Night Flight Fireworks

Chuck and I decided to take a flight on Sunday night to watch some of the fireworks.  I think the main displays were actually on Victoria Day, but we knew there would be a few of them the day before.  We took off just before dusk.  Our first stop was over Niagara Falls:

You can see the spot lights shining on the Canadian Falls in the above shot.  It was a very smooth flight, but it was more hazy than I thought it would be.  We couldn’t even see Toronto across the lake.

Here’s another angle of the Falls:

We watched a few small firework shows along the Lake Ontario shoreline, plus one out in Welland.  It was just after 10:00 pm when I decided to land.  Just then a nice show started over the Falls.  With Vyctor at full throttle, I told Chuck to lean forward as we raced toward the display of light!  We were belting along at 120 miles per hour.  Unfortunately we didn’t make it, and had to watch the grand finale from afar:

There is a firework display every Friday night over the Falls.  I’m hoping to go back up within the next couple of weeks for a closer viewing!

It was a really nice flight and Chuck seemed to really enjoy it.

Speaking of spectacular sights, check out this little display of insanity:

Abby looks like a pirate undergoing an exorcism!  Arrrrgh!

Today’s symptoms:  I actually felt decent today!  My fatigue level was more than tolerable and not too much pain either.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/25/2010 7:45 PM

Bye Bye Birdie

I had something interesting happen yesterday.  I was driving through the parking lot at my apartment on the way to work.  I stopped when I noticed a small bird standing in the driveway.  I opened my door to see if he was ok and he flew right into my car!  He sat in the little compartment on the passenger’s side door:

When I tried to get him out, he jumped up on my finger and wouldn’t let go.  It was so cute!  The superintendent walked out and looked over at me with the bird.  I told him I may need help getting the little guy on his way.  He lifted it off my finger and it flew away.  I think that’s a reasonable excuse to be four minutes late for work that morning….

I visited with my mother today.  We just went to Tim Horton’s for a coffee, then to Shopper’s Drug Mart.  When we got back home, we decided to wash my car.  Jan did the exterior while I did the interior.  Lola Corolla looks so good now!

After cleaning the car, we worked on taking down her small dead tree by the porch.  I snapped the tree at the base with a couple of kicks.  Working on digging out the stump and roots was a little more time consuming.  At one point, I used every ounce of my weight to heave the stump loose:

Yes, my feet are off the ground, and no, the stump didn’t budge.  A few more digs and the stubborn thing finally gave in.

Today’s symptoms: Not feeling as bad as I have been for the last week.  I think it’s a sign of feeling well in the near future!  Yea, we’ll go with that!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/15/2010 6:05 PM

Blah Week

Today was my compressed day off.  Jan and I went over to the PEN Centre, just to wander around aimlessly.  There wasn’t too much else to do on this poopy weather day.  I gave her a couple things we picked up in Minnesota.  She really helped out with Mya and Abby – coming to the apartment twice a day for three days to feed them and give Abby her medication.  Such a good little mommy!

I was going through the pictures from Minnesota on Chuck’s camera.  I didn’t realize he took a picture of me in the flight simulator (mentioned in my previous blog entry):

Speaking of odd pictures, here’s one of my Mya doing her contortionist routine:

I wish I had more to report, but this hasn’t been the most exciting week of my life.  Hopefully something good will happen this weekend!

Today’s symptoms: Fatigue level was average but my jaw pain and body aches were worse than normal.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/13/2010 8:26 PM

I’m In Minnesota!

Chuck and I flew into Minnesota out of Toronto this morning.  We are visiting the Mall of America, and it’s amazing! 

In Toronto, I couldn’t believe how long we were taxiing to our runway.  I thought we were going to have to refuel when we got there!  We passed some other cute planes on the way:

We hit some yucky weather when we arrived:

In Minnesota, we taxied past some Air Force aircraft on the way to the apron:

After checking into our hotel, we took the shuttle across the street to the mall.  I was really looking forward to the ACES Flight Simulator.  We headed there first and I joined three other people for the pre-flight instructional video.  We then went into our individual flight simulators.  We had headsets on so we could talk to each other and the “instructor.”  I chose to fly the P51 Mustang (from World War II).  We started the simulators in the air, so I didn’t have the pleasure of taking off.  I decided to try shooting down my fellow simulators right of the bat.  Unfortunately, my guns were disabled – bummer.  I let the staff guy know and he restarted my program to fix my weapons.  He then set me up for a full out dog fight.  Over 30 minutes, I was pretty sure I shot down three other planes.  When the simulation was over, I was surprised to hear I took down six!  The staff guy said that was really good.  It was a real rush and I may go back tomorrow.

