take flight

North Carolina is known for being "first in flight," and most of the nation recognizes that. Except those from Ohio of course, but we won't go there in this post.

Our beautiful beach house was a mere 15 miles from the Wright Brothers National Memorial and since my big kids missed two days of school AND because airplanes are really cool, we decided to take advantage of such a unique educational opportunity.

Did I mention that airplanes are really cool?  Especially the thought of being on the "outside" of one.

Their story was really quite inspiring ~ two small town guys with a dream and the determination not to give up until they achieved it.  Even our youngest listeners paid attention during the presentation.  Here's hoping one more reminder to not give up on your dream will stick.

the whole crew

Even more than the presentation though, the flight path fascinated our kids.  At the memorial they have the ground marked to show just how far those first four flights went on December 17, 1903.

We walked (and rode) the length and back.

And then the kids decided to see how long it took them to run the first flight path (120 ft in 12 seconds).  Over and over and over they ran.  Eventually we thought to use a stopwatch.  Amazingly enough, all four of my crew were able to run it faster than Orville flew the first recorded human flight in history.  (with the way we've built our family, I especially am thankful that airspeed has gotten faster over the past century...)

Even I learned a few things about flight history and human determination that I didn't know before.  But my favorite part of the visit was the visions of flight it brought.

Subconsciously he spread his wings...