This past weekend was very busy for us.  Prairie Day was great enough on Saturday, but on Sunday, we also got to go to an air show at the local Air Force base.  We went to the same show last year, and we’ve also been to a few other air shows in the past, but I think this was the best one yet.  Why?  One word–Thunderbirds!

I’m fairly certain I’ve never seen a Thunderbirds show before.  I think that’s the kind of thing you remember.  I had a general idea of what to expect, but there’s just nothing like seeming them going screaming past each other (and hearing the roar of the engines–I jumped more than once!), so close, and so fast, in person, to really impress upon you how amazing it, and how much skill it takes.  The noise level was a little to much for some in our crowd (Moose), but seeing the planes go roaring by was an interesting event to be pointed at (Ladybug), and an amazing show to be enjoyed (Turkey).  Bunny just wanted to sleep through the whole thing, and attempted to take a nap on the ground in the middle of the airfield.  Weird.

The Thunderbirds were by far the most impressive and amazing thing we saw, but certainly not the only cool thing.  Turkey was amazed to see an actual jet car (he’s always pretending his toy cars are “rocket cars” so this really blew his mind!), and he even got the autograph of the driver.  There was a stunt plane flying when we first got there, which was also very interesting to the children, and the static displays are always cool–Turkey and Bunny even got to sit in a helicopter!

My favorite thing, aside from the Thunderbirds, however, was a display in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Berlin airlifts.  It was a beautiful and touching piece of our history–even some of the boxes that were dropped, and the contents thereof.  The pictures of the people who received those rations, the maps of a Germany divided, even the words to a jingle written by Irving Berlin, really made that part of history come alive.  I wasn’t expecting to find such a display so moving, but I have to admit, I teared up a bit looking at the past.  It was a really cool thing to experience, and I’m so glad we had a chance to go.