we first got in the museum, Joselyn gave one of the maintenance guy a high five and it made his day so he gave Joselyn one of the things below.... you know, you spin them and they fly. Don't know what they are called. Everyone took turns with it.





Joselyn is pouting because she is hot and ready to leave.

Painting Rocks

I found a really cute idea on pinterest that involved painting the alphabet on rocks. I thought these would be fun for the kids to make and play with so I added it to my summer fun list! Landen took a little nap, but we had Melanie here to help us and got the whole alphabet painted. It turned out really cute :) We painted a few extra letters so we could also spell the kids' names. We can also spell simple words like cat, dog and pie. Fun little project :)

 

Our ZOKU!!!

Have you heard of the Zoku??? If not, then get ready to be wowed. I was first introduced to them by my friend Holly and her husband... I went to her house one time and her husband presented us with yummy lemonade ice pops. And then she claimed he made them in 10 minutes!! Ever since then, I wanted one. I finally went out and got one yesterday. I got mine at Williams Sanoma, but I know you can get them other places too. I somehow got an amazing deal on mine... they rang up about 40% off so go check it out now if you want a good deal! Mine came with a tool kit and a recipe book.

So, here's how they work. You put the "machine" in the freezer for 24 hours so it freezes. There is some sort of liquid in there that makes this all work so fast. Then you can put in a variety of mixes or juices to create your popsicle.

My first attempt was simple... pink lemonade with strawberry pieces. My tool kit came with little mini cutters in the shape of a heart and star, so I used those to make heart shaped strawberry pieces. They turned out perfect!!



You can see the outer rim already freezing... cool huh?


I love that these popsicles are so photogenic!




This was on my summer to-do list so I can now check that off!!

Going to See the Trains

Funny story. On our way to see the trains this morning, I got my phone and was updating my facebook status. What it said was this: "Going to see some trains with out littles!" What I meant to say was "our" not "out". Some people thought Adam and I were going on a hot date to look at trains. You know that's our idea of romance!

No really. We took the kids. I've been the the Bluegrass Railway Museum plenty of times for photo shoots and have always wanted to take the kids there. The guys who work there are always super nice, and today they let us climb up on the engine and sit in the conductor's chair! Landen was thrilled. Joselyn was just disappointed that the purple train I had told her about had been painted white. But she still enjoyed herself too!


















Next time we return it will be to RIDE the trains!! They have 1 hour train rides every Saturday at 2pm between May and October with special rides during Christmas and other holidays. Can't wait for that- but there is no AC on the trains as of right now (they are waiting on an air conditioned train coming within a month) so I would wait for a cooler day for a train ride!!

And the pendulum swings

After I dropped Adam off at work today, I had a little down time and I didn't really want to go home... but it was POURING down rain. WHat to do... what to do... so I looked up my summer fun list to see if there was anything we could cross off the list. The world's largest ceiling clock at the downtown library!! So we went! And it was actually quite fun! They have a great library downtown with a little play house and fun toys. The kids were very fascinated by the huge clock and the pendulum which swings back and forth. Good call!

I've got cotton caaaaandy!!

We thought we'd go ahead and knock something off of our Summer Fun list since the carnival at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was going on this weekend. My parents live right down the street from this church so it's been kind of a summer tradition. We haven't been since kids though... and thought the kids would enjoy the atmosphere. From what we described I think they were envisioning something very similar to Super Silly Fun Land.




Unfortunately, Joselyn and Landen were both too small for even the kiddie rides... so we stuck to games, face painting and cotton candy.









The first game we tried was the Rat Race... the kids picked a color for 25 cents and if the rat chose their color they got a prize. Easy win. Joselyn chose a flying pig.

Next we did some fishing... this was a game you COULDN'T lose so both the kids came away with a prize. Landen picked out a sword (the first "weapon" he has ever owned... not sure sure about this...) and Joselyn chose a wand.









Next we headed over for some face painting. Joselyn wanted a bunny face like Gru. SOOOO cute! They look pretty similar, what do you think?

While Jos got her face painted, Landen petted a dog and begged and begged to go on the monster truck and train rides they had for little kids. Poor little guy... he really wanted to ride.

We ended our fun with cotton candy... and although we didn't finish it all I think we all got a little bit of an upset stomach from it.





I got cotton caaaaaaandy!



