PDK Good Neighbor Day Air Show

Sometime over the Memorial Day holiday, I stumbled upon the press release for the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport Good Neighbor Day air show. I've been thinking for a while now that an air show is something Luke would surely enjoy, but the "big one" usually happens the same weekend as his birthday party, and I simply hadn't gotten around to searching for any others. This seemed the perfect opportunity. All it would cost us was parking.

There was a bit of a pre-show.



Luke seemed to be enjoying himself.



Much of the event was similar to the Touch a Truck event that we attended a few years ago. Except they had these!



And this!



And most especially these!



This was pretty cool, too. I had no idea the police rode Harleys.



I think this made the biggest impression on Luke, though.



That is the bomb squad's robot. They had it set up with an operator and everything. What could possibly be cooler than an honest-to-goodness real robot?



Luke actually wasn't too sure what to do with it. The operator had it extending its arm and opening its hand. It even took off a kid's hat after we walked away. He thought it was amazing, but he didn't want to get any closer than 3-4 feet. I wish he could have gotten a better look at the controls, maybe been allowed to manipulate it himself, but I also understand why that isn't allowed.



We had arrived just after noon, there were a zillion people there, and it was blue-blazing hot! One thing this little excursion definitely did was dissuade me from any idiotic notion I may have had of going to Disney in June. Holy cow! I did not discover until after we arrived that the actual air show did not start until 2 PM. It started with an all female jump team for the Star Spangled Banner opening of the show.



Unfortunately, by then, we were just too hot and tired (and grumpy) to really enjoy it. I knew when this started that it was all over:



My brother used to do that all the time. I couldn't resist taking a photo of my son in such a familiar pose. We watched a fair bit of the first act as we wound our way from the hangar to the car. I would have loved to stay for more, as it was very interesting, but it was time to leave, for everyone's sanity.

Since Saturday was also my mom's birthday, and she was only about an hour away visiting her mom, we had plans to meet them and my uncle and his wife for lunch, and I do think the rest/nap (and shower!) beforehand was the right choice. Feeling much refreshed, we headed out to Covington. Like an idiot, I didn't manage to take any photos of Luke with my mom, but I couldn't help but snap a couple of him playing video games. Why?

Recall this photo from Mother's Day (May) 2009:



And June 2010, at the same arcade machine.



I know!! What a difference a year makes! Still on his toes, but not as much, and he really doesn't need to be. Not too much longer and he'll be taller than I am. So hard to believe.

Currently feeling: soaring