Good Bye Hangar House

Living in the front part of the hangar was always supposed to be temporary. So ten years later, we are building a house!! I am super excited to have a real front door and a house that actually looks like a house! Don't get me wrong, it was pretty fun to be able to tell people I lived in a hangar house, but our family of four has outgrown that space. 

We are not leaving the grass airstrip. I don't think I will ever be able to pry lance away from that and honestly, I really like living there too.  We thought a lot about where we were going to build, but finally decided we loved our property on the airstrip too much to leave it. We are pretty far from everything and it takes me about 35-40 minutes to get to work each day but it's a beautiful place and our kids love the ponds and open areas. 

We should be moving within about a month and I am not sure whether the fact that we are only moving across the driveway is a good thing or a bad thing. I haven't even started boxing things up yet. I hope it doesn't turn into a situation where things just trickle over. Luckily we have someone lined up to rent our old living space so that will give us some incentive to actually move all of our stuff. 

I am so excited to move into our new house!! I can't wait!

Gearing Up

We are gearing up for our next big family vacation. We will be heading to Disney World soon with my husband's whole family! They are flying commercially and we are taking the 182! I can't wait, I am hoping the kids fall asleep and stay that way for a few hours of the flight! I love Disney World, we have been a couple of times over the years (including before we had kids) and I always love going there. I am excited to take the 182 because I do not feel constrained by fitting everything into one bag for the flight. Usually when I travel with the kids, I pack extremely minimally because it is usually just me flying to meet my husband somewhere. I cannot physically handle multiple bags, two kids, and a stroller. So we take one medium sized bag and and check it. When we went to Key West I didn't even get to take Ella's life jacket which was NOT fun. She feels very comfortable in it and didn't seem to notice she didn't have it on. If anyone is in the market for a life jacket for their little one, the very best one I have found so far is made by a company called Stearns, you can find them at this link, but I ordered mine from Walmart.com when it was on clearance. This product is amazing, and I don't usually say that about too many kids products! She can swim by herself with this and she is only 19 months! it is crazy, she can jump in and float and kick herself all over the place (don't worry we are always right in the pool too, we just don't have to constantly try and keep her afloat or pointed the right way, it is awesome! So I am excited to be able to take all of our stuff! My husband has already been in contact the the Kissimmee airport where we will be heading into and has set up some type of temporary transportation since we will be arriving at different airport that the rest of the family (with the rental cars). I will post about our adventure when we get back! Also coming up, we had a friend of mine with a photography business take some family pics the other day and she did an awesome job, I will post a few of those when I get the CD!

Key West

One of the perks of being married to a pilot is that we have the opportunity to travel fairly often. My husband is a corporate pilot, so we do not get airline pilot perks like discounted or free flights. However, he does tend to end up being "stuck" somewhere for a few days which allows me to fly out and meet him. Since his lodging is usually provided where ever he ends up, if ticket prices are reasonable, it can end up being a pretty affordable way to get in a vacation here and there. With his new job, he is usually "stuck" in Canada. I did end up taking the kiddos there twice last winter to visit him. The best trip we were ever able to tag along on was a trip to Bermuda when my son was about 2 1/2. He was flying for another company at the time, so I do not think that will be an option again, but sometimes you end up getting lucky.

Last week my husband had a flight scheduled to Key West. He does not like for me to buy tickets until the last minute because when you fly a private jet, your schedule is subject to change at any time. So this often leaves me in limbo, not quite sure if we are taking a vacation or not. This time it was particularly extreme. I purchased the tickets at about 8:45 a.m. and the flight was to leave at 12:30 p.m., so I packed up my two small children and headed out for what I knew would be an exhausting day. Little did I know how exhausting it would end up being.

Nolan in the cockpit while we were grounded in Indy

My husband hates flying commercially. We live about an hour from the closest airport so with travel time, wait time, layovers, plane changes, etc. it can turn into a pretty long day just to get...well,  anywhere. He hates it when he travels alone! I would like to see him try to maneuver two little kids alone during a 12 hour trek like I endured on the way to Key West. Anyway, we left the house at 9:15. Everything went smoothly until we were settled in on the first flight and they announced that we would be grounded at the airport due to weather for at least 1.5 hours, YAY! lets entertain two kids inside of an aircraft for 2 hours (which it ended up being). In defense of Delta, they did a pretty good job of being nice and caring. We were given drinks and snacks, passengers were allowed to move around, and the kids were invited to visit the cockpit - very nice and fairly painless. Next we arrived at Atlanta and, of course, had missed our connection. The next one was not for another four hours!! YIKES! Let me tell you, there is nothing for kids to do at the Atlanta airport - absolutely nothing, except run around and annoy other travelers, which my kids were more than happy to do. How they could maintain that much energy for the entire day, I have no idea! We finally arrived just after 9:00 at the Key West International airport.

