Some day I will be an old woman and will look back at these and bawl my eyes out--so many of these pictures say "childhood" to me.  There was a time before any of the kids were born where I had the notion that my kids would be serious and all very deep all the time...and then I was introduced to reality.

We went to the Wright Brothers' Museum in Kitty Hawk, NC,  and they did not stand in solemn silence, taking in the great history of it all.  Jeff did read all the informative signs, but other than that they were 100% kids.

When we were inside the museum listening to the ranger talk, a jet flew overhead.  Steve and I smiled to each other..so amazing how far we have come in just few short generations.

This was the second time Steve and I have been there and we both agreed that is is always, always inspiring.  The Wright brothers said:  "If we give up now we will never accomplish anything."

Anytime they needed to learn something, they would take a correspondence course.

They had based their first flying machines upon the knowledge passed down from other experimenters, but they eventually found out that all their predecessors were wrong, and the brothers started again from scratch.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong went to the moon--he brought some wood and cloth from the Wright brothers' plane with him.  It was a mere 66 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.

"Conceived by genius, achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith.  In commemoration of the conquest of the air."--inscription on the monument.

Eti had the idea of lifting Coco up behind the sign ("Mom, it will be a great picture!").  The funny thing is that I can see his head.  And then there is Coco flying in the air by the monument. 

No sugar involved, just pure Coco.

Maybe we should not have bought him the pirate bandana.

"Again Daddy, again Jeffy! again again!"

Summer with pigtails

This is the most reproduced photo of the the Wright Brothers (I took it from the Wright brothers website).  Here is the cool thing: in a new addition at the museum, they recreated the photograph--even what cannot be seen in the photo: the men behind clapping, and the man who took the photo.  So so cool!  It was so well built it felt like a historical playground.

My Dad Mom and I were walking around taking it all in and the rest of the bunch were, well...

I heard tell-tale laughing and turned around to find them like this.  I am sure Chloe was talking to the statue, telling him all about her day and asking him to be her friend.

Do you see in the picture below the third man in from the right?  Eti had fun with him

"Isn't it astonishing that all these secrets have been preserved for so many years just so that we could discover them?"  --Orville June 7, 1903