Life as a Yowler

We came down to Ohio for a few days. Brandon is hunting morning and evenings in his grandpa’s woods. We are also visiting family. Yesterday we took the day and hung out with Brandon’s dad. It had been awhile since we last saw him. The kids have missed their papaw.  We wanted to do something educational together. We decided to take a field trip to a couple museums. We had to stop by Schuler’s Bakery on the drive down. Brandon grew up in a Springfield, Ohio(where the bakery is). We lived in the area when we were first married. We have lots of memories of Schulers.

I was somewhat hesitant to take the kids, because I knew their sugar would spike then crash. Brandon talked me into stopping. I mean what is a sugar crash compared to taking a trip down memory lane? As soon as we got off the highway, there was a bad car accident. We might have just been spared. Saved by a donut(and God’s grace).

We got back on the road, and headed to the museums. Let me just start this out by pointing out our claim to fame. We are very very distantly related to the Wright brothers. There are several siblings, but the most famous are Wilbur and Orville. They invented the first successful airplane.  Bill’s Grandma had a brother who married Wilbur and Orville’s older sister, Kate. Kate acted like more of a mother to her younger brothers, because their mom died at a young age. I have been reading through this book with the kids.

After I read the first chapter, we called Brandon and said “did you know the Wright brothers grew up in Dayton, Ohio?” Brandon is like “yes. Not only that but the Yowler’s are related to them.” Say what? Like I said, we are pretty much famous. Brandon’s dad lives in Dayton, so of course we toured the Wright Brothers National Museum, or The Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.

Papaw with his grandkids.

The Wright brothers started out building bicycles. They also ran a printing press. We toured both the bicycle shop and the printing press. When we were done seeing all we wanted to see, we packed up and drove over to The National Museum of the United States Air Force. The boys, especially Joah, were very fascinated. Brielle was more like “wow mom, there are a lot of shiny planes.”

We spent most of our time in the WWII room. It was really cool seeing all the air crafts. We were a little bummed because the presidential room closed right before we got there. There was a carbon monoxide detector going off and the fire department hadn’t cleared it yet. It wasn’t quite worth dying, but it would have been very cool to see the presidents’ planes. We  have plans to go back someday.

After we were done at the Air Force Museum, we went to see the Movie, The Grinch. The Grinch is Caed’s favorite. He asks to watch it all year round. He was glued to the screen the whole time. The other kids loved it too. It was a very cute  movie. Isla did pretty good. I had to stand up with her a couple times on the side of the theatre. I didn’t miss any of the movie. This was the kids first time seeing a movie in a reclining seat with a seat warmer.

Brandon got a large popcorn in a special Grinch tin. The kids devoured it.

After our fun, busy day, we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant with Papaw Bill. I’m sure they wont forget us for awhile.  We were the loud family who’s baby spilled more rice than any other members of the family ate combined. 😬 I cleaned up the worst of it, but I’m sure we aren’t their favorite customer. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again…..Isla is by far my messiest eater. God knew what I needed to cure my OCD.

It was a very fun day. All the kids fell asleep on the drive home. It takes a lot to wear them out, but we did it. We are thankful for the time seeing papaw, and the fun memories made.