Leaving On a Jet Plane

Our little guy absolutely loves airplanes. I don't have much experience with other boys his age, so I can't speak for any other boys besides ours. He really, really loves things that fly though! We've traveled with him by plane, I believe, 4 times now. He's a pretty decent traveler. *knock on wood* I probably jinxed us by saying that, but I swear he loves the change of scenery that comes with traveling and, of course, the opportunity to see airplanes up close.

trucks, planes, and trains... a little boy's dream

I can't pass up an #airportcarpet photo op

watching the activity below

DTW is still one of my favorite airports... and I love the fountain there

watching the train and people at DTW

one last #airport carpet shot before we head home

for the love of lines....

the tunnel at DTW... check it out if you're in the McNamara terminal

otherworldly lighting

who can resist peeking at the 747?!

All of these photos were taken during our trip to Michigan in August. I'll share more about our trip back to my home state next week! There's a lot to share.

Happy Friday!

Come Fly With Me

It's been a while since I've blogged, and I have so many things to share with you!

Today I wanted to share some photos from an air show that we went to last month.

(it was actually much more than just an air show)

To finish off the month of March, we spent a day at the

2012 Sun 'n Fun Fly-in and Expo in Lakeland, Florida.

Sun 'n Fun is a whole week long display of airplanes, fly-bys,

exhibitions, events, and even includes rides for kids!

You have to experience it for yourself to fully understand

the enormity of this event. It's pretty incredible.

Our household just so happens to be rather interested in airplanes and flying.

I did marry a man who flies airplanes for a living, so it should be expected, right?

Throw in my obsession with airports { read about that here } and we're a pretty well rounded family

The Sun 'n Fun Fly-In & Expo in Florida was pretty amazing for a lot of different reasons.

You can actually get pretty close to the flying

that takes place over the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport.

See? We were darn close to the action!

It was honestly a bit scary hearing loud booms and seeing smoke while at the show. Don't worry though. I prayed it wasn't a plane crash and was relieved to find out it was all just part of the show.

Nate's father and stepmother were here visiting from Colorado, so they went to Sun 'n Fun with us!

There was always something going on throughout the day, and when the sky wasn't full of airplane action (which was almost never), there were plenty of airplanes on the ground for your viewing pleasure. You could sit and relax or get as close to the flying as a fence and the security guards allowed.

My husband and I really loved the P-51 Mustang that flew around for quite a while, but it's always amazing to see a fighter jet in action. Those things are so incredibly loud and powerful!

{ Here's the front end of a gorgeous P-51 Mustang }

I really enjoy getting up close to the aircraft, so one of my favorite parts of Sun 'n Fun was just walking around and browsing the assortment of airplanes.

We dream of having our own airplane some day. It would be pretty incredible taking our own plane out of a hangar and taking off into the wide open sky. How freeing it is to have all that open air surrounding you! We can dream. Winning the lottery would help make that dream come true much faster than saving for eternity. (:

Winning the lottery would also make having a luxury jet a much more attainable goal.

If I had a cool ten million laying around, I just might buy this lovely little jet that we explored while at Sun 'n Fun. See that smile on my face? That's a smile that says I can go wherever I want at the drop of a hat. (That is if you can afford gas for your jet)

All joking aside, we had a great time at the 2012 Sun 'n Fun Fly-In & Expo!

We would surely go again another year.

I hope your week is flying by!

too cheesy?

Do you enjoy air shows too?

Our Life Lately { Planes, Polish, and Pubs }

Lately our life has involved a lot of work and little play,
but we're working on that.  ( literally I suppose... )

In between work, sleep, and eat we have enjoyed a few fun things worth sharing.

We also have some family here to visit this week,
so I see more fun things to share in the near future. (:

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We recently spent the afternoon

at a great pub in Ybor City, Florida!

{ more photos to come }

{ I'm calling this place a pub since I have some serious alliteration going on in this blog post title. }

New World Brewery has one of the best, if not the very best, draft beer selections that we have found in the Tampa Bay area. Not only do they have a large number of draft beers, they also offer a great selection of hard to find bottled beer too. If you enjoy drinking quality brews, then visit New World Brewery! We also hear they have great BBQ, but we didn't have any while there. (I hear their pizza is nothing to scoff at either.) I guess we have plenty of reasons to make another visit soon. Twist our arms.

Even though this is "work",
my husband might have the coolest job ever.

 { See what I mean? }

He might get excited over airplanes,
but this girl gets excited over pretty nail polish.


To each his (or her) own, right?


{ sorry this one's so blurry, but Photobooth doesn't take photos quite like the dSLR does }

I painted my ring finger just like I painted all of my nails in this blog post

It's fairly simple to do and much easier to paint just 2 instead of 10 digits in this pattern.

Like I mentioned earlier, we're having visitors this week and will be taking part in some fun Florida activities.


I know I'm looking forward to a few days off of work... (:

At Home in the Journey

Journey: an act or instance of traveling from one place to another :

Lately I've been questioning the definition of "home".

Is home the town where I spent most of my young life growing up?

Maybe home is the roof over my head?

No. These don't seem right, because lately I haven't been able to define home.

Sometimes things we think we know change.

Last week, I wrote about how the journey is more important than the destination. I find that idea very interesting, because in the past month or so, I feel much more at home while on a journey than I do once I get to where I'm going. Something about flying and traveling makes me realize that "being in between" is okay. We don't always have to know where we're going as long as we're moving forward.

While flying from Denver to Las Vegas, I spent my time, like I usually do, gazing out of the window to the right side of my seat. With each passing moment, my attention was fixed on what was outside of my window at that very moment. There was no worrying about what I would see next, because all that mattered were the gorgeous views at that moment. Every passing second, peering from an airplane window, is like a snapshot image at high speed framing a moment in time.

Sometimes it's sunrises, sunsets, or white fluffy clouds.

At other times it's storm clouds, lightning, and rain.

No matter what, I love every second.

I took these images over Lake Mead with our trusty Canon point and shoot. These pictures were very hurried, because we were descending quickly through the storms. Lake Mead is beautiful even with rain clouds overhead.

In The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton writes:

"When feeling sad at home, I have often boarded a train or airport bus and gone to Heathrow, where, from an observation gallery in Terminal 2 or from the top floor of the Renaissance Hotel along the north runway, I have drawn comfort from the sight of the ceaseless landings and takeoffs of aircraft."

I have a feeling that Alain de Botton and I have something in common. Although I enjoyed my time watching small airplanes at Centennial Airport in Colorado. London or not, takeoffs and landings are a constant in life. The only constant in life is change.

A Little Airline Comedy

I'm guessing that if you live on the planet earth you have probably heard about the Southwest flight where a hole ripped open in the fuselage (fuselage is just a fancy word for the airplane body) of the jet during the flight. It's sort of a big deal when any kind of hole appears in an aircraft, especially at that altitude. You know, the air is sort of thin at 30 something thousand feet up there. Good thing the pilots did as trained and quickly descended to an altitude with more oxygen in the air. The oxygen supply from those masks is only good for so long you know. Boy would it have been interesting, to say the least, to have been on that Southwest flight. Hopefully no other incidents like this occur for a very long time. Things like this happen, but these incidents won't keep me off of an airplane.

I saw this SNL video on Gadling first, and I just had to share it.

Do you like to fly? Or does it scare the heck out of you?