Now, I usually talk about general aviation flying, but we did not take the plane this time. With that being said, Key West would definitely be a flight worthy destination. I would love to go back sometime with the 182. I think that flying over the keys would be beautiful and the airport is definitely a manageable size. Everything is close by and if you stay at a hotel near the action you would not even need a car, a major bonus for my husband, though I do not think there are many free shuttles here.

When I told people we were thinking of taking the kids to Key West for a few days, they were surprised because when you think of family destinations, Key West does not immediately come to mind, it is certainly more of an adult destination. I knew this, but as long as we were together and there as a decent pool, I knew we would be good. The company my husband works for had set him up at the Fairfield Inn and Suites which was nice, but a bit far from the main tourist area. The rooms were TINY for four people, but would be nice for two! There was a fridge, which I love, and we made do. There were a lot of steps which makes travel with a stroller difficult, however, I did find the ramp on the third day and the elevator on the last day - who knew? On the plus side, the pool was great (even though it was very chilly), the free breakfast was very good, and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful!

Ella and her turtle friend

We asked for suggestions for activities for the kids and were told about the Key West Aquarium, the Shipwreck Museum, and the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. There are other things to do and we considered taking the kids on a boat trip, my husband tried to talk our 5 year old into going deep sea fishing, but I think they are still a bit young to remain interested in one activity for that long. So, our first day we did the Aquarium and the Shipwreck Museum. They have package deals that offer discounts for more than one attraction, but prices are still pretty high. The Aquarium was really nice and the kids enjoyed being able to get close to the fish and turtles, but we could have skipped the Shipwreck Museum. My 5 year old was uneasy with the darkness of the inside of the museum and all my 19 month old wanted to do was climb up and down the stairs. The highlight of the museum was climbing the tower and being able to see all around Key West. Next we found the Key West Toy Factory purely by accident and spent some time there - definitely worth a visit, the interior was designed by someone from the Disney company. We had lunch at Red Fish Blue Fish before heading back to the hotel. The food was excellent and the service was very fast. I remarked about how quickly we were served and my husband commented that they probably wanted to get us out of there ASAP, we were one of the only families with children in the vicinity that day, and certainly the only one in the restaurant. I had the crab cakes and would love to have them again, they were so yummy!

The next day we went back and forth on whether to just stay at the hotel and enjoy the pool, or venture out. The thought of entertaining Ella all day at the hotel made me a little nervous so even though I was not terribly excited about it, I decided we should go see the butterflies. I could not have been more wrong. I think the Butterfly and Nature Conservatory was the highlight of my trip! The place was amazing! It was small, but beautifully done and the butterflies were everywhere. There were beautiful little birds all around, lovely music playing, a glass encased lab where new butterflies were growing, it was so tranquil and lovely, I did not want to leave. However, my chicken kids were afraid of the butterflies. In their defense, the butterflies were big, and they had never seen butterflies come this close to you, but still, they were BUTTERFLIES! Ella would squeal when one fluttered by and Nolan would hide behind my husband. We left before I wanted to, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Afterward we headed to the Southernmost Beach Cafe which was nice, but not amazing. The view was pretty.

That evening we decided to take a taxi again (much to my husband's dismay) and go to the HogFish Bar and Grill on the recommendation of the front desk staff. We were pleasantly surprised! If you are looking for an elegant, quiet evening out, this place is really not for you, but it was right up our alley. It was noisy, there were picnic tables, and even a couple of dogs running around, we loved it! The food was really good (I really only want seafood when I am close to the sea!) and the homemade sangria was yummy too! We sat out on the dock right next to the water and after dinner my husband and Nolan played pool while Ella and I took a walk. Ella found a little dog to follow around, who appeared to belong to a Hogfish regular customer. It was a great end to our vacation.

My husband left early the next morning and we had a final breakfast and dip in the pool before heading to the airport. My son said his favorite part of the trip was the hotel, he loved the pool and the breakfast. He is funny like that, he really likes to stay in hotels. The trip home was much less eventful and we made it back in a reasonable amount of time. Overall I am really glad we went, even though I almost bought tickets back to Indiana when we were stranded in Atlanta on the way down! Oh yeah and the humidity was CRAZY! I do not think I have ever been that sweaty in my life! It was only in the lower 80s, but I was dripping with sweat the whole time!