After the simulator, we wandered over to the food court for some lunch.  As you can see from this picture, I was totally enthused about my massive salad:

The mall has a huge amusement park:

We ended up making a few really nice purchases.  We visited the Rockport store so Chuck could buy some new shoes.  We both noticed an amazing purse behind the counter.  Our sales-personage, Saroeum, brought the purse down off the shelf, and handed it over.  I felt guilty about buying it, but Chuck let me know that he didn’t share my feelings!  Here it is:

Isn’t it great?!  So unique looking!

Today’s symptoms: I cannot believe how long I made it today!  The fatigue wasn’t too bad.  I had the crushing pains in my hand again today, but not as bad as the last few days.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/7/2010 8:03 PM

Yumalicious

I was able to take to the skies today, despite the high winds.  I bought a new headset at the Aviation Expo last weekend, so I needed to test it out.  Chuck and I are going to Minnesota this weekend, so no flying for moi.  The winds were 25 knots gusting 30 knots.  I was blowin’ in the wind – literally!  Fortunately, my new headset worked great!

When I got home, I decided to try and create a broccoli soup from a recipe a friend from work gave me.  I am surprised and impressed with her faith in me and my cooking skills (or lack thereof).  I was shocked that I was actually able to create an edible dish from scratch!  Go me!  The soup was yumalicious and very healthy.  I feel so domesticated.

I’m really looking forward to going to Minnesota this weekend.  Chuck and I will be heading to Toronto tomorrow and stay overnight near the airport.  Our flight leaves around 9:30 Friday morning.  We’re going to the Mall of America there.  It’s huge!  I’ll also be trying out the flight simulator .  I think the weekend will be a great get-away for both of us.

 A friend from work sent me this picture after spotting the town on the way to her property up North:

Sounds like a WONDERFUL place!

Symptoms for today: Just feeling a little drained, but nothing major.  I had some aches in my left hand during the morning, but nothing to write home about.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/5/2010 7:47 PM

Aviation Expo

I’ve been looking forward to today for a couple months now.  It was the first day of the Aviation Expo at the Hamilton Airport.  I was hoping to fly in, but the weather was a no-go.  The light rain was fine, but not the thunder storms.  I was shocked to see a few people did fly in during the storm!  Not a good idea!  Anyway, Chuck and I drove to the Airport this morning and arrived around 10:45.  There was a seminar run by Transport Canada that I wanted to attend.  I suggested to Chuck that he go wander around for a bit, because it would probably not be interesting to him at all.  I think he regretted not heeding my advice!  Oh well, it was only an hour and he survived.

We met up with a few of the folks from my RAA chapter.  I met a couple over by the National RAA booth.  I was happy to see our picture board standing proud!  I created the board with pictures of our members planes and projects.  One of our members made a really nice easel to display it on – I was really impressed with it!  A friend of mine (who is also a member) was nice enough to bring the board and easel to the Expo this morning.

Chuck and I had over two hours between the end of the first seminar and the second one, so we wandered around.  Due to the weather, the turn-out wasn’t as good as last year.

I was really looking forward to the second seminar.

Canadian Astronaut Dr. David Williams spoke to us for about an hour on his two missions into space.  It was amazing!  Some of the things he mentioned are just so hard to comprehend, such as the top speed of the space shuttle at 8 kilometers a second!  He had awesome pictures he took from space.  I had goose-bumps the whole time.  He was very nice and personable too.  He allowed us to take a picture with him:

The day was great (minus the fact that I couldn’t fly!)  I was considering going back tomorrow, only if I could fly there.  The weather is looking about the same as today though.  How pooped I am right now is well worth what I experienced today!  I think I’m going to scooch my kitties over a bit and flop on the bed.  I don’t really want to disturb them though – look how cute and content they are:

Today’s symptoms: A little more fatigued than normal, but was still able to last the day.  I think my body is starting to slip into a coma right now though…

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/1/2010 6:21 PM