WPAFB NMUSAF

A couple of weeks ago, Grandpa (Matthew's dad) and Pa (my Grandpa) joined us in a trip to visit Wright Patterson Air Force Base National Museum of the United States Air Force (aka WPAFB NMUSAF - 20 points to anyone who figured that acronym out).

James was very excited, as you can see from this picture taken on the way there:

James had fun running around

and finding cool stuff on the ground (like bolts screwed into the concrete floor)

while the rest of us learned about the planes of WWII

I'm not sure if we learned more from the exhibits or from Pa:

He was able to identify most of the planes by sight, both allied and enemy.  It was pretty impressive.

This is a pic of him and a B-24, which he flew (although this one is a different model - he flew the B-24G which had a nose turret in front).  He was a gunner, mainly operating the nose turret, but he also operated the ball turret and served as a backup bombardier. 

We spent 3 or 4 hours at the museum, all in the WWII area.  There are 4 or 5 other hangars that we didn't even get to.  It's a very cool museum.  If you ever get the chance to go, I highly recommend it.  If not for the planes, you should at least go for the air force clothes in the gift shop :)

And now, for the planes:

(10 points for anyone who knows what movie the song is from).

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

My parents came to visit a few weekends ago, and we took James to his first Cincinnati Reds game.  A great time was had by all :)

In case you're wondering, yes, I did wear my Seattle Mariners Ken Griffey tshirt.

 

My dad was also there when we took James to see the Seattle Mariners back in June of 2011.  He's changed a little, don't you think?

You can see the original post from the Mariners game here: http://sweet-baby-j.blogspot.com/2011/06/visit-from-papaw.html

Uncle Matt & Aunt Steph's Wedding

A month ago yesterday, my older brother Matthew (aka Uncle Matt or as James calls him "ee-ah".  I don't think it's a coincidence that he says the same thing for IU) wed his beautiful bride, Stephanie.  We were very blessed to take part in their special day.  Congrats, Uncle Matt & Aunt Steph!

The bride getting ready.

Reception at The Grand.

First Dance.

Me & My Pops.  Notice that his bowtie matches James's :)

Me & the Groom.

They had a photo booth set up at the reception, which was a lot of fun:

 

Matt & Steph were too busy having a good time to get some photo booth pics
taken, so we did an impromptu one at the end of the reception:

Have you ever heard the term photobomb? Yeah, me neither. Unitl the night
of the wedding. I couldn't get Matt's attention to take a picture, so we
took one of me standing behind him. Then it became a thing:

According to Urban Dictionary.com, a photobomb is 1) to drop in a photo
unexpectedly...to hop in a picture right before it is taken. 2) An
otherwise normal photo that has been ruined or spoiled by someone who was
not supposed to be in the photograph. Thank you to my cousin Douglas (seen
in three of the pictures in the bottom row) for teaching us a new word.