Air Show!

Stealthy

Cole doing (one of the things that he does) best - "ARMY!"

More "Army" - the kid was in Heaven!

(I know it's the Air Force - everything to him is still 'army')

USAF Thunderbirds

Amazing what these guys - AND ONE GIRL (hell yeah!!) do in the air. In a jet. Flying inches from each other. Breathtaking!

Saturday at McChord Air Force Base was awesome. Just that plain and simple.

Okay, other than the sunburns we all got (except Cole).

It was free, it was kid friendly and it was LOUD!!!!! Did I mention how fierce we are - the US Military, that is? You would NOT want to be on the receiving end of any one of these planes.

We toured thru a C-17, which we see fly over the house quite frequently. But in person they are just mammoth! HUGE! "Imagine riding in one of these jump-seats aaaaall the waaaaay to Panama. Or Cuba." Shawn stated to me. Ouch! No thanks!

The most impressive display was one that I was not prepared for. Tora! Tora! Tora! did a reenactment of the Bombing at Pearl Harbor. Complete with Japanese fighter planes, explosions and narrated so eloquently I caught myself trying to catch my breath with tears running down my face. My heart was pounding! It was like you were there. The bombers swooped and looped and chased each other right in front of you! Very sombering to think that this actually happened.

My Grandfather, Bernard J. Vandervest, left Pearl Harbor 3 days before the attack.

He would've been so proud of the performance.

Cole and Shawn came running back to our blanket in the grass - Cole thought for sure one of the planes had exploded or they were doing real bombs! I think he was secretly hoping it was real.

I'm proud of our Military. And days like these make you appreciate them more than ever.

I will stop at that - we all have our own individual opinions. =)