27 March 2011

The VooDoo Game A Wedding and the Irish-Italian Parade........Aaauuuggghhh....

So much to talk about since my last update.  Agghhhh....... OK, here it goes.

I've been flying a lot around here lately.
I had a day off of flying so Kristen and I drove down to Biloxi, MS to see some sights and just get out of Meridian for a day.  It was nice.  We went to Keesler AFB which has a brand new HUGE BX which is awesome!  Then we went eat dinner (I can't remember where now) and hit up the mall.  We went into Books a Million and saw a crowd of people.  I figured it was an author of some sorts but since I'm not really a book reader I didn't really care.  But as I got closer and saw who it was I got excited.  It was Mike Huckabee!  Dude..., I voted for him last presidential primaries!  I went and bought his book and got a signature on it.  It was so freekin' sweet!  I was a little upset that people there didn't know who he was.  I didn't think that something like that would bother me but maybe because he was somewhat of an important figurehead in one of our two major political parties not long ago.......uhhhh.....do you ever watch the news?  I was hoping that those same people didn't cast a ballot three years ago. Geeesh...  Also, the dude in front of me told him that he was in the Air Force and the military was behind him.  That stole my thunder for my conversation with him so I just told him...."Good Luck".  Sucks huh?  That's all I could think of though!!! Agghhhh.
Me and my new rank!
On 15th March I became a 1Lt (First Lieutenant)!!!  Yaaayyy!!! Yes, it's cool, but really not a big deal because it's pretty much a guarantee that you get the first two promotions as an officer as long as you don't get a DUI/something horrible within your first two years.  So........I must have been a good boy because I got promoted!  Haha.

On that night Kristen and I went to B-Dubs for a celebratory beer.  We sat at the bar and started playing an interactive trivia question game on the TV monitors.  We were doing pretty well but there was another team that was always neck and neck with us.  It turns out that they were sitting right next to us.  We started talking and I found out that he's a pilot too, but in the Army, and he's a helicopter pilot.  That's pretty cool, so we just kept talking.  Then he asked me what I'm doing the next day.  I told him nothing, and he asked if I wanted to go up in the Chinook.  Hell yea!  So I called him the next morning and made it happen.
We kept the back door open so it was breezy.!
We flew all over Mississippi (at 500')!  It was pretty cool.  It was just the two pilots and then me sitting jump seat in the middle.   It was quite an experience.  The Army is so different the the Air Force.... There is seriously stuff duck taped and zip tied together.  I live in a different world in the Air Force.  Everyone around here was jealous of my story.  Thanks Jaye for making this possible <--Coolest dude in the Army!
Happy St. Patrick's Day......Cheers
I drove back to New Orleans two Fridays ago for Kristin and Murph's wedding (a good family friend).  I was in the wedding also so I was pumped!  I promised the bride that I would shave the stash before the wedding so this Mustache March was short lived.
Wren and I
Mrs. Denys and Becky
Mrs. Denys, Erika, Bridget, Kristen and Emily
Us with a family friend, Brittney 
Us and Sabrina
Aunt Gwen, Aunt Charlet and Mrs. Denys
All the female cousins
Me being cheesy
The original Bones was where it was at.  If yall know me about six years ago you know what I'm talking about!
Me and Michael Lewis (Saints) and his Super Bowl ring!!!

