Duxford 2014

So this half term we decided to take the kids up to Norfolk to see their second cousin Layla-Grace as they are always coming down to us. However as its quite a long way to travel with 3 kids in the car we decided to make it an over night stop. So the plan was to have a day out somewhere en route, then travel up to Auntie Chris's, see them for a few hours, find a B&B or hotel, then spend some more time with them the next day before travelling back home in time for their Thursday night swimming lessons!!! Phew.

 

Anyway the for the en route day out we ended up at Duxford Imperial War Museum as this is roughly half way to Auntie Chris's. Upon arrival we was surprised and somewhat disappointed to find out the main hanger was closed off due to roof damage from the recent storms and winds. However as there are another 8 hangers to explore and the tickets price was reduced then we decided to still go ahead with our visit. So as per usual Brandon was our little map man navigating us from hanger to hanger.

 

My little map man.

The two boys are absolutely obsessed with Disney Planes right now and in fact they watched the movie in the car whilst driving to Duxford. So as we were walking around the hanger it became a bit of a game to find as many of the characters from the Disney movie as we could. Would you believe it, hanger two we found a blue Corsair plane which as a dead ringer for good old Skipper out of the film. Furthermore me and Tina have dived on a shot down and sunk Corsair plane in Hawaii so it was good to share that story with them (they weren't impressed about the Moray Eel which we found living in the cockpit).

Joshua and Brandon meet Skipper.

Little B trying on a pilots captain hat.

Another character from the film, a dead ringer for Dusty Crop Duster.

Joshua and Brandon standing in front of an old truck that looks like Chug from Disney Planes.

No character from Planes here, just Brandon standing in front of a helicopter which had a penguin painted on the side.

I think I have mentioned before on the blog that my favourite plane is the Blackbird SR-71 which is located in hanger 7. I described the plane to the boys and let them seek it out to see if they could find it for me. Bingo. They were very interested when I was telling them about its world record speeds and flying altitudes. As with Paradise Wildlife Park a day earlier we took a pen and pad with us and were drawing our favourite planes as we walked around the museum. So I drew the Blackbird and Brandon has drawn a lovely Red Arrow (his favourite).

Bingo and the boys find my Blackbird.

Just a nice picture of some of the amazing planes in hanger 7.

Soldier Joshua reporting for duty, Sir.

Joshua pretending to be a pilot as you look through the cockpit of a fighter plane.

Then Brandon's turn to be a pilot.

The boys have learnt a lot of the plane symbols from Disney Planes and recognise the Jolly Wrenches logo and also the USAF symbol is used by Skipper and all over Skippers hanger. So when they saw this large USAF symbol on the wall they both wanted their picture taken with it. 

Both boys recognised the USAF logo from Disney Planes.

My boys under the Blackbird.

Joshua looking straight down the barrel of two guns on the undercarriage of a bomber.

Look at the size of that propeller in comparison to the boys!

For some time now me and Brandon have been saluting each other as I say good night to him and leave his bedroom usually followed by the words "night night captain". So when he put on this soldier hat he saluted me and said "night night Dad". 

Brandon saluting his captain Dad!

Another character from Disney Planes, this one could be Echo or Bravo.

Out on the airstrip we managed to go on board 2 or 3 of the holiday style jumbo jets on display and the boys enjoyed imagining they were flying off to a hot country somewhere as they waved bye bye to Mum who stayed on the ground to look after Holly. I think we went to Spain, Greece, Lapland and London in one visit to Duxford. Not bad eh!

Inside the cockpit of one of the jumbo jets.

Joshua and Brandon arriving in Spain or Greece and heading for the luggage and passport control.

In one of the hangers we found an arts and crafts activity where the two boys got to make some badges and I made one up for Holly. I have to say that Holly's looked outstanding as I drew her a USAF badge with her name around the logo. Brandon drew grass and mud on his badge and Joshua drew a snowman (so not much to do with planes!!!). 

Designing our hand made badges.

Brandon had some birthday money left over which he took with him to Duxford with the intention of buying a plane. As it happened he found a medium size model red arrow in hanger 7 shop which he bought with his money. So you can imagine how pleased he was when we eventually found a Red Arrow Hawk in one of the hangers. He insisted on having his picture taken with the Red Arrow whilst holding his new toy Red Arrow, and then the picture had to be repeated so that I had all four sides of his plane on camera!!!.

Brandon with his favourite Red Arrow Hawk.

Can you see his new toy plane in the picture yet?

There he is with his new toy Red Arrow.

So with some tired legs we made one more trip around the ship and the jumped back in the car for another hour up to Norfolk. Despite being tired the boys didn't both napping in the car and watched more movies en route. As for Holly, well you may have noticed a complete absence of any pictures of Holly! That's because she slept pretty much the whole time we was there. I think she was awake for maybe 1/2 an hour to an hour for a feed and bum change and during this time I carried her in the harness for a while rather then being stuck in the buggy. But after that she was happy to sleep the rest of the day - clearly planes are not her thing!!!!