Young Eagles

There have been many things that we miss being part of now that we have left DuPont. Naturally finding out about all the stuff our new home of Puyallup has to offer has been slow. Puyallup is so much bigger. The nice thing about living in a small town like Dupont is everyone always knows what's going on. Not so great if you are trying to keep family secrets but awesome if you want to be involved and have fun stuff to do.

Dave called me from work to tell me about this opportunity. The local airport here host Young Eagles once a year. Kids from 8 to 18 can go up one on one with a pilot for a 15 minute ride in a small plane. I knew it sounded too good to be true but it was worth a try so we signed the kids up.

Well, good news, it was better than we could have hoped for. First of all there were no strings attached. Not a single one. No one pushing you to donate money. No one making you feel guilty about anything. Just plain old community service by a bunch of guys that own planes. We didn't even have to pay for the gas.

All of the kids were divided into small group of 10 or so. Then the kids first went through a short safety course about flying. Then their guide took them to a plane and they learned about all the different parts of the plane and all about how planes can fly. After the short intro to flight they just waited for a pilot to come and get them. Emily and Chase didn't even have to fly together. They took each one up in their own plane.

Both kids were super excited about it. Emily's pilot did some tricks with her and Chase's pilot let him fly for a bit. Smiles were awfully big that afternoon. The little girls and Dad and I had fun touring the field and checking out all the different types of planes. The weather was perfect and we had lemonade and treats. It was awesome. Definitely a must do every year in Puyallup!

PS If you are wondering why Chase looks like a leper...he is VERY allergic to poison ivy!!!