Midway and Family Time

Our last full day was spent with family and at the USS Midway Museum. Owen's obsession with planes and guns came to a head on this interactive aircraft carrier!

The kids LOVED the audio tour's headsets that they could carry and control themselves. We got to see most of the innards of the ship from the engine and control rooms to the brig and bunks. It's really amazing to imagine all of those sailors living and working in this ship for months at a time. 

I wish I'd gotten a better picture of the ready rooms, which is where the various squadrons had their meetings before missions. They were each decorated in the squadron's unique colors, insignias, and nicknames and had a very "Top Gun" feel to them. They reminded me of a sports teams locker room. Highway to the Danger Zone...

The museum also offered some simulations like this throttle station.

The kids really enjoyed sitting in the cockpits they had on the hangar deck. We only got to do a couple of them because of time, but I think they wanted to sit in them all!

The lower passageways were rather labyrinthine and broken up by many oval doors (not to mention the stairs), which prevented Addie's stroller from joining us in the lower decks. We had to skip many of the middle tour stops, so that we could rejoin them on the flight deck up top.

Owen got sucked into a presentation on landing systems. After a few minutes, Hadley came back to us and said, "I don't want to listen to this."

So I walked her around the flight deck and through several helicopters while the rest of the group stayed near the presentation.

Here's the family on the farthest-forward protrusions (bridle arrestors) sticking off the front of the ship! (My fear of heights prevented me from joining them.) They really enjoyed the tour, and I wish we had another hour to see what we missed, but it was time to go. We did get the kids some souvenir planes, and I didn't get it on video, but we spent a lot of time with enthusiastic "phbbbt" motor sounds coming from the back seat on the ride home and beyond!

One of the best things about our trip was getting to spend some time with family! We had 11 people in an old Craftsman-style house for two of the nights, so there wasn't much privacy. The extra narrow table between two bedrooms was the operation's headquarters and dining room.

Love these kids!!

When we weren't out exploring, there was a little extra room in the house to be silly, do some egg hunts, color, play laser chess (don't ask), and read.

The kids loved their time with grandparents, though it's never enough!

When weather permitted (all but one rainy day), the house also had a lovely outdoor patio area that let us stretch out a bit more.

We even got to meet up with extended family at Aunt Helen's house and at restaurants for a couple of dinners. So glad to see you Kelly, Helen, Erynn, and Drake!! Wish I'd been more on the ball with the camera.

Lastly, this photo didn't really fit in anywhere, but I liked it. The kids were excited about this fancy gourmet cookie that we got on the way to the Midway. SoCal life seems to agree with them just fine!