New Year, New Plane

Well out with the old and in with the new!

Most of January was spent waiting around for the first F-35 to show up.  After MONTHS (months and months and months and months and months and OK a year+) delay the first plane was due to show up!!  We had a few false alarms due to weather.  Apparently this multimillion dollar Wonder Woman jet can't fly in anything but perfect and I do mean PERFECT weather!!  I kid of course, but essentially we had to wait for the best conditions.

As is par for the course with EVERYTHING surrounding this airplane we found ourselves being held hostage by the arrival.  We were on a 1.5hr standby for almost 9 days!! 

FINALLY not one but two F-35's launched from Texas and landed at Eglin.  It was a pretty emotional day for everyone involved. Especially so for Jim and the rest of the Marines who had been there since the beginning making sure everything was ready.  Hopefully they won't have to wait as long to fly them as we waited for them to get here!!

Shortly after these two planes showed up, a third one landed and this one had Jim's name on it!!

With that event FINALLY out of the way we could get back to just some day to day living.  Our time in Florida was getting short.  Seems like January was flying by!  It was hard to cram in all the "fun times" and dinners and even goodbyes to everyone.  We had the opportunity to go bowling for a friend's birthday.  The kids love bowling.  Usually they have the little ramp to help them get the ball down the lane, but this time they actually had to "bowl".  I am not sure how many foot faults they had but it was significant and only out numbered by the dropping of the bowling balls on the floor.  I am sure the alley is going to have to replaced the dented floorboards. 

The kids also got in some final playtime with friends.  We had a few sleep overs, movie dates and dinners out.  Basically the kids got rewarded after lots of bad behavior.  I am sure that will come back to haunt us when we get to Rhode Island.  I assume future Grayson and Jim have a plan for reigning that back in.

Ben and his buddy Richard

And no, this wasn't left over from Halloween.  Just a typical day of raiding the dress up box.  I am not really sure about the hip action that Bat Girl is demonstrating, but we have been seeing a lot of head tittling and hip thrusting.  It is disturbing to say the least.

We all knew it was coming, but really wanted it to happen in an F-35, (sigh) not even close.  Jim had his last (potentially) flight in a military air craft during January.  While he has been at Eglin he was able to fly the Air Force F-16.  The actual plane he flew was built in 1986!! How ironic that he flew in the oldest military aircraft on base when the newest sat in a hanger a few hundred yards away.  In typical military fashion, at the end of your last flight you get doused with champagne.

So Jim was expecting that.  He was not expecting the TWO 5 gallon coolers of water to be dumped on his head right after this picture was taken!!  Neither was Ben!  He took off running down the flight line and one of the Marines had to chase him down.  Nanny, Papa, Ben and I had gone in to see Jim land and to witness the event. There is a chance that he will fly another plane, but it won't be for at least 3 years!

Nanny and Poppa came into town to bring a table that Papa had made to replace the three legged table I had from college.  I loved that table, but it routinely kicked the kids butt.  If they leaned on it, it would tip.  Lots of "accidents" are attributed to that.  So Papa to the rescue!!  He made me a lovely four legged rectangle table that will serve us for years to come!  THANK YOU!!!

Of course while we had him in Florida, we put Papa to work fixing the damage we had done to the rental house.  He fixed several things to which we will be eternally grateful.  Can you say full security deposit back!!The most important being Jim's chest of drawers that we bought from IKEA before we left Tampa.  Stylish, but not built to withstand the rigors of constant moving.  Of course now, I daresay it would be able to face down a hurricane!!  Papa complained that he had never had to work in such squalid conditions.  We had him in the garage with basically no tools and working off cardboard boxes as a table.  If there is any truth to keeping the brain working to ward off alzheimer's, then WT has nothing to worry about after this trip!

Oscar likes the dresser better this way

Next month will be a busy one!  Sure to be filled with fun-filled "adventures" such as the long-awaited (and much anticipated by me at least) Change of Command and the move to the land of ice and snow (Rhode Island).