Races to the Birthday Trip

We had such a fun trip! I surprised Ken with a trip to Reno, Nevada, to go see the Reno Air Races. ... and also part of the surprise was that two of Ken's best buds, also flying buddies, and their wives were on the plane, too! We didn't tell him where we were going until we were taking off! It was so fun! Here are lots of pictures from the trip... I had MORE but figured you'd be drooling on the keyboard asleep because the pictures don't do justice for the beautiful mountains and all the action that was going on. :) Enjoy!

Here is my sweet Ken- he turned his hat backwards to keep the sun off his neck while we were sitting there. He looked so good! I love when he gets to relax and shut the door on work every now and then. My sweet hunny. :)

This was a funny plane-ish object. Anyone daring enough to actually go up in this raise your hand...

The guys. L-R: Steve, Stephen and Ken (hunny)

Us ladies. L-R: Kristy, me and Jennifer.

A race with the P-51 planes (the link shows his favorite one flying). Ken says he will own one of these someday!

The finish line...

The Blue Angels show... that is what they call Fat Albert, the large plane at the end of the runway. He was so cool and HUGE! It's grace facinated us.

Oh my goodness...

In case you don't notice at first, one is flying upright and one is inverted... Koo-Koo Crazy, I know!

The announcer said they fly just 18 inches apart for their show. There are two soloist that do things individually and together- in the pictures above, but these other guys never separate. Impressive, huh?

A fighter plane- the F-18. Ken has a cousin who used to fly these. Only the best of the best get to fly in these babies... Go Brandon!

Toward the end of the day... everyone was walking around the booths and looking at the planes on the ground. There were so many people there!

The biggest most monstrous plane I've ever seen- way bigger that Fat Albert, even!

A picture Jen got from her window on our plane.

Jen's picture of Kristy and Stephen.

Jen's picture of the guys. Steve had us rolling laughing most of our flight there and back. What a hoot he is!

OH- this picture I took for Candace. There was a time when she really wanted a Hummer H3... this was for her!

Kristy's picture of lake Tahoe! Thank you God for all your artwork! It's beautiful!

Kristy and Jennifer on our way home... crispy red from the sun.

Us ladies... we were late taking off because a plane nosed over when trying to take off and they had to clean that up. (we didn't hear that anyone was hurt) While we were all sitting in the terminal the front desk woman shouted to the office beside her, "everyone get ready- there is a plane going to land and his gear won't come down." uhhhh... moments of silence... and we all looked at eachother.

That plane flew around for about another ten minutes continuing to try to get the gear down and it finally did! The fire trucks and such were all on the runway waiting and HE MADE IT! Oh- it was a glorious moment for me knowing it all worked out for that stranger and his plane. God took that plane in his hands and gently laid it down. I can't imagine the relief that pilot had at that moment.

Us at take-off. Oh the excitement ahead of us!

Great memories we made!

Love to all,
M