Pictures, pictures, and more pictures

This post is the pictorial story of our adventure this past month - along with a lot of cute Zaylee pictures.
This Picture and the next series of pictures are of our teeny tiny little bitty hotel room in OKC. This is a picture of our bedroom, it was so small that we couldn't fit Zaylee's crib in there, and since we didn't want the cats sleepy in the same room as our baby we had to put their litter/food/water/etc... in there - it was awesome.

Just a note - Peyton is probably the greatest dog ever

Ok, here is the first of many Amazing Zaylee pictures; Peyton may be the greatest dog ever, but Zaylee is the cutest baby ever.

She does have a thing for our cats, but she tends to grab their fur and pull/twist - they don't like it very much. This is a funny picture to me though, it reminds me of one of those old corny monster movies where the bumbling monster reaches for a villager and everyone screams/scrambles. Just picture it - it works

We also started Zaylee on baby mush this month, and she loves it! Just be careful not to feed her the same veggie twice in the same day, lets just say we didn't like the aftermath.

Daddy's Girl

This was probably one of the cutest moments of our travels. Staying in the hotel on our way to OKC, we decided to take Zaylee swimming - she laughed, played, and had a overall great time.

Proud Pappa

This is are awesome caravan to OKC - Amber drove the highlander with Zaylee and the kitties, I drove the uhaul with Peyton in the cab and my Grand Prix in tow. Our total weight of stuff moved came to 13,700lbs.

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Zaylee made a friend - Thomas - but I think I might have to activate my D.A.D.D. membership (Dads Against Daughters Dating) if this continues, he's a little too forward in the next picture.

The next series of pictures are from our moving experience - we greatly appreciate all the help everyone gave us

This is the first of three pictures where the grandparents try posing with a very uncooperative Zaylee

Hey Everyone!

So I know everyone has been wanting to know how it is here in OKC, and you may be thinking 'there they go, slacking again'. But thats not the case! I promise. For the past 3wks we've been living in this teeny tiny little bitty hotel room, that was about 5 blocks from the nearest internet source (the lodging office). Just getting there was challenge when you have a little 5mo old baby that goes to bed at 8ish, and then once you get there, they have security settings in place that don't allow you to get on social sites like Facebook, blogs, etc... So its been rough trying to keep all of you fans out there up to date on things here, but thats about to change.

I've been "working" - if you could call it that - going in for a few hours here and there and then I'm home most of the time. Amber has been spending most of her time with Zaylee, and when she's not taking care of the baby she can be found cleaning, painting, working out, etc... We did find a house - YEAH! - In south Moore, OK (about 15-20min away from base). It needs some paint and some other minor work done to it, but we really like it. Here are some pictures:

Front of the House

Master bedroom

Master Bathroom - it also has a shower and walk in closet

This picture was taken from the main entry way lookin into the living room

This is our living room (none of the furniture is ours)

Sinks in the guest bathroom

Living Room

Backyard - It doesn't have the biggest backyard, but there's nobody behind us, which is a rarity for many of the housing additions

Back Porch

Right now Amber and Zaylee are in Indiana - they flew there yesterday. Peyton and I are staying with a friend of ours until we close on the house, and the kitties got the shaft - they're staying in a kennel until we move into our house because my friend is allergic to cats. Well thats about all I know. Talk to you later everyone!

We're Here!

