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flyingarnolds

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In June we enjoyed a 4 day trip to Nashville, TN. This was a Mama and Daddy only trip. H stayed with family and was spoiled rotten.
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We did a family trip to Nashville in May of 2018 and loved exploring the city. But with a little one we couldn’t fully experience the museums, music and night life. So that’s why we decided to return again this year without the little man.
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It was a wonderful 4 days just the two of us. We covered a lot of ground, ate way to much food, imbibed on many delicious cocktails and experienced lots of live music.
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One of the museums/historic homes we visited was Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage (pictured here). The mansion and plantation were owned by him from 1804 until his death in 1845. There is a museum about Andrew Jackson’s life and presidency. You can also tour the home and grounds. Definitely worth a visit if you are into history.
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#nashville #nashvilletennesse @nashvilletn #explorenashville #musiccity #andrewjacksonshermitage
#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingarnolds

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Following Disney we flew to Pensacola, FL to spend the weekend with our airplane “family”. Every May, since 2013, we have organized a weekend trip for the International Cessna 195 Club. It gives us and members of the Club an excuse to fly somewhere and have some fun together in a new place.
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The destinations are usually selfish picks for our family. But since we are the ones organizing the weekend that’s okay, right?!
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The main reason for picking Pensacola this year was so that we could go to the National Naval Aviation Museum. It is the world’s largest Naval Aviation museum and is located at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola (also home to the Blue Angels flight demonstration team). We also have a friend that works at the museum so we were able to organize a special tour for our group.
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The museum has more than 150 restored airplanes on display to tell the history of Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Aviation. H is standing in front of 4 retired A-4 Skyhawks that were once flow by the Blue Angels. We would highly recommend a visit even if you are not big into aviation. And the best part is that admission, parking and tours are free!
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(And yes, we are Canadian… but we do love our neighbours to the South! H is proudly wearing a shirt our good friends from Mississippi gave to him. Above the flag on his shirt it says “Mr Independent”, which perfectly describes him.)
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#pensacola #pensacolaflorida #experiencepcola #pensacolavibes #navalaviationmuseum #nationalnavalaviationmuseum #travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingarnolds

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We got to experience the “rope drop” craziness on our last day at Disney World. As hard as we tried we could not get a FastPass for the Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster. At the time of our visit it was the most popular ride at Hollywood Studios. And of course that was the one roller coaster that H kept talking about, so we had to figure out another way to avoid the super long line ups.
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While researching for our trip we learned that they typically let you through the gates about 45 mins before all of the parks officially open. You can get into the parks only so far and then the park attendants have the roadways/walkways to the rides blocked off until the official park opening time. When the rope drops it is a mad “dash” to get to the top rides and then you get to line up again. The wait was definitely shorter than the posted wait times for the rest of the day.
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Slinky Dog Dash was worth it though! And it was a new experience that we gained together as a family. But where possible be sure to book a FastPass!
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#waltdisneyworld #hollywoodstudios #toystoryland #slinkydogdash #disneyfamilyvacation #firsttriptodisney #travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingarnolds

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For our 5 days at Disney we actually stayed off property. Our friends that came with us had tons of Hilton points so got their room and our room using points. We have the best friends!
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After some research we learned that some off property hotels close to Disney Springs are affiliated with Disney. What this means is that you get some of the benefits as if you were staying on property, such as booking FastPasses 60 days out and extra magic hours at the parks. There is also bus transportation from the hotel to all of the parks.
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We had stayed on property on a previous trip to Walt Disney World which we enjoyed very much. But we actually preferred staying off property in the Disney Springs area. So if you have hotel points for any of the major chains you should definitely do a little research to see if there is a Disney affiliate hotel off property. A trip to Walt Disney World is not cheap so being able to save on accommodations helps big time!
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#waltdisneyworld #epcot #spaceshipearth #disneyfamilyvacation #firsttriptodisney #travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingarnolds

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The Disney Photopass is definitely worth the money. It allowed us to get great family photos at all the parks, as well as photos from some rides, character meet and greets and character dining.
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The other thing that people might not know is that any of the photographers will graciously take pictures with your phone or camera. Which we also took advantage of.
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All of the photographers are great and spend the time with you to capture traditional shots as well as some fun shots. The photographer that took this shot had a great sense of humour 😁.
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#waltdisneyworld #animalkingdom #avataranimalkingdom #disneyfamilyvacation #firsttriptodisney #disneyphotopass #travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingarnolds

