Solo Time!!

Todd had his 1st solo flight tonight. I know going into it he was anxious, nervous, and excited all in one (as was I) but he did an awesome job!

The wives are allowed to go in and witness the solo ride portion of their husband's training. Todd had a briefing around 4:30 and by 5:00 he was on his way out to the plane. It is a tradition that before you go out, your IP will swap name tags with you (they actually put it on crooked on purpose-you will be able to see that in one of the pictures below. That way, when the other pilots see you in the hall they know that the wings are not yours but that you are borrowing them...then you aren't flying without wings.) He basically loans you his wings to fly your solo flight and normally says something like "good luck...you better bring these back to me". I got to see that and off we went so he could suit up. After he suited up and tested his mask, he was on his way to the plane.

Here he is checking his mask...he is ready to go!

I sat in their flight room while he was flying so I could hear his radio calls...it was pretty neat! There was another wife there at the same time (her husband had his solo ride also) and we kept pointing out the calls...."that's your husband"....."that's mine", etc. Todd's call sign was "wings 40". His classmates pulled out the areal map and showed us where they were for each radio call that they were saying. Once we heard that they were landing we quickly went outside, anxiously awaiting their arrival.

It is also tradition that after you have your first solo, you have to try to make it back to the flight room without being captured and thrown into a dunk tank. If you make it back into the room without getting dunked, everyone has to buy you a case of beer. Nine times out of ten, you get thrown into the dunk tank...they make it pretty hard for you to get back into the building, let alone to the flight room. (Some of Todd's friends really wanted to make sure he didn't make it inside....he had a pretty large crew waiting for him.)

There is their dunk tank (the tiger stripped one in the back)

After the pilots land, they normally get picked up by a bus and dropped off at the back door of their building. The other guy that soloed stayed on his bus and had the driver drop him off at the other side of the building (on his way by he yelled out that he had to write up a GPS or something...and at first the guys believed him!). However, they caught on quick and were able to capture him before he made it back into the flight room. Todd was on the next bus and a group of the guys opened the back of the bus and escorted him out...he did not have the option of staying on. He basically had no where to go...but he put up a pretty good fight. I will post the video but I have to edit it a little (the file is too big). Here are a few pictures to hold you over....

There are two of his classmates...ready and waiting for him!

After the dunking

Fresh and clean again...Ahhhh! (or at least dry!)

So there you go...another mission accomplished! Stay tuned for the video clip...it is pretty humorous. I will try to get that posted real soon. Bye for now!

Weekend Trips

This past weekend Todd and I got a chance to get out of Mississippi...he went with his buddy Jason to his parents house in Alabama one night and Jason's lake house (also in Alabama) the other night. They left on Friday afternoon and came back on Sunday, which was a nice little get-away for them. They also brought back Jason's boat, which looks like a lot of fun. So hopefully we get to take that out on the river soon!!

I actually was able to take a trip back to PA!! There were rumors about us having two days (Thursday & Friday) off after tax season was over, so I booked my plane tickets in March hoping that was the case. I was able to go home Thursday and come back on Monday. I only told a few people that I was coming and was able to surprise quite a few people! I was able to surprise...my mom and dad, my nieces and nephews, Todd's parents and family, and a few friends....they were all ecstatic!! I had a great visit...hung out with my parents and family, had dinner with my parents and Todd's parents, went to my nephew's baseball game (They won! Good job Cole!), visited my old job, Todd's work, stopped by and saw our house again, had a little family picnic, etc.) It was a full weekend and I got to catch up with a lot of people! I had a great time and miss everyone!!

When I started my job in MS they briefed me on the surrounding schools- Mississippi State University ("State"), Alabama University ("Bama"), and University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"). I was told that I have to be a state fan...they have a lot of state fans at the place I work and the "State" campus is only about 30 minutes away. When I came home I wanted to bring my nieces and nephews a shirt or something back from Columbus AFB. However, they had nothing in the BX! So I decided to get them all Mississippi State shirts, look how cute they are! I love and miss these kids soo much!! Here they are.....

(from left to right: Cole, Gavin, Paige, Emily (the little one up front-she is technically not a niece, but feels like one!), Mackenzie, Amelia, and Jaide)

When I got back to work, I emailed the partner that told me I have to be a state fan and told her that I recruited a few more....she loved the picture and sent it to the whole office!

Anyway, it was so nice to see everyone again and hopefully next time Todd can come along too! There were other people that I wanted to visit with and I am sorry if I did not get to see you...I do miss you too! I hope everyone is well and I will hopefully talk to you all soon!

Tax Season....Over!!

I must say it feels good to know that I can show up to work at 8:00 and leave at 5:00 now. (Unlike the past few months...especially two days ago, when I got home at 2 a.m the next morning.) That made April 15th a long day, but I was able to leave by 5:00...to go to a spouses meeting! Out of all of the days to have a spouses meeting...they picked April 15th. Luckily, I got all of my work done and was able to go!

