Hail Storms

Yesterday we encountered some pretty crazy weather in Wichita Falls. A thunderstorm brought through some wild winds, and hail. (We don't have kids so we post blogs about weather) We hear people talk about the hail storms a lot around here, but I think this was the first time we saw mass amounts. The hail was nickel size, and it was crazy how it would bounce off the roof and ground...Mason and I of course were taking a view at the storm from outside the house, mainly from the carport. It's funny around base, since the command post makes announcements when there is lightening within five miles... yesterday the thunder was so loud and you could see bolts of lightening very close, yet the warning didn't arrive until after the rain had passed. The wind was so strong that a stoplight going onto base even blew sideways. YIKES!

After the storm I twisted Mason's arm into going shopping. I had gotten Mason some lithographs of the T37 and T38. We had them framed at Hobby Lobby so we went to pick those up and spent an hour or so shopping at Target, looking for sales on patio furniture and baby things for Mason's sister! I love that I'm an aunt. :-) Today we had friends over for a delicious Italian dinner and we worked. Yea! Tomorrow Mason has to report in around 6am for group PT and a Commander's Call. Only 4 more days of summer school. WAHOO!!!

TGIF

This week seemed to draaaaaaaaaaag on forever! I don't know if it's the heat, or the fact that we're both working again, but Mason and I were both exhausted this week! Mason's been working half days this week; back in academics for the T38. He's been mostly learning the systems of how the plane works, and he's spent some time in the simulators. The T38 sims are much more advanced and so more precaution is taken; student pilots aren't usually just allowed to go in whenever they want to practice like they could during the tweets phase. Mason should begin flying after the 4th of July.

The rumor mill continues to fly with all sorts of rumors about what planes will be dropped (assigned) at upcoming assignment nights. There's rumors that less fighters and more "others" will be handed out, including UAVs which stands for unmanned aerial vehicles. Basically you fly behind a computer screen. Rumors also hinted that some F22s (top of the line fighters) will be handed out. Mason continues to take things day by day, but it's hard not to think about the future, and what all the hard work is for. We just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. Maybe Santa will deliver a good Christmas present.

Before Mason and I were married, I though a lot about what military life would be like. Now that we've been living it for a year, I think it far surpassed any ideas I had about life as a military spouse. I think that Mason and I were handed adult life last May and have been doing the best to overcome what life throws at us. All in all, we can't really complain (though I realize I do it frequently.) One thing I didn't think would be so hard about military life would be saying goodbye to so many friends. Everything people say about the military being your second family is the truth. I don't think I've been in an environment outside my family where everyone is "there" for each other so much. I guess I never imagined myself and Mason having so many friends that we instantly bonded with. Mason and I are very similar that the non-military friends we have, have been our friends for many, many years, and so to come into the military and meet people that you bond with so quickly is great. There's always the factor that so many of us have so much in common, mainly the military. Even for the single guys that we know, they'd always be there if we needed them.

We're very fortunate to have our military family, but really are going to miss friends who are moving away. Our good friends Eddie and Sydney are being transfered to Corpus Christi so he can fly T44s and our friends Phil and Nicole will be moving to Louisiana where he will begin training to fly the B52. It's hard to say goodbye, but there's some comfort in knowing that with the Air Force you'll move around a lot and you'll never know when you'll be back near old friends.

Last night we had three other couples over for dinner. As usual I cooked WAY too much food. That's when I am grateful that Mason enjoys leftovers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I love to cook, so I had fun cooking up some Chinese food. Fried rice, and Sweet and Sour Chicken. Yum-o! Usually we have BBQs with everyone, so switching up the menu is good sometimes.

This weekend we're going to a BBQ and having our friends Phil and Nicole over. Other than that we might help friends pack their things to move. Next week is the last week of summer school :-D so I am looking forward to that. I've been planning for next year hoping that I can get a lot done so I can enjoy July and August. People that say teachers have the easiest jobs---YEAH RIGHT!!! Man, there is so much "after hours" work involved. I'm excited to do it now that I'm not teaching all day long, but planning during the school year is rough. I'm hoping I can get some really good units set up for my Reading classes. For now, I'm enjoying the elementary grade levels too. They're much better than my fart filled 6th/7th graders.

Which reminds me of a (not so) funny story from this week at summer school. To make a longish story short, I had a student go to the restroom. This kid is a bit of a class clown so when he came back to the classroom he peeked his head around the corner, and asked to show the class something. I told him to come in a sit down, and low and behold he turns to corner holding a SNAKE!!!! Apparently it was a bull snake (?)...but all I saw was 4 feet of gross snake! He of course thought it was funny, and they all thought it was funny to see me fly back in my seat muttering "oh sh*t" to myself...yeah...fortunately he took it back outside when I asked him too, I was just seeing my life flash before my eyes as the thought of him letting this thing go in the classroom came to mind. All was better in the world when he released it in the fields near our school...I'm still waiting for a rubber snake to pop out at me somewhere next week...

