Paradise

Last Friday the two base pools opened, and I've been wanting to go ever since. Mason and I were going to go to a pool BBQ when it opened, but it rained and we decided that there would be too many kids. Today I decided that I'd mix up my workout routine and go swim laps for an hour. The "Officer" pool is about 5 blocks from our house, if even that far...so it's a great little walk to and from. The entire hour that I was at the pool (11:15-12:15) there were only 3 other people swimming laps-sweet! It was really nice to be back swimming again, since I didn't get much of an opportunity at Sheppard. The pool is pretty standard; the only downfall is that it's 2 feet deep in the shallow end (is that worded properly?) and that made swimming laps a little difficult as my hands could touch the bottom. Nevertheless, I had a great time, I'll definitely be returning, although next time with sunscreen...my backside is a bit pink tonight. What could be better than swimming laps on a sunny day with A10s and B52s flying overhead.

Two weekends ago, Mason and I decided to explore further into the East side of base. Barksdale really is a huge base if you start driving around, and the East side hosts a Navy squadron, enlisted housing, outdoor recreation, an archery range, and lots of forest with trails for hiking and biking. We decided that it hadn't rained for almost 4 days and decided the ground would be dry enough for hiking. The mosquitoes were pretty horrible if you stopped moving (yes, we did have on repellant) but not too terrible if you kept up a quick pace. It appeared that most of the trails we were on had been cleared by an ATV up until certain points. Mainly trails were blocked with huge fallen trees, or wooden bridges were no longer over sections of water, but the trail was submerged. After trekking on for awhile we decided we didn't want to turn "all the way" back so in some cases we had to make big leaps over mucky water, and climb through tree limbs. It was a pretty successful trip, we had fun, but both ended up pretty messy. I was covered in mud from a slip, and Mason was attacked by mosquitoes. Neither of us could decide if there was a better season to explore, but decided that we would go back again.

Before Memorial Day weekend, I helped out the 11th Bomb Squadrom (BS) with a meatball sub fundraiser that our spouse group was having. It was lots of fun to see all the guys at work, and meet lots of commander's spouses. It's so important to be a part of the spouse group, I feel, because their experience and wisdom is so helpful. Just being able to hear more about B-52 life, and Minot, etc...was really nice. Thanks to the Air Force, Mason got a day off on Friday and Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. We took it easy and just relaxed. The Mudbug Madness festival was in town, but we didn't end up going. A mudbug is another term for crawfish, and since Mason and I are not into crawfish we skipped it. We did end up going to the Bossier City State Fair. Note this is not the Louisiana State Fair...everyone gets a good giggle out of that. We timed our trip perfectly (not planned) so that were walked through the petting zoo, and saw the elephant show, a circus thrill show, and ostrich races all back to back. We don't really go to fairs for the food or rides ( too much moolah) but we got to see all the free shows- which were pretty awesome. The elephants were more impressive.

Mason's been busy working on his master's class and trying to stay ahead of the workload. He has weekly readings, DVD lectures to watch, and posts on an online forum. HIs first paper is due next week, and he's mostly done. Unfortunaly he has another, larger research paper due the end of June. Monday he starts FTU. He'll have about 8 weeks of academics and sims, and then the flying will begin. I'm really enjoying my job. I'm working part time tutoring math at Sylvan Learning Center, and have lots of fun. I think I'm off "training" status, and may even get to tutor some reading the summer (yay!) No word on any teaching jobs, but the LA schools get out tomorrow, so I'm hoping that they'll begin the selection process sometime in June.

More East Side pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029148&id=77800450&l=3603340554