Saturday, March 30, 2013
EAA AirVenture Museum
Click where it says EAA AirVenture Museum and you will be taken to my Facebook photo album and you can see about 67 photos from our trip. It was a wonderful day! It was just me and my boys and all three of them got along well, stayed relatively close by, and took time to read, see, and understand (probably because I've taken them to so many museums in the past 14 years). We were there for about 4 1/2 hours, but gone for 7.
The day was beautiful, for starters. The sun was shining and we left around 10am. I had to stop and get gas, some sodas for us (and a fun treat - donuts) since it was an hour long drive. We checked in at 11:05, the kids were eager to ride the flight simulator. One of my favorite exhibits was one in which they showed how a lot of training was done - comics! Cartoon-type posters that point out vital reminders and without scaring the pants off the pilots, explain how you could die. I especially love the book, "Don't Kill Your Friends." Of course, it was in a case and I couldn't actually see it (the title was catchy!). EAA stands for Experimental Aircraft Association. Another of my favorite exhibits was a plane built by a Racine man a very, very long time ago. It had a boat attached to the bottom of it - you'd have to see it, there's a pic in the album - and he flew all over the world in it. The 9 minute video we watched in the boat portion showed his son on a flight his father took. The Amazon is beautiful and the man made a lasting contribution to Brazil by sending down some cows so they could have milk (descendants of those cows are there still today!) and he built a school (also still there today).
Justin enjoyed the whole museum. But, Tyler and Joshua mostly enjoyed being able to get into the cockpit's of several WWII type planes. Even at 12 Tyler is so cute as he sits in there and will push buttons, flip switches, turn knobs, buckle up, and aim the joystick as if he were really flying. He wants to be an astrobiologist so he says he needs to learn to fly anyway. (Walked out of there with him telling me the importance of getting him flying lessons!!)
One thing I learned, though I took the kids often enough to museums when they were little (the last time we were at the EAA, though, Joshua was 13 months old) it makes a difference to go when they are older and can remember the items on display, remember reading about particular planes and remember what a fantastic time they had.
At any rate, we broke for lunch around 1pm and I took the kids over to Subway (nicest Subway I've ever been in - fireplace, 2 computers with wifi). We had a great lunch then went back for more! We ended our tour around the museum about 1 1/2 hours later in the KidVenture area - a lot of hands on stuff! We concluded in the gift shop where Tyler and Justin got an EAA mug, pens, and Tyler got a set of wings. Joshua got a build it yourself Navy plane - and I - got the family a puzzle of WWII planes! I'll have to post a pic when it's done.
On our way home we stopped for Starbucks and the 'Thank you's' continued on until bed time!
This is one of the best days I can remember with my kids! I hope they'll always remember it, too!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment