Living and Learning; Together: Boom! Plane!

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde

"Boom! Plane!" The words are accompanied by a sharp jerk of the hand through the air. Andrew loves it when we turn to the Concorde page in his little boy's plane book. I like to make sounds and actions when I read with my little boys. Sometimes Andrew enjoys them so much that he'll remember them and perform them every time we turn to that page. That is the case with the Concorde; we have to make the sonic BOOM sound and fly our hands quickly through the air.

So when my brother mentioned the possibility that there was an air show during the time that we would be in Idaho I though that Andrew might enjoy seeing some real life "boom" planes.

Andrew while intrigued with the planes on the ground; didn't quite enjoy the Thunderbirds as much as his Daddy. The "boom" planes had a little bit too much "boom" for him. I tried covering up his ears for him until a lady at the show had pity on the poor unprepared dad and gave us some ear plugs. Andrew was perfectly happy through the rest of the Thunderbird show. Of course he spent most of the show time playing with his older cousin and coming to me when his earplugs came out. Maybe a bit early for the Thunderbirds to appeal to him yet.

I, on the other hand was thoroughly fascinated. The formations, the speed, the "oh my gosh they are going to die" moments. My brother when he wrote about the experience become poetic. I don't disagree with his views.

I was also intrigued to see the F-35 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. Its the latest and greatest military plane (toy) that the air force has. It also has, depending on how you calculate cost, a small price tag of $75 million dollars a plane. Let's just say that we couldn't walk up a ramp to look into the cockpit like we could with the F-16's.