March Air Reserve Base Museum

I must give credit for the inspiration of this blog to Laura. After seeing the girls outing with all the military vehicles I became jealous and took the family to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, CA. This past Tuesday we started the day with a hearty breakfast at our favorite haunt "the Blue Frog." Ask those who have visited us about the wonders of the 'frog' and you will understand why we feel compelled to patronize them regularly. If you visit us we will be sure to treat you to breakfast there. After our french toast we drove out to Riverside to go to the museum

March Base was founded during WW I to begin pilot training for the battle in Europe. Throughout the years it has been a busy air base in southern California. Training for WW II, an alert SAC (Strategic Air Command) base during the Cold War and Vietnam, and the list goes on.
No surprise that a museum was added here to tell the history of the men and planes that have served our country. Here is a sampling of what we saw. I included about all the pictures of Luke we had. After the first half hour he was sacked out in the stroller; even while huge military cargo planes were practicing landings! Hopefully this isn't too much for you all, but as I said it is all Laura's fault! :)

"Ladies and Gentleman,

may I present Mr. Charles

Lindbergh!

Lots of propellers everywhere!!

Sitting next the cockpit section of a B-47.
This was used in filming Strategic Air Command.
A Jimmy Stewart movie promoting the men who defended
the country during the cold war.
For those who didn't know, J. Stewart was an
accomplished war combat pilot from WWII to Vietnam.



Picture of movie poster in same cockpit

Sarah and Luke with a C-119
Nicknamed the 'flying boxcar'

Boeing KC-135 'StratoTanker'

Notice the nose art - It was encouraging

seeing a strong patriotic pride.

Strategic Air Command Nose art

"Lt. George W Bush"

Nice to see this plane!

Another funny nose art picture

"The Chief"




These are all Russian MiGs



C-47 "Skytrain"
C-17 "Skymaster" on take off in distance

Lockheed F-104 "Starfighter"

C-17 landing in background

Boeing C-17 Globemaster

Close up of the behemoth!!

Beach C-45

This plane is more my size :)

For those of you who missed this great shot

The first time!

Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress"

For those who really know me I had to finish off

with this plane that is so special to me.

Hope you enjoyed!

First Disney Trip

Sarah and I have renewed our Disney passes and have started to visit 'the happiest place on earth' again. This time we get to bring Luke to share in all the fun. The best part is he is free until he is two! It was very hot and even more crowded that day so we didn't stay long. His first official Disney ride was Peter Pan's Flight through Neverland. He also enjoyed riding on Pirates of the Caribbean (asleep). Here are a couple pictures from his first visit. We had fun at one of the gift shops. Take the pictures there so you don't have to buy the toys!

Luke's way of coping with the crowds

I hope he will forgive us for this years from now!

Luke's 'got a friend in Woody'

He recently has been learning the art of blowing bubbles

Sarah and Luke at the entrance to Disneyland

Luke's First Flight!!!!!

Today Sarah and I were able to take Luke on his very first airplane ride! Once the clouds cleared from a sunny Southern California morning we headed out to the local airport in Fullerton. I got everything ready to go on N259TA, our airplane, and Sarah took care of putting Luke's airplane seat and his hearing protection on, otherwise known as 'his ears.' With a takeoff clearance from the tower we took off and headed out east to Rubidoux (near Riverside, CA). After a short twenty minutes we safely touched down and parked 'our' Skyhawk. We unloaded all the baby stuff and went to the famous on airport cafe' Just imagine a Cracker Barrel for pilots and that about sums up the atmosphere. Luke was a huge hit with the waitresses. We downed our very cheap brunch, other than the mode of transportation to get there :), and rushed back to have the airplane returned to Fullerton by high noon. Luke was a great passenger; he saw most of the flight from behind his eyelids. Sarah sat in the back with him and said he did have his eyes open for some of it though. What a privilege to be able to take Luke on his first airplane ride!! Stay tuned for more high flying adventures and other news updates regarding our little man.

Luke very excited after his first flight!

Pilot in training

What a great passenger.

The part he was awake for.

Sacked out for most of the short 50 min flight.

Luke Nathanael Birx

On June 19 2:51(UTC) our baby boy was born! He weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 20 in long. Sarah and I are so grateful to the Lord for this blessing. We ask for your prayers as we transition into a new phase of life as we learn by God's grace to raise our son.

The beginning, a very good place to start!