Month of the military child

In addition to Thanksgiving festivities galore, November also hosts the Month of the Military Child and the girls loved the celebration on base.  It was nice to see the entire chain of command get involved--the wing commander and his wife even handed out medals and care packages to each child with a deployed parent.  This is something I might not have appreciated as much before I was a parent, because I have now experienced firsthand, and repeatedly, the struggles each child faces when their parent leaves--no matter how young they are.  Even while Matt's participation in ROTC and pilot training have left him stateside the past three years, the time commitment and schedule uncertainty of these endeavors certainly take their toll on his relationship with the kids, and they are such amazing troopers.  They have developed such a good and patriotic attitude about his and our family's mission and have developed such a strong, special, and unique (in terms of unprecedented roughhousing) bond with their dad.

I was also in considerable awe when I saw how many dual-military parents served at our AFB.  Considering Matt and I met in the military--and saw dual careers in our future--until pregnancy hormones hit and I decided to separate after 5 years' served--primarily d/t fear of dual-deployment--although probably even one deployment would kill me [I am an extremely hover-y mother...the most time I spent apart from either one of my girls was when I was in the hospital giving birth to my youngest--and my oldest still visited every day].

Here are some cute memories from the day:

Hula-hoop & ice cream eating contests:

Glamming it up with camo face paint:

The scorpion flight

Today I learned that the different flights within each squadron correspond with different animal patches.  Matt's S flight is "The Scorpions".  The other half of his 12-15 class is the R ("Rhinoceros") flight--which I was slightly wishing Matt had been assigned to, given our youngest daughter's intense love of rhinos, but that desire quickly abated when we saw that flight's charging rhino door logo, promoting Little Sis to scream and bolt away from "the angry rhino".  The scorpion logo looks more like a big--but calm and nonaggressive--bug...or lobster, as the kids see it.

The girls and I were gifted this insider perspective this afternoon, as all the UPT T6 flights hosted trick or treating for pilot students' and IPs' kids.  Each class decorated their part of the hall, some more spookily than others, and everyone's kids dressed up to trick or treat and spend some coveted time with their busy moms/dads.  I thought this was such a nice thing for the flights to do, as the UPT schedule is very grueling on families, and can be confusing to kids, due to its lack of regularity.  While a good number of the students are fresh-out-of-college newlyweds, there seem to be only 1-3 students per class with kids, so I was very touched and appreciative that the squadrons reached out to include the families in this way.

The girls, as Princess Jasmine and "Princess Jasmine's friend the Purple Butterfly Princess", posing with their dad, who is sporting an elephant cap (for a very economical version of Abu the monkey in elephant form).  I sported a similar cap--a tiger for an economical Raja.  :o)

The girls posing by a cute penguin pilot at the squadron entrance:

Next month, we are also looking forward to a "day in the life"-style open house/tour to get a better picture idea of what our Matt is going through.  Speaking of Matt, the poor guy threw up more times than he could count during his flight today and is officially on "air sickness cap", which means he is progressing toward the 3- and 5-day spin programs, but first gets to enjoy 3 days of flying while using anti-motionsickness pills--a treat that will hopefully breathe enough passion and enthusiasm for flying into him to last until he overcomes the airsickness obstacle!

1st episode of airsickness

Sooo...Matt had his second flight today, boasting more advanced maneuvers and higher G's (5, as opposed to 2).  He threw up three times, twice in the same bag d/t a slight lack of foresight on his part (he is responsible for stocking his own barf bags for each flight).  The girls and I came home from a base housing Halloween shindig around 8pm to find him sprawled on the floor, moaning a bit, with puffy eyes.  The girls jumped on his belly a bit (he has extremely unusual/quasi-violent bonding rituals with them), which he said actually helped.

