Jon's parents arrived here 9/17, and so we have been doing our share of "exploring" around the island. The first weekend that they got here, we rode the old Oahu Railway train up to Waianae on Sunday afternoon. How fun! Aiden was more than excited, and he even got to blow the train whistle after the ride was finished. He jumped from it being so loud, but he loved it!
We also went out to the Pali lookout, which I had yet to see. It was beautiful and soooo windy! The was absolutely no point in combing my hair that day! That was actually my birthday and we celebrated by eating dinner at the Shorebird downtown (one of my favs)
Miss Averie did a lot of this on our adventures.......
We headed up to North shore since there was a high surf warning. The waves were expected to be around 12-15 feet. I haven't seen big waves here yet, so I was excited to go out and see what we could. We chose Banzai pipeline as our viewpoint. It was soooo cool!! I loved watching the surfers out there trying to catch a big one. I could have camped out there all day just watching. I can't wait until winter when the waves get HUGE...I'll be toting my camera as well as the munchkins for those :)
Jon took us to the blackhawk simulator yesterday. We have been meaning to go for some time, but life gets in the way ;) It was SOOOO COOL! It's about as close as I will ever get to being in a real army helicopter...and to have Jon as my IP (instructor pilot) made it extra special. I had absolutely NO idea how much you had to be managing all at once! You've got your pedals, collective, several gauges and your cyclic (probably spelled that wrong!) Oh, and don't forget to look out the window! I kept looking at everything in front of me...it was almost too much to look out the window AND fly. It was a really fun experience and I'm glad Jon got to take us. I have always had respect for pilots...but after doing the simulator, I have TONS MORE! To fly in real life in real combat situations is something truly remarkable!
When Aiden came in....he was all ready to go. Told Jon he was here at the helicopter and was ready to fly "way up high in the clouds." He sat down in the seat, put on the headset and was all business. It was too cute. He put his hand on the collective and said he needs to get some power and pull up on it. Guess he had been listening to his Daddy Jonny!
PJ and Tom are the guys that run the simulator...and they said we are welcome back anytime there is a spot open. So I'm thinking as a special treat...Aiden will have to log some more flight hours while Jon is away :)
