Family Day

This past Wednesday was another fun day for our family, it was Family Day for Arthur's flight class.  After 4 weeks of primary flight training, it was time for the students to show off their hard work.  While this was obviously Jake's first time watching Arthur in action, I was a little surprised by my own excitement until I realized it was my first time watching Arthur fly too.  Yep, even after all of Arthur's previous flight time I have never seen him fly a helicopter, at least not in person.  And it did feel a little surreal as Jake and I stood behind the fence and watched Arthur make his initial decent into a hoover right in front of us.

It has been a long road to get here and it felt like such a family victory to see him fly.  I know that Arthur never would have made the decision to fly for the army if it hadn't in the best interest of us as a family, but I am so happy that he found a way to provide for us while doing what he loves.  Although, right now, Arthur might tell you his personal excitement has been a little dulled by the 3 am alarm clock and the assessment to "be the book" aka memorize paragraph upon paragraph verbatim.  Nevertheless Jake and I couldn't be more proud of him.

Jake, of course, was over the moon to spend the afternoon at the air field watching all the helicopters fly in around us.  I really don't think that there is a job on the planet that a little boy would think was more exciting than a helicopter pilot.  On Arthur's first day on the flight line, he brought Jake home a model of the TH-67 to explain and commemorate the day.  Since then, Jake has been very clear on what Arthur is flying each day at work.  Each time we see one fly over head Jake announces, "That is just like the one Daddy flies!"  And when he is asked, "What does your Daddy fly?" he doesn't just give a mispronounced version of the word "helicopter" like I think people expect.  Instead Jake puffs out his little chest and with all the pride and love in the world states, "My Daddy flies a training helicopter!" 

The cutest part of the day was when Arthur finished his flight.  The second Jake spotted Arthur walking toward us, Jake was in a full sprint and continued running along side Arthur until the fence between them ended. Then the two of them threw their arms around each other like they'd been apart for months.   Luckily Mommy was ready with the camera to catch it. :-)

 

I will admit I did have Jake and I color coordinated with Arthur on purpose.  I was hoping for some family photo op...and here it is.  With Jake's eyes closed it may not make the Christmas card cut, but it is still pretty cute.

And for the icing on the cake, Jake got to check out the inside of a "training helicopter."