Can’t wait for summer!!!

It’s another post from Kristen!!!  I promise not to make it so long this time!  I just want to let you all know what I’ve been up to the last couple of weeks….

Subbing:

So, last week I found a job online to sub for 1^st graders at a school right off of base.  I thought it would be pretty easy since they were 1^st graders….haha….boy was I wrong AGAIN!  I had a terrible day!  I guess 1^st graders may be a little too young for me?!  I’m not all that great with kids…and I guess “kids” is really what they were.  I honestly sat down for like 5 minutes at one point and thought to myself, “How do I get them to listen to me?”  They did not want to listen to me at all!  I even gave them three strikes on the board throughout the day which eventually took their book fair away from them.  I had to do it!  They wanted to go to the book fair so bad….but they just wouldn’t cooperate with me!  I felt so mean, but hopefully they learned a lesson!  Usually the teachers I sub for will leave a note telling me to write a note to the kid’s parents if they’re bad…but I don’t think a note to a parent should come from me…so I normally write a note to the teacher assuming they’ll relay my message to the parents.  Wellllll, I definitely wrote in planners this time!  I made one girl cry because I didn’t give her a sticker for the day!  Oh well, hopefully they’ll behave better for the next sub.  That afternoon I was just pooped!  I mean, the kids really took all my energy away!  I told Coy I was not interested in working the next day because I had such a bad day!  The next morning I received a voicemail from the same school asking if I could go in to sub 4^th graders!  They must have been desperate because usually schools won’t call….and they called at 8AM which is when kids are already in school.  I thought about it for a good 5 minutes and decided to suck it up and try the 4^th graders…..who knows, they may be good because they’re older…right?!  THEY WERE!!!!  There was one girl in one of my rotations that whispered to her friend often….but to me the sound of a whisper was a blessing!  The only bad thing about 4^th grade…..when I walked in the classroom another teacher (who didn’t have a class that period) was going over something on the board.  She handed me the teacher’s copy of a worksheet the class was working on, she introduced herself, & then said “you have the math rotation”!!!!  hahahahaha…..math?!!!!  And fractions at that!!!!  I have not done fractions in…I don’t know, 15+ years….you know, when I was a 4^th grader maybe?!  Long story short, there were two worksheets.  The teacher showed me the formula they use to figure the problems out….but she didn’t tell me that was the way to do just the first few problems!!!  So I had to do a worksheet myself to help those students who had questions!  Funny story: a little boy came up to my desk because he didn’t understand how to do one of the problems…..well I didn’t either!  Sooooo, as I’m talking to him and pretending to explain how you do it, a little girl, who was also at my desk, chuckled and said “that’s so easy!”  So I told her she could show us how to do it since it was so easy :)  Thank goodness she knew how to do it!!!  Haha - I would have never clicked on a job for a math class, but I’m glad I was sort of pushed into it because it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be!  This week is spring break over here, so no subbing for me this week!

Last week I also attended a wife event with my neighbors.  The wife events are usually a little awkward (for me) because there are so many different types of people here with different personalities, ways of doing things, etc.  I went to one wife event alone when I first got to Del Rio and I will never do that again!  It was like walking into your first day of school and seeing groups of girls scattered across one huge room and trying to figure out which group to interrupt & “try” to become friends with!!!  Then you find out you picked the wrong group….I don’t know….because your husband is a student pilot and their husbands are IP’s!!!  Needless to say, I have a better time at these events when I bring a friend along with me.  My neighbors and I attended and had a good time and we plan on going again with our husbands for some beer and bowling!

I’m sure most of you saw Coy’s post about us going to San Antonio for the weekend with his dad and Yazmin….we had a lot of fun there!  Coy was so happy to leave Del Rio for the weekend….good times!!!

When we were in Louisiana for Christmas, my dad and Coy built a dog bed for Dallas so she can lie down and look out the front window.  I painted the bed and we had bought letters and rhinestones to decorate it with and I finally finished it!!!  Dallas loves it!!  She lays on the bed every day and just watches the workers, dogs, squirrels, and birds…..oh, and the mailman!!!  She hates the mailman.  I open the window also so she can feel and smell the fresh and when the mailman walks by she goes nuts!  He knows she’s there now, but you should’ve seen him jump the first time she was that high on her bed in front of the open window!!!  Hilarious!!!

