Airport Overlook

I have always wanted to take the kids for a picnic at Charlotte's Airport Overlook and we finally did this weekend.  It was fun to watch the planes taking off and landing at such a close distance.

    

    

We had a nice view of uptown!

      

     

      

Fun with Dry Ice

We had a bunch of dry ice left over from our volcano cake so we did some experimenting on Sunday. The kids had a blast!

   

We put dry ice into warm soapy water to make special bubbles that turned to gas when you touched them.

    

    

    

Teaching four and one year olds about sublimation is fun!

    

    

We put small dry ice pieces into balloons and tied them.  The gas produced from sublimation inflated the balloons!

    

Normal ice melting to a liquid and dry ice sublimating into gas!

    

    

Our favorite experiment was creating big dry ice bubbles!  We played with these for over an hour!

Volcano Cake

It was a rainy Saturday and we were stuck indoors so we decided to make a volcano cake!  Harper is a volcano-lover so it was fun to make an edible experiment!

   

My kitchen helper!

    

    

    

A lot of our cake batter ended up in Harper's tummy instead of the cake pans.

      

   

Little man was dying for a taste! 

    

    

He decided to do his own baking.

     

     

   

Luckily, our Harris Teeter had dry ice for the cake! 

    

    

    

Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Harper, Ethan and I made cherry chocolate chip ice cream this Sunday with our left over cherries.  It was delicious!

   

    

    

My taste tester!

    

Violin Camp

Harper went to violin camp for a week this summer.  After dragging her to violin practice all year, it was refreshing to take her to lessons she actually enjoyed.  We were pleasantly surprised with a concert in the park after her last day of camp.  Harper did a great job!

    

    

    

   

   

    

   

   

Ethan's First Camping Adventure

Our friends recently bought a camper and have been testing it out at different camp sites in North Carolina.  We, last minute, decided to tag along with their trip this weekend.  We met up at Dan Nicholas Park Campground, only about fifty minutes from our house.  Luckily, we are able to rent the site next to their spot.  Their sons are close in age to Harper and Ethan so it was perfect!  The kids had a blast playing at the park exhibits, roasting marshmallows, and horsing around the campsite.  It was Ethan's first camping trip.  Apparently we didn't learn from taking Harper camping shortly after she learned to walk three years ago - bringing a kiddo who has just learned to walk is a messy, messy adventure.  We all had a wonderful time and are trying to plan our next camping trip with the McCabes!

  

Ethan was so very excited to play with our camping equipment.  He had a blast exploring the campsite.  He became very familiar with all of the roots.

    

Harper is an experienced camper and marshmallow roaster.

    

    

Little man loves his chairs!

    

Harper slept in Alex's old sleeping bag.

     

We brought Ethan's travel crib which fit perfectly in the tent-mahal.

     

We walked along a beautiful lake to get to the campsite park which included a water feature, carousel, kiddie train, playground, and nature center.  

    

    

    

     

    

   

    

   

    

    

   

Ben and Ethan 

     

    

    

     

    

Cozy sleeper

     

Both kids slept in their half of the tent all night.  Harper must have been tired because she didn't wake up until 8am!