Category: Out and About

This weekend we headed south to McChord Air Force for the McChord Air Expo. The aerial acts that we got to watch were a C-17A airdrop and tactical demonstrations, U.S. Air Force Academy Parachute Team, Jacquie Warda, Air Force Reserve Jet Car and race, F-15C demonstrations, USAF Heritage Flight, Bud and Ross Granley Dueling YAKS, F/A -18 Super Hornet demonstration, U.S. Navy Tailhook Legacy Flight, Tim Weber, a reenactment of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by “Tora, Tora, Tora” and the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds. On the ground we got to see up close several different aircraft and a few of them we even got to walk inside – how cool is that! Enjoy!

This is called a C-17A Globemaster III and is a cargo aircraft.
We see these flying over our house all the time. The C-17A is very impressive for it’s size.

Inside the C-17A Globemaster III. The line that has formed is to climb a ladder to see the cockpit.

This is a F-22 Raptor.

The “nose” of the F-22 Raptor.

I have no idea what this aircraft is called but it was heavily guarded by an armed guard!

This is a Douglas B-18 Bolo and was used during World War II.

Front view of the Douglas B-18 Bolo. It’s top speed is 215 mph and can carry 6500 lbs. of bombs and has three .30-caliber guns and was flown by McChord’s 17th Bomb group. This aircraft is on display from the U.S. Air Force Museum.

This is a CV-22 Osprey and is a joint service, multi-mission, military tiltrotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff/landing and short takeoff/landing.

This is the North America B-25 Mitchell used by Allied air force in World War II and was in service for over four decades.

Our friends the Wares little boy, Chris, celebrated his first birthday this past weekend! We know the Wares through Gino’s office and because their oldest son, Jimmy, is four days older then Isabel. So we headed north about an hours drive to spend the afternoon celebrating at the park. What fun!

The Wares: Jim, Val holding Chris, and Jimmy.

Cupcakes are so yummy – even more so when they are lemon flavored with lemon frosting! Yum!

Sharing chips…he wouldn’t take it. Jimmy was shy.

Isabel showing Chris how the toy we gave him works.

Happy birthday boy!

New park = loads of fun!

Swings! We don’t have swings at our park at home.

Jimmy was all over the playground; so trying to get a good photo was very hard to do.

Just one quick hug before we leave. Thanks for the invite Val, we had lots of fun and it was nice to get away from working on the home projects.

We spent our Independence Day afternoon with our friends the Kinne’s. We had a really good time and the kids had tons of fun playing together. Jason grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, we visited, watched the kids tackle each other on the lawn, and later went out to the front yard to watch all the neighbors light their money on fire (shoot off fireworks)! :o)

Gazillions of bubbles!

Dinner time!

…really they had tons of fun!

Dump truck races.

Jayden, Jason, Marica, Isabel, Me, and Gino.

Getting ready for the show.

Being crazy!

Isabel didn’t mind all the loud noises from the fireworks.
She was fascinated by them and kept calling them “stars”.

One neighbor at the west end of the street had to have spent thousands of dollars on their fireworks display. They were out there continually lighting them off with no end in sight!

Thanks for the show!

Happy Independence Day!

This morning Isabel and I had a play date with our friends Jaden and Marica. We drove north to the little town of Sumner, to a place called Jumpin Jack and Jill. An indoor inflatable place for kids and toddlers. Super activity for a very cold and windy day like today! Enjoy! :o)

Thankfully, Marica went up the slides with Isabel.
Later, Isabel was going up the smaller slide all by herself!

Jaden going down the smaller slide on his tummy.

Isabel going down the smaller slide on her side.
She was all smiles the whole time we were there! She had so much fun!

Jaden playing air hockey.

Jaden and Isabel going down the smaller slide together.

Isabel going down the larger slide (14 ft.). The first time she went down her eyes popped outta her head and the second time she went down;
she was laughing and smiling all the way!
Thanks to Marica and Jaden for inviting us; We had a blast! Let’s do it again soon!

We took Isabel to the Movie Theater to see her first movie on Thursday.

We went to see “Horton Hears a Who“.

We arrived a little late so missed the opening previews, which was perfect because we were a little concerned about them being to scary for her. The movie theater had booster seats available for little tikes, which I thought was very cool, so she was able to sit comfortably on that and it even had a holder for her sippy cup! After we got settled into our seats, Isabel was transported into a whole new world of movie theater magic. I’m not going to give away the movie for those of you that haven’t seen it. The only part that we didn’t particularly like was near the end and the child kangaroo tells his mother kangaroo “NO” when she tells him to do something. Regardless, you always need to listen and obey your parents. So this isn’t helpful when you’re trying to teach your toddler not to say it to Mommy and Daddy.

Though it was a cute movie and Isabel enjoyed the first 45 min. of the 1 and 1/2 hr. long movie. She did start to get restless as the 8 o’clock hour approached but all in all she did great!

We had a (very rare) sun shiny day today!

Actually, we have had a few sunny days the past several days…don’t get to excited though; we are supposed to be back to normal rainy weather tomorrow. Oh, I can’t wait for summer!

Isabel and I spent the morning running a few errands. I’ve been on the look-out for an Easter dress for Isabel and I haven’t had any luck. They are either white (I don’t understand why a manufacturer would make toddlers clothes with this color!) or pink. I did see a checkered-seersucker, black and white dress with a yellow ribbon and daisy flower embellishment on the upper chest. I thought about getting it but then decided it really wasn’t all that Easter looking. Maybe, I’m too picky. So the hunt continues…

Anywho, we spent the early afternoon, up at our little community park. Isabel had a blast! There is a toddler slide/gym and an older kid’s slide/gym (no swings). When we arrived at the park there were some older kids that were a bit rowdy with their game of “tag” but did keep out of Isabel’s way and we stayed clear of them.

Getting ready to head down the slide!

Neighbor’s dog. Seemed friendly but we didn’t touch.

One of the girls, that was at the park, had brought along her little dog with her. Isabel had wanted to pet him/her so much! We even found a ball, that I believe had been left by someone prior to us using it. Isabel wanted to play “fetch” with the little dog but the dog was too small and the ball was too big. We played a few rounds of “catch” until Isabel got distracted and went back to the slides.

She’s got that tongue working!

Isabel did rather well going up the stairs and down the slide. I did notice that she would watch the other kids and see them walk up the slide and jump down from the top. I believe she wanted to try this! A few times she had me worried but I would remind her to sit and she would do so without protest.

Big smiles!

Sunny days at the park!

Peek-a-boo!

It was a rather fun time during our sunny day weather! We are back at home and as I’m typing this the clouds have already begun to move in and take up residence in the skies over head. I have to remind myself that by Easter it should be clear skies again…ya right.