Any Ideas?

A few days ago Edmond finished his last simulator flight!! He will have his first actual flight in the CH-53 on Thursday (let me just take a second to add that I am getting a little freaked out because initially they told us we would be here 5-6 months...this would put us here through Christmas which was great to me because I really wanted to be with family for Christmas, BUT once he starts flying, they say we will only be here another 2 months...AGHH).

The first day we were here, we realized that we live right under what they call "course rules" (and I just call a "route" for all of us non-pilot people) for going on/off base. I love it during the day because I always point out the helicopters to Riley we wave, like crazy people, and I even talk about Daddy flying (does it make me a bad mother if I say that Daddy is flying it? I want him to relate helicopters with Daddy, but maybe I shouldn't lie?! ). But at night, or when he's napping, it drives my crazy because they really sound like they are going to land on the house!! They are so very loud.

Anyway, here's the idea part....it is very likely that at some point he will get to fly over the house!!! And, I want to come up with a way to "mark" the house. He said that he will probably be able to call in-between the brief (when they talk about where they are going and what they need to do) and when they take off, to let us know if, in fact, he will be flying over us. So, I need something that I can do pretty quickly! Here are some ideas we had:

* use a sheet in the backyard (how do I get it to stay put and will it be big enough)

* use sidewalk chalk to draw something on the driveway (will he really be able to see it)

That's it!!! Those are our only ideas. I wanted to see if you had any other thoughts because I know many of my friends are so very creative!!

Of course, when/if he does fly over, I will take a ton of pics (he's hoping the instructor let's him just tilt the helicopter just a little so we know it's him) of both him and of Riley watching. I hope it's as exciting as it seems like it will be.