Family Fun in...Champaign, Illinois?

Our final destination for our end of the summer trip was Champaign, IL so that my husband could attend a recurrent training course for an aircraft he flies. Now, this is not really your typical family destination. I have never once said, "you know, I have always wanted to take the kids to Champaign for a few days". So I was not terribly excited about it. To tell you the truth, the thought of spending three days there made me a little nervous and sweaty. Not because I am fearful of Champaign or Illinois in general, but because the thought of figuring out how to entertain two kids in a hotel room for three days by myself while my husband was at training did not sound like fun to me, at all, in fact it made me a little grumpy.

The flight there was uneventful and pretty smooth. The kids and I slept most of the way there. I think it took us about 1.5 hours to get there from the Dells, not too bad. The Willard Airport was very nice and we were able to get a free shuttle (Yay, Lance) from our hotel. The hotel we stayed in was the Hawthorne Suites which was surprisingly nice with an indoor pool, free breakfast, and even a free dinner on Wednesday night, who knew?

I did not do very much homework on Champaign before we left, which was a mistake, I should have spent some time figuring out what in the world I was going to do with my two kids. Once we got there, I spent the first evening on my iPad trying to locate something, anything for us to do. I found a park located close by and thought we would check it out the next day. So the following morning, my husband was up and out before the kids and I were out of bed so we were left on our own. We had breakfast and then I found walking directions to the park on my iPhone (seriously what did I do without that thing?) The name of the nearby park was Hessel Park and let me tell you it was fabulous! There were walking paths and grassy areas and two playgrounds. Not to mention, the favorite feature for the kids, a water play area! We played and played until it was time for lunch and then we headed back for some food and a much needed rest time. After Ella's nap we played in the pool until daddy was finished and grabbed some dinner.

Dr. Ella future Veterinarian checking out a chicken

I had also found a "hands on science center" that was not terribly far away from where we were staying so that was our destination for our final day in Champaign. I had to check out of the hotel around 11:00 so my husband set it up for the hotel shuttle to take us to the Orpheum Children's Science Museum and drop us off. The kids and I set off for another adventure in Champaign. The science center turned out to be a fun little excursion. I have been to several children's museum-type activities centers and this was decently put together. They had several different activities for the children to engage in and each one found there favorite very quickly. Ella loved the pretend Veterinarian office and Nolan loved the legos set up on the upper level. When the kids got hungry we walked a couple of blocks to a very nice cafe/coffee shop. Champaign has a really cute downtown area with interesting shops and restaurants, I would have liked to explore a little more, perhaps without the kiddos! We returned to the science museum for a little while after lunch until our shuttle arrived to take us to the airport (my husband had talked someone who worked at the training center into driving their own car to pick us up!). All in all our trip to Champaign was much less painful than I had anticipated and should you ever find yourself there for a couple of days, I would highly recommend both the Orpheum and Hessel Park.

At the end of our trip we flew into our airstrip and pulled right up to our backdoor, thank goodness, because we were one tired family. Our end of the summer trip had been a great success and now it is time to prepare for school. I will continue to teach part-time this year and my little guy will be starting Kindergarten!! Unbelievable.

Ella and Nolan at the Ice Cream Shop laughing at Daddy acting silly

Wisconsin Dells

My husband and I made a deal this year. He wanted to take the family to Oshkosh, I have always wanted to go to the Wisconsin Dells, so he said if we went with him to Oshkosh, we could spend a couple of days at the Dells. We love water parks, even before we had kids we liked to go to water parks together. Our kids both love the water and we swim with them often in our pond and in local pools.

Kalahari from the air

Getting there was a breeze from Oshkosh. The flight was maybe 25 minutes and very smooth the day we left. I thought there would be lots of people from Oshkosh at the Dells, it just seems like a logical vacation extension to me if you are going all the way up there with the family to stop at a water park on the way home. However, the airport was relatively deserted when we arrived. We flew into the Baraboo-Wisconsin Dells Municipal Airport (KDLL), they have very nice facilities and friendly staff. We were able to get a free shuttle to our hotel from there, actually several hotels will send a shuttle out to the airport to pick you up free of charge, which is always a big plus for my husband because he is cheap and never wants to rent a car/pay for transportation. We have walked very far distances to avoid paying for transportation, so I was a little relieved that the shuttle was available because after all "the water parks look so close to the airport" and I was afraid we would be doing some walking.