On Friday night Kristen and I went to the VooDoo arena football game.  Kristen used to be on the cheerleading/dance team and I used to be the mascot so it was fun and brought back a lot of good memories of back in the day.  And now Kristen's cousin and family freind are on the VooDoo Dolls dance/cheer team so it was great to see them too.
Kristin and Andrew ice luge!
Saturday was to big day, the wedding.  It was so much fun.  Kristin and Murph are such great people so it was an honor to stand in the wedding.  It stared for me at their house, where the guys all met up and got dressed.  We were all watching basketball eating and drinking.  It was my first time meeting most of the guys because I was a horrible person and couldn't make the bachelor party or the rehearsal dinner.  Haha.  At least I made it to the most important date.  Haha.
1/2 of me, sister and mom
That's the groom in the purple wig.
And that's the bride dancing with someone in a wheelchair...good times.
Mia makes this picture work.
Mia, me, and my mom
Matthew and Mia (Cinco De Mayo 12' baby!!!)
Mrs. Denys, Kristen and Mr. Dennis
I was eating just fruit till I found out there was chocolate for them!!!
The bride (Kristin) and Mr. Pete!
Mama Oddo and me tearin' it up!
Bottoms up
The wedding was really nice.  But the reception was where it was at!  We threw down!  They had a good band and a fun crowd and that's the recipe for dancing!  They also had a funny photo booth that was a blasty blast!  It was nice to see friends and family at the wedding.
Sabrina's soon to be infamous "On top of the float" incident!
Eat your heart out. Haha.
The next morning Kristen, Mrs. Denys and myself went to the Irish-Italian parade.  It's the last parade of the "Mardi Gras" season so it was good that Kristen and I got to go.  There's groups of men that parade with a stack of plastic flowers while dancing to music.  They'll give you a rose for a kiss.  It's always fun.  Of course Kristen got a lot of roses.....but this year here was a female group...., and I got a rose too.  I felt special.  Haha.  Shout out to Amy and Henry who I saw at Cheescake Bistro after the parade, it was nice to see yall!!!
Nice
I've been scheduled to fly every day except one this past week.  And every flight has been a night flight.  Which means I go in around three in the afternoon and don't come home till after midnight.  That leaves Kristen with a lot of free time in Meridian.  She started going to the park close by.  It's really nice there. There's a 1.2 mile walking track around a pond and a larger 4.5 mile walking trail around a larger pond, a large playset, boat launch and a bunch of ducks.  They always have a lot of people exercising and relaxing around the lakes.  Kristen decided to go there and tan.  Haha.  That's my girl.  I love her.  It is beautiful over there and there's been a lot of sun so it's perfect.
My class had a picnic at the lake.  My friend JJ brought a rope to walk on.  Yes, A ROPE......TO WALK ON.  JJ is an avid hiker and amateur rock climber.  He says that this rope walking is what rock climbers do to keep up their balance and stay fit.  So we all gave it a try...... we all should never become rock climber I guess because we sucked!  Haha.  JJ was good though.  I'm just glad that no one got hurt.

Some one in my crew got sick on Friday and can't go see the doctor till Monday so we're basically off till Tuesday!
This is a Beechcraft personal plane for sale there....only $1.3 million
Bad picture, but if you look closely you can see the Blue Angels are flying behind our heads.
 
 

They had an airshow at the Navy air station about thirty minutes from here this weekend.  The Blue Angels were there.  Kristen and I love going to airshows so we went.  It turned out to be a beautiful day!  It was really nice.
B-Dubs!
Forgot to take pictures of the beer......darn.
After you get a promotion it is tradition to pay for a party with the money that your first mo months check will increase. I've been wanting to do this for the past week but with all of the flying and my going out of town it's been difficult.  Plus a few of the guys here have been on my back about it so I wouldn't forget about it.  Well..., I did it.  I got a large amount of beer and a large amount of wings from B-Dubs, a cake and brought them all over to the Drury Inn lobby.  I called up everyone in my class. It was a good time.  Not to crazy, but fun.  It was real chill.  A few people ended up showing up that I didn't invite (and that was a good thing).  I had A LOT of food, like too much!  The beer lasted the perfect amount of time.  And if you know me it wasn't any cheap beer.  Only bottles and only stuff that costs $8 a six pack and up!  Don't laugh....., that's real talk.  I'm a beer connoisseur.  We have about 25 boneless wings lefter over.  I had wings again for lunch today.  I'm sick of them.
Kristen and I went to the lake today to feed the ducks bread.  The ducks were HUGE and RUDE.  It was funny.

Just six flights left till I'm off to the sandbox....Yaaaayyy!!!!
Dallas licking her lips after just eating a mosquito hawk.  Good girl.