Fun though :)

Noe Family Summer Fun List

I love lists and I love having something fun to do every day. Sitting at home is fun every once in a while, but most of the time I'd rather be out having fun! So inspired by friends and others in the blog world, I've put together our own summer fun list. Maybe we won't finish all of this stuff, but that's ok. At least it gives me a source of things to do when we're bored! Finished ones are linked to the post where we did them and are in BOLD.

If you want to access this list quickly (just in case you'd like some ideas) I've put the list under "meet the noe family" on the right. I also added a few other links to fun ideas on the left!

- Wash the Jeep together
- Blow giant bubbles!!
- Have a lemonade stand/bake sale (got the cutest lemonade stand stuff at Target this year!)
- Pick berries (there's a great place on the corner of Man O' War and Nicholasville Rd.)
- Make pancakes/waffles with the berries we picked
- Make Wind chimes
- Buy a Zoku and make our own frozen bars! (http://www.zokuhome.com/)
- Zoo (Louiville Zoo: http://www.louisvillezoo.org/, Cincinnati Zoo: http://cincinnatizoo.org/)
- Newport Aquarium (http://www.newportaquarium.com/)
- Cave Run Lake (http://www.caverun.org/)
- Sparklers
- 4th of July Party for church
- Bowling
- Bluegrass Railway Museum (http://www.bgrm.org/)
- Free Friday Flicks (http://www.lexingtonky.gov/index.aspx?page=241)
- Ice Cream Sundae bar with friends
- Visit a bakery and buy a treat
- Farmers Market
- Water Balloons
- Tie Dye Shirts
- Catch Fireflies
- Press Flowers
- Scavenger Hunt
- Collect Rocks and paint them
- Take Walks in the morning when it's still cool out
- Nicholasville swimming pool (the best ever!)
- Evan's Orchard (http://www.evansorchard.com/)
- Sweet Corn Festival at Evan's Orchard (July 16th 9:30-6 pm)
- Boyd Orchards
- Make fruit salsa and chips
- Draw Sidewalk Art
- Watch the sun set
- Carnival at Seton
- Feed ducks/fish
- Help sort the Laundry
- Go to the park in my parents' neighborhood and listen for bull frogs
- Father's Day gifts
- Make little boats and float them in water
- Take RCs to the park and race them
- Visit family in Corbin
- Visit KY Children's Garden often (http://www.ca.uky.edu/arboretum/KCG.php)
- On a cooler day go for a hike
- Build a bird house and watch the birds
- Carriage Ride
- Visit a horse farm
- Horse Park
- Louisville Science Museum  (http://www.louisvillescience.org/)
- The Aviation Museum (http://www.aviationky.org/)
- Cincinnati Museum (http://www.cincymuseum.org/)
- Cars 2
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Keeneland (http://www.keeneland.com/visit/lists/copy/workouts.aspx)
- Visit the downtown fountains
- McConnel Springs (http://www.mcconnellsprings.org/, calendar of events)
- Old Kentucky Chocolates- see how chocolate is made
- Visit Downtown Library to see the world's largest ceiling clock
- Henry Clay Estate
- KY State Capitol Building
- Art Fair @ Woodland Park (August 20th)
- Plant flowers in a pot for front porch
-Trip to IKEA
- Hang Large Chalkboard in the backyard for kids to draw on (instructions here and here)
- Road trip to Florida, Chicago, Gatlinburg or some other fun place
- Play in the rain
- Walk to a gas station and get a popsicle
- paint something
- take the Jeep top off and go for a ride
- play in the sprinklers
- eat corn on the cob
- eat at a cafe with live music
- girls day with Joselyn- get nails done
- donate unwated things to charity
- build a sand castle


Noe Family Summer Get Done List

- Save money for a family vacation to New Mexico!!
- Finish decorating master bedroom
- Organize closets, kitchen cabinets, bathrooms etc
- Clean out garage and have a garage sale (build shelves for all the plastic boxes)
- Mark an art cabinet/shelves to keep all of kids art supplies
- Go through toys and purge/donate
- Finish blog books and print
- Buy patio furniture, umbrellas etc. to make our back yard nicer
- Finish landscaping front yard
- POTTY TRAIN LANDEN
- Keep a good calendar, get a good daily schedule down
- Set up a better budget
- Get Photography Business in order
- Organize old clothes, sort by size and season and label boxes

Should keep us pretty buzy don't you think? Any other fun ideas you'd like to share?