I apologize that many of you have been waiting a few days to hear from us about our mass exodus to Oklahoma. As you all know, me, Robbie, Zaylee, Peyton, and the kitties all loaded up in Columbus, MS on Friday the 31^st and got on the road around 11:00 am on Saturday morning. Me and Zaylee rode in the new SUV along with the kitties caged in the back. Peyton rode with Robbie in the cab of the truck which held all our earthly belongings and had our car connected via hitch on the back. It was quite a caravan! Things went very smoothly Saturday morning – Zaylee fell asleep in the car shortly after we left, Peyton settled down for a nap, and traffic was minimal. We made it to Tennessee, about 7 miles from Memphis before we had to stop for a break. At the Flying J, Robbie took Peyton for a walk, we gassed up both vehicles, I fed Zaylee and checked on the kitties, and Robbie and I ate lunch at the little restaurant connected to the truck stop. Overall, it was the perfect place to get everything done that needed to get done. In about an hour’s time, we were on the road again ready to reach our destination – the Holiday Inn Express in Lonoke, AR. We didn’t quite make it there all the way before Peyton (and Robbie) had to stop for a potty break. After a short stop at a gas station off I-40, we hit the road again and pulled into the Holiday Inn at about 5:20 pm. We got checked in and unloaded (which was quite a feat with a baby, two cats, and a dog, all of which had a lot of pent-up energy from being in the car all day!). That night we had just enough time to eat pizza, go swimming in the indoor pool (SO cute seeing Zaylee in the pool for the first time!), give Zaylee a bath, and go to bed. One day down, one to go.

The next morning, we were all a little sluggish to get going, but after a nice continental breakfast, we began the challenge of reloading all our stuff (and animals) back into their respective vehicles. We were ready to go by 10:00 am. Around 10:45 we stopped to gas up the vehicles and feed Zaylee her mid-morning meal. I got some coffee to go and we were off, zooming toward the AR-OK border. Our next stop around 1:25 pm was at the Oklahoma Welcome Center about 16 miles into Oklahoma on I-40. Here, we took Peyton for a walk, ate leftover pizza from the night before for lunch, fed and changed Zaylee, checked on the kitties again, and enjoyed some fresh air. It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the low 60’s! After our nice break, we were determined to reach our final destination at Tinker AFB before having to stop again.

The drive from the border to the middle of OK was long and bumpy, but by 5:00 pm, the base was in site. Getting onto base with such a large caravan was another story. We had to go to one particular gate in order to get our U-haul through and that took at least another 20 minutes. By this time, Zaylee was crying to eat (she usually eats around 5 pm). They had to search our moving truck before allowing us onto base, and then we had quite a bit of trouble figuring out were we needed to go to find our TLF (temporary lodging facility). Finally, at around 5:40 pm, we were in our TLF – or should I say, our very small hotel room with a stove. Robbie and I were both under the impression that the TLF would be about the size of a 3-bedroom house on base because at Columbus AFB, that’s what they are. Boy, were we surprised when we walked in and saw that the entire place was smaller than our hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express the night before! Working out the logistics of where to move furniture, where to put Zaylee’s bed, where to put Peyton’s crate, and how to keep the kitties from disturbing sleeping people at night was quite a challenge, that at first, seemed too exhausting to deal with. It was a hard night, but by 11:15 pm, we were going to bed in our new, thankfully temporary, home.

Robbie and I are hoping to find a house within the next week, and with all the financing and paperwork, we should only have to stay here about a month. Moving from here to our new house – well, that will be another story entirely.

I did want to say before I finish this blog entry how very thankful I am for the people we had surrounding us with prayer the last few days. It made a real difference for us. And I also can’t say enough thanks to all our friends who helped us pack up, load the truck, entertain baby Zaylee, take care of Peyton, and clean our house for final inspection during our entire moving process, and the entire month of January while Robbie was gone for that matter. We truly couldn’t have done it without you all. We can only hope and pray that our time in OK will grant us many more wonderful friends like the ones we had back in Columbus. We love all so very much and will miss you!

P.S. Pictures are coming soon!

Flying Pictures Cont.

I was sitting 'jump', meaning I was a passenger and not flying during this landing. At the bottom of this post is a video of this landing by Jeff Moon. Another picture from Jeff's landing, just from a different vantage point.
Columbus AFB from about 1500ft. We had just got done flying a low level and were coming back to land. Again, check out the video below.

The next three pictures are from one of the low levels that we fly. We usually fly these from 500' to 1500' depending on the bird condition. All over the US and especially where there are low levels, the Air Force has built small radar towers to detect bird movement. As you might have seen with the plane that landing in the Hudson (Go Sully!), birds are a constant threat that we pilots have to deal with. These radar towers are usually unreliable in my opinion, but it's the best technology we have at this time.





