Aviation Nation 2010

Last weekend we were able to go as a family, including Nena's family, to "Aviation Nation" out at Nellis AFB. We've never been to an air show before, so we were excited to go this time. We were also lucky enough to have an escort (thanks Kevin) to get us on base with our car so we wouldn't have to ride the shuttle.

The first thing we did when we got there was go inside this massive plane. I'm told this is the same plane that houses the President of the United States' helicopter when he's in town.


Here's little Jaedyn and Sadie inside the plane...what a couple of cuties!


Here's Jaron, Jantzen, and Sadie checking out the seats on the inside of the plane. They don't look that comfortable, but they seemed to like them just fine.


Here's a picture of the plane from the outside. I only got part of it because it was too big to get all of it in the picture and still be able to see the kids, it was huge!


Jaedyn and Josh didn't last very long in the plane, so they went to check out the planes that were flying around. It was a little loud, so Josh brought some ear plugs for the kids. Jaedyn looked really cute trying to wear them, they didn't stay in her ears for very long though.


As we were walking down to where the Thunderbirds were there was many other planes and demonstrations going on in the air. There were planes that would fly by and bomb the ground (the boys thought that was cool) and then there was this big plane that dropped a parachute. At first Jantzen thought it was a little "Toy Story" army guy, but I told him it was actually a real person. He said it was cool to see, but he'd never do that...I wouldn't either!


We finally made it to where the Thunderbirds were and just hung out until the show started. Jaedyn was loving being on her daddy's shoulders and Jantzen wanted a turn, but quickly freaked out when Josh tried to pick him up.


Here's Josh, Jaedyn, Kevin, and Tate waiting for the show to begin...


This is the best shot I could get of the Thunderbirds jets, there's one missing. I had to hold my camera up above every ones head, take a picture, and hope it turned out...it didn't turn out that bad.


I took several pictures of the Thunderbirds as they flew around doing their tricks, but they all didn't turn out (I need a fancier camera). These are the ones that turned out the best and are my favorites...


I snapped this one too soon. They were flying right towards each other (the one on the left was upside down) and it looked like they were going to crash, but at the last second they both turned on their sides and went right past each other, it was so cool!


I thought this one was cool because the pilot was making the jet fly slow past all of us.



These next two pictures were taken directly over my head. A couple times I didn't know they were coming and I got freaked out as soon as they passed...they are LOUD!!



How crazy is this?...


The Thunderbirds were awesome!! I can't believe some of the crazy things they do in those jets and how good they are at it. I would totally be puking in the cockpit (TMI?).

Of course, we had to get a family picture in front of the Thunderbirds' jets, sorry kids, it's a little bright.


Here's my boys in front of the Thunderbirds building. I didn't know, until we came here, that Nellis AFB is their home. I thought that was pretty cool.


We wandered around some more before we left and we came across these bars that some military men were trying to do pull ups on. Jaron and Sadie decided to give it a try too. Jaron had some (a lot) help from his dad, while Sadie did most of it herself...she's a tough little girl.



It was fun finally being able to go to the air show. Even though we had a little bit of drama from some of the kids, I think we all had a good time. The planes and jets were awesome to watch, we'll definitely come again next year.