On Sunday, June 14, our family, the Robinets, and their friend Adam went to the Red Bull Air Races, which were hosted by Windsor this year. The races took place at the riverfront. Our tickets got us general admission seating at Dieppe Gardens, where we found a shady tree to sit under, and had a decent view of the race course. Since the races started at 1:00 PM, we got there a bit early, and had a picnic.
Daddy supervising snack time
Kevin: always loves a good snack!The Races
Briefly, the planes go through a course of air-filled gates/pylons that is situated on the river. For some of the gates, they have to fly straight through, while for others, they have to turn sideways, or weave in and out. Hitting an air gate gets them a time penalty. The air gates are made of a fabric that rips apart as soon as it's hit, so the pilots don't get hurt. This particular set of four gates was right in front of our viewing area, and as the wind picked up, several pilots hit one of these gates. (I didn't manage to catch any of those on film, though it was fun to see!)
(Joe Louis Arena--home of the Detroit Red Wings)
flying the course in front of the Renaissance Centre, Detroit
The KidsThe kids did amazingly well, considering the late night before, and an afternoon of watching planes. They weren't very interested after the first few went by, but found ways to amuse themselves.
Kevin was constantly crawling/walking away on the grass, so we were constantly chasing him; he also enjoyed several stroller rides from Daddy.
Andrea wanted a stroller ride, too, but she's too big for it now; Daddy gave her a horsey ride instead. He looks so resigned.
Andrea and Chloe had fun playing games on/with the picnic blankets.
They made their own horsey ride out of one of the blankets!
Meanwhile, Kevin continued to play in/with the grass. He was fascinated. You'd think the child had never been outside/seen grass before!
Daddy bought some licorice for the kids' treat. Kevin had his little piece sticking out of his mouth and was wiggling it around with his tongue. He thought he was pretty entertaining!
Daddy also provided much of the entertainment for the little ones. Here, he and Chloe are making a hat exchange.
Ahh, rest time? Not exactly. Kevin was wrestling with Daddy and crawling all over him.
Andrea: quiet and contemplative--a rare thing indeed.
After we left the races, we had an uphill walk back to the car. Andrea got pretty tired; our friend Adam helped her with a piggy-back ride up the hill. Then, she fell asleep on the short car-ride home. I wonder, did her late-night party of the evening before have anything to do with this? :))***
Video of a Race Flight
I tried to get a video of someone flying through the course, for those of you who may not have seen this before. I apologize for the shakiness of some parts of it; it's hard to film a plane that's travelling over 300 km/h with a basic digital camera! It gives you an idea, though, and you can hear the announcers clearly in the background, and the sounds of the plane flying by. It was fun to watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment