What would you buy if you sold your company for $50 million?

Yesterday, the Washington Post ran a story on defense and government contractors that had recently sold their companies, realizing great windfalls of money. The first company mentioned in the article (which you can find here) is an Inc. 500 alum, Gray Hawk Systems, a company based in Virginia.

Gray Hawk founder Pete Howton sold the company to ManTech International for $100 million last year. At the time of the sale, Howten owned 51% of the company, according to the Post and "banked about $50 million." Among other luxuries and philanthropic donations, Howton installed a neon-lit slide in his home for his daughters, the paper said.

"We've become nouveau riche, which is wonderful in some ways, but we've got to keep our feet on the ground," Howton was quoted as saying.

Last year, contributing editor Joel Kotkin talked to Howton for this article on northern Virginia's booming economy.

Mike Hofman was previously editor of Inc.com and a deputy editor at Inc. magazine, which he joined in 1996. The site was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Digital Media in 2010, and was named the best business website by Folio Magazine. In 2006, Hofman was part of a team of writers nominated for a Webby Award for best business blog. He lives in New York City. @mikehofman