Year 2, Day 256: More Airplanes!

I think I am way more excited about airplanes than anyone in our family!  I do like to figure out how things work, even if it's just the airport itself, or the plane, or something else entirely.  I've never been brave enough to take apart something and put it back together, so I'm not so much an engineer, but I do like understanding.  So, on our field trip groups were going to the Indy South Greenwood Airport, where we went for the movie night, and it was free, so I said why not!  It's not that far from the house, I know what to kind of expect when I go as far as walking and where to park, etc.  I hadn't been inside the main terminal building though, so that was neat.  It was super quiet, yet friendly, and lots of little amenities for the celebrities and big wigs flying in and out of there.  And no security!  Ok, I'm sure there's a few around, but no bag checkers, or ticket handlers, etc.  And there's no air traffic controller either!  We saw some coporate jets and lots of little planes like Cessna's.  I even looked in a magazine that has ads for planes people are selling, kind of like the ones that have cars or homes, and holy cow the prices!  The cheaper ones cost as much as half of what our house costs!  Crazy! 

Then a "little" lunch at a certain chicken restaurant and home for naps.  Benaiah came home from his retreat with lots of dirty laundry and lots of stories, although I couldn't get him to talk about the spiritual/team building aspects of the 2 days/nights.  He did this "spoken word" thing for the talent show while someone quietly played their guitar.  It's like a poem/rap, but no singing/actual song/music behind the words.  The guys played a game that involved wrestling each other until one guy grabbed a sock off of the other guy's foot.  No joke.  It's a game! And the big game that was posted on FB was where one partner was up on a balcony and one partner was down below and they had to "feed" the partner down below all the parts of an ice cream cone.  So, Benaiah held a cone in his mouth and his partner threw down ice cream and sprinkles and syrups, etc.  The other partner had bad aim, so Benaiah stayed fairly clean.  His clothes still stank though.  They hosed everyone down as well because some were dripping in syrup, quite literally.  I did get his load of laundry washed and half way dried on the clothes line, but then it was getting dark, so I got to use my dryer for the first time in months!  But Benaiah's deodarant is so strong, that it stays on the clothes and the heat from the dryer made it waft through the garage.  So, when I walked in there, wow, I could smell it!  I guess we will have a great smelling garage all the time!  When it's not full of cardboard.  Which starts up again tomorrow.  Too much work.

In preparation for the rest of the stuff, I swept and vacuumed (well, part of it) the garage.  Now I have to go arrange the boxes I do have according to their category before we add more.  And that's after we go see trains, like real, big trains used as museums and caboose rides.  It's a free event and it's on the northeast side, which is a good 40-50 minutes away.  I don't actually have my book club tomorrow (so bummed about it because they may meet the weekend I'm away and I've read and studied the book!), and I moved the date of our homeschool group a week, so I will hopefully feel freer this weekend and get caught up.  I might send all the kids with Daddy again on Sunday night to church and stay home so I can jumpstart this next week.  Anyway, too much to do.  I'm going to have to take a week off from school to work on making the summer/winter clothes switch and situated more of the boxes.  I'm looking into rearranging our room and getting a used rolltop desk and shorter bookcases.  My goal is to have my crafting in our room so maybe, just maybe, I can get my scrapbooking stuff out and finish Keturah's baby album.  They've been in boxes for over 5 years now.  That's the goal.  I need space to put the materials, close up so toddler doesn't get into them, and not to have any cardboard boxes in our room! Ugh!

Anyway, that's life today.

I watch!  I totally forgot that Abishai had gone to this airport with Jared and Benaiah when Benaiah flew with his aerospace teacher a few weeks back.  Duh!  I'm glad he was still excited about them though.  And I'm super glad he brought his planes!  They helped entertain him when he didn't want to sit through a show and I didn't bring in the paci/blankie.

He insisted that his airplanes had to park like the other airplanes.  I will say I will make sure to lighten my Luci bag before I try to carry it and the big DSLR camera at the same time again.  Wowie ow ow! I was also holding onto the toddler's hand as we walked across the tarmac.  Yup, going to be more careful next time.

The gentlemen and lady who took us around and showed us some things were all part of the Civil Air Patrol.  Although my brother was part of the CAP in high school, I was already in college and I really didn't know the extent of the program until today.  The CAP helps in 90% of all search and rescues and does most of the photography work for disasters like hurricanes, 9/11, school shootings, etc.  It's a volunteer organization with 1/3 of them being youth between 12-18 years old.  The teach and train the youth on all kinds of things, not just flying, but especially on leadership skills.  And you don't have to go to the military afterwards either, although some do.  This guy was telling us about this paper map and how it's important to know how to read maps, not just a GPS system, in case that system fails.  This special map of Indiana shows all the airports and airstrips and how far out in the airspace they are a part of.  Pretty neat!

And the other side has pictures and specs on each of the grounds of the airports, particularly the runways, so that the pilots aren't flying in blind.  I'm sure Uncle Ed has studied this many times.  Speaking of Uncle Ed, I decided to go now for a "behind the scenes" look, just in case Uncle Ed isn't able to fly Grandma Cook down for Thanksgiving.  I'd love to go meet them at the airport and see Uncle Ed's plane again and such, but I don't know if we will be able to.  Plus he has Grandma to take care of.  I think about 8 years ago we were in Lansing for Thanksgiving and Uncle Ed still had the house that had a private runway and hangar for the plane.  I remember going to see the plane and then Uncle Ed took Jared up in it and maybe Benaiah?  I thought that when Uncle Ed moved from that house into a condo with the folks, that he had to give up his plane, too, but apparently not.  I'm super glad he didn't! I can't wait to pepper him with some more questions this Thanksgiving, if they are able to make it.

