summer fun with Chloe

This morning we met up with Ellen and Chloe at Alabama Power's Water Course, a mini-museum about where we get electricity here in this area. Dennis 'drove' us on a jeep tour of Mitchell Dam (we climbed into a vehicle in front of a movie screen) where we learned about the turbines and the dam. And Chloe 'drove' us on a helicopter tour as we flew over Alabama's waterways (where we climbed into a theater that looked like the inside of a helicopter), both 'vehicles' featuring steering controls and lights and dials. When we 'took off' on our helicopter tour, the narrator told us to fasten our seat belts, and Dennis spent 5 minutes searching futilely for a seatbelt and then yelled "stop! I can't find my seatbelt!". I had to explain to him that it was a pretend seatbelt. Also at the museum, we played a game show called Water Whys, played some computer games about bird and fish identification, played a lake clean-up game, looked at some aquarium fish, and played another game that quizzed us about water usage. It's a really great little museum where we spent a nice air-conditioned hour (free of charge) entertaining and teaching the kids.

We came back to the lake house and ate lunch before spending some time in the water, swimming and watching the kids shoot us and each other with water guns. They swam for 45 minutes or so before they asked to get out, and just as we were getting out, Laura and Mary Beth came over to swim with us. I let Dennis swim with them for another 20 minutes before getting him out (Chloe was already taking her bath--she didn't enjoy the lake swimming as much as Dennis did). They both napped long and hard before we took them back into town to go to the Peach Jam. I was working at First Methodist's booth at the festival while Dave and Ellen took the kids to the inflatable park. I got a picture on my phone showing me my little guy climbing on a climbing wall! They apparently had great fun, and when they stopped back by to see me, they were red-faced and sweaty. After my 'work' hour was up, we cooled down at Gran's and Pop's for a while before heading back to the festival to eat and wait for David. He called us to say he was heading to the ER because he sliced his finger at work and it wouldn't stop bleeding. He is fine and has 3 new staples to show off, and he eventually got out and met up with us in time to head back to the lake. We ended the evening roasting marshmallows and making s'mores at the fire pit on the deck, enjoying the Halls' company as well as the Gallmans'.