A Day with Smokey Bear at the Nuclear Power Plant

Catchy title, I know, but it was the best I could come up with.  One of our nuclear power plants (yes, apparently it takes two to power the 17th largest city in the U.S. and 23rd largest metropolitan area with over 2 million people) hosted a special family event last Saturday.  This one is located north of Charlotte in the neighboring city of Huntersville.  Our power company, Duke Energy, held a special exploring the outdoors day on their property on Lake Norman, and Daddy had to attend to set up a booth for work.  He brought his huge (almost 20 foot tall) new Smokey Bear whose presence definitely dominated the area.  I was actually surprised this air filled Smokey was still as soft as a teddy bear as he was covered with fur and cloth instead of just made of vinyl material.  Brody loved cuddling Smokey's feet (the only part he could reach).  That may have been a little weird if Smokey had been a person in a costume.  Ha!  Evan loved getting to participate in some special activities like shooting a bow and arrow (he wants one for Christmas...yikes!), shooting a be-be gun, climbing a rock wall, racing Mommy in a sack race (yikes again!), and fishing all while Daddy was "working" nearby.  We also learned a little something about nuclear energy and how it is turned into electricity at the Energy Explorium.

Smokey taking his job very serious as usual overseeing the event. 

Off Brody goes to explore. 

Brody enjoyed rubbing Smokey's soft feet.  

Daddy only packed the zoom lens on the camera so it was impossible to capture a full shot of Smokey and Brody together without standing in the middle of the lake. 

Brody giving Smokey's feet love.  Ha!

Brody and Evan try out driving a boat. 

This face was saying "Could someone please help me get down?"

Checking out the lake on this beautiful fall day. 

My sweet boys

After I asked them to turn around. 

Evan tried climbing the rock wall, but he is a little scared of heights.  He gets an "A for effort."  

Brody attempted the sack race. 

Evan was a pro and definitely beat his Mommy. 

Mommy had to help Brody.

And big brother gave Brody his prize sucker for his performance. 

Love Evan's happy face!

Evan learned to cast a fly fishing rod.  I just think he looks like a pro here. 

I guess we need to take him to the mountains to go trout fishing. 

Getting tips from a pro. 

He almost caught a Brody fish. 

Trying out a bow and arrow.  

Getting some instruction. 

Brody enjoyed watching big brother shoot. 

Evan did shoot well and hit the target, but he couldn't get his arrows to stick.  He just needs a little more practice. 

My little fishermen. 

It was a beautiful but windy day on the water. 

Sweet fisherman.  I think he would be a great fisherman because he has a lot of patience. 

Little brother caught his first fish...with a little help, of course. 

And he was not afraid to touch his fish. 

He grabbed the fish with two hands while giggling.  The fish still had the hook in its mouth so we were a little worried. 

Holding his catch. 

Just his size.  He told the fish bye bye before we threw him back in the water. 

Evan enjoyed an ice cream break after all of his outdoor adventures. 

And then he enjoyed resting in the butterfly garden.

Wrong season for butterfly watching I guess. 

My little caterpillar turned into a butterfly. 

Evan puts on his hard hat to go to work at the nuclear power plant.  I had to capture these indoor shots with my phone because the zoom lens just is not ideal for smaller indoor spaces.   

Brody and his hard hat. 

Evan and Brody posing with an atom. 

Evan makes electricity with his touch. 

We had a fun and educational day with Smokey and Daddy!