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Since 2015, when H was born, we have made photo calendars for ourselves and for grandparents as Christmas gifts. It takes a lot of time to go through all our pictures of the past year and select the ones for the calendar. But it is also great to look back and reminisce on all the things we did and places we traveled to.
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2019 was an amazing year of unforgettable travel for us. In May we took H on his very first trip to Walt Disney World. It was an amazing 5 days at the parks, thanks to a lot of planning ahead of time to book character dining, decide on our key rides and get our Fast Passes.
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We also strategically scheduled days with naps and days with no naps in an effort to not overdue it. The nap days allowed us to return to the park to take in some of the evening events, like the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. Kurtis and I have seen the fireworks on previous trips to Disney but the fireworks combined with the light show projected on the castle was absolutely spectacular.
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#waltdisneyworld #magickingdom #magickingdomfireworks #disneyfamilyvacation #firsttriptodisney #travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingarnolds

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Can you guess which city this is?
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We love the different perspectives we get to see from the air, especially when flying over a city. A city can look small and big all at the same time. Small because the altitude we are flying at allows you to see the whole city in one shot. Big because your whole field of view is filled with tall buildings.
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#cityviews #cityscapes #viewsfromtheair #viewfromabove #airplaneview #generalaviation #whywefly #flyingarnolds #flyingfamily

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#waterfallwednesday
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Taughannock Falls is the tallest of the falls in the Ithaca area at 215’ tall.
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June 2017
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#taughannockfalls #visitithaca #ithacany #ithacawaterfalls
#waterfallhikes #explorenewyorkstate #flyingarnolds

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Reflecting back on a canoe trip from several years ago...
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#reflectiononwater #canoetrip #canoetripping #travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #flyingarnolds

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It’s getting colder here in Toronto 🥶. We are not ready for winter to come! We’ve already started dreaming about a winter getaway somewhere warm 🏝. Time to start researching and planning!
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Are you planning a winter getaway? Where to?
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#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #kidsthattravel #travelmoreoften #flyingarnolds #flyingfamily #wintergetaway #planningthenexttrip

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Even though we live in a big city (and have for almost 14 years) it is important for us that H has a connection with small town/farm life. Kurtis and I are both from small towns just outside of Windsor, Ontario and we are the only ones in both of our families that don’t live in the area. As a result quite a few of our flying trips are to go “home” to visit. We try and make the trip a few times each year.
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On most trips we spend some time at the family farm. The farm was originally owned by Kurtis’ grandparents and growing up he spent a lot of time with his first cousin on the farm. It is now owned and operated as a dairy farm by his cousin, his wife and their two sons.
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From a very young age H was ready to pitch in and “help” around the farm. This picture is from 3 years ago. He still has a hard time manoeuvring the big broom but even to this day his favourite chore is sweeping the feed up to the cows. He also loves chasing the barn cats/kittens and going for tractor or Bobcat rides.
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Living in a big city provides lots of opportunities, but so does small town/farm life… Do you agree?
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#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingarnolds #madlyoffinalldirections #onthefarm #dairyfarm #kingsvilleontario #familymatters #smalltownlife #canttakethecountryoutofus

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Friends who are like family ♥️. We are so grateful for our wonderful aviation friends. They let us “invite” ourselves over for a weekend visit and treat us like family. It was wonderful to spend time together.
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And then we ended up staying one extra night, which was not part of the plan. That’s life when flying small vintage airplanes. Things happen that are not part of the plan. There’s a saying that we quote often, “Time to spare, go by air”.
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On departure yesterday we had a mechanical issue so we ended up coming back and landing. The day was then spent trouble shooting, working on the problem and test running on the ground. Our friends changed their plans to help us and insisted that we spend another night.
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#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingarnolds #flyingfamily #cessna195 #c195 #vintageairplane #vintageaviation #generalaviation #weekendgetaway #madlyoffinalldirections #friendswhoarefamily

