Mom and Dad here and gone

Well, yup, there goes another REALLY long break without putting up any posts...oops again. I'm so bad at this! Anyways, last week I got through my 4th Formation ride and Mom and Dad got here Thursday night around 730 or so. I was really looking forward to them getting here! Ryan picked them up at the gate as I was still in the squadron, and then I got back as soon as I coule and that's when these next two pictures were taken:

It was so great to see them again! I saw Dad a couple of months ago when he came through Montgomery, but I hadn't seen Mom since I left Chester on my last birthday to come here. (Things like that always seem to fall on my birthdays!) I'm so thankfuly that they were able to make it through, as they'll be leaving for Indonesia again in September, and it will be a long time before I'll get enough of a break from training to go over there and visit, probably at least a year and a half or so.

So Thursday night we just chatted for a while and then I had to work on putting together a low-level map for a sim the next day. Poor Dad ended up passing out on top the air mattress we had set up in the 'office'. They'd been on the road over 12 hours from Kansas, so I know they were both tired! I was originally going to put them up in billeting here on base, but the soonest I could have gotten them a room would have been Saturday, so it wasn't worth it. Looking back I'm glad it didn't work out, though I think they're living arrangements would have been more comfortable, but at least I got to spend the maximum amount of time with them here!

Friday I had to work, of course, and I had a formation ride that morning as well! No one was available in the squadron to show them around or anything while I flew, but Ryan was able to take them out to a road parralleling where I'd be taking off so that they still got to see me lead the formation off! It was a really cool ride because it was me in one jet with a Reserve Lt. Col. in the back, and the other jet was a Reserve Maj. solo. Both of them are really nice to fly with, and this way I got to focus almost completely on my own training as the Major was really quick in getting into fingertip on rejoins and all so that we maximized our time out in the MOAs. Here's one of the shots Dad took of us taking off:

I got home around 8 that night, and Mom had put together a really delicious meatloaf with potatoes and broccoli. I've also got tons of leftovers from all our meals here too, which I love! We watched some tv afterwards while chatting and and then picked up National Treasure 2 which none of us had seen and watched that together! Saturday we all slept in and then I took them on a short tour of the base including a flight line stroll and some close up looks at the planes. It was just so hot out there, though! We were all just sweating and Mom and Dad kept walking in every bit of shade they could find! :)

We then did some shopping at the BX and commissary and then came back home. I made waffles for lunch while Mom cooked up the sausage and we had my weekly weekend-waffle meal. Then later that afternoon we went to the malls and JCPenny where they were having some sales Mom and Dad wanted to check out. They got sports coats for Dad and Ken at a great price. Sounds like Kenny will have to where a coat and tie 3 days a week, so he definately needed another one. We swung by Sonic on the way back and then chilled that evening. I also made my promised steak dinner, and it turned out great! Mom even said it was one of the best steaks she'd ever had! We also had some really good sweet-potatoes on the side, and it turned out to be a great meal! I've got a couple of nice seasoning that put on my steaks, and they don't even need steak sauce most of the time. I was really glad they turned out! We then sat around chatting and watched 16 Blocks on TV before hitting it.

Sunday went really well too. We ended up getting into the adult Sunday school just after they started, so we sneaked into one of the more open rows of chairs while they were getting prayer requests. They also had Dad stand up and introduce himself and Mom. We then had a chance to meet a few of the special people at Lighthouse before the morning service. The service went really well too, and Pastor had a great salvation message. Then we went out to eat with the Sanders and Fishers among others at the Country Buffet in town which had a good selection of some pretty good chinese food. It was really great for them to get to know some of the people here who've meant so much to me! We then took Sunday afternoon naps and made it to the prayer meetings before the evening service. Dad then opened the service in prayer and was given some time to share about the ministry in Indonesia. On the way home I tried to take them to Little Duey's for some BBQ, but they were closed so we went to Kroger and picked up some frozen pizzas instead. Then we swung by blockbuster again and picked up Enchanted (only because Mom wanted to see it, of course...yeah...that's it) and watched that with pizza and a good batch of cinnamon rolls Mom had heard about from Michelle and picked up. It was actually a hilarious movie, especially with that little chipmunk!

Monday Mom and Dad got up early to start packing, and then I woke up in time to see them off after praying together in the kitchen. It was so wonderful to see them again, although it definately felt way too short! I just praise the Lord that they were able to make it through here!

Monday I had no flights and just an RSU spotter-upgrade tour during the afternoon, so it was a pretty light day. Then we worked out in the evening after I got back until past 9; now that's dedication! Then today, our report time was not until 1300, but I had a brief that started at 11. I was flying a point-to-point VFR navigation sortie, so I got up this morning to plan everything out before the flight. Even then it wasn't 100% done by the time it was time to start briefing with the flight commander. This mission barely made it off the ground, though! Every time I fly with our flight commander we have difficulties with the jet and it's always a VERY interesting flight, and that held true today as well! We got everything briefed up, and he stepped me through some of the nav-specific stuff. Then we rushed out the door to get going as quickly as possible as he had a tight turn to his next flight. Of course, our jet was the only one in an entire row that was not under the sun shade, even though a good 4 or 5 of the shaded ones were not being used. Then we got to the jet, and the aux wasn't holding a charge so we had to call maintenance over for that. Then we finally got the canopy closed and engine started, and then the canopy light came back on! So we had to shutdown again, (and it was REALLY hot out there too!), open and close the canopy, and try it again. Luckily, even though the battery was of course a little weak after just starting, it made it back up again, and the canopy light held off. It was so hot in that jet today, that when my sleeve slipped up and the skin under my wrist touched the metal seat belt, it burned me! Then my flight commander sat on his, and it did the same thing to his behind! It was just miserable, I had sweat just pooling down my face. Anyways, somehow we made it all the way to 13 (of course, today we HAD to be on the farthest end of the runway too!) and made it off the ground somehow right within our flight time!

The VFR flight was a lot of fun. Basically you have everything timed out on your map, and you hack the clock to keep track of where you should be. But then we bumped up our speed to move things along, and I had to change all the calcs in the air. However, after seeing for the first 3 or so points that I knew what I was doing, he let me just use the GPS. We were at 4500 feet, and there was a good broken cloud layer there that we had to dodge in VFR. So I was being real easy about it, and he was like, 'I have the jet; this is how you dodge clouds!' Needless to say, it was a fun couple of minutes after that, and then he gave me the jet back to continue. So we had a good time dodging through those clouds to stay VFR. I plannded the trip out to the wet to Yazoo, MS and then we came back. I had it planned first to get us right over the Mississippi river into Luisianna, but that was a little too far for the time we had today. All in all it was a great ride. So, by the time we got back, the rest of the class was still in formal brief, and after we debriefed I was done for the day! So I stuck around for a couple of hours and then headed out and ran some errands before Ryan and I hit the gym again. Today we both just did 45 minutes on the elipticals since we both did weights yesterday. That a good 650 calorie burn right there!

This coming Thursday is my day-night out and back. The first leg will be another VFR leg to Meridian this time where we'll shoot a bunch of approaches. Then I'll meet up with another guy from my flight there and his IP and we'll go get dinner before flying a night IFR flight back. That will leave just 5 nav rides for the cross country this weekend and I'll be nav complete leaving only 3 more events to my I-check! Things are moving quickly! I'm also leading the class in formation right now too, so I'm happy to be just trucking along. Let me get it over with, man!