NAS JAX Air Show

Being married to a Navy pilot has its perks every once in awhile.  Clearly the perks do not include extended work trips, deployments, odd work hours, etc.  But, occasionally there is a day when you would not want your husband to have any other job.  Friday was one of those days.  Officially the NAS JAX Air Show was on Saturday and Sunday, but Friday was a military only day.

Nick and I had talked up the air show to Andrew for over a week.  Then, Friday arrived, and Andrew could hardly wait to get out the door.  He even worked on spreading the excitement to Ken.  Nick and I caught him under the play gym with Ken whispering, "Air show, jets, P-P's (which is really P-3's), daddy's plane!," which he followed up with some pretty awesome plane sound effects.

The weather could not have been more gorgeous.  As we began walking toward the entrance, Andrew caught sight of the rocket truck coming down the runway.  Pretty cool.  Then, the first aerobatic plane began flying loops and trailing smoke.  I could not help busting out laughing when Andrew shouted, "WOW!," from his perch on Nick's shoulders.

Once inside the gates, we walked to see the static display of daddy's plane so that we could get a picture of the best pilots in the family.  Then we hung out to watch the parachuters, more of the aerobatic planes and some of the jets, including a glimpse at the A-10, before we had to head home for a nap break.  Andrew was quite smitten with the A-10 and fell asleep talking about the A-10 and jets.

Andrew hardly snuck in an hour long nap before it was time to head back to see the Blue Angels.  My friend, Sopanha, ordered ear protection for our kiddos because that part of the show can be so loud.  Andrew loved the noise and preferred to have the headset off, but I am fairly certain that Ken appreciated it.  I can honestly say that the Blue Angels are an incredible recruitment tool for the Navy.  Watching them perform is incredibly impressive.  I don't think that I will ever get sick of it.  Go NAVY!

Unfortunately we (Nick) forgot to grab the camera battery that we (Nick) had taken out to charge during the nap break.  Therefore, we don't have any exciting pics of the Blue Angels, and I had to resort to using the cell phone to take pics of the kids in their ear protection.  Still hilarious.

 Posing in his ear protection after the show.  Don't let him fool you into thinking that he 

actually sat in his stroller to watch.  Running around and screaming is WAY more fun.  

The boys

 Sweet baby Ken, 

sleeping through the noise  

Ken's "ears" started slipping, and all I could think of was the 'Chubby' rhyme from elementary school.  

Hi, my name is Chubby.  My mom's name is Chubby.  My dad's name is Chubby....