The past two weekends have been great with Mylie and I (Nick). Last weekend while Karli and Nolan went to Utah, this was a perfect opportunity to take Mylie to the Evergreen Aviation Museum again. We went about one year ago and let me tell you the difference one year makes. I packed a small cooler with a lunch and headed out to McMinnville, OR without a diaper bag or even diapers, since she is just about potty-trained. We went into the museum with just her digital camera, which I convinced her she should carry to take pictures. Ah, brilliant!
There are actually two museums: air and space. Last year the space museum was not built so this was a treat that I got to go to both this time. We got to see a Titan II rocket (missle) where we could even take the stairs down to see underneath its engines. We also entered a room that was a mock-up of a control center with the countdown and launch of the rocket on a video screen, which we enjoyed because it shook the entire room. Mylie still talks about it and how fun it was.
Later we went across the parking lot to the aviation museum and saw Howard Hughes HK-1 (or Spruce Goose). That is an amazing sight in of itself but we also saw several others. One neat thing was to see a B-17 dwarfed in the shadows of the Spruce Goose because I always thought those airplanes were huge, until now. The entire time Mylie had fun, especially when she got to sit in several cockpits in the kids area. The most fun she had, though, was going from chair to chair throughout the museum. You see, the chairs throughout were made up of airline seats that had the seat belts and food trays still working. She kept buckling herself and making sure I was buckled too. The only thing I could do to peel her away from the seats was to say, “Let’s go take more pictures of airplanes.” I had brought her digital camera so she could take her own pictures. I was quite impressed how they turned out (see below).
We ate lunch at the playground outside of the museum, which was very cool too. There was a rocket you could climb up and two play toys made to look like an airplane and helicopter.
Our next dose of airplanes was this weekend where we saw many of them just outside our house because the airshow at Hillsboro Airport is just down the street from us. Whenever we’d hear an airplane we would immediately stop what we were doing, jump up, and rush to the window. Later she and I drove to a spot we went last year and just parked the van and opened up the tailgate to watch them. During breaks we also picked blackberries nearby. Mylie was such a good sport and actually had a great time. The most exciting part was seeing the F/A-18 fly very close to us at such great speeds that you couldn’t hear it until a few seconds after it flew past us. It gave me just enough time to plug Mylie’s ears.
Since the show went on today (Sunday) as well, on the way to church we could constantly hear them roar overhead and she was very excited she told everyone at church all about them.
Unfortunately I didn’t get pictures of the airshow but here are some pictures Mylie took at the museum, with one exception since I took one picture of her. Others you can find on our photo album
Only a cool dad would take their toddler daughter to the aviation museum… two years in a row too! You are definetely in the cool dad club!
What a great Daddy Daughter time. It was fun driving by and seeing you two working together. You are great dad Nick!!