Air Power Day

In order to bring the children on base, we asked if we could use the squadron van and as it turns out you don’t need a special form but a person who has a license that can be used off base. After procuring the van, I went to pick the children up but that didn’t go so well. The children were supposed to be ready by 1200 so that we could pick them up and bring them on base for the Air Power Day. Due to church and lunch they didn’t even arrive back at the orphanage until 1300. It’s not that this was that big of a problem but the other volunteers back at base were waiting around for an over an hour doing nothing. Also, we were expecting 12 children to come but only 10 came. This left a couple of volunteers childless. Once they were all ready, I got them all into the van and we headed off to base. I think that I should have brought another person to help watch the children while I drove because they were so excited to be in a car and wouldn’t stay seated at all. Once we got them to the base, the other volunteers each grabbed a kid, or tried to, after we got them on base. Since it was Air Power Day they didn’t need ID’s or anything to get in the gates. Most of the children were too young to really enjoy the airplanes but they loved the children’s corner. They loved the bouncy castle, face painting, and especially the cotton candy. The clowns frightened them a lot; at least the younger children. After the air show, we took the children to Burger King for dinner. I have never spent so much money at a fast food place before…. Over $50 in total. I suggest if you ever take the children to a fast food place again that you get more chicken nuggets and less hamburgers/cheeseburgers and also get lots of french fries and onion rings. After dinner, I had SSgt Preutt drive with me back to the orphanage. Due to all the sugar and excitement they were a little wound up. Words of warning…. If you hear people around the children using foul language please ask them to stop or leave the area. Even though they don’t speak English they pick up words really fast and on the ride back they asked us what sh@# meant. We did our best to explain to them not to say that but they are children and will do as they please. After we got to the orphanage, the owner treated us to coffee and a small magic show. The children really seemed to enjoy the show so we will try some magic at the next trip.