We figured since we were in the Santa Monica area that we would reach out to our friend Alex who lives there.  He was excited to hear from us and just as excited to offer to take us out to lunch in Malibu…. he didn’t have to twist our arms, we were excited to see him and be treated to lunch.

It was great to see our friend and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with you Alex.  Thank you!

Hanging outside the restaurant.  Note Makenzie, she is reading.

 

Walking on the beach. Note Makenzie in the background, reading.

 

A little bit of cliff jumping.  I love these pictures.  Note Makenzie, you guessed it, she is still reading.

              

 

Dipping our toes in the Pacific and Makenzie is still reading.

 

In every picture I have from this day Makenzie is reading but there were moments she took in the view and felt the frigid pacific ocean waters splash on her toes.  This kid… I’m so in love with her.

11/26/2014

Makenzie flies her first plane at the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, WI.  We had a great day at this museum but this was definitely the highlight. 

Young Eagles is a program they run at the museum (actually Young Eagles is a world wide program) with the goal to have 1 million kid pilot names recorded in a book by December 2013.  The museum surpassed that goal and is now at 1.8 million kids who have hit the skies, Makenzie being one of them.  What is so cool is that Makenzie was able to fly this plane for free as part of this program! Let me say that again… FREE!

The process runs smoothly.  Sign the waiver, step 1.  We happened to be here on a quiet day so our wait time for Makenzie to fly was rather short.  I was told that on busier days the wait time could be as long as an hour and a half.  When your turn is up the very friendly pilot takes the whole family out to the plane.  He then talks a little about the plane itself and then gives a brief explanation of some of the buttons and numbers you see on the dashboard.  He explains to Makenzie that she will be steering the plane if she chooses to do so… and she did!

 

Getting prepared.

 

Ready for take off!

 

It’s blurry but there she is in the sky!

 

I’m so proud of this girl.  She was so nervous but she did it anyway.  Because she was the last flight of the day, she got a little extra ride, she had the opportunity to drive the plane to hanger where it would then be parked for the night.  Not long after her flight she said, “I want to be pilot!”