Camry's, Lt's, and school...oh my!

I can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks since our last blog post. So much has been happening, that it feels like there hasn't been a moment of free time to sit down and write a post. But, here it goes.

Mason has had 5 flights already! This is amazing to me, since it wasn't that long ago that he had his first flight in the B52. Some of you might recall that in 3 weeks at Sheppard Mason would have had almost 12-15 flights under his belt, the B52 world is much different. There are only 20 flights total in his entire training schedule, and he has until his graduation in January to complete those flights. On average he's had one flight per week, but keep in mind that planning, flying, and debriefing is a three day process. He's getting more comfortable flying and has begun some area refueling (AR). He says that AR is the most difficult part so far, because it's hard to keep such a huge plane stable with another huge plane (KC-135) right next to you.

Base has been busy, busy since the new Global Strike Command got poster here. There are a lot more people around. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but we had neighbors move into our duplex and there names are Mason and Kristen. They have a baby who's probably about 5 months old, but we've only heard him crying a few times. I've gone to a few spouse meetings, and am looking forward to getting more involved. I'm planning on going the the Officer Spouse Group (OSC's) book club later this month, if I can finish the book. We're reading The Girls from Ames; so far, so good. It's really nice to meet new people, especially since our squadrons are in the deployment phases.

The 93rd squadron is in Guam right now, and the 20th is preparing to deploy. Lots of people say that the pre-deployment is almost as bad as a deployment. The guys (not Mason, yet) have been gone in Las Vegas for 3 weeks at Red Flag, a training exercise. When the get home (this weekend) they will be getting ready to deploy which is weekend training and long hours. To put a deployment in perspective, somewhat, Mason and I have been living in Louisiana for just 4 months now, so I try to think about that time all by myself and that would be the length of a deployment- I'm NOT looking forward to it, but at least I know I'm making friendships.

School is going well. Next week we have progress report pick-up already! It's crazy since some schools just started. I'm really liking my classes, although freshman are something else...try reading a short story aloud that uses words like "erecting, coming, and fingering..." it doesn't matter what the context, they make it dirty. Right now we've been working on learning the famous Schoolhouse Rock Grammar songs...it's funny to me that the boys have been getting more into it than the girls in class. I met with the Juniors yesterday to elect a prom committee, and we've got that all set up and have been selling food and Yankee Candles (if anyone wants to order, let me know). Drama Club has been going well, and rehearsals started this week.

Today, Lt. Kehs came to school with me since he had the day off and I wanted him to speak to my career investigations class. The kids loved it! They liked hearing all about the military, and of course liked Mason's cool photos and videos. Mason stayed the whole day with me since it was most gas effective, so he got the chance to see me do my thing in the classroom. The 1st grade classes found out that he was there and they invited him to speak as well in the afternoon. It warmed my heart to see him talk to the little kids, because they were so excited! A girl came running up to me afterwards, beaming and said, "I got to shake his hand." It really made their day. For me it was one of those days where I just felt so proud of Mason and the work he does, and I think he would say the same about watching me teach. It's rare when you get those moments, but so important.

As for other news on the homefront, we treated ourselves to a new car when the Contour finally blew another tire and we could barely get it off since it (and the rest of the car) was so rusted. We didn't get to trade in with Cash for Clunkers, but we did trade in and got a brand spanking new 2010 Camry. It's awesome! I don't think I can say enough good things about Toyota. We just got the windows tinted and sunroof installed today, so we're ready to go, and very excited! This weekend we're planning on kicking back, relaxing and catching up on some much needed sleep!