USAF Thunderbirds
Greetings to everyone!
Today began mid afternoon yesterday for Xavier. He took his second trip out of state where he visited the great state of Wyoming. His first trip out of state was also to Wyoming just a couple of weekends ago. He and Dad joined Mom at her annual Wing Picnic.
This trip, however, was to see the USAF Thunderbirds perform in an air show. Rebecca scored a great hotel room on base, and we joined her there in the evening (Rebecca was already in Cheyenne doing work for her new position with the WYANG). The room we had was the last one available, which is why Rebecca made the reservation two weeks ago! It was a three bedroom apartment, having a nice family area, office, kitchen and dining area. There was no sneezing at the $62 a night either!
Xavier proved difficult to put down (we bring his Pack-n-Play to use as a crib). He fought and fussed and squealed for quite a while. Then, victory was ours! For about :30 minutes. Rebecca and I were watching TV when she asked "Is that sound the TV?" We muted the TV and heard the fire alarm weakly screaming down the hall of the building.
We got Xavier up, loaded our pockets with car keys, room keys and base IDs, slipped on some shoes and headed outdoors. We learned a valuable lesson over the next :45 while the firemen cleared the building (it was a false alarm, a glitch in the wiring. The alarm was the fourth false one that week). Our lesson: while loading your pockets with other stuff, grab the baby supplies on your way out the door as well. Bottles and diapers a good idea to have on hand.
In the morning (Xavier went down the second time after the fire alarm event with as much fuss as the first time we put him down), we went to breakfast, then off to see the Thunderbirds. Due to the overcast sky, the show was delayed an hour, but it did go on.
Xavier did not know what to make of it all, but watched the planes go by. He definitely did not care for the times when the planes were loud. He covered his ears with his hands and looked to mom or dad with a worried look on his face.
After the show ended, we spent the rest of the day on base. The WYANG held an open house as part of the Cheyenne Frontier Days. A bus picked us up at a nearby mall and took us onto base (the base was closed to all other traffic, including the on-duty personnel; walk on or bus on were the only means of getting on base).
They had an Army bridge builder machine, mobile airfield RADAR, helicopters, C-130s, firetrucks and the parked Thunderbirds, to name a few attractions. As we toured, I thought into the future when Xavier would be old enough and mobile enough to crawl over the equipment as the other children were doing. I look forward to that day!
We also took a stroll to see the hangar Rebecca managed the remodel of while working full-time with the Guard. It's really coming together nicely. Rebecca did a lot of the ground work for the project to proceed so well. We also visited Rebecca's new office.
Rebecca and Xavier watch the Thunderbirds, still off in the distance, approach in formation for a low fly-by. We had not yet heard the very loud engine noise which Xavier did not like; that would be several minutes from the time of this picture.
Father and son pose with the Thunderbirds parked in the background. Xavier did not recognize them now that they were so quiet and still.
Waiting in line to view the cockpit, we got to see the inside of the C-130 in all of its splendor. It was while traveling to Andrews in a C-130 back in late October 2012 that Rebecca felt bloated and could not get comfortable. It was because she was two weeks pregnant, but we didn't know it then! I explained this to Xavier, who continued to look around the plane while adding that knowledge of his early life to his understanding.
Mom and Xavier pose on a bench in the C-130. For the tour, two rows of seats were removed, so there is a lot of room in this photo. Xavier, who has been dragged around all day, doesn't know what to think. He is wanting to get back on the floor and crawl around more.