We’ve had some beautiful weather in Del Rio!!  My neighbors and I have been sitting outside in the sun last week and this week catching some rays during the day!!  Yesterday, we were sitting outside in my neighbor Candice’s back yard.  Sometimes I let Dallas come and sometimes I leave her home….if she’s invited, I definitely bring her along.  Well, yesterday, I left Dallas in our back yard and she could see us in Candice’s back yard and she kept yelping.  We may have been a whole 10 feet from her – Candice’s house is attached to ours, so our back yards are one big yard separated by a fence.  Anyway, Dallas slipped under the fence and darted across her yard!  It was so funny!  Dallas was pumped, but I was a little angry.  Coy fixed the fence when he got home : ) 

I love being outside!  Clear blue skies, a light breeze, and a bright sun and temperatures between 70 – 80!!!  I love it and I can’t wait for the summer to get here!!!  The only thing I can complain about is the buzzing in my ear I hear every now and then!!!  So now my neighbors have heard me yell, seen me jump, and know my fear of bees, wasps, etc.!!!    

My mom gave us a 500 piece puzzle that’s really neat.  The pieces have beer/soda cans all over them, but the puzzle is a picture of an eagle in front of the American flag.  And the pieces can also be planted to grow flowers!!!  So cool!  I’m not a puzzle person, but she figured it would keep me busy for a few hours/days.  Anyway, I’ve been putting off doing the puzzle because I really don’t have patience and it just didn’t seem like fun to try and fit 500 tiny pieces together to make a picture!  I figured it’s about time to start planting flowers and I really wanted to attempt the puzzle rather than just planting the pieces so I pulled it out last night and Coy and I started putting it together!!  I have to say, puzzles are actually fun!  Especially since Coy and I were doing it together!  We’re not finished it yet, but I’m sure Coy or I will update you all when we’re done!!! 

Yesterday, St. Patrick’s day, a few of my friends came over.  My first friend on base, Leslie, came over with her baby, Jet.  And my friend Kristen & Candice also came over.  We had hot dogs & chili, potato salad, fruit, sweet tea, and green cake (Candice is Irish & she brought that over).  We had a really good time!!! 

Thanks for reading….I’m sure Coy will make a post sometime this weekend!!!  Tootles!! 

~Kristen 

I "MUSTACHE" you a question?

Last weekend I went on my cross country.

In short..., It was freekin' sweet!

The plan was to leave Laughlin AFB, fly to Lake Charles, LA, gas up and eat there, and then fly to Pensacola for the night. Then on Saturday fly to Little Rock, AR, gas up and eat, and then fly to Dallas for the night. Then on Sunday fly back to Laughlin AFB..... Well....., so much for plans. Our plane broke at 27,000 feet. It was not an emergency.

When we leveled off at 27,000 feet our canopy started to fog up. No big problem, just turn the defog on. So I did...,and it cleared right up. Well, in the simplest way I can explain it, the defog takes hot engine bleed air and mixes with the cool (cold) air outside (27,000 feet) and you can't even notice the heat from the engine bleed air. Once it cleared up my IP asked me to close the defog and I did. But we still kinda heard the loud noise of air. The darn defog wouldn't turn off!!! It was not that big of a deal at this altitude because the cabin temperature was not that big of a deal at that altitude.  Our cabin was still pressurized and we wear oxygen masks....., so no worries.  Once we started to descend..., we quickly noticed a difference.  The cabin was quickly becoming hotter and hotter.  It was not that bad for me in the front cockpit but my IP was burning up!  I was trying not to laugh.  But it was funny.  He was so mad.  We tried everything but nothing was working. Check out this video......, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjD67VZuYNU (<----just copy and paste it).  It's kinda like what happened but the video is waaaaaayyyyyyy funnier.  This is a foreign national student in a trainer plane. And the word "defog" must not translate too well. It is a little long to listen to the whole thing (4 minutes) but this will let you know what our cabin environment was like when we descended into Lake Charles.

I just watched it again!!! Soooooo funny!!!!!!!

Also, they gave us a BMW as a rental car. I couldn't figure out how to start the darn thing. It was so funny. I had to ask for directions. I could fly a $6.2 million dollars airplane across the US but I can't start a $40,000 BMW (Tip..... just hold down the brake while you press the start button).

