Day at the airport

Hi friends! This is Mark writing. Lots of blog entries in the last few days - cool! Today Ben and I went to the Houston Intercontinental Airport Festival. It's sponsored by the Houston Chamber of Commerce and features lots of local merchants and organizations, food, a bounce house for kids, and lots of really, really big airplanes. We left a little early and stopped at one of my favorite locations - the viewing lot at the end of runway 27 at IAH. We watched the airplanes land for 20 minutes or so then proceeded over to the festival, which was held in and around one of the gargantuan Continental maintenance hangars. Here's our list of activities:

1. Arrive and scope out the hangar - mostly tables for eating and booths with local non-profits.
2. Check out our first airplane - one of the Air Force's "hurricane hunters." Very, very cool.
3. Despite all the cool airplanes, the bounce house was irresistable, so Ben did that for a while.
4. Wander all around and underneath a Boeing 777. I already knew it was an extremely large bird but came to a new understanding of that standing right next to it. Unbelievable. While we were there, we watched the Lifeflight helicopter land next to us.
5. Did the same with a Boeing 767. Also huge, but not as big as a 777. We were allowed to go inside this one so we went up the stairs and inside. We were allowed to sit in the pilots' seats but told not to touch anything. Hmmm. Didn't stay very long there. Then we wandered around the cabin playing with the window shades and checking out the galleys. It was actually pretty weird to be on a passenger plane without having bought a ticket.
6. Time for lunch. I really enjoy sharing meals with Ben, just the two of us. When we were living with our friends after the flood, Ben and I occasionally ran off to Denny's for breakfast. Sharing a meal is always a good bonding time with anyone, including little children!
7. After lunch we went to check out the helicopter. It appeared to be almost brand new. It's such a cool aircraft. I wish I didn't have to be near death to get a ride on one.
8. Spent a moment looking at the airport fire trucks. I don't really know why, but these things are built like tanks.
9. For our last plane, we climbed the stairs up to a massive Fedex cargo aircraft, an Airbus A300. This one was really cool - the entire floor is covered with rollers. One of the workers I talked to said they actually just push those huge metal containers into place by hand. Ben really liked walking around that one. I did too - it was neat to see how cavernous these planes are inside.

I think Benjamin had a really good time. I hope so anyway, because I had an AWESOME time. Airplanes are one of my biggest passions in life, and it was tremendously rewarding to share that with him. When you begin to consider entering fatherhood, it's days like today that you imagine.



Next to the landing gear of a 777. These tires look small from a distance but they're about 4 feet tall.


In back of the Lifeflight helicopter.


Thanks for the good times Fedex!


This happened before I even turned on the car.