The Air Show

Have I mentioned how excited we were to get to see Uncle Tim fly in the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Air Show over Mother's Day Weekend?  As is often the case in the military, Tim was assigned the show, then pulled from it for another job, and then at the last minute, he was put back on.  Win!  McGuire is only about an hour or so from us, so it couldn't have been more perfect. And after all was said and done, Uncle Tim was still able to make it back to Charleston on Sunday in time to celebrate Aunt Jackie's first Mother's Day with her!

Daddy had never been to an air show before, and the last time I was at one was when I was a little kid.  Liam was beyond excited and Joergen, who is all about birds, couldn't have been more fascinated!  Our first observation was that this was a HUGE event-- literally tens of thousands of people on this enormous Air Force base.  We arrived just in time to watch the U.S. Army Golden Knight Parachute Team, to whom Liam waved hello:

Thanks to some sage advice from Uncle Tim, we walked the length of the air field to the farthest point away from the gate, where the crowds were much thinner and we could find a cool spot under the wing of a B-1 Bomber on static display.  We had an amazing view of the flight line and could even see each aircraft from the point of take-off in their staging area.  With so much to take in, this is how we spent much of our time:

Joergen, who waves and says, "HIIIIII!" to all moving objects (cars, trucks, birds, and yes- airplanes!), had a ball with all the activity in the sky!

Liam was also occasionally moved to greet the aircraft as well.

Uncle Tim's plane wasn't until a bit later in the show, so at some point, Joergen crawled off down the air field and discovered a small hole filled with a fine sand-like dirt.  He wasted no time in sprinkling the dirt by the handful all over himself and the ground around him.  My own personal sandbox?  Don't mind if I do!

The Geico Skytypers were pretty amazing (as were pretty much all the aerial displays that day!):

Daddy, Grandpa, and Nana enjoying the show:

Mommy and Joergen having fun:

I LOVE THIS!!

I loved watching Liam and Daddy's expressions as they watched the Skytypers.  It was awesome!  Some of my favorites:



See Dad?  That one.  There.




Oooooh...!




WHOA!!!

When it came time for the B-1 demo, Liam definitely was not as much of a fan.  That thing was L-O-U-D.  Just ask my co-worker Sarah, who was trying to have a conversation with me over the phone during this part of the show!  It didn't help that in all the excitement leading up to the air show, Liam happened to get very little sleep (surprise, surprise) and was a little on the sensitive side anyway. Good thing Nana was there to help shield him from the bomber "attack"...

The polar opposite of his brother, Joergen just reminded me of a little Linus Van Pelt as he quietly sucked his thumb and held on to a blanket in the midst of the thunderous bomber overhead:

And finally... Uncle Tim was on deck!  We were so excited and nervous!  Grandpa started pacing around, and he and Dad found a good spot right on the flight line to watch.

Here he comes...!

I tried to zoom in on the cockpit, because we were sure Uncle Tim was waving to us:

One by one, 16 paratroopers jumped out of Tim's plane.   It was awesome and exciting and I couldn't imagine being more proud of my brother.

Grandpa caught the flight on video:

Proud mama and papa!

Uncle Tim coming in for the landing:

All that excitement was exhausting.  Ain't nothin' comes between this kid and his nap!

While waiting to see Tim after his landing, we climbed into an engine of a 757 for a quick pic:

We were excited to see our Fly Guy!

Since Joergen was sound asleep, Grandpa agreed to stay with him and watch the rest of the air show while Uncle Tim took Nana, Daddy, Liam, and me back to the staging area (not sure if this was allowed, but we figured it was worth a try!) to see the C-17 up close.  I could not believe the size of that thing-- it's the height of a 5-story building!

Liam and Uncle Tim on the steps of the aircraft, ready to board.

The inside looked like something right out of a movie.  It was incredible! 

To appreciate the length of the C-17 (174 feet!), check out this little video of Liam running from one end to the other.  He just keeps going... and going... and going.

In the cockpit with Uncle Tim, Liam was totally amazed at all the buttons (so much to push and so little time!).

When we exited the C-17, the Thunderbirds were firing up right next to us getting ready for their performance.  So cool!

Once again, Liam was not a big fan of the noise (hey, they're not called "Thunderbirds" for nothing!).  This picture makes me laugh.  Classic!

After an awesome tour, we arrived back at the show to find Joergen awake from his nap cheering on the Thunderbirds with Grandpa:



In a futile attempt to beat the crowds, we said goodbye to Uncle Tim and headed back to Grandpa's van... where we waited for literally 2 hours in a barely moving line to exit the base.  It was so slow-going that I was able to get out of the van, take Liam to a port-a-potty about 100 yards away, and return to find we'd only moved about a car-length.  So, so worth it though-- it was an amazing day and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get to see Tim fly!