Flying!

Aidan loves airplanes. If you ask Aidan what he wants to do when he grows up, he'll tell you that he wants to be in the Air Force because he would get to fly. Somehow, word of Aidan's love of flight made its way to a friend of ours from church who just happens to have his very own plane! Mr. Albert was kind enough to offer up an entire morning to take the family on a flight to satisfy and stir Aidan's fascination with flight.

Albert even took time to walk Aidan and the rest of us through the pre-flight check list. Aidan was able to learn about flaps and ailerons, vertical and horizontal stabilizers, and even radio antennas and the importance of a wing's shape.

This is one of my favorite visuals from the day. Seeing Aidan rocking the headset was pretty awesome. He thought it was pretty awesome to hear the radio traffic running back and forth.

Of course, little brother and sister felt they needed a turn with headsets, too. Ryla ended up having hers taken away because she talked so much that you couldn't hear anything else.

The younger two thought the maps were pretty cool, too. They couldn't wrap their head around how this big map didn't even show all of Texas! It's good to see that their eyes still fill with wonder at the bigness of the world.

As the guest of honor, Aidan was able to ride shotgun. This spot was special because of the view, but also because he had a full set of controls in front of him. Amazingly enough, Albert let Aidan take the controls! Aidan spent around 10 minutes flying slow circles around Lake Travis. The first thing he did was grab the yoke and pull back hard! The plane shot up a few hundred feet in only a few seconds. Once he got that out of his system, he did a really fantastic job flying smooth and steady.

We had a really fantastic time flying over Austin. Thanks again to Albert for giving us such a unique opportunity to make some great memories!