Stuart Air Show

So on Sunday, we packed up the little troops and headed south to Stuart for the annual Visiting Nurse's Association Air Show. I'd heard about it before, but we had never gone. In fact, I don't think I've been to an airshow in my life (I'm sure my mom will correct me if I'm wrong!). So we got to the airfield around 11 a.m. and found a place to set up the lawn chairs and the blanket. It ended up being a great spot. Who knew?? Beginner's luck, I guess. The day was absolutely gorgeous, south Florida at its best. Seventy-eight degrees, a slight breeze and loads of sunshine. The airshow was open from 9 a.m. to 5:00 with the performances beginning at 1:00, so we had a couple hours to look around before the excitement was set to begin.
Of course we started with food, because everyone knows a hungry kid (or spouse) in a cranky kid. Becca had a hotdog, Mike and Kenzie split an Italian Sausage and I had something called a Chicken Devine. It was "divine" but a messier meal I have never had in my life. Chicken Devine was pita bread crammed with shredded chicken, cooked onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and sour cream type dressing. Before I was finished I had spilled on my jeans, my shoes, my shirt three times and gotten it on my face and in my hair. I kid you not. But YUM!

After lunch we headed over to the airplanes (aka static exhibits, as noted on the map). They all looked different, but I can't keep any of them straight (very sad). We went into a big navy airplane. There were also small and medium planes, but we chose the big one and got to visit with some airmen and look at the cockpit.

We had to wait about 15 minutes or so to get into the planes, so we only went into the one. There were a lot of smaller, private aircraft that we looked at too, but my children were even less interested in the particulars of the aircraft than me. So we took pity on them and took them over to the KidZone (rides!!). The girls were told they could choose one ride and one ride only (what can I say? The rides were $4 each and I'm cheap!). So they went on a swing thing that they both loved! It was worth the $8 to see their smiles. At the end of the day we let them go on another one because we had extra tickets and they had been so very good.

Here was Ride #2, The Rock and Rolla, which rolled on a track like a hamster wheel. It was pretty funny watching the girls fly by, upside down, screaming, with Kenzie's hair flying around. You can see the mixed reaction on the girls' faces: "That was soooooooo cool!"

"I hated that! I can't believe I lived! I thought I was gonna die!



After their first ride, we headed back to our seats to see the show. . .


It was really amazing! There was definitely a patriotic vibe, being Veteran's Day weekend and most of the performer's made special dedications to all the men and women who are risking their lives for us around the world in the name of freedom. I found it very moving and fought back tears a few times. We saw lots of different military jets, old and new, from World War II models to Top Gun jets. The F-16 is LOUD! Crazy loud and amazing to watch. So fast and maneuverable in the air; it really is awe-inspiring to watch. The sun was behind the planes so it was a little difficult to get really good photos. But I tried to capture a few and even shot some video:

So what did my children think of these death-defying, miraculous feats of airmanship?

Sometimes, a picture says MORE than a thousand words!