Here is the main lobby of the little airport where the pilots bring their flight plans in I would imagine.  There's vending machines, places to take a shower, a coffee bar, kind of like you would find in a large fancy truck stop.  The screen here is showing where all the planes in the vicinity are.  I will also mention that the woman that was with us today, is a mom of a CAP graduate and has never learned to fly.  She likes to do these educational tours and knows about the planes, but doesn't want to do all the other parts.  I don't really know what training the adults actually do because it's a program meant to educate youth and such, but anyway, I think it's cool she has stayed on as a volunteer.

A private jet!  These things cost more a million dollars, no joke!  I have no idea who this one is though.  I can imagine it belongs to the Colts or the governor or the Lilly company or who knows what.  But it's super cool!

Lots and lots of hangars for the little planes.  Just a big parking garage.

Yeah! I sit in the airplane!

Daddy, I controlled the airplane!  (I forget what he actually said, but he did say something about this exact moment which indicates to me that he is still making huge strides mentally and verbally).  He loved it!  But also gave it up willingly to the next kid.

It was the same plane that we saw and sat in at the movie night in June.  They had pulled it a little ways out of the hangar for us.  There was another volunteer in a jumpsuit that was super excited to tell us everything about it.  The other guy said this guy would talk and talk for hours about it. 

Yes, Abishai's pants got wet, but, I love how he's playing with his planes in the shadow of the relatively big plane.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Check this out!  When they open the hangar door, the little entry door goes up too!  Kind of like Monsters, Inc!

The middles aren't fond of me dragging them around to these little field "boring" field trips, but at least Justin found a couple of people to talk to.  We knew the African American kid from church and obviously, Pokemon guy would be fun to hang with.

This is where Uncle Ed will park his plane since he doesn't rent a hangar here.

Abishai was the one to first open the magazine with all the planes for sale in it.  He was pointing and talking about each of them.  I don't know what he said, but it was like he was reading a book or something.  Adorable!

Playing on the flight simulator!  They also had drones out to show and a small but powerful telescope, and all of that was part of the new "STEM" push everybody has been talking about.  There's a big push for "STEM" which is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math here in the states because we are way behind the rest of the world.  It's now a catchy phrase on lots of programs and museums.  I have my theories as to why our country is behind the eight ball in this area, but I think I will keep my opinion to myself this time.  For now, the kids loved flying the aircraft.

Justin's turn!  And the boys' favorite thing was to see how awful they would crash, go figure.

Abishai always finds the babies in the group.

Blalalalala, is home!  I think they missed each other.

Grrrr......obviously it fixed itself so I could post this blog, but still, I need to work on backing up my photos properly and then I'm going to have a chat with my tech guy.

Chick - Fil- A face!  I overspent, so I told the kids that they can get kids' meals from now on and no milkshakes.  Sheesh! 

Justin was my "mother's helper" in the play structure at CFA today.  I told him he has to stay with Abishai and not go play on his own because he's not supposed to be in there.  I was watching our drinks at a booth that butted up to the glass, so if anyone questioned his presence, I could tell them.  He and I switched for a bit as well, I went in and he watched the drinks.  You can't bring drinks (or food) in the play area.

And there goes Abishai!  I am so amazed at how many people use the drive thru!  The restaurant was half empty and we got our food right away (it was 1pm).  I'm sure the drivers did, too, but there were two lines of a dozen cars all the time! No joke! Do people ever slow down?  I don't know, but when I go out to eat, I like to enjoy it at the restaurant, not in my car.  But anyway.

Keturah's turn to help Abishai up the tube!

Mommy!  See me!

See me again!

Wheee!!!

He was so stir crazy!  But he did leave without a fuss, which was good.

Justin obviously didn't always listen to the rule and stay with Abishai.

Check out my beautiful fall flowers and pollinators!  I love love LOVE that the previous owner (not the renters I don't think) took the time to plant the different kinds of flowers that bloom at different times.  We've been enjoying some type of color in the garden all summer long!  Huge bumblebee, by the way!  Beautiful moth/buttterfly.

Our goodies from the day.  CAP is an excellent program.  I know my brother loved it.  I wish I had been there to see him rank up and such.  None of the older kids are interested in it.  I read the brochure and it's only a 2hr meeting once a week and one Saturday morning per month.  Up to $600 a year to participate and that includes local fees and camps and uniforms.  It's really neat program!  Oh, the funny moment was that they had us stand up and say the Pledge of Allegience to the flag and Justin was embarrassed that he didn't know it!  And he doesn't know it, neither does Keturah.  I don't even know if Benaiah remembers it.  Thankfully, another little boy didn't know it either.  It's not that I don't want them to know it, but I just don't think about them memorizing it.  I'll add it to the list of memory work, along with parts of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.  It just hasn't been a priority.  Oh well, Justin, my super memorizer, can probably memorize a lot of it within a week.  I'll go grab that now and let him know it's there.  He's already got a lot to memorize with Bible Bowl and CC and the Sermon on the Mount.  But he can probably fit it in somewhere, just like he will with the states and capitals.  More importantly though, he and the others, need to know what it means and why we say it or why we don't say it.  Again, this time, I don't have a personal preference.  I said it when I was in school.  I like the sentiments in it.  Just know what it means, like are you pledging allegiance to the flag itself or to this country above every other countries?  And are you truly meaning the "under God" part of the pledge?  Oh there are so many other things to memorize like the Nicene Creed.  It's never ending.  But God gave us brains for this, so let's use them!