Air Show

We live in a town that has a large festival around the 4th of July.  We live downtown, so we have the blessing (or curse?) of being involved in festival activities whether we want to be or not.  And, things that are part of our normal routine are wildly upset by the location of the festival and the large influx of people.

One of the normal activities is an Air Show.  The planes normally practice the Friday before the festival begins.  Lucky us - the planes fly RIGHT OVER OUR HOUSE during their practice and during the show.  We can see quite a bit of the activity from our yard.  And, loud planes buzzing around overhead tend to wake up sleeping children.  (As do the not one but TWO fireworks shows in the festival, but that is a post for another day...)

I wasn't a bit surprised when the practice flights woke Carder up this year.  The difference was that this year, he knew what an airplane was and he was very excited to see the planes.  As the planes would fly near us, he would just giggle in excitement.

Watching the Planes Practice on Friday Afternoon

For the real deal Air Show on Saturday, we planned on waking him up from his nap in time to walk towards Lake Michigan to see the actual Air Show.  Although there was a grandstand set up for this type of activity, we skipped that and opted to throw out a blanket on the grass a few blocks from our house.  There was a road separating us from the action (FAA rules and all) but it was still a wonderful place to watch the show and we didn't have to arrive hours early to get a seat!

Carder was super excited to watch the planes flying even closer and in formation.  There were a couple of different types of planes that flew in the Air Show.  I believe his favorites were the smaller planes as they weren't quite as loud and there were more of them to watch.  The planes performed loops and dives and even had colored smoke that was turned on and off at specific times during the performance.

The larger planes were a bit louder than the smaller ones and the sound reverberated over the water making it seem even louder.  When they started performing, he began to get a little apprehensive, but still seemed to enjoy the show.

Carder and I as we watch planes flying towards us over Lake Michigan

One of the Formations by the Smaller Planes

Even though he was a bit timid about the larger planes, he still loved them.



Our Air Show Viewing Area on the Lawn