Lukas and Daddy's Most Excellent Adventure

Yesterday Lukas and I joined some friends for a day at the Miramar Air Show at MCAS Miramar, California. It was fun and trying, and I learned a lot about my son Lukas.

It has been ten years since I have been to an air show at a military base, and I was not prepared for the security checks and walking long distances with a 4 ½ year old. To enter the air show area, we had to go through two security checks that required standing in line for 45 minutes apiece. Yes, that added up to 1 ½ hours of waiting to have our bags checked and then waiting to pass through a metal detector (or maybe an explosives detector). On top of that, our car was parked 1 ½ miles away from the entrance to the air field (I hate to exaggerate, so I Google Earthed the path to verify the distance).

So we arrived at 10:30 a.m. and entered the event at 12:30 p.m. Lukas did pretty well walking there, but he was spent after waiting in lines all that time. I think that it was soon after we entered the event that he first asked me when we were going to go back to his friend Russell’s house. He must have asked me that question ten times between then and 3:45 p.m.

While we were waiting in line, we watched planes perform and parachutists glide to earth. Lukas was not only not impressed, he was not interested either. Wasn’t I interested in this stuff when I was his age? The other kids seemed interested. Hmmmm! So I am waiting all this time to take a disinterested child to watch something he doesn’t care about?

Thankfully I figured out what interested Lukas over the course of the afternoon. He loved anything that was hands on. Show him a static display of a real life F-18 and his eyes would glaze over. Let him climb into the seat of a Humvee and he would jump for joy. It was hard not to be able to share my thrill of watching high performance planes fly over our heads, but I am pleased that I understand a little more what makes Lukas tick. One other humorous note; when I arrived home Cindy noticed I was sun burned on my face, but Lukas wasn’t. Yup, that was because I was looking up while Lukas was looking down most of the day.Lukas, Russell and Russell's cousins "watching" the air show.

This picture is for Lukas' Grandfather, who flew F-4Us (the plane with the propeller) when he was a Naval Aviator. The F-18 jet is probably 50 years younger than the F-4U.

Lukas having fun with a robot. Thank you US Navy Divers!Lukas and his friend Russell trying to "fire" a M2 Heavy Machine gun. The Marines were all getting a good laugh when Lukas kept yelling "How do I shoot it?" Thank you US Marines!Lukas prone with a light machine gun. The Marines were joking that Lukas took less training to get into the proper position than they did. F-22, F-16 and P-51 flyover.This gave me goose bumps. After we saw the prowess of the F-22, no other plane was interesting, even the Blue Angels.