Summer Successes

It's been a busy summer. We accomplished some great things this season!

The kids took several weeks of swimming lessons. They've never done that before and did great starting from zero. Nora especially took to it (she loves water anyway). They both will be rockstars next year.  

Nora also learned to ride her bike without training wheels! 

We took several evening trips to the park for Aaron to fly, the kids to play, and me to sit watch. 

We had our backyard tree taken out. We waited all summer but it finally got done!

Aaron flew and successfully landed this new plane. Whew!

We ran a stop of the Amazing Race for the Loertscher reunion. Aaron was subbing for his dad, but the race ran late and Aaron had to work so I was subbing for him. Thankfully Hayley was around to help me out. Nora and Zeke were great helpers too. 

This daylily bloomed for the first time, and if you look at the tomato plant you'll see a red tomato. Not only did our tomato produce fruit (unlike last year.....) but it actually ripened on the vine. I think that's a first ever for this house! 

It's been a fun and productive summer! They always go by so fast. I love all of the family events, barbecues, holidays, fireworks, warm evenings, pretty flowers, and that we don't have school demands for a while. 

Night Fly

We love night flying! Flying in the evening, picnic dinner, playing in the dirt, and watching the sun go down - all out in the middle of nowhere. 

We flew in June this year instead of later in the summer, so the evening was extra long. Lots of daylight and lots of twilight too. 

 

After dinner we got glowsticks out. Nora has a pink trident and Zeke has a green ax. They had a ball having battles with their super-powered weapons. 

Family photo at the flying field (say that 3 times fast!). 

As the night got darker the lights on the planes showed more. So fun to watch. 

 

We also watched the stars come out and did a little stargazing. Zeke asked what the zodiac sign was (Gemini) and we looked up how to locate it. We think we found it, although we weren't there long enough to see all the stars in it. 

Fall Park Flying

We spent one warm-ish Saturday morning meeting Aaron's flying friends at a park to fly some small planes. They were little foam planes with streamers attached. It was really cool to watch them fly close to each other and really hard to get a picture that does it justice. 

Since we were at a park this time, there was of course a playground. When Zeke got bored watching planes because no one was cutting anyone else's streamer, I decided it was time to let Nora get the park time she had been asking for. They spent the most time on the merry-go-round type toy, and I got a workout pushing them. 

After that Zeke decided to hike the arch up to the slide. I love how this picture turned out!

Nora eventually got brave enough to try the arch too. 

I had them pose in the trees for me. This would be an adorable Christmas card!

On the arch together. 

Photo finish on the slides

Float Flying

We were scheduled to float fly in May but it was cancelled due to thunderstormy weather and rescheduled for June. We were bummed but so glad we waited because the weather was hot and perfect for wading and splashing. 

Aaron flew three times and the plane did perfectly.

Zeke helped carry in the plane after the last flight. 

Sillies on the shore.

Valentine's Day Flying Fun

All Aaron wanted for Valentine's Day was to go flying. So we took him flying!

Zeke didn't get to fly, but he did help retrieve the plane. 

We also had a picnic lunch. It was a little windy so we turned the back of the van into a fancy Valentine's cafe for these two cute kids. 

I served up some turkey and cheese sandwiches and chocolate hearts for dessert. 

It was a great day of family fun. And we appreciated a little festive Valentine's love on the freeway. 

Float Flying

Like the night fly, we weren't sure what the weather would be for the float fly. It rained all week, and even in the night on Saturday morning. But the weather at the lake on Saturday lat morning was so beautiful! 

Nora helping Daddy take off. She spent the whole time in the water.

There were some wild clouds around, but fortunately no rain that came over us.

Sweet (wet) girl.

Zeke on the muddy shore.

It was a good flying day. Aaron flew 4 or 5 times, no crashes. The kids loved playing outside, and we had a good hamburger/hot dog lunch. 

Night Flying

The Saturday of the Night Fly, we spent the morning working on finishing Aaron's plane, then around 3:00 a thunderstorm rolled in. Thunder, lightning, cold wind, raining cats and dogs. We were going to run to the grocery store before we headed flying, but we didn't want to go out in the heavy rain, so we stayed home and waited for the notice that the fly was cancelled. But the cancellation email never came, and after consulting the weather radar, we decided that there would probably be people and food at the flying field even if the weather wouldn't let us fly. So we loaded up and headed out. 

About halfway through our drive we drove out of the rain and into the sunshine. When we arrived at the field it was 80+ degrees and sunny. We felt like we had entered another world - no wonder the event wasn't cancelled; the weather was fine here! 

Dinner with melty chocolate chip cookes.

One of my favorite parts of the night fly is watching the sun set. It's easy to get beautiful sunset pictures out here.

Moon rising.

Sun setting.

Lights on and ready to fly.

We brought our glowsticks, but the club was handing them out. There weren't that many kids, so we got several packages!

Right as it got dark, we got a fireworks show. The next town over was having their town celebration, and we had a great view of the fireworks. We were far enough away that the sound was a bit behind the light, but not too much. The kids were so happy to have fireworks. 

Planes flew until about 10 then everyone packed up and went home. We stopped at the grocery store on the way, and the kids were better behaved than ever before. It was kind of a small miracle! We speed shopped, checked out as the store was closing, and then went home to fall into bed. It was a fun night!

May Float Fly

We love going float flying!

The kids had such a good time in the water.

Nora gave herself a mud treatment at one point.

Watching Aaron fly and the sailboat in the distance. I did a lot of relaxing at this event; it was great!

Birthday Flying

I think we've started a tradition of going flying on Zeke's party day. Last year we flew his new kite after the party, this year we flew planes before and kites after the party. Of course, this tradition is subject to weather; two years ago we woke up to snow on his party day!

It was a perfect day for flying. Spring is a beautiful time of  year. 

Isn't he cute? This is Zeke's new trick, making faces in photos. 

Cute kids out in the sun.

Our little princess loves her planes. Plane retrieval was about the only thing that brought her back when she started taking a hike down the walking path!

Early Spring at the RC Airport

We made our first attempt for 2013 at going out to go flying on Friday night. Between the gusty wind and a possible battery problem with the plane, Aaron taxied around for a while but didn't fly. However, it was great to play outside in the beautiful weather. 

We had to pack our stuff in a little further than usual. Everyone helped, even Nora. 

The kids ran and ran and had a great time. 

Zeke packin' it up to go home.

The kids were mesmerized by the river. They love the water. 

Picture of Nora and most of me as we were getting ready to go home. 

I asked Zeke to take our picture, hoping to get my whole self in it. He did, but Nora wouldn't smile for him. I think she was worried that she wouldn't get her promised turn with my phone because Zeke had it. 

Sun behind the clouds, over the river.