Hill AFB Air Show 2009

On the second weekend in June, we followed our little family tradition of attending the Hill AFB Air Show. We have always enjoyed doing this together since we've been married, and we took Tayson to his first air show when he was 6 weeks old. This year, Clint's dad, along with Clint's sister and her fiance joined us. We arrived early, and set up our little 'area' (a blanket surrounded by our camp chairs, cooler, and bike trailer/stroller.) It was a little cool in the morning when we arrived, so we didn't mind sitting in the sun. However, we knew from experience that it gets hot in the afternoon, with the sun reflecting off the tarmac, so we picked a spot under the wing of a very large transport plane and calculated where the shade would be during the heat of the afternoon. Our plan worked brilliantly; we remained nice and cool during the afternoon, while everybody else was melting. :)

The first couple of fly-bys that produced a louder noise created some anxiety in Brennen, then he calmed down and didn't get upset during the rest of the show.



Tayson had been excited for the air show for weeks, asking me every day, "How many tomorrows until the air show, Mom?" The whole day during the show, Tayson kept his ears covered (even when there was little or no noise) and asked when it was going to be time to go home. He is kind of a chicken when it comes to loud noises.



We packed in a picnic lunch along with snack food and a gizillion bottles of water.



After lunch, Brennen did everything he could to give the hint that he was sleepy.



So we eventually gave in and laid him down for a nap in the bike trailer. Surprisingly, he was able to take quite a good nap, despite all the loud noise. And it was loud!



Grandpa M couldn't resist the opportunity to spoil his grandsons, and bought them each a toy airplane from one of the souvenir stands.

It was another fabulous air show, and we enjoyed ourselves very much. The day was gorgeous, and the mountains provided a beautiful backdrop. We were able to see so many outstanding presentations and demonstrations. The highlight of them all was the finale of the day, the Thunderbirds show. Wow! They never fail to amaze me. We are tentatively planning on attending the Nellis AFB air show (near Las Vegas) for the second time this November. We have been toying with the idea of visiting my parents in Phoenix this March and attending the air show near their home, but recently learned that 2010 is an off-year in their every-other-year air show. :( One of the best parts about the air shows is that they are absolutely 100% FREE!!! If you have never been to one, I would recommend going at least once.

Just for fun, I have included several brief video clips of some of the action we witnessed. I confess that, being the sap that I am, I got choked up during some of the Thunderbirds demos when they had some patriotic music blaring through the scattered loudspeakers.

Enjoy!