Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Frio

Dave and I are back from the Frio river trip that my family and several other families from my hometown take every year. This year was a little different than years in the past, people missing and such, but we had LOTS of fun none the less.

Luckily, Dave did not have to fly on Friday due to change of command ceremonies and things of the sort, so we were able to leave a lot earlier than anticipated. We got there and basically house hopped for the first several hours waiting on my parents to get there so we could decide whose house to stay in. They finally got there at about 8:00 on Friday night, so we decided to stay with some of our family friends. Dave and I had already been to hang out at "the rock" and were about to eat Fajitas when my parents arrived. I swear it took them 7 hours to get there, maybe more. Maybe it was the whole waiting process that seemed so long. It always happens that way. When you really want to see someone or really want to do something, the wait is always ten times longer than the time you actually spend seeing or doing what you waited so long for. Oh well, that's how things work. Sooo, we ate our fajitas and "Uncle Dickie's" famous Dickie Beans!!! then hung out with everyone for the rest of the night catching up on what everyone has been up to, telling fun stories, and of course, what we do best at the river, drinking.

Saturday, Becca woke me up at 10:00 to eat breakfast, then we made plans to go back and hang out at the river. You see, the Frio is EXTREMELY low right now, so there really isn't much floating going on, so we decided to just sit in the river and talk, laugh, and drink some more. After hanging at the river, we went back to our house, ate lunch, then went and bought tickets to see Stoney LaRue play at the House Pasture, a restaurant at the Frio. This is a time when I was really glad that I busted out the ole military ID instead of my regular old drivers license because they gave us half off of our tickets. I've decided to offer my military ID unless people ask for my DL because I really don't like asking for military discounts, but if they happen to notice that I am military and just give me the discount out of the goodness of their hearts, I will gladly accept it. Yes, it's official, new policy for me! Anyway, after we bought our concert tickets, mom basically had to pull dad away from the helicopter rides that are available there. Next year, we totally have to make sure dad gets to go on a ride. That is pretty much all he talked about the whole time and all he got to do was look at it. I feel bad he didn't get a chance to go, but time just did not permit. Sooo, then, we all went back to the house and started cooking dinner. Saturday was our family's night to cook, so mom helped me put the finishing touches on the Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream that I made, which turned out really well, then I made the hash brown potato casserole, mom made the salad and macaroni and cheese, and dad cooked the steaks and chicken. We all ate, then got ready to go to the concert. We had so much fun there. The weather was comfortable, the music was good, and the company was even better. Plus, David and I haven't been to a concert in such a long time that just being surrounded by lots of music and fun loving people gave you no choice but to have a great time. After the concert, we all went back to the house and hung out.

Sunday, we woke up at around 10:00 again, I love sleeping in, and had a meager breakfast, then went to Garner State Park after saying goodbye to my parents. I always hate telling them goodbye. We are still stationed in Texas, but we are still so far away from them that we don't get to see them near as much as we would like and every time we do get to see them, the time goes by so quickly. The next time I will get to see them is when my niece is being born. How strange is that. There is going to be another member of our family in less than a month. Wow, I am really that old. WOW! Oh, my, what a tangent. Our trip to Garner was good. Very relaxing and nice to see a different part of the Frio than we had before. Also a great potential camping location for the fall or next spring. We shall see. After we left Garner, we basically went back to the house, changed clothes and left to come home.

On the drive home, we decided we wanted to try to eat out somewhere, so we stopped to eat at the place called Brackett Burger and Shake. A little diner that some of our friend had suggested we try on one of our trips to or from San Antonio. So, luckily they were open and we indulged. If you want a good sandwich, onion rings, or curly fries, that is certainly the place to go. Dave was so impressed that he said he was sad we hadn't eaten there before. We will be trying it again sometime, so will have more things to recommend. Maybe even some tasty Mexican food. Who knows. We were able to make it back to the house by about 7:30 I guess, then unpacked and things of the sort.

Now, we are back to the week routine. Dave is flying and I am hanging out with friends, sewing, working out, and doing wifely duties, or at least trying to do so. Now, the talk around is plans for July 4th. Hopefully the lake and lots of hanging out with friends! We shall see. I'll keep you posted on anything fun that comes along, until then, Don't count the days, Make the days COUNT!!!

Lana

Thursday, June 19, 2008

As some of you requested or suggested...

Okay, so since all of my friends are doing this, I'm going to be a follower and do the same! I am not much of a writer, and very little of my life is interesting, but I agree that it is a GREAT way to keep everyone posted on current events in our lives.



Currently, I am on SUMMER VACATION!!!!! I'll tell you what, I love my job right now! Actually, I love my job most days, even when it's not summer vacation or any vacation for that matter. I am a Pre-K teacher at Cardwell Headstart and work with 3,4, and 5 year olds. I basically teach them how to write their names, numbers, letters, their colors, shapes, numbers, letters, and lots and lots of social skills. In the fall, I will start my third year at Cardwell and am so blessed to have some continuity for my resume when we have to move the next time. Sooooo, seeing as how it is summer vacation, these days, I spend all day doing exactly what I want. I have made it my personal goal to work out and get back into shape this summer so hopefully, I'll be able to keep it up into the next school year. So far, I am doing well. The only problem I see is that if I am "on vacation" (meaning being away from my house visiting people or doing things) I tend to want to CELEBRATE a little too much. Hopefully, I can learn to have some self control. If not, I'll just work extra hard to make up for it.



David is currently instructing Undergraduate Student Pilots. He teaches them how to fly the T-6 Texan, a little two seat prop plane. This, for most UPT(Undergraduate Pilot Training) students is the second airplane they have ever flown. The one they fly before is a little prop plane as well, but they only get enough hours to basically learn how to land without killing themselves. (This may be a little bit of a warped view, but in my mind, it's totally reality. This is MY HUSBAND these kids are flying with! AHHHHH!) ANYWAY, David is basically teaching these guys and girls the fundamentals of flying. T-6's is the Kindergarten of piloting we'll say... (I had to add some teacher parallels in there. I know too many teachers for me to not relate pilot training to teaching in some way.) He has only been instructing for about 2 weeks now, but seems to really like it. And my favorite part of it all is that he is waaaayyyy less stressed out when he comes home. I like living here as an instructor's wife a whole lot more than as a student's wife.



Today, I had to go up to David's flight room to bring him a change of clothes because he soloed a student out in formation today and they threw him in the solo pool.( A tradition we'll say, when someone gets to fly by themselves for the first time either just them in a plane, or just them in a plane flying against another plane, i.e. formation solo. After the flight, their classmates, or students in Dave's case, throw them into a big cattle water trough full of disgusting water.) I thought all of that crazy boy stuff would be reserved for the students, not the instructors. Oh well, everyone seemed to be excited about it when I went up there. The good news is that when Dave solos someone out, they have to give him a gift, usually of the alcoholic persuasion.... We'll see though.



For the rest of the day however, no big plans, except.... yes that's right, working out at our lovely fitness center. Then cook dinner for my handsome husband, then get ready to go to the Frio River tomorrow for some relaxation and hanging out with fabulous friends and family. I'll let you know how it goes...



Lana