Airshow

Lily and I went to the airshow yesterday. The weather forecast did not look good as it predicted a 70% chance of rain in the afternoon. It rained pretty hard here in the morning, but I decided to follow-through with our plan of going anyway.

We got there around 12:30 or so and we had lunch. As a special treat for Lily I put her carseat in the Civic hatchback since she doesn't get to ride in "the black car" too often. The show was behind our car, so I opened up the hatch and set her down in the trunk to eat. We arrived to hear the distinctive sound of biplanes doing stunts. Lily enjoyed this and it wasn't too loud for her. However, I also heard the whine of a jet idling nearby. Lily was about 3/4 through her sandwich when the F-22 started its show. This was Lily's introduction to the noise produced by a twin-engine fighter aircraft. She wasn't real excited by it, though I loved it.

We got into the show and walked through a C-5A, though there wasn't much to see besides a lot of people looking for an escape from the sun. We then got into a KC-135, but as I was going up the ramp I heard a PA announcer talk about the F-15 Strike Eagle. We got into the tanker, but then I realized that the show was starting, so we hurried out. I felt badly because as we reached the bottom of the stairs I handed Lily her sunglasses and said, "Put these on and cover..." as the words "cover your ears" got completely destroyed by the sound of the F-15. I, of course, thoroughly enjoyed watching my favorite airplane do its thing. I asked one of the nearby pilots if he ever gets tired of watching it accelerate while climbing and he told me, "Never."

Next came Lily's favorite part of the show. Patty Wagstaff flies this small propeller plane and does amazing things with it. Lily thoroughly enjoyed the show and particularly liked it when I showed her a picture of the "girl" who flew the plane. As she told people stories of the show she really emphasized this part of it.

We looked at some more stuff, though Lily was afraid to get close to the airplanes and helicopters. She didn't want to talk to the pilots as she got shy. I tried to get her to use the port-a-potty, but the big seat and the pit of blue water and toilet paper scared her. We walked back toward the car before the Blue Angels' show began. We found a nice grassy spot on a small hill and sat down for the show. Here we were watching one of the best examples of aerobatic precision in the world and Lily wanted to find interesting rocks. I enjoyed it either way.

Overall, I'd say that the day was a success. It was certainly hot, but we survived. Lily wants to go back next year. Hopefully she'll be more interested in the airplanes next time. Of course, I seem to remember being pretty scared of the loud noise when I was little too.