Solo Party/ Formation/ Visitors

 It's been a few weeks for me so let me back up a little bit.

A couple of weeks ago Kristen wanted to send Dallas to the groomer for a bath and a "nice" brush.  Ya see..., Kristen gives Dallas a bath every two weeks but she just can't seem to get all of Dallas's hair out.  And she's starting to shed her winter coat and that means hair everywhere!!!  I agreed that Dallas needs to be sent to the groomer with the emphasis of a really good brushing to get out all of that hair.  Kristen brought her one day......and $50 later..... Dallas was washed and well brushed.  She smelled nice and seemed to be brushed thoroughly.   See, Kristen can brush Dallas, but Dallas hates it, and I think that Kristen just didn't want to be the bad guy again.  Haha.  Any way, that bath lasted for about three days.

One night we let Dallas out to pee before we went to bed.  She usually stays outside for about 10 minutes and then she'll wait by the door for someone to open it up and let her in.  I saw her waiting so I opened the door.  Not only did Dallas come in but this horrid smell followed her!  It smelled like burnt copper!  We quickly realized that she had just been sprayed by a skunk.  We locked her in the bathroom and google'd what to do.....As it turns out you are supposed to wash your dog in tomato sauce....so.............that was a fun night.

I'm officially finished with my T-6 simulator rides!!!  Yaaaayyyyy!!!!  I also took my Instrument checkride..., and passed!  Yaaaayyyy!!!!  I only have one more checkride in this plane (formation), and then I track select to my next plane (23 Apr).  Formation is a kick in the pants!  We are supposed to fly 10 feet apart.  They give us + or - four feet..., so you can really fly at 14 feet wingtip separation and still get a GOOD.  I usually hang out in the 13 to 14 wingspan area....Haha.  It is so much fun though!  I don't have any pictures for it though.  I usually have my hands full in the airplane so I have no extra hand to snap pictures.  But trust me...... it's freekin sweet!

My class finally had our solo party.  Traditionally, all of the IP's are invited and it's where we find out that they are just regular people and they basically let their walls down.  It was a blast.  I drank and played Rockband all night (I suck).

 We had A LOT of beer.., and of course...What would our class do without shots?.....they were there too!

Ever since that night the mood in the flight room had been a lot different.  It's been nice being treated like a real person and half of a pilot too!

Kristen subbed for three days in a row!!!  Don't get too excited..., it was not on purpose.  Haha.  No, actually she wanted two days that week, but no jobs were available.  Then on Tuesday night she signed up for  a job on Thursday and Friday.  And then on Wednesday morning they called her and asked if she could come in on a moments notice....and she did!  Haha.  So she ended up working three days in a row.  She was so exhausted.  Haha.

 My mom, her husband Bill, my sister and my grandfather came to visit us last weekend.  It was to many people for our house so we had to get some hotel rooms (The one bathroom that we have in our house really sucks when we have company!).

 Kristen and I went and picked up my mom at the San Antonio airport (The rest of the crew drove here).  As always, it's nice to get to civilization over there so Kristen, my mom and I ate and hung out in the mall for a couple of hours before driving back to Del Rio.  That was nice.   On our way home we stopped at a Taco Bell.  There's no Taco Bell here so we always have to hit one up before we get back home.  And check out these sauces!  They're all standing at attention!  Sweet!

The next day we all went to church and then looked around the base.  We ate lunch at our favorite local spot, Poncho's.  We are always the only gringos in there so you know its good.  It's cheap and the portions are pretty big.

On Monday I had to go to work.  I had the first take off of the day on the base and I thought that it would be perfect (if anyone was interested) to watch me take off in the morning.  I was taking off on the wing (#2) for a formation sortie.  As I said before... formation flights rock.  I feel like I'm giving myself and wingman an airshow at 12,000 feet!  So Kristen, my mom, Bill, Mia, and Paw all came out to watch me take off from the campground area on base.  On the right side of this page is my youtube links. I have a video they took of me taking off for your viewing pleasure. Or just click on the link below....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGmcheKf-cM

Later that day I had a "Red Carpet" sim ride scheduled for everyone.  The sims are a blast!  And I am usually in there doing work and working hard for a grade.  So this would be my first time also being in there for pleasure.  I was pumped too!  My mom could only hang for about two minutes till she got motion sickness.  I could relate.  When I first started I got like that too.  Then my sister jumped in.  She did pretty good.  She took off, flew around for a few minutes and then landed.  I was impressed.  Then Bill took over.  He had a great time!  He took off, flew around a bit, got good at it, then he flew in formation!!!  Haha.  He did pretty well.  His landing were a bit rough though.  Then I asked to jump in for the last 10 minutes.  It was awesome!  I got to do some of the stuff in the plane that is considered "illegal"!  I flew 10 feet off the ground, under bridges, between buildings...it was sweet!  There are also a few youtube videos of some of us flying in the simulator on the right side of the page.  Or just click below on the link.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXmE42vN_tY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qo01b7yXk8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6phufHdziE

We all came back home..., hung out for a bit and then the girls went shopping in town.  the guys hung back at the house.  Later that night we all went to Rudy's BBQ for dinner.  I love that place.

 On Tuesday everyone left to go back home.  Come back whenever yall like. And anyone else is welcome to come and visit whenever.  Just ask us if the weekend is available.

Funny story while we had visitors.  Kristen asked me to hang up her pants on the fan in our bedroom to dry.  She handed me two pairs of wet pants.  I brought them into the room like a good husband and hung them up on the fan just as I was told.  I was laughed at a few hours later when Kristen found out what I did.  I didn't understand.  What was so funny?  I did EXACTLY as I was told.  Comes to find out she didn't explain it to me well enough..... What she meant to say (and she said every other person in the world would have understood) was to hang the pants on hangers..., and THEN hang them on the fan.  Haha.  I had no idea.  I just hung them up on the fan blades.... OK..., that may have been a little dumb.....but I videoed it and put it on youtube to immortalize it forever.  Check it out...it's pretty funny.  Or just click on the link below.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfVguWDSrWI

Last Christmas one of the presents that we got from Kristen parents was a 500 piece puzzle.  Wha?  A puzzle?  That's what we thought at first.  But this is no ordinary puzzle.  Nope.  This puzzle can also be buried and grow flowers!  Yeah funny huh?  So we have been saying that we were going to put it together and then bury it.  It took us about five days total to finish it.  It was really fun.  We'll keep the blog updated once we bury it and hopefully we'll get some flowers from it.

Today I cut, edged and blew grass.  Then I washed Kristen's car and then my truck.  Dug up some bushes and laid some dirt in holes in the backyard.  All the while Kristen went shopping for plants, came home, dug up the garden and planted new stuff.  Long day.  We treated ourselves to Chili's tonight.

Till next time...........

BTW, make sue that you check out the videos if you got time.... There are five total!
If they are not linked correctly on the right (it looks like they're not)you'll have to just click on the links I provided.  Sorry about that.