Navel Aviation Museum and the Blue Angels

After the Alligator Farm, we made a very slow trek to Pensacola, Florida where we planned on living until the state of Florida cleared us to leave. The arrival to this hotel was much easier than when we stopped the night before in St. Augustine. We arrived at our hotel at midnight our old time (we gained an hour). The kids were all asleep so while I stayed in the car feeding Talmage, Zane unpacked the car and got everything set up in the hotel room (pack n plays, pajamas and tooth brushes out etc). Instead of carrying in all our luggage and tired kids, we only had to carry in tired kids. Unlike the night before, Talmage was fed and ready for bed, so Zane and I could both get exhausted kids to bed much quicker and with a lot less noise than the night before. I'm sure all our neighbors appreciated it (until morning that is when the raucous started up again.) For our sanity, we splurged on this hotel and got a two bedroom with a kitchen. Zane had warned me ahead of time that if we had to stay longer than the weekend, we would have to go find a cheaper hotel. We all prayed earnestly that we would be out before that happened!

The next morning (Wednesday, Day 3 with Talmage), it became apparent really fast I needed to get the boys out of the hotel and doing something active. The lady at the front desk informed me of the Navel Aviation Museum and Blue Angels practice show that was going to start in 45 minutes. I ran upstairs, grabbed the boys and headed out. Lili was exhausted and needed a nap so the hope was she and Talmage would nap so Zane could work. That didn't happened liked I hoped. When I got home, Zane was on a conference call, walking with a crying baby and feeding Lili lunch. Talk about multitasking!

We made it in time to see the Blue Angels. I thought it was awesome! The boys liked it but it was really loud and I should have grabbed ear plugs for them.

Displays of Navel Aviation over the years

After the show, we headed inside to check out the museum. We could have waited to meet the Blue Angel pilots, but waiting isn't really my boys' thing.

Shooting down the bad guys.

Do you really want to ride one of these?

Model of a ship with all the planes on it. I'm glad the boys have seen the movie Planes so that they understood a little how a plane lands and takes off on a ship.

Piloting his own Blue Angel!

This museum was so large with so much of it over my kids' head. We saw all the exhibits a little too quickly for me. I could have spent a lot longer reading through everything. I would love to go back in a few years when Dallin starts studying history more and the different wars. It would also be fun to go back with some of my history loving family.

There was a great kid section where we ended our tour. Dallin immediately made friends and was off with some boys pretending to fly planes and shooting down the bad guys. Gavin was content exploring by himself.

This was a great museum and definitely something I would do again!