27 Aug A flying good time at the airshow.
Three weeks ago, we were in a parking lot when suddenly Corban cried out, “I see a plane!” Sure enough, there was a billboard advertising the upcoming airshow. We marked it on our calendars and counted it day by day by day by day by glorious is-it-today day. We were at the library a week before the show, and Corban somehow found a book about…an airshow! We read it every.single.day that week, learned stunt terms like “barrel roll” and take-off checklist terms like “fuel level checked?”, and eventually Corban read it even to buddy Owen who came with us on Saturday! I thank the Lord that He gave me a good day pregnancy-wise, so we stayed most of the morning!
As I thought about three kids 3 and under running through crowds in between planes and bouncy houses, I got a little anxious. Between James and I, we did have enough hands for them, but I would’ve felt better with at least a wagon. Then I remembered Babysitting Queen, Friend Megan, who has a triple, yes TRIPLE, stroller. We always get stares with the redheads and the are-they-twins anyway, but throw a triple jogger and cutie patootie surfer blond little boy and we had whole conversations with strangers! It was well worth having. They got in and out as we got to displays, but it was a completely stress-free morning as we always knew where every kid was. Phew.
Oh. See our van in the background there. We locked our keys in the car…with the car still running. Whoops. Hey, we made friends with the parking crew. It’s a good thing our van is so old; made it a little easier to break into. Hmm. I prolly shouldn’t be advertising that…
I wasn’t sure we’d get to ride the tram the 1/4mi to the event from the parking lot what with
how big that stroller was. Thankfully, a couple guys later, we fit it on and we got to ride!
(See Abby down there at the end?
We stole her for the weekend and love love loved having her with us!)
Taking a pic with “Skipper, Mommy, it’s SKIPPER!”
They had this great kiddie tent where we
made planes, got tattoos, played games, and face-painted!
Of all the options we had for face painting, Owen asked for…circles. I mean, best shape ever?
Jaeda wanted a star (again with the shapes?!).
And Corban stumped the poor face painter by his request for an airplane.
“You’d think 25 years being married to a pilot would make me a plane expert!”
she exclaimed. We think she did a great job even with her hesitancy.
Then. *drum roll please* The best thing ever happened. James and I talked budget ahead of time, spend money on fair-style food, bouncy house, oooooor plane ride. With Corban’s enthusiasm for planes these days, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity for him to ride it. So we planned on having just the boys ride, while we girls watched. (Only three people could ride in each plane anyway, so it would work out just fine.) As we were in line to buy our tickets, one of the event staff counted us up and said, “Six tickets, eh?” “Weeell,” I replied, “I think our budget’s telling us just the boys get to fly today. We’re excited to watch!” Without hesitation, he countered, “Oh, I know how tough it is trying to do fun things for everyone at this stage in the game. Here.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out six tickets. He let us know they were compliments of some construction company that started with a W, but I was too busy brushing tears away to catch the name. (Of course my reaction included tears. This pregnancy is making me a crybaby!) I really wish I would have asked so we could have sent them a thank you card. It was so touching, so wonderful, so much more than needed. I couldn’t believe we’d all get to experience this together. I’ll just never get over the kindness of our Lord who allows little treasures in ordinary things. Flying was mostly fun because the kids had never done it. Corban gasped and smiled the whole time, James said. And listened to himself talk into the mic. Every time he would hear the traffic controller come over the headphones, he’d listen intently and reply, “Yep” or “Check.” A little of the book influence, I’d say. Owen too loved it (although he claims he was scared, just didn’t want to show it.) Jaeda loved seeing the “teeny teeny trees.” And Abby, well, she just enjoyed getting to actually STEER the plane. Yes siree, check out that photo!
What a blast. Couldn’t have asked for a better day!
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