Todd's class is now split up into two flights the "warhawks" and the "daggers" (Todd is a dagger). The spouses had a briefing from the squadron commander on what happens at each phase, they encouraged us to talk to our husbands about what plane they want to fly (for the active duty wives) because that determines where you will be stationed, things to expect, etc. It was a lot of stuff we already knew but it was nice...I was not working, I could just sit there and listen! Lets just say this was probably the 4th briefing we have had since we got here...this one was was the shortest and the most informative out of all of them! We got a tour of the flight room (where our husbands have their meetings everyday), life support (where their g-suits and other equipment are), etc.

There are a total of nine student pilots that are married in Todd's class. That is a pretty large number considering they normally have maybe 3 or 4 married guys per class, or so they say. All of the wives are very nice, I am excited to get to know all of them more! It seems like a good group!

Anyway, a few weeks ago Todd had his "dollar ride". That is a student pilot's first ride in the T-6...just like a business owner keeps the first dollar they earn as a keep sake, the pilots in training decorate a dollar bill and give it to their first IP (instructor pilot) for their "dollar ride". I am sure those IP's have quite a collection!!

Here are some pictures from it...they are pretty neat!! (This is what we have been waiting for!)

Just hanging out on the runway!

G-suit, check!

Ready to Go!

Well, that is all for now...but I will keep you all updated! Take care!

Our home away from home!

Well, here is is...my first posting!! My friend Claire will be so proud! Just to warn y'all (I had to throw one in!) I will not be writing very regularly so don't get mad at me! I decided to create this blog so I would not have to keep sending out mass emails. I think it will work better posting pictures this way and any other fun stories we decide to share. Enjoy!

As you probably know by now, Todd and I have been in Columbus Mississippi since the beginning of Feb. (Hence, the "Columbus Journey"). On January 29th we started our trek down here and arrived on Saturday evening. (We stopped overnight and anytime the guys were running low on fuel or had to pee...yes, it was them requesting to pull over, not me!) To clarify "guys"....it was Todd and Gary- co-worker/friend from the 193rd...aka "Rico". We all drove our own cars down and kept each other awake during the night driving (and amused during the day) with our two way radios. The total driving time was a little over 13 hours.

About two weeks after we got here and after moving to three different temporary living facilities (they are basically hotel rooms on base) our belongings arrived! We...actually I... cleaned our house while Todd went through his in-processing tasks. I even lined my kitchen and bathroom shelves. (Impressive-I know!) My mom will be so proud when she sees them! We bought new furniture, a huge piece of carpet for the living room (the whole house has wood floors), a new washer and dryer, painted accent walls in our living room, hung up pictures...we made it look like a home!

However, we recently got a notice stating that our housing area is being renovated and we have to move because we are in Phase I of the renovation process. Isn't it funny how we have been here for about 2 months and we are in phase I of the construction? That was good planning on their part... Grrr! We actually met with the director of housing today and she said we do not have to move until August (the hottest month of the year....Yeah!!). Anyway, that is when Todd has track select (that is when you go from flying T-6's to flying T-1's, T-38's, or T-44's) In Todd's case, this will be the transition time between flying T-6's and T-1's. On the bright side, they are trying to work with us and I think they are going to have our new house painted for us like we have it now...so I will not have to do that again!

Other than that, things are going good down here. Todd started his 12 hr days and is doing well. His class is actually the first class in over a year to not have anyone fail a test up to this point in the program (and let me inform you that a failure is getting 8 question wrong out of 47...that is a darn good achievement I think!) Todd started his long days and my 60 hr work weeks will come to a close here in a few days...figures! (If you don't already know,I am working for a CPA firm down here in MS) I was very lucky to find a job and the people here are extremely nice! However, I am very excited for tax season to be over and looking forward to going back to a normal schedule.

Before I forget, everyone has been asking what our house looks like, so I thought that I would share some pictures with you. It's an older house but we like it! Here you go...

Here is the front of the house...we are on the left side (you can kind of see the flowers on the bushes starting to bloom. They are looking so pretty!)

Kitchen-before we moved in

Living Room/Dining Room-before we moved in

Kitchen-After (you can't see much of a difference from this angle but it looks "lived in" now)

Living Room/Dining Room-After (what a stud...he is hard at work!)

Another angle of our living room. (There is Rico!)

The back door area-our new couch and shelves!

Our little table (with 2 new chairs that I searched hours on the internet for...they look like a set! At least close enough for us!)

Last but not least, our back yard/ dirt pile. It is nice that it is kind of private and no one is living behind us.

So there it is...that is our home away from home! Well, it is getting late and we are very sleepy. Todd's show time tomorrow is at 5:30a.m. and I have a big day ahead of me too! Hugs to you all...we love you and miss you very much! Good night!