May 3 was Friendship Day here on the base. It is a super-duper-gigantic-big deal. It consists of a static display of the planes here, plus an air show that (this year) included several different performing groups. There are also around 100 vendors, and it looked like half were Japanese, and half were American. The base shuts down to motor traffic and barricades all but the main road to the flightline and the gates are open to the Japanese for the day. It is a huge event and this year they were expecting 250,000 visitors. I heard rumors that we were just under 200,000, but it did rain all day long.
I know it is a huge fundraiser for a lot of the organizations here. The HS PTO made 3000+ little cakes to sell, and there were booths with burgers and other foods, and one of the units was selling washcloths with planes on them. The Japanese are all about the little washcloths, and those were a popular item.
The Boy Scouts booth was a Dunk Tank. As a Scout, Joshua was expected to assist and work the booth to be able to claim some of the money to pay for Scout Camp this summer. In a surprise move, Dan volunteered to sit in the dunk tank for a shift.
Friendship Day was rainy. It was a consistent light rain all day long. Ug. We headed out to the flightline around 1pm. We live right off the main road and had seen a steady crowd of people walking by since 7am. And music had been blasting since 6am. Delightful. It took us an hour to get to the event, walking in the rain with hundreds and hundreds of other umbrella-toting people. We got to the Dunk Tank, and I had thought I'd take the girls over to the static display, but between the relentless rain and massive number of bodies and umbrellas, I lost all motivation. Plus, the kids were delighted to hang out by the dunk tank and encourage others to lob balls to make their dad fall in.
Dan was the last shift of the day and between the distraction of the air show, and the unending rain, it was a slow shift. I don't think he minded. The girls were delighted that I bought 6 throws for them and they were able to put them to good use. Dan may have gotten a wee bit chilly there in the cold and wet. We hung out till the last air performance was over, and then joined the throngs clogging the streets, heading for the main gate.
I loved that Dan is carrying Delaney's Barbie here.
A small view of the crowd that was heading for the fun. And it looked like this ALL day long.
My cute girls, happy to walk in the rain. (Callie was not happy to walk in the rain.)
Ready for some dunking!
Joshua, showing off his softball skills.
The girls are lined up for a shot at dunking Dan!
Riley had a blast.
Whoo! Look at that throw!
Good effort, Delaney!
My 3 cutie pies, ready to do it again.
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