cadence is my copilot

...so yesterday, i took the afternoon off from work. ted and cadence picked me up in lake forest and we drove 15 miles to campbell airport in grayslake, where ted's parents met us in their plane. ted's dad is an avid pilot and has been wanting to take cadence flying for a long time. even though she's been on two commercial flights to the west coast, a ride on a 6-seater twin engine is an entirely other experience.

...cadence was excited and couldn't wait to go "up the sky" as she puts it. i have to admit i was excited myself, as i haven't been up in a little plane since josh took me up at least 4 years ago.

...it was a beautiful day for flying. although it was chilly, the sun was bright and warm, and the sky was a brilliant blue with fluffy clouds way up high. we flew over a bunch of lakes over the state border to the southern wisconsin regional airport (JVL) in janesville, wi, about 80 miles northeast of our starting point.

...on our way to JVL, i shot a photo of this lake. when i looked at the photo on the computer at home, i was struck by how similar the lake is in shape to the korean peninsula. i oughtta know cuz i designed a t-shirt for my high school korean club that was the shape of our motherland formed by the names of all the members in korean club (our high school was at least 10% korean). just take a look for yourself:

...the bunny ear is a little short on the lake version, but you have to admit that there is a resemblance, no? i'm going to have to ask ted's dad what path we took so that maybe i could find out the name of that lake.

anyhoo, we ate lunch at a cafe that was at JVL. cadence just wanted to see some planes take off, which we had a chance to do even though it was a small airport. it was so cute watching her with grandpa. she even held his hand as they walked around the airport instead of just taking off on her own like she normally does with us.

...we headed back to grayslake after lunch and cadence fell asleep on the bumpy ride back. ted's parents flew back to their own airport, which is just a few minutes of flying time from campbell airport. they probably landed before we had settled into our car and driven out of the parking lot.

all in all, it was a lovely way to spend an autumn afternoon. we don't get to see ted's parents enough as it is.