Oconto Fly-In

The four oldest boys, Gianna, and I had a wonderful time at the fly-in on Saturday. You must send a special thank you to the lady in the office that day. I ran out of batteries, so I asked if they had any I could buy off of them. She gave me some for free. Without her generosity you would get to see one picture. Thank you wonderful lady!

The boys were given a tour of the fire engine on display. This is the only picture I got with my batteries. Not even a plane in sight. There again - thank you wonderful lady!

Rex is in the back seat.

Do you want Stephen driving to your fire....

or Cormac who keeps his eyes on the road??

We asked the paramedics if we could just see the inside of the ambulance. They said we could and even let the boys inside. And since that isn't special enough, the boys had their blood pressure taken. Stephen's blood pressure was 103 over 64 I think. Rex said he didn't want to because he didn't like shots and things that hurt your arm.
Cormac's blood pressure was 102 over 50. After his was done the machine said to apply paddles. I got a good laugh out of that one. Cormac told the guy that his arms were just skinny.
There was an encampment set up as an example of military life. They had guns and helmets on display. The boys asked if they could see a grenade. One of the guys was nice enough to give them an explanation of how it worked. He pointed out that someone put the pin in wrong unless they were left-handed. He also said to make sure you only count to TWO because it may go off at three. Good lesson.
Here is the whole reason we came. Some of our friends have a bluegrass band and they were playing at the fly-in. They did great and worth the trip over. I haven't heard an accordion sound so good in a long time.
In one of the hangers they had set up a military museum of sorts. There were a few vehicles on display as well as guns and dress uniforms. They also had a short movie about one of the planes that was manufactured in Kingsford, MI for the Second War War. You can read a brief write up about these gliders on this website. The boys are standing in front of a 1943 BMW R 75 bike with an 8mm machine gun. There were pictures showing that they could carry four people on there. Crazy!
Stephen wanted a picture of him appearing like he was shooting. Tada.

A jeep with a trailer behind it.

The sweetest face of the day!

The boys have been watching Hogan's Heroes recently. They were telling me all about how the Germans must have used this one because of the flag. I guess Hogan's Heroes taught them one thing - what the Nazi flag looks like.

This was the most unusual plane on display. We didn't get to see any old ones. I think this one is from 2003 in Romania someone was telling us. Or at least that's what the manufacturing sticker said.
They had a neat RC plane show. That was pretty much the highlight of the day.

The opening act was impressive. It looks almost life size huh??

This is a life-size plane. Its the one that the boys were standing next to up above. The pilot flew down the runway and did a straight up in the air climb and staled. Oh my - take your breathe away. That was as fancy as the big planes got.
Back to the RC planes - oops not so smooth of a landing for this one.
I didn't know they made planes that looked like me?! Ain't she a beauty?
I have to admit that she looked pretty cool up in the air on her broom. We thought it was neat that she could even fly.
Who forgot to tell us the Blue Angels were in town? They were saying how they used to have 4 people stand out with controllers to make it look like they were actually flying formation.

Limbo anyone??

You can't make it out very well, but this is the only picture I got of Snoopy and the Red Baron dog fighting.

Of course the Red Baron gets shot down.

There is Snoopy on his side. The plane looked like a yellow dog house with a little Snoopy dog attached to the top. Very cute. It was our favorite part of the show.

And the Red Baron, complete with little guns and a Red Baron man.

And last, but not least, you can't have a good day unless you climb in the back of a military truck.

We had a great time. It was a long day. We arrived at 10:15 and left around 4 PM. I'm glad I took the boys, though next time I may take Darren along to help chase. The boys were so very good. I was very proud of them. Stephen even made friends with a Commander. Leave it to Stephen to start talking to someone and then next thing you know they are swapping life stories. I can't wait to see how he is when he's a teenager. Oh my.