Lame video to break the silence

Here is a video of me testing an inflatable life vest. Michelle and I plan on flying out over the Pacific, such as to Catalina Island, and although we'll usually be within gliding distance of land, the vests were cheap off ebay. I don't have to have the vests officially inspected since I don't fly for hire, but I wanted to test them before relying on them so I fired them off then replaced the CO2 containers. I know this video is lame, but that is part of the fun :)

Home to WI to visit the Brouchoud family

Michelle and I took Katie back to WI so she could see the family (meet most of them for the first time). We drove to Vegas and valeted our car at the Tropicana since we'd be staying a night there on our way back. Katie was pretty good most of the 3.5 hour flight, but did get fussy for about 45 minutes and cried for about 10 minutes. There was just too much going on and too many people checking her out for her to fall asleep. Overall, the flight was good. Michelle's parents picked us up from the airport and we went home to visit. The next morning, we drove up to Kiel to visit my brother Joe, his wife Amber, and meet my new niece Leila. Jon, Kandy, and Juliana met us there as well as my parents. We had a good time and enjoyed some really good grilled chicken and played some disc golf. Jon managed to loose one of Joe's discs, but we weren't able to get it out after hoisting Joe up in the tree.

Sunday, we played some more disc golf and I managed to loose one of Joe's discs, then my parents hosted a party and had all sorts of people over to visit and meet Katie. It was a good chance to catch up with people I haven't seen in a long time. Jon, my dad, and I went out on a hike to Todd's pond and I picked up a few birds on my lifer list. Monday we went to Sheboygan for lunch at the airport since it was rated best of the best for airport restaurants. It was pretty fancy with great food at a good price, but it was located at the end of the runway instead of centrally located near the intersection of the runways. Being at the end of the runway did have it's advantage as we watched the formation takeoff of some WWII planes heading to Oshkosh, there must have been near 40 of them. Tuesday, we went back out to Woodland Dunes and Michelle and I picked up some more lifers. With my dad's help, I was able to definitively identify them using the bird book, but I wouldn't have been able to on my own.

Wednesday we met Joe for breakfast and went to see my mom's property and Cedar Lake. Thursday, we went to visit my brother Jeff and took a tour of his company, this was Michelle's first time there. We continued on and stayed the night at Jon's after dinner at Famous Dave's. Friday, I headed for Oshkosh while my parents drove Michelle to Milwaukee to visit her family. I took a tour of the A380 that was ok I guess, but took an hour and a half of my day and I ran out of time at the end. I didn't have time to wander through the airplanes, talk to the Cessnas to Oshkosh crowd, find the CAP or Angel Flight, but I did manage to check out some engine monitors and some portable oxygen setups. I ended up buying an Aerox system that gave me a pretty good show special. Now we'll be able to fly up higher where the airplane is more efficient, the air is smoother and cooler, and I can get stronger tailwinds. It'll also give me more margin when we're flying through/over the mountains. Michelle gets a kick out of the cannula she'll wear that looks like a moustache. I'm thinking about going with the Insight G3 engine monitor although they still aren't on the market and have been 'almost there' for a few years now.

After Oshkosh I headed to meet Michelle and Katie in Milwaukee to begin our visit with her family. That'll have to be a separate post since I'm getting tired and I don't have that video compiled yet.