Airplanes

[Hey Dad, it's days like this that I wish you here. I love airplanes very much, but when this happens, I feel like you are the one who should be here.]

Our neighbor hosted a helicopter fly-in today and apparently had a great response. I counted 17 aircraft before I left to take my kids here, there and everywhere. Jim had been expecting 6. Word gets around when there is free pizza in the invitation.

It started out as a helicopter meet-up but there were all manner of fixed and rotor wing there.

• Ultralight airplanes (less than 254 lbs.), buzzed in like little technicolor bees.
• Experimental helicopters; seemingly bare metal frames, engine, rotor, gas tank and a seat stuck on the front of all that= not an experiment I'm likely to try.
• A couple of planes on amphibious floats arrived, slipping onto a current of green.
• Larger helicopters came, demanding attention as they dropped in over the trees to join the line of drooping rotors.

Fixed wing aircraft all lined up on their side of the runway-

Helicopters parked on the other side-

This helicopter puts the "mental" in experimental. Waaaay outside my comfort zone.


These helicopters are Robinson R44's:

Summer Saturday

After a great week of being with Heidi and Ken, it all came crashing to an end this morning. 

H&K with the kids (-landon) this morning:

We were suddenly alone and wondered what we could do together as a family. So we headed in a southeasterly direction and stopped to take some photos along the way. 

This one will not be on the Christmas card. 

All the others posed compliantly:

Dave-

Adam-

Maura`

We found a historic schoolhouse that was mildly interesting and spent some time there. 

Dave at the flagpole-

Maura trying out the fountain pen-

Coins -

Old Glory-

Landon plays with a Jacob's Ladder toy-

After that too-close-for-comfort encounter with school we stopped further down the road at the little airport. We were given the royal treatment and met quite a few really nice people with really nice little airplanes. 

Gord liked this little Quonset Hut and snapped a couple of pics. I can't wait to see what he does with those pics. 

Summer is closing up quickly here with school starting in 11 days! We're trying to use up the days in the best ways possible. Tonight Gord and I were happy to get out by ourselves- Thai food, the bookstore and grocery shopping. I don't think we had grocery shopped together since we have had kids. It was a great week, a great day, and a great evening! 

Dinner Flight

I suppose this should be a separate post but here is Landon sitting in the chair with the neck massager around his um....head. Notice the location of the earpieces, sounds of ocean mammals, echo-locating into the abyss of the living room rather than into his ears. Despite the lack of calming synthetic sounds, he did find the experience as relaxing and peaceful as advertised.  I know because I heard him shout at the top of his lungs "HOW RELAXING IS THIS?!!" (corrected, for any of you sharp eyed readers)

Sometime later we had a quiet dinner on the deck with corn on the cob and whatnot. 

Then the kids said "Dad, we would like to go in the airplane." So Dad obliged, because he almost always obliges. Here you can see Saff watching as they land, she is probably wishing that Gord would keep you-know-who away from home just a little bit longer. But maybe not. Maybe she is just thinking "nice landing Gord"

I love this dog. 

They're back! I can see that nobody cleaned up their faces after dinner. 

Or put on their shoes :)

Happy Halloween

Maura and I set out to make some Halloween decorations...

Grab some Modge Podge and an empty glass jar:


Tear up pieces of orange, yellow and white tissue paper and Modge Podge them to the jar, layering them to give texture. We are attempting to make the jar look like a pumpkin.

That cat looks nasty. 

After you finish, let it dry overnight on the window sill. I attempted to make the photo interesting by getting in close, but as I was focusing on just the right spot on the jar I saw an object move into my view behind the "pumpkins". Ohhhhh, shiny! 

Airplanes are so much more interesting :) It was Grandpa bringing his cute little airplane back to the yard. 

Our pumpkins dried nicely and we drew Jack-o-Lantern faces on them and wrote BOO and spooky stuff like that.  

Waco + foliage = beautiful

Our neighbor built this Waco and was taxiing it for the first time here. I think it is a thing of beauty. It sounded like a huge truck was in the yard and when I ran outside and saw this airplane I was instantly in a MAD scramble for the camera.

Robert McIlwaine

We loved having the chance to visit with Robert this weekend. He looks great and had driven from PEI to Boston by himself. Uncle Ted flew to Boston to pick him up and brought him here for a few days. This pic was taken in front of Ted's airplane just before they left to go back to Boston.

Just another day...Daddy comes home on a **yawn** private jet.

The Dad was away in Florida at the National Business Aircraft Association annual show from Sunday til Wednesday. Normally he schleps home on an airliner and we all pile in the truck and head up to the big airport to pick him up. Not this time. We headed in other direction because he was flying in on a "deadhead" leg of a returning Challenger. A CHALLENGER. Sweet!! 2 hours from Florida to home.

The kids watch as the airplane taxies in:

Just to clarify- I do not set this kind of picture up. You know, the kind where all of the kids are lined up except Landon. He was lined up moments before, but I was too late with the shutter.  

The door opens...it's so big it needs stairs. We are all amazed. 

The guy with the white hat is one of the pilots - they are wearing jeans because it is a deadhead flight.  (That is by loose definition, a non-revenue return leg or repositioning leg of a flight.) His name is Jack and he is a former Flight0pti0ns pilot, and his wife is a former employee as well. The guy with the white shirt is DAD!!!!!! He signals to us to come out, so we all tear out there. 

Big hugs! and "Where's my present?"

Inside- lots of eyecandy!

Checking it out:

I have to brag on Gord here because he shot the pic that was used in this huge banner. His mission was to shoot the jet engine and the sign in the same picture. Awesome!

Happy Father's Day and a quick update

I feel so behind with my blog.  It's been busy here and not much time to update. 

We had a big change last week as Gina went back to live with her mom. We are slowing adjusting back to life the way it was before, although I am still setting too many places at the table, etc.  Keep praying for her, we are hoping and praying ourselves that she will make good choices and that good choices will be made for her. Ultimately, God is in control and we certainly shouldn't worry about what will happen from here on.....  

This is the last week of school for the rascals. Adam's 6th grade graduation is on Thursday so be looking for pics from that :)

Tomorrow Landon will get up at 5:30 and leave with Grandpa to ride along with him on the school bus. He is so excited! And since it is so early, we dressed him in tomorrow's outfit when he went to bed!  So tomorrow will be a terribly quiet day, whatever will I do with all that quiet and free time? I told him I was sure going to miss him and he said "I will miss you too but I will play a game with you when I get back home." 

And last but not least, Happy Father's Day to my dear husband, my dear Dad and my dear father- in -law. You are all wonderful men with your own very special and unique gifts and talents. Thanks for sharing them with us. We love you!!

wierd airplane

This airplane took off in the length of my backyard, which I believe to be about 100 feet. It has two engines mounted very close together so it can fly easily on one engine. It's called an Air Cam 912, developed for National Geographic for their photography flights.