June Update

Man, June is flying by! I can't believe the second week of summer school is almost done. (What a relief) I'm looking forward to sleeping in and not grading papers. I've been away from 6th and 7th graders for so long that I forgot what a "joy" they are. Full of farts and burps, not the hugs and adoring eyes of my 3rd and 4th graders. I'm looking forward to planning for the next school year and am going to change a lot about the way I have my classroom arranged. Our school is also looking into shortening our school day, which I'm all for. :-)

Mason went to the centrifuge June 8th-10th in New Mexico...and passed!!! Wahoo! All the guys from his class passed which basically means they are ready to fly the T38. They had to do a set profile that tests how many Gs they can pull for set amounts of time. Mason had to pull 4Gs, which is fairly standard, and then 6Gs, and the most was 7.5Gs for 15 seconds. Mason thought the hardest part was when he had to pull 6Gs for 30 seconds. Mason has to practice his G-strain, which is where he tightens all the muscles in his body to get better blood flow so that he doesn't g-lock or blackout when flying. Each flight they do a GX where they do a rapid onset of Gs to make sure they are up to flying for the day.

Mason got home Tuesday afternoon, and within the hour we left for Chicago. We laughed, we cried, we drove, and drove, and drove...the ride isn't that terrible, (and it was probably a good thing we hadn't seen each other a few days before the long ride) but it's just very repetitive. For anyone that's driven from Chicago to Champaign in IL, the ride is quite similar, only 15 hours long. We left around 3:30 in the afternoon and arrived Wednesday around 11am. We pulled over at a gas station and decided to sleep for 4 hours, which ended up being the smartest decision. It was great to see all our friends and family. This was the first time Mason had been home since moving to Texas, so I know he was secretly stoked to see his family.

I think that we each gained weight since we were stuffing our faces with delicious Chicago food that we just can't get down here. There's nothing like deep dish Chicago pizza...mmm. I think we've gotten used to our nice Texas roads and no traffic, because we both feared for our life, and our cars when we drove on the awful Evanston roads! Drivers are so rude, and all of north Chicago is under construction! It's great down where there's never really any "traffic."

After stopping in Chicago to see family and friends, we went to our good friends' wedding. We had a great time and it was good seeing old friends, especially those who are in the military too, since you never know when the next time is that you'll get to see one another. It's good to be home and back into our routine however. Mason and I have been working out almost everyday and studying lots. I take my last certification exam on Saturday, and Mason goes back to flying on Monday. The fighter pilot world is looking grimmer and grimmer with the planes that they are handing out, but Mason's got a great attitude about it all.

For those of you that have been keeping up with our day to day bug relations, we were able to get all the ants out of the house thanks to this AMAZING stuff called Terro. I think I bought every product they sold, but we didn't see one ant after putting it out. However, we were greeted back into our house the day after we returned by a huge roach that crawled up the bathroom drain while I was brushing my teeth...it was terrifying! EWWWWW!!! Mason saved the day, and the exterminator was out in less than 2 hours ( a great perk of military housing).

Anyways, other than that, we've had lots of tornado activity near us, but nothing too close by. We have lightening storms almost every night but only get the rain once in awhile. At least we're not flooding like our family in the midwest. The temperature has definitely leveled off in the high 90s and low 100s, so we stay in a lot, but have been enjoying night BBQs and walks! :-)

Turner Falls

Mason and I decided to take advantage of the break that Mason's been having, and the winding down of school for me, and head 2 hours Northeast to Davis, Oklahoma last weekend. Despite temperatures in the 90s we went to Turner Falls park and had a great weekend. Turner Falls is not a state park, but is famous for their 77ft. waterfall and fresh spring river (is that redundant). Most of the people go there for a day trip (it's like a local beach, minus the sand) to play in the river. We took some hikes on trails and to see some caves, but spent our most enjoyable time sitting in the cool river water. The current was really strong and we found some areas that weren't too crowded to hang around in. We camped Friday night and Saturday night, and liked the variety of campsites that were available. We were able to find a quiet location. Despite the heat, mosquitoes and trash on the trails we really enjoyed ourselves.

We took a trip through an animal wilderness park and got to have animals right up close to the car. The windows stayed mostly closed, and Mason began to drive after he realized that having me drive (after waiting to let animals have the right of way all the time) wasn't the best idea. While some may think of me as the wimpy one in the relationship, Mason surely rolled up his window when the camels came poking their heads nearby. A giraffe spit his lunch all over our windows, and a camel scratched our car, but other than that we enjoyed that adventure.

Mason's spent this week playing house-husband, and studying at home, since he's had time off and hasn't started his next phase in training. He leaves Sunday for New Mexico where he will have his "G" tolerance tested at the centrifuge. He'll arrive home Tuesday and we leave for Chicago! We're both really excited for that trip, but not looking forward to the long drive (14 hours +) ahead. Tomorrow is my last day of school, WAHOO!!!!!! And summer school starts on Monday. I'm teaching 6th/7th grade for summer school so that will be interesting, but I'm looking forward to it. One of my students is having a pool party tomorrow to celebrate the end of the year. I'm just excited that as of this week 39/42 of my students passed their state tests, and all but 1 will be retained. :-D I must have done something right afterall!

Casino earning tonight amount to $9 which went straight into our gas tank, and Chinese dinner. There were high winds today and there's a big storm right now. Mason's pretty cute, staring out the window waiting for some action like a little kid. Ants have invaded our kitchen, and getting rid of them still remains an unsolved mystery.