On Saturday another plane was delivered to us and we decided to fly to College Station, TX (Texas A&M). It was fun over there because we were like freekin' rock stars. There was a bunch of Cessna's in the pattern and we fly like twice or three times their speed.... And our radio calls sound way cooler. Anyway, maybe no one on here would understand...., but if yall could imagine like a Toyota Camry car show, and then a Ferrari just showed up out of nowhere and started doing doughnuts..., that's kinda what it was like. Haha.

We gas up and ate lunch, then we flew to Dallas.  The airspace was so busy in Dallas and the radios were on fire. Those controllers don't breathe...I'm sure of it.

We met up with the rest of the T-6's over there (my classmates) and went to the hotel.  We stayed downtown.  It was sooo cool.  It was my first time in Dallas.  It is HUGE!

The next day we flew to San Antonio, ate and gassed up.  Then we flew back to Laughlin AFB.  The last day was the best because the weather was bad and we flew everywhere never seeing the ground until we were 200 feet from it!

Good weekend....

This weekend my dad and his wife paid for a hotel on the Riverwalk in San Antonio for Kristen and I.  It was our birthday present.  It was nice to get away from the base.  The hotel was nice!  We got in late on Friday night and went straight to the Hard Rock for dinner/midnight snack.  It ended up costing $110.00 so it was the most expensive midnight snack I've ever had.  Haha.  

The next day, Saturday the weather was PERFECT!  We took a bus to a Mexican restaurant.  It was decorated like crazy and the food was real good.

There was people everywhere because it was some sort of St. Patrick's Day celebration.  We made our way back to the Riverwalk to watch some Irish dancing and a ceremonial dyeing the river green.  It was pretty cool. 

On Sunday my dad and I went to church.  It was a pretty and old Catholic church.  We should have realized earlier..., but..., it was a Spanish mass.  Haha.  It was listed outside as "bi-lingual", but only the second reading and one sentence of the homily was my native tongue. Haha.  Classic!

 BTW... my mustache is starting to look good!!!

18 days in the life of Kristen.....

Well, I stayed in New Orleans longer than I expected, but I had a great time!!!  I left on 08 Feb and returned to Del Rio on 26 Feb!!!  18 days!!!  I know it sounds like a long time, but I figure we only live 10-12 hrs away from New Orleans right now…and who knows where we’ll be next?!  So I/we should take advantage of being able to travel to and from Louisiana while I/we can.  Before I left Del Rio, I cooked Coy a few meals for lunch and dinner.  Poor thing had to fend for his self for a few days because I was gone longer than I expected!  But he’s a big boy, so he was fine! 

I left early enough to catch the Saints parade in New Orleans, and boy was that an experience!!!  I’ve never seen so many people at a parade before.  I mean the traffic getting there was crazy!  I felt so bad because I went with my parents and we brought my Godchild, Bryce, but he couldn’t really see everything because there were so many people in front of us!  And it was FREEZING!!!  I had on my mom’s coat and my dad’s ski gloves!  We parked so far away and took a street car all the way up St. Charles….it was Bryce’s first time on a street car!!!  I’m glad we went….we may never see a superbowl parade in our hometown again!  But I have faith that we will…fingers crossed!!! 

My plan was to take it easy the first week in New Orleans…that Friday I saw the Oddo’s at Majestic and visited my friend Crystal who just had a baby, and my weekend plans were to go to Endymion, Bacchus, the Orpheuscapade on Lundi Gras, Mardi Gras on Fat Tuesday, visit family and friends the rest of the week, and pick up king cakes for class 11-01 that Friday and drive home.  Well, things didn’t really go as planned!  I found out that my favorite bakery, Haydel’s, closes the entire week of Mardi Gras….so they closed the Sat before Mardi Gras and re-opened the following Tues (an entire week from Fat Tuesday)!  So I changed my plans to leave that Tuesday rather than Friday.  I didn’t really do too much parading…my mom and I went to Endymion with her friend Becky and then her and I drove to Bacchus the following night, saw Drew Brees, then called it a night.  Mardi Gras seemed so crowded and cold this year!

