Our second stop on our Wisconsin tour was to visit some friends from Minnesota. They made the trip from the Twin Cities to spend the day with us. We met in Oshkosh and visited the Air Traffic Control tower. Dave is a controller and he managed to get us a tour of the tower. I loved getting to see the view from the top. It was only a couple of weeks after the annual Air Show and the remnants were still visible. It was amazing to see. There are few things that are different about the airport since it's set up for the airshow. They have long runways (to accommodate the bigger planes) with large colored dots at various points along the runway so they can tell the smaller planes (like those that perform at the airshow) to land on a certain colored dot since they don't need as long of a runway and then they just pull off into the grass. And the taxiways are used alongside the runways during the show for the trick/acrobatic airplanes that fly together. I hope to be able to see the airshow someday. It sounds SO cool!
Then we got some lunch and ate at a park. This picture of Mary and Alaina reminds me of when Mary used to care for me and my brothers and sister when we were little. Of course, I was a little bit older, but it's still so sweet!
After lunch it was on the the flight museum. It's one of those things I have always wanted to do but never had the chance. I think one of the highlights was the Kids' Area. Tons of hands on stuff. Here is Dave and Justin flying an airplane. After this picture Justin told Dave to go away, he was going to do it himself. (Dave is a pilot so he can "play" really well!)
Well, you can read the sign to see what this is. It was beyond cool! Randy was hang gliding and trying to land on a certain spot to "win" the game. It was hard! The winds changed and he had to shift his weight to alter his direction.
This game was a similar concept but it's a hot air balloon. You have only 30 seconds of power to push yourself up and then you have to let the winds push you in the right direction to land on the right spot, but the winds are different at various altitudes so you need to get to the right altitude for long enough to move in the right direction. Travis wasn't able to do it. (I didn't try. It looked hard!)
There was also a game to try to balance a marble in a circular bowl shape, like you would need to do when flying a helicopter. I did try that one and I couldn't do it. Dave rocked that one too. (Good thing, being a pilot and all...)
Then we took the tram over to the hangars where they had all the cool old airplanes. And they gave plane rides too. Our kids were too young and honestly, I think only Justin would have gone anyway. There was a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis even. Amazing to see the different designs.
And they had little pedal car airplanes for the kids. Alaina's legs were too short so she enjoyed lounging and being pushed around.
Justin's might have been a little too long but there wasn't any way he wasn't getting in one!
It was a lot of walking and after a while Justin needed to ride. We didn't have a stroller but Mary had one for her foster baby. Baby, like little baby. And a girl at that. Her bow was sitting in the tray of the stroller so Justin found it, put it on and declared himself to be the baby. That's all it takes, right? Isn't he precious?
It was a long day for the kids but SO much fun! We had a blast getting to see Dave and Mary. They came with us to see my grandmother (our third stop!) and take a group picture. I love having these pictures! It took my mother, grandmother and a nurse at the assisted living home where my grandmother lives to get everyone to look the same way at the same time.
Mary and Dave are planning to come visit us in Houston for the Buddy Walk. I am pretty psyched about that! The weather should be cooler and we can get outside and play!
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