I spend a great deal of time trying to figure out which water park to stay at. We could have stayed at another hotel and just visited a water park or two, but with an 18 month old (who definitely still needs a daytime nap) and no car, I figured we were better off staying somewhere with a water park attached. I narrowed it down to Kalahari, Great Wolf Lodge, and Wilderness Resort. They were all almost exactly the same price for the days we were staying and the accommodations we needed. I ultimately chose the Kalahari by a process of elimination. We would only be staying for two days and the Wilderness Resort is HUGE with multiple water parks and amusement parks, I did not want to be overwhelmed. We live fairly close to Cincinnati where there is another Great Wolf Lodge resort so I decided to give the Kalahari a try. We were not disappointed at all. We loved the African theme (I am a big sucker for a good theme), the rooms were very comfortable, the staff was friendly, there were restaurants within walking distance, and the water parks were great.

So Big!

Our room was nice, nothing fancy, but nice. We had two beds and a fold out sofa. There was plenty of room for our kids and all of our things. I love when a hotel has a mini fridge, which this one did, it just makes things so much easier. The breakfast buffet was really great and the price was not terrible. We ate there every morning. The Kalahari water parks were so fun, with lots to do for both of our little ones.  If you have a child under three head straight to the back of the indoor water park as soon as you arrive, this was by far the best play area for little ones, with slides just Ella's size, animals that spouted water, and even a mini lazy river that she LOVED (both of my kids loved the mini lazy river and actually played together, which is very rare!) We did not spend a great deal of time outside, Nolan preferred the indoor slides and play areas, but there was plenty to do out there as well. Nolan was tall enough to ride almost every slide, there were only one or two that had a pretty high height requirement. Kalahari also has an indoor "amusement park" with go carts, high ropes course, merry go round, ferris wheel and arcade games. Ella was allowed on the rides for free because she was little and rode the merry go round so many times. Nolan loved the go carts and arcade games!


Our second evening there we decided to go the Buffalo Phil's for dinner which was "just across the street" according to my husband. Well, this "street" was really a four lane highway with no crosswalk, so we did some car dodging with the stroller and made it there safely. Not a very far walk, but I would not recommend to everyone to attempt to cross large highways with little kids all of the time. Buffalo Phil's big claim to fame is the train area where toy trains deliver food directly to your table. Since this was the main reason we had come, we decided to wait an hour for the train section. Really, it was worth the wait, the kids loved the trains and it is a really cool set up, what a great idea for a restaurant! The food was decent too, our family got a whole roasted chicken that came with four sides which was plenty for us! Afterwards we went to the adjacent arcade and play area. The kids had a great time and loved all of the bouncy attractions outside, just remember to bring your socks for the indoor climbing area!


Playing bumper boats

So after three days of fun, we left Kalahari we said bye bye to the water parks and the baby tigers in the lobby (yes real live baby tigers, so cute!) and headed on our way. Our end of the summer trip was almost over, we just had one last stop in Champaign, IL for my husband to do some recurrent training in a twin engine aircraft he flies on the side for another company.

AirVenture 2012, A Near Miss, and Lots of Fun

I wouldn't say that I LOVE to fly. I like the idea of flying, I like the convenience of flying, however, since becoming a mommy, I am a VERY nervous flier.  I used to enjoy flying with my husband, I would often fall asleep, but I enjoyed it. I remember one time while he was still in college. I was visiting him and he needed to do some additional twin engine training so I went along for the ride. I did not know that they were going to be practicing stalls, but I went to sleep in the back seat anyway. I guess I had less fear back then.


So with that being said, I was pretty stressed out about our first trip in the 182 with both kids. Not only were we taking Ella on her first flight in a small aircraft, we were flying into Oshkosh for the AirVenture fly-in. I don't know if anyone has experienced this, but it can been a bit scary. Lots and lots of planes fly into Oshkosh, WI each July for this event and they all converge at one point, putting them in very close proximity to each other.  Flying makes me nervous enough without worrying about another airplane hitting us in mid air.  You know who wasn't worried? Ella, she was ready to go! She loves to play in my husband's airplanes out in the hangar, so when it was time to load up she ran out to the plane, climbed in and said "Go! Go! Go!" We had both of their cars seats secured in the plane, so we strapped them in and took off. Ella and I sat in the back and Nolan rode in the front as daddy's co-pilot.