This is Jeff and our instructor or IP flying the low level.
A little hard to see, but there is a nuclear power plant that we're flying over.
My hometown, the great city of Bedford, IN from 10,000ft.
Near Bloomington, IN... I present you with Lake Monroe.

A close up view of downtown Indianapolis, IN. We took off from Indianapolis International that morning and as you can tell it was right before they tore down the RCA Dome. It was great to actually land and takeoff from an airport that I've used commercially before.
A panned out picture of Indianapolis.



























































































































































This is the video of the T-1 landing.


This is a video of a T-1 taking off that I took.

Flying Pictures!

.This is Amber flying in the T-6 simulator on her 'Red Carpet' day (when family members get to see what we do). It's kind of hard to see in these pictures, but the screen wraps around the sim 180 degrees.


This was near the end of my time in the T-6, it was very maneuverable and fun to fly.

This is a picture I took while on cross-country - meaning we would fly somewhere and stay the night.

The mighty T-6, this was my first flight.

Getting ready to fly the T-6 Texan solo - talk about a rush!

The Florida panhandle coast from the view of a F-15 fighter.

Just got out of the clouds... Pretty awesome in my opinion



Flying in formation through the clouds - I was more riding than flying because I hadn't gone through pilot training yet.

All the planes lined up ready to go - me and 3 other friends were really fortunate to get these rides at Tyndall AFB, FL.


I took this picture in Sept of '07 while flying in the back of the F-15D , it was on this flight that I filled up one of those airsick bags - yum...




I don't know why this blog does this, but this video is supposed to put this with the rest of the T-6 stuff. But anyway, this video was taken while I was starting up the engines on my first solo.

Welcome Home Robbie!

Robbie is home, and the entire household couldn't be more happy! I went and picked him up at the airport in Birmingham with another wife who was also picking up her husband from the same training. It was so great to see him! We got home around 10:30 pm. Zaylee was already asleep in her bed (we had our neighbors babysit while I was gone), so unfortunately Robbie had to wait until yesterday morning to see her smiling face. He did go in a peek on her - she looks like a little angel when she is sleeping so peacefully. He immediately said, "Oh my gosh! I can't believe how big she is!" Peyton immediately jumped for joy once he saw Robbie - and then proceeded to follow him around the house the entire rest of the night. The kitties even greeted him at one point or another.
It's so great to have him home, and just in time! The big move is 5 days away and we have a lot to do! I'll be back with more about that by the end of the week. Bye!

A Month of Adjustment

Just thought I'd log in another update on how we're all doing this month. This past weekend, my mom and dad came to help out with some big last-minute projects before the move. It was wonderful to see them and visit, and great to have their help! On Saturday, we patched up holes and painted over the beautiful purple walls in Zaylee's room. It was sad to see her room become so sterile once again. I loved her nursery and I plan to recreate it in our next home. Mom and I started packing in the kitchen, and Dad and I took apart the big corner desk in the office. Then Sunday after church, we had some help getting our fence apart from the guy who's buying it from us. That was a pretty labor-intensive task, but my dad took it like a champ and finished just before dark. So now, not only does Zaylee not have her familiar room, Peyton also has no backyard. In a way, it was a sad weekend of adjustment for them both.
But I suppose that's what this month is all about - adjustment and adaptation. I've also been a little out of my comfort zone being here with minimal food in the fridge (we're trying to get rid of it all before the move), no TV, and little interaction with the outside world. I keep reminding myself that in the end, this month of work will all be worth it.
And of course Robbie's had his share of adjustment this month as well. Whether it be adjusting to 4 ft of snow and sleeping under lean-to's in the wilderness, or going through mental combat in resistance training, or just getting used to being away from his little girl for a whole month, he's experienced many challenges, too.
But, we all seem to be making it through okay. I can't wait til we are all reunited again, have our house packed up, and we're pulling out ready to take on another new adventure in Oklahoma. God has always been here, guiding our steps, and may he continue to be with us each and every step of the way.