My friend Kara invited me to go to the Orpheuscapade on Monday night, so I went to that and had a lot of fun!  Kara used to be a VooDoo Doll with me – she also invited Bridget and Wren (another Doll – now a Honeybee) who are also good friends of Coy and I.  At the ball we met up with our friends Rachel and Giselle (both were Dolls as well, but Rachel is also a Honeybee now & Giselle is a mommy).  It was so much fun seeing my girls again and getting all “dolled” up for the night!!!  Rachel made us all cute little headbands….we had a blast!  I’ve never been to a ball like the Orpheuscapade where the floats roll through the convention center!  It was so neat!  We were all standing on chairs waving to the floats…which was pretty scary….we watched SO MANY drunk people fall because their chairs folded up on them!  It was sad and hilarious all at the same time.  While watching everyone fall I kept asking myself and my friends why we were still standing on the chairs!  Oh well, we didn’t fall so I guess we made out okay!  After the parade came through, we listened to Sean Payton speak, and then Taylor Dayne and Smashmouth performed.  It was a looooong night!  The evening starts at 1900 and ends at 0300!!!  It was so much fun - I wish Coy was able to be there with me….hopefully next year!  Thanks Kara for inviting me!!! 

I didn’t partake in Mardi Gras day festivities, but I did watch it on TV!!!  On Wednesday I had dinner with my sister in law, Mia, at Casa Garcia (we ate lettuce wraps just for you Mrs. Dianne!) so that was nice!!!  That night I felt a tickly throat thing going on.  On Thursday I knew I was getting sick, but sick to me and those who know me is just me really not feeling good but not actually having proof of how bad I’m feeling.  Well on Friday, along with coughing, chills, and fever I had all the proof I needed to stay in my mom and dad’s bed all day!  I’m so happy I was at my parent’s house and not in Del Rio because Coy cannot afford to get sick.  It’s crazy how much your parents do for you when you have fever.  I NEVER have fever….so this was a whole new experience for me!  My mom went to the store for me, made soup for me, brought me medicine, drink, etc.!  My dad also did the same…he even went to Baskin-Robbins and got ice cream for me!  I’m so thankful to have a mom and dad that love me so much!!!  Trust me, I was milking it every second I could….it’s been a long time since I’ve had that kind of attention!  Pretty funny!  I even took a picture of the thermometer just so Coy would believe that I really had fever! Anyway, my dad ended up taking me to the after hours clinic on Saturday because I wasn’t feeling too good and I was told I had an upper respiratory infection!  Yuk!  So I had prescriptions to take that made me drowsy which is why I stayed in New Orleans until Friday rather than Tuesday.  I planned on visiting Coy’s granny and grandpa after Mardi Gras with Mia along with some of my family, but unfortunately I got sick and was unable to do so.  I guess next time I know to start visiting right when I get in town!  I had that entire first week, but had planned to save visiting for before I left to go home to Del Rio.  At the end of the week, I still was not feeling good at all, but I met my maw-maw for lunch, spent the day with my cousin Sabrina, and had dinner with my Aunt Charlet….good times with the people I love, I just wish I could’ve seen everyone. 

Oh, I almost forgot…I went with my parents to my dad’s friend’s house in Loranger, LA.  His friend, Nicky, is a taxidermist on the side.  He also raises white-tailed deer.  It was so neat to go to his house….he had one doe and 3 bucks.  He also shared many stories about deer he raised.  He has dead stuffed animals everywhere!  Deer, elk, squirrels, turkeys, fish, bobcats, minks, gators, coyotes, pheasants, etc….if it could be killed, eaten, and stuffed, it was on his wall!  I couldn’t believe it!  Anyway, I don’t eat deer, but he cooked a roast for us that was delicious….and I later found out it was a cute little polka dotted deer I ate.  Oh well, it was yummy.  Nicky is very talented and has eaten everything he’s killed through the years.  He’s entered many of his mountings in contests and has won so many awards.  It was very interesting to see all the work he’s done, how much time and effort he spends doing his hobby, and learning how to tell the age of deer and seeing one bucks antlers through time after they have fallen off.  Very educational trip!!! 

Before I left town, I had dinner with my friend Kim and Godchild Bryce, lunch with a couple of work friends, and my dad cooked steaks with a few yummy sides!  I eat so much when I go to NOLA…we just don’t have all those yummy choices in Del Rio!  I hope I didn’t get anyone I met out sick!  I’m not sure when I/we’ll be back in NOLA, but I’ll definitely see most of you next time when I’m in town and not sick!  On Friday, I picked up four king cakes from Haydel’s and journeyed back to my husband in Del Rio…me and little Dallas! 

 Until next time, thanks for reading!  I’ll try to post more often….I’m going back to subbing next week, so I may have a few funny stories to share next time!  Have a good day!!!

~Kristen