The flight was only about 2.5 hours (MUCH better than an 8 hour drive) and for the most part was uneventful...until we came to the converging point for the aircraft flying in. I start getting nervous when my husband asked all of us to make sure we are watching for other aircraft, I prefer to ignore the fact that we are flying and try to sleep. So I am watching and asking him lots of questions, we are following all of the directions and getting ready to get in line to land.  We are skimming the bottom of the clouds because the required altitude puts us exactly there, all of a sudden a Cirrus zooms out of the clouds directly above us, MAYBE 50 feet in front of us. I. WAS. TERRIFIED. I have never ever been that close to another plane while in the air before. 50 feet may seem like a lot, but in the air it does not seem like very much. Luckily the Cirrus was going much faster than our 182. I thought I would have a panic attack. Now I have never had one, so I have no idea what it is like, but I started getting dizzy, nauseous, and my limbs went numb, lol! I was a mess. We eventually landed and I regained feeling in my limbs, but it may be a while before I fly into Oshkosh with my two kiddos again.

I was not just worried about the flight, I was worried about all of the walking and dragging two little kids around the expansive area that is Oshkosh AirVenture. I fully envisioned two exhausted kiddos whining and generally being unhappy. I could not have been more wrong! The kids were awesome! They really loved it. There was plenty to keep my 5 year old happy, he loves crafts, so we found the craft tent the first day. They also have an entire area devoted to kids activities. There were bouncy houses and pedal powered airplanes for the kids to try out. We colored t-shirts, flew model airplanes, and tried out flight simulators. The best part was the pilot and mechanic experience areas. They have it set up so that children go through different stations and learn skills needed to be either a pilot or an A&P, my son chose the A&P route because he LOVES building things. Two hours later, he had a metal badge that he riveted himself, a mini propeller that he sanded himself, several posters and some valuable knowledge about airplane engines! Ella enjoyed herself too. She really liked watching the airshow and she thought all of the mini airplanes were hers. When the first airshow started we were lucky enough to find a spot on a bench next to an older gentleman with a WWII veteran hat on. I placed Ella on the bench next to me and she immediately made friends with him. I always say she is an old man magnet because she loves old men, it is too funny. I think they all remind her of grandpa who she adores! She started talking to him and spent most of the show pointing out airplanes to him saying "Wow!" over and over. Eventually she got down in the grass and spun in circles for us, so fun.

A lot of people fly into Oshkosh and camp out, that is exactly what my husband and I did the last time I went with him, but I decided I did not want to camp with two little ones. There are a variety of other options when attending the EAA event such as hotels, bed and breakfasts, and home stays. We decided to do a home stay with a woman that opens up her house to crazy AirVenture attendees every year, My husband had stayed there before with friends. This worked out really well for us, she liked kids, had animals, which my kids love, and was happy to drive us back and forth between her house and the airport which was a huge plus! We did not get much sleep since we were all in one room together (the kids, Lance, and me), but it all worked out just fine, she even had a pack and play set up for Ella!! I found it really funny that Ella would wake up instantly if anyone moved within the bedroom we were all sharing, but somehow she was able to sleep through the entire airshow the second day. I watched other kids cowering under blankets and wearing ear protection while she snoozed away in her stroller as jets blasted overhead, it was amazing. The picture below is of us all wearing our free hats courtesy of Ford. Reminder: don't forget a hat next year, I don't know what we would have done without these, the sun is pretty intense!

All in all, it was a great trip. Despite the scary start and lack of sleep, I might just be persuaded to do it again...in a couple of years.

Home is Where the Airplane Is

So living in a hangar/house has its ups and downs. I always say we live in my husband's dream house, but to me it just looks like a giant metal warehouse. Don't get me wrong, it is really nice inside and very comfortable, I just wish it looked more like a real house from the outside! We did a lot of the work ourselves when we built our house except for the main structure which is a pole barn construction. (Side Note: a pole barn construction house attached to a hangar is not "typical construction" and will therefore be difficult to secure a mortgage on or in our case any type of refinancing-so much for taking advantage of the amazingly low interest rates!!) Our home is located directly in the middle of nowhere, literally, but you cannot beat the view. We live in one of the most beautiful areas of Indiana and we can see the most stunning sunsets from our hangar. When we first built our home, my husband did most of his maintenance and restoration work here, but since his business has grown so much, he has had to move his base of operations to a real airport with a larger hangar. It used to be so nice to have him working at home all of the time, but it is nice to see his business expand too! By far, the best part about living in an airplane hangar has to be that we are able to walk out our door, hop in the plane, and take off anytime we want.