Monday, July 28, 2008

Air Force Week

OK. So, I am mildly excited that it is Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. It's exciting because it means that Discovery Channel is entering it's new season. All sorts of new shows to waste time watching. Shark Week is not as exciting as last week though. Last week was Air Force week for Tiffany and I!

On Wednesday, we drove down to the Barry M. Goldwater Range south of Gila Bend. We went down there with a friend from Luke AFB, some cadets, our nephew and another friend. On the range, we watched some A10's and F16's bombing and strafing! Watching an A10 strafe is very exciting and loud.

After spending a few hours at the range, we traveled back to Luke to fly the 360 degree simulator. After flying around for a few minutes, they set me up to land the jet. I had a great time landing the jet- I didn't crash and I stopped before the end of the runway! The simulator is infinitely more exciting to fly than any of the Microsoft simulators... =)

As an added bonus to the day, we actually were able to walk out and sit in the base commanders F16! Wow...

On Friday, we drove back to the base to watch power plant mechanics cycle an F16 in the hush house. One of our friends from church is an instructor on jet engines. After the engines are repaired, they need to be tested. For the first run, we sat behind glass and watched the jet fire the afterburners. It was very exciting! For the second run, we actually stood in the same room as the jet and watched it again! It was incredible! The sound, rumbling and light was spectacular. I have since learned that this experience is a very rare treat. All of our pilot friends have yet to experience this! Of course, I have yet to experience flying one! =)

Having such a large base near our house is great! I am proud of our military and thankful for the many friends that we are making through our church (We have a lot of people from the Air Force that attend our church). Tiffany and I have been building relationships with many of them and are thankful for their dedication to this country!

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

July 4th in San Diego

Today was a day of reality. The reality that fun and vacations pass too quickly and work comes back too soon!

On July 3, I got off work a little early to go to a Diamondbacks game. The Dbacks were playing the Brewers. We had great seats! Most of the game was a huge let down. The Brewers were ahead 5 to 0 when the bottom of the 9th inning began. Many of us decided to flip out hats inside out and cheer for the Dbacks. The game ended 5 to 6! The Dbacks made a great rally and overcame the Brewers. It was very exciting to be at the game and see them rally like they did. Unfortunately, it was short lived. They started off well this year and seem to be falling off mid-season. Oh well- I am still going to cheer for them!

That evening, we went to see Wall-E at the drive in theater. Our niece and nephew came with Tiff's mom. It was a lot of fun. At the end of the movie, a lightning storm moved into the valley. I call it a lightning storm because it was everywhere, but there was no thunder. We did get a little rain with it, but not much. The lightning was spectacular! Cloud to cloud and cloud to ground. With all of this open space, I am not used to seeing so many bolts so clearly!

On July 4, Tiffany and I drove to San Diego with Chris and Lauren. I had a bunch of Marriot points from work, so we stayed at a brand new Courtyard by the airport- It was nice. We drove out to Point Loma that afternoon and enjoyed a wonderful fireworks display from the back of the hotel (San Diego floats 5 barges in the bay, so the view it expanded!). Our "son" from college flew down from LA to spend the night too.

On Saturday, we took a tour of the harbor and walked around the city for a while. It was a lot of fun. In the evening, we decided to watch a movie and stay out of the sun.

Sunday was spent relaxing at the beach. The marine layer did not clear out for most of the day, so it did not get too hot. The water was chilly at first, but it was nice once we got used to it. Chris and I enjoyed rolling with the waves and trying to overcome them.

On Monday, we walked around Mission Bay Beach for a while and ate lunch. On the way back to Phoenix, we drove through a monsoon storm. It was intense! I have rarely seen rain as hard as we did on this drive.

All in all, the 4th of July weekend was very memorable and fun. I am glad that we were able to spend it with friends and take a mini-vacation. It was also fun to remember this great country in which we live. We forget how great it is all too often!!