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Yesterday we enjoyed a beautiful fall hike in search of waterfalls. Even though most of the leaves are off the trees now there is a beautiful blanket of colour to walk on.
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The first trail ended up being flooded partway in so we couldn’t make it to that waterfall. We didn’t give up and tried one more trail and found a gorgeous waterfall.
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#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingarnolds #weekendgetaway #madlyoffinalldirections #letstakeahike #waterfalls #adirondacks #adirondackwaterfalls #exploretheadirondacks #explorenewyork #explorenewyorkstate

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Sometimes all you need to do is wander around close to home and you will find beautiful things…
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#familyadventures #exploringfamilies #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingarnolds #weekendathome #madlyoffinalldirections #fallcolors #fallcolours #fallcolourstoronto #fallcolourscanada #etobicokecreektrail #etobicokecreek #exploretoronto

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We recently came across this picture we took of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and fondly remembered our trip there in the spring of 2018. We did an adults-only weekend trip with friends. H happily stayed with his grandparents and didn't seem to miss Daddy and Mama one bit!
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Check out our NEW BLOG POST for more details. The link is in our bio.
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This was actually our second visit to Fallingwater. Our first visit was in September 2014, when H was not yet born and was still new "news". The Fallingwater house and surroundings are breathtaking. And, did you know that there are 3 other Frank Lloyd Wright houses that you can tour that are not too far from Fallingwater?
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#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingfamily #flyingarnolds #haveplanewilltravel #weekendgetaway #madlyoffinalldirections #fallingwater #fallingwaterhouse #franklloydwright #franklloydwrighthouse #explorepennsylvania #exploretheusa #discoverusa

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Just over an hours drive from Toronto is Canada's biggest wine-production area located in the Niagara Peninsula. There are close to 100 wineries along the northern portion of the peninsula starting just east of Hamilton and continuing along into the Niagara-on-the-Lake area.
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It is a great weekend getaway and we try and get there at least once a year.
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In addition to all the wine, there are fantastic restaurants in the region, with several of them located at the wineries. Great food and wine, what more could you want!
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#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelwithkids #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingfamily #flyingarnolds #weekendgetaway #niagarawine #niagarawinecountry #wineriesofniagara

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#throwbackthursday to our very first sailing adventure as a family of 3 and with Kurtis as captain. H was 2 months old and we rented a catamaran for a few days from St Petersburg, FL as a trial run.
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A few months prior we had spent 1 week on a catamaran in the Bahamas with a captain so that Kurtis could get certified to captain a boat himself. I was 7 months pregnant for that trip, so I was just along as the “lazy mate”!
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Both trips were a lot of fun. Hopefully there will be more family sailing trips in our future, now that H is older.
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#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelwithkids #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingfamily #flyingarnolds #sailingfamily #familysailing #sailingbaby #catamaransailing #floridasailing

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This is one of our favourite pictures from our 2018 flying adventures. H managed to slowed down long enough to let someone hold his hand 🥰. This was H’s 4th EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, WI.
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In 2018 there were 40 or so Cessna 195’s in attendance all parked together. And there were around 20 to 25 kids (ranging in ages from 6 months to 16 years old). It was amazing to see so many young families with children arriving in a 70 year old airplane. The kids had a blast running and playing together!
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#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelwithkids #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingfamily #flyingarnolds #whywefly #aviationlife #haveplanewilltravel #cessna195 #c195 #vintageairplane #vintageaviation #generalaviation #eaa #eaaairventure #airventure #holdinghands

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Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for.
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We got up early this morning to do a local flight-seeing tour of the fall colours. The forecast called for the winds to pick up around noon so we got our flight in before it got too windy. It was worth getting up for!
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#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelwithkids #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether #flyingfamily #flyingarnolds #whywefly #aviationlife #haveplanewilltravel #cessna195 #c195 #vintageairplane #generalaviation #vintageaviation #viewsfromtheair #fallcolors #fallflightseeing #colorsoffall #happythanksgiving

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Flying with friends is always more fun! Kurtis loves flying but he loves formation flying even more…
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#travelingfamily #travelingtogether #familytravels #familyadventures #exploringfamilies #travelwithkids #travelmoreoften #adventureiscalling #letsgoexplore #exploringtogether
#flyingfamily #flyingarnolds #whywefly #aviationlife #haveplanewilltravel #cessna195 #c195 #vintageairplane #generalaviation #flywithaopa #vintageaviation #formationflying #crevecoeurairport #madlyoffinalldirections
@andysharpe @cessna195club

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