He did manage to muster enough energy to entertain his flight that evening with a large study/chitchat session at our house, collapsing, however, within about 15 minutes after they left...and pretty much ruining my attempt at watching "Grey's Anatomy" tonight as the study session was in the family room, and as he has also taken to sleeping there, in our oversized recliner--due to snoring/dry throat and GI issues that are severely exacerbated when he lies flat.  Normally I wouldn't mind, particularly as the kids wound down fairly quickly, even after realizing company was here, and still managed to go to bed nicely.  However, this has been a pretty crazy-busy week for me as well...and I was really looking to multitask holiday cream cheese on wheat ghost sandwiches with "Grey's", "The Office", and possibly champagne.

On a more fun note, these are the cute cream cheese ghosts!  My oldest is bringing these and carrot sticks in for her class snack tomorrow.  :o)

Dollar ride!

Matt's dollar ride went splendidly.  To start, he flew during sunset, so the view must have been spectacular--although he didn't mention it, noting only that he needed to be landed before dark as night flying had not yet been tackled in his intimidating syllabus yet.  The best part is that he did not get airsick!!  Considering everyone else in his class did, this is some strong evidence of the Barany chair's capabilities.  He said that he "dry heaved" a bit at the end, but the episode was mild enough to be classified merely as what is "typical" of one's first flight in a jet.

I am thankful I got some pix of another guy's dollar ride yesterday, because I really did not capture Matt's well.  I had the zoom lens ready to go, but I have yet to figure out how to take good pictures when both lights and motion are combined and the aircraft lighting really blurred up every pic.  Photos aside, I am thrilled Matt's first flight was in the late afternoon, so the girls and I could enjoy it together.  There were about 5 planes up in the air at that time, so I didn't know exactly which one was his, but I went with my gut and picked one, telling the girls, "That's your daddy up there...flying!"  They were both extremely excited and giggly about this.  Such a different feel in saying that and actually letting them see him in the air, as opposed to just talking about it.  I know they will be beside themselves (as will I) in a few short weeks when we get to observe his first solo from the flight tower!

S.E.R.E. training

The girls picked out some scrumptious nom noms from the New Orleans Insectarium during our recent trip down south, including a regular bug-shaped lollipop, a strawberry pop with a scorpion inside (kinda like a twisted tootsie pop)--and two boxed delights for their Dad:

The girls and I whipped up a baked egg delight for him this morning, which he heartily and good-naturedly woofed down.

Baked egg and vegetables with salsa, mexican waxworm, and salt & vinegar cricket topping:

He compared the crisped bugs to shrimp skin, which is also chitin-rich (and a great source of protein!), and noted that it is great practice for S.E.R.E. training (mandatory for Active Duty pilots prior to their first assignment), where he will be eating far worse.

Making the most out of daddy time

Although the four of us are blessed in that we live together, which was not "the plan" when Matt entered active duty in early July, "daddy time" is still a hot commodity, due largely to Matt's study time and evening residence in the mancave.  So, we really try to make the most of what we get, which includes a lot of good, old-fashioned at-home time (the girls LOVE to jump/climb on their daddy as well as watch him play Mario on the Wii).  There's not a ton of local outing-type things to do around here, so...being as we have a swing set in the backyard, and a neighborhood full of playmates, we are bona fide homebodies--more so than ever before.  Which I love!!  Definitely a lot more quality time and a lot less busy time!  Also a great opportunity to save $$.

One place we do frequent about once every two weeks (thanks to our annual membership, which has already paid for itself!) is Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse.  This facility, part of the Oklahoma Museum Network, boasts exclusively kid-friendly exhibits, including an extensive animal section (workers frequently bring the critters out to meet museum guests) and a huge outdoor castle-themed playground.  The girls' preschool/kindergarten up the street also takes frequent field trips here, and that is how I first learned of this gem.

Every fall, Leonardo's hosts an annual Princess Ball, exclusively for daddies and daughters (moms aren't even allowed in to take pictures!).  Well, this year Matt had a pair of beautiful young princesses (Snow White and Belle) as his dates and they had a marvelous time.  I spent about an hour getting them dressed/doing hair and makeup and then we did a cute photo shoot outside.  Both are huge hams and are really into dramatic princess poses.  ;o)

Daddy and his princesses at the ball:

What a night!  We are already looking forward to next year's!