Hoorah! (OoRah)

One of my favorite memories from growing up in San Diego was going to the MCAS Miramar Air Show every October in Miramar, CA (where they filmed um TOP GUN).  My grandfather was a pilot in the Navy, which probably sparked my Dad's love and knowledge of airplanes, and that love of aviation has spread throughout my family.  Now Shane and I love to bring our kiddos to that same air show I went to as a child. 

Daddy's getting the ear plugs ready, it's LOUD!

The kids get to climb in and out of tanks, helicopters and planes and there are flight demonstrations all day long, complete with guns "firing" and "bombs" dropping.  The kids love it!



AAV, for water and land, it's Baaaad!

  

Maverick driving

 I remember in the early 90's, I couldn't wait to see the B-2, what we called The Stealth Bomber. It was all black and looked (to me) like something out of a Star Wars movie.  I was sure it was Top Secret, and I seriously felt like I was privy to classified information because I (apparently I overlooked the other thousands of people at the Air Show) got to see that thing fly.
Now when I go, I can't wait to see the V-22 Osprey; part helicopter, part plane, but really unlike either, the Osprey flight demonstration is something that you just HAVE to see.

V-22 Osprey, watching these fly is so cool!





Aurora and Daddy



Summer striking a pose



 It was an extremely hot day (it always works out that way) even though it's in October.  So, we all got shave ice to eat while we watched the Angels.  Summer took some creative liberty in eating hers...she gets points for style!

Eating her shave ice





The Blue Angels, F/A-18 Hornets

My VERY favorite event of the day is the Blue Angel show.  Since I can remember the Blue Angels team flew F/A-18's, but I learned this year that the pilots refer to them as Rhinos!  I love learning little tidbits like that, probably TOP SECRET information again ... OK maybe not.  Seriously, there is just nothing like watching these planes maneuver right over your head, in formations sometimes only 18 inches apart from each other!  It's incredible.



After a day of being rattled by jet afterburners, you'd think that we would have pounding headaches, but that is never the case.  I always leave excited to have shared this experience with my children and PROUD!  In the least cheesy way possible, I undoubtedly leave feeling proud of our armed forces and certainly proud to be an American!



What You Missed

Since it's officially Fall, my lofty goal of blogging about ALL of our summer fun is fading fast.  So here is a jumble of some of what you missed during our last days of summer...

We went to Legoland, on a budget I might add! I had a BOGO (buy one get one) coupon from my PTA membership for last year, and we stumbled across a deal at IKEA for a free kids admission to Legoland with the purchase of an Adult; we used 3 of those and essentially got half of our party in FREE, yee haw I love a deal!


Aurora & I



Kiarra, Sydney, Kody & Summer with Harry Potter and Hagrid

 

Summer & Maverick riding the train, can you tell it's HOT?


We did go to the Legoland Water park shortly after this picture was taken because it was a really hot day, even on the coast.  Sadly, I do not have any pics from the water park because they were taken with my now missing iPhone...


Sydney the Lion tamer



Personalized coffee mugs LOL!



Nana sent the kids a package (and my kids LOVE to get packages from Texas because they always have the best stuff in them) with some of Daddy's old books like Richard Scarry's Funniest Story Book Ever from 1979!  Nana also sent a bunch of fun charms for their Crocks.  They loved it!

You can tell these are my children by the tan and also bruised legs!

And of course there was arts & crafts time over the summer... 



Notice the state of the bathroom after the finger painting.



 We moved on to a less messy medium, the Color Wonder markers that only show up on the Color Wonder paper, genius!


No mess here :)



 I picked up a Power Wheels Barbie Jeep at a garage sale for 20 bucks, like I said I love a deal.  Only, I had to buy a battery for it that was $89.99 and then the kids only got to use it once before the battery stopped taking a charge.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!



He has to hold on tight while she's driving!





And of course we had a ton of fun at the lake.  Maverick and Summer both learned to water ski this summer and Sydney perfected her wake boarding skills and even got up on a single ski.  She may never slalom again but it was fun to see her try something that us "parents" enjoy so much.



Maverick in his jammies with his BIG  Blue Gill

The great epiphany that happened at the lake this summer is that Maverick realized his love for fish, fishing and anything fishy in nature.  We always knew this boy had the patience for fishing, even when he was a toddler but during our camping trip he caught a TON of fish and (pardon the pun) he was HOOKED!  He would wake up in the morning and run down to the dock in his PJ's with his tackle and pole and start fishing before breakfast.  He didn't even want to go out on the boat to ski because that would cut into his fishing time. 



His first Bass, it's just a baby but there are many more to come I'm sure.



Maverick would fish everyday if he could.  His favorite place to go is the Bass Pro Shop, he checks out books about fishing at the library,  and watches fishing shows on TV and every chance he gets he wants to search for videos of people fishing.  (I mean really the only thing more boring than fishing it's self is watching other people fish on TV, but what do I know!) His wish now is to go to Florida so he can catch a Mahi Mahi and a Tarpon, REALLY that's what my 7 year old wants to do! He's so funny and so lucky that he has a retired grandpa that also shares his love of fishiness and just happens to live on a lake.



All of the kids in Summer's class got to write sentences about her last week at school.  She told them that her favorite color is purple, she likes mac'n'cheese and she is 5.  I think her teacher did a great job on the portrait of Summer, the resemblance is uncanny!

Summer as the friend of the week.

We also took one very exciting trip to the drive-in movie theater.  It was so much fun for Shane and I because all 5 of the kiddos (Kiarra included) had never been to the drive in before!

My attempt to capture the whole gang, it didn't work.

The weather was perfect, it was one of those great, warm summer nights where it is perfectly comfortable outside even late into the night.  A summer trip to the drive-in will be a must for years to come in our family. 



Eager faces dressed in their PJ's ready for the movie