This weekend the Thunderbird Balloon and Air Classic was held at Goodyear Airport, which is about a mile, mile and a half from my house. I've been hearing the Blue Angels since Thursday when they first flew in to practice. Rather than pay the ticket prices to see entertainment we didn't really care about, Jay and Erik and Tom and I decided to make a day of it.
Tom cleaned up the backyard yesterday and cleaned the grill, I cleaned my kitchen, and Jay and Erik brought lots of cow! I made a batch of CheezIt burgers and another batch of parmesan burgers (Jay's idea), got the hot dogs together, and Tom slapped them all on the grill. As we finished a late lunch, we watched a four-prop military plane of some sort fly around and then come straight for the house! He passed right over us at an altitude of about 200ft--right about the time I realized my camera was still inside!
After eating, we went behind our backyard to the street and sat in the shade of our yardwall so we could get a better view of the close-to-the-ground manuevers. Erik and I discussed the merits of developing and building a one-way view wall, like the mirrors in interrogation rooms on TV. CJ contented himself to playing with gravel, dirt, and dried leaves while we waited for the Blue Angels to start. According to the schedule they were supposed to start at 3pm, but we didn't see them until 3:30--apparently they have some runway stuff they do first before taking flight.
CJ loved the planes at first, as they were flying farther away and the sound of the jets wasn't as loud. Eventually, they came close enough that I could read "U.S. NAVY" painted in orange under the wings. At that point, the jet noise began to scare CJ, and I took him back into the house shortly before the show ended.
When we came back to the house, CJ wanted to go into the backyard, and we did, until he discovered the loud noises traveled there, too. We went back inside and cuddled for the rest of the show until Tom, Jay, and Erik came back. Since it was such a nice day, we had shut off the AC and opened all the windows; my cats went into hiding. Zeke was found right away but we didn't find Shadow until an hour after the Blue Angels had finished. I had checked all his usual hiding spots, then Tom checked, then Jay joined the search. While she and I were looking, I checked my kitchen cabinets again and sat down--that's when I spotted him, curled behind a charcoal grey pan the same color as his fur! That's why we named him Shadow!
Later, we had the rest of the burgers and watched Mythbusters while waiting for the fireworks finale. I gave CJ a bath to clean him up from his play with gravel, dirt, and dried leaves, and the fireworks started at 8:10, 20 minutes earlier than the night before. I took CJ outside, but it was past his bedtime and he didn't like the pops, so Tom took him in to bed. The fireworks lasted almost 20 minutes, and CJ was sound asleep when we went in to check on him.
All in all, it was a fantastic day! There will be another Blue Angels show today and then the airshow ends. I'm hoping that large plane flies over our house again--I have my camera ready for it! I got lots of pictures of Blue Angels doing cool things, and although they'll likely look like little dots on the photos, I'll post them in a few weeks when I get the pictures back.
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1 day ago
9 comments:
Yes, we definitely want to see those specks of black in the wild blue yonder pics!!!
I'm dropping off the film later today. I did get a picture of the large plane flying 200 ft overhead, but he moved so fast, I don't know if it will turn out. I wanted to get a shot of him coming right for the house, but he was too fast. It's a shame; I'm sure my mom would have LOVED that picture!
That's when you take a pic but slow the F-stop down so you get the cool motion effects in the picture! That would be neat to see!
You're assuming I have a camera with an F-stop. I don't. I buy the Kodak disposables. Soon, I get a digital!
Is your mom afraid of planes, or something? Speaking of your mom ("your mom"), does she read your blog? I like her. Oh, and this was a fun entry. :-) Sounds like a great family day!!
is a "lluger" anything like a lugie? HOw do you spell that, anyway? Loogy? Lugie? Loogey? Whatever. ANyway, maybe it's a swiss lugy.
Spanish loogie. And I spell it loogie.
Mom knows of my blog--she found out from Suze's blog. I don't know if she reads it, but I doubt it. I thought she might freak at the photo with the plane coming in. I have a picture of me sitting on the rim of the Grand Canyon that she's never seen because it might give her a panic attack.
Is your mom an avid blogger or just cruise by once in a while to read but not leave any signs of her passing?
Did you all see any balloons? (That is one word I always misspell--that, and blossom.) Ever time I see those balloons, I think about you. Love you, and glad you had a good family time!
I saw a few balloons, but not many. Tom told me on Thursday when he took CJ to daycare that they passed a hot air balloon shaped like the Energizer Bunny--it was low enough for CJ to see from the car seat, and he got really excited about it! He pointed and laughed and cooed at it.
On Sunday afternoon, when the Blue Angels performed again, CJ was disturbed by the loud noises. I pulled up pictures of the jets online, hoisted him onto my lap, and pointed at the jets, telling him those were making the loud noises. After a bit, he seemed to get it. I'm going to look for picture books on the Blue Angels to give him for Christmas or his birthday.
Mom's not a blogger. She only has internet access at work, and not much time to surf. I didn't tell her about the blog since I talk to her often, but she mentioned it when Suze's mom told her about it. Maybe I'll send her and Jamie an email with the address; I didn't think they would be interested, and honestly, I didn't want to blog through that filter (oh, my mom's gonna read this, I should be careful!). Now, I'm kind of into it, so it might not be a bad idea.
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