Father's Day Fly In - Twin Bridges

We had a fantastic Father's Day Weekend in Twin Bridges for the Annual Father's Day Fly-In at the airport. Once again, Ruby Valley Aviation did a fantastic job of putting together a lot of fun activities for young and old alike. Unfortunately, it poured all day on Saturday, and they had very few of the 100 or so planes that normally "fly in" for this event. The weather was sooo bad that we left the airport and headed to the ranch for a dip in the pool. Well, it turns out we missed the "ping-pong ball drop," which is an egg hunt of sorts where a helicopter drops marked ping-pong balls for the kids to pick up. The marks on the balls correspond with prizes for the kids to claim. Since we missed the event at the airport due to our swimming escapades, and Grandpa Bradley had some extra ping-pong balls, Grandpa Bradley and Uncle Bill flew out to the ranch and dropped ping-pong balls right in Mom and Dad's backyard for the kiddos. It was VERY exciting, and all the kids, even Brighton as you can see, were able to score some ping-pong balls.

Above, we are all gathering the backyard to wait for the helicopter to fly by - everyone was watching the sky. It didn't take long before we spotted the helicopter. It was so much fun for the kids to see it come in and then watch as Grandpa Bradley tossed the ping-pong balls down to them. Very coolEven Brighton was able to score a few ping-pong balls!




The weather was much better on day two of the Fly-In. We were able to watch the airplane bowling (they actually throw bowling balls out of the airplanes at barrels, which are the "pins") and the "flour bombing" (bags of flour are dropped from the planes at targets with the closest bag winning).

Smokey the Bear made an appearance.












Max was able to go on an airplane ride with Grandpa in the Birddog, which was very exciting. He was a bit nervous before the ride, and kept saying to Gavin, "Grandpa is the best pilot here, huh Daddy, that's why everyone keeps talking to Grandpa." When Grandpa and Max returned from the ride, Max told us all about all the "tricks" they were doing and how they flew upside down and how Grandpa let him "fly the plane all by myself." It was a memorable ride for our Maxer; he thinks he might like to be a pilot someday.

The big "thumbs up" from Maxer, above and the two get ready for take-off, below.
What a handsome young pilot!Well, while Max was completing all sorts of fun maneuvers in the Birddog, Bella and Brighton decided they wanted to go on a helicopter ride with Uncle Bill. It was a bit scary for me, as there wasn't room for another adult in the plane. Brighton is going through a bit of a mommy stage right now, so I was shocked when she told me that she would "go wid Bella" in the helicopter, WITHOUT Mommy! She insisted, I relented, and according to her adult chaperones (who I did not know), she did not make a peep the entire flight. She held her sister's hand, and simply enjoyed her adventure.

Above are my two girls before take-off, and the beautiful heli that Bill brought over to the thrill of folks of all ages.



A large fire helicopter flew in for the event, and the kids were able to tour this large bird.

Grandma and Brighton getting in a little one-on-one during the day.Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Rice were at the ranch over the weekend as well. It was great to see them. Max sat on Great Grandma's lap during the airshow. It was a fabulous trip.