Air show part 2

I've finally gotten around to actually writing about the air show. We went as a family on Saturday and on Sunday Jim took Matthew back and I watched the Blue Angles at a different location with the other two kids. I'm not very good with the technical stuff so posting photos on the blog and on Facebook took a lot longer yesterday then I wanted to. I actually finished the FB stuff after the kids went to bed.

Anyway, the air show was AMAZING. We went three years ago and had fun so I was really looking forward to this show. Of course it was a lot hotter the last time (think upper 90's) and I was 5 months pregnant with Andrew so this time around with temps forecast to be in the low 80's and me not pregnant made for lots more fun. I will admit that the fact the loving husband's place of employment was a major sponsor of this event colors my opinions of the show a bit. Company employees got a few VIP perks that the rest of the general public didn't get. The perks were pretty simple...a fenced off area just off the runway complete with private port a pottys, tent area with seating, and catered lunch. Three years ago when it was beastly hot and I had two little ones running around one of which was potty training the VIP area was a godsend and the only reason I even wanted to attend the event. We still had to park out in BFE walk a long ways in and out of the event which was not very fun. This year the company provided special shuttle buses to and from the event from the company parking lot. No traffic hassles..YEAH!!!!

After a few glitches on our (mostly my) part we made it safely to the VIP area. The kids each had earmuffs to help with the noise but Andrew refused to wear them. There were so many things to see and do. Jim had taken the kids to look at some of the planes when he first got there and I took Matthew and Carolyn later in the day for more exploring. The Army had some cool interactive area that people 13 and older could do and the Air Force had a truck set up with a movie to watch. There were three planes that the public could go into and look around. The kids and I went in the refuel tanker plane. There were places where you could get autographs from the different pilots and of course buy Blue Angels souvenirs. For the hungry there were vendors of all things deep fried and delicious. Thankfully we had lunch provided to us so there was 20 bucks saved. Because we were right up front, the noise from the runway made it difficult at times to hear the announcer when different acts were performing. The airshow is free to attend so periodically a commercial flight had to land or take off which made things that much more interesting. Several of the performers were stunt pilots doing tricks that seemed both impossible and very dangerous but one of the cooler acts was a glider doing skywriting. There was also a group of stunt planes that used ethanol. They had a very enjoyable act and sorry to say I did not get a picture of the heart they drew in the sky (sorry Matthew and Carolyn)

One of the highlights of the show was the F-22 Raptor. It is the newest most advanced plane in the military and the Sioux Falls airshow was only one of three this year to get a performance. The only thing I can say (Warning:PG-13 comment) is that thing was effin cool...and really really loud. It did stuff no plane is supposed to do. When it flew over it was so close I could see the red fire coming out of the tail engines. I think it was something like a 200 million dollar plane so it was pretty tricked out. At one point the pilot flew at a very slow speed and got the plane standing almost straight up and down. To illustrate the loudness...Sunday afternoon I was several miles away at Burger King during the performance and I could still hear the engine. The kids were not quite as impressed with the plane as hubby and I were and Matthew wanted to go to the bouncy houses so I told him we would go when the plane landed. Head shaker of the day... we go to an event that is full of exciting areal stunts and really neat planes to look at that only comes once every three years and all the kids want to do is go play in the bouncy houses that are at basically every public event held during the summer months. Go figure.

The final act of the day was of course the Blue Angels. Words can not describe how cool it is to be so up front an close to the planes and the crew. When you are only a few hundred feet from the action and the only things in your way are a couple of fences and the occasional patrol of sailors (the Blue Angels are Navy Fighters) telling you not to hang on the fence it's hard not to get excited. By this time Andrew was pretty tired so hubby took him to the shaded area and I kept the other two with me. They seemed more interested in the grass and fence than what was going on around them but they still did pretty well. Once the jets fired up their engines it was very hard to hear the announcer. Before the jets took off the support plane did a few flybys and landed. There is a series of steps that the Blue Angels crew goes through before the planes actually take off. Because we were so close I got to see all of the saluting and hand gestures that happen. Once the jets took off then the fun began. I had the camera and tried my best to get the neat shots. Sometimes I got lucky and other times ..well lets just say I have several photos of either blue sky or jet trails. A lot of the stunts involve the planes passing by each other at a center point and we were not that far from that spot so when they passed each other I got a great view. Of course when trying to photograph objects moving at several hundred miles per hour one needs a super fast camera and sadly mine is not. Having seen the show 3 years prior I knew there was a spot where one of the pilots flies very low over the crowd scaring the living daylights out of everybody. This time I was ready and did not jump 3 feet in the air when it happened.

Now on Saturday I was up close and personal to the action but on Sunday I was a few miles away watching the Blue Angles show. It is a totally different experience. The positives included not being amongst 50,000 other folks trying to see the show and not worrying about all the traffic when the show ended. To watch the show away from the crowds and and the area of performance is to watch a totally different event. Because of the type of stunts and maneuvers the planes do, they have to fly out several miles to regroup and reform. I didn't get to see the pre-flight stuff or hear the announcer or the music but I did get to see the planes form some of the patterns as they were getting ready to pass over the crowd. I could look behind me and watch the planes regroup or I could follow one of the solo pilots as he turned around and got into position to do the next thing. For some of the formations that required two planes to fly upside down I was able to see the pilots do this maneuver where as the day before I was only able to see the formation as it flew over or by me. I still got to see all of the passes and stunts I saw the day before but at a different angle and in a different way. One advantage of being several miles away is that when the planes do some of the figures with smoke, it is easier to see all 4 or 6 planes at the same time and actually see the whole smoke figure. The only bad thing about Sunday was Andrew was tired and I had to hold him the whole time and he actually fell asleep. Ouch, sore arms.

All I have to say about this weekend was wow what fun. Oh... and ow, mama needs to take sunscreen application 101. The parts of me that got the sunscreen are fine but the back of my knees and back of my neck are another story. As for the kids...no red at all.