Pensacola Beach Vacation - Day 2 (Blue Angels)

First I need to explain that the reason for our vacation is a cousin on my mom's side lives down here in Gulf Breeze and her son is getting married on Saturday, which also happens to be Travis's and my anniversary (#6).  When my mom started planning the trip, it was going to be a short one and only she and my dad, my sister and Luke and my aunt and uncle were going to come.  They looked into the price of hotels and condos and figured out that they could get a house just as cheap, so we decided to join in on the fun.  We usually go to Gulf Shores or Orange Beach, AL, which isn't far from here, but I have to say after spending the day in Pensacola, I think we'll be heading back here again, but that's for a later discussion.  Mom, Dad, Emily and Luke are driving down tomorrow (Thursday).  My aunt and uncle ended up not being able to come.  We had already decided to drive down a day early because we didn't know how Marshall the kids would travel, but when Travis started looking into it last week and found out that the Blue Angels were going to be in town
we decided to come down on Tuesday.  Two years ago when we were in Gulf Shores with my family, Travis, my uncle and my cousin all drove over to Pensacola to see the Blue Angels practice and Travis just knew that Jack would love it!  If they're in town, they practice every Tuesday and Wednesday morning at 8:30 and it's open to the public.  On Wednesdays, the pilots shake hands and sign autographs.  Jack has been spotting airplanes in the sky since before he could talk, so there was no doubt in either of our minds that he would love it.  At first, I wasn't going to go because I didn't know how Marshall would handle the noise, but the closer it got to time for the boys to leave the hotel, the sadder I got at the thought of missing out, so we loaded up and went as well and Marshall did fine.  Now I have literally hundreds of pictures of planes I could post, but I'm thinking you're only interested in seeing the kids, so if you wants plane pictures email me and I'll happily send them over.

For me, the best part was the end.  They got all of the kids out on the runway and handed out American flags for them to wave as the Angels landed.  It's funny how pride for your country will hit you because at that moment watching my little boy stand there and wave that flag, I couldn't have been prouder to be from the USA.  All they lacked was "God Bless the USA" playing in the background and I would've been a sobbing mess!

After the practice, we walked through all of the planes on display to the museum.  Standing by one of the planes was someone we assumed was a pilot.  Travis said "Jack, do you want to get your picture made with him?  He's a pilot!" and he looked at the guy and said "You are a pilot, aren't you?" and the guy said "You can tell him that I am."  Oops...our mistake!

The museum was full of more planes on display, but we were running short on time, so we got Jack his autograph and let him play in the play area for a few minutes.  It amazed me watching those kids play.  A little boy not much older than Jack grabbed Jack and said "The Japanese are bombing us!  Come on!"  Jack didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about, but he went with him.