Life Happenings: General Life Happenings

Life Happenings: General Life Happenings

Wings, Family, and Vacation

At the end of last month Traver recieved his wings of Gold and is officially a Naval Aviator! I am so proud of him, he has accomplished so much and has worked so hard to get to where he is now. We found out that we will be moving to Lemoore, CA where he will learn to fly the F/A-18 Super Hornet in squadron VFA-122! We were thrilled with this because it was our first choice to go to Lemoore and it was his first choice to fly Super's! We will be so much closer to family and friends and be on the best coast! Now if only they would cut us orders so we could know where we are leaving! 

The winging week was great because both Traver and my parents came out for it, so we got to see family and celebrate all together! We all got the chance to go into the T-45 (the plane Traver flew here in training) simulator, which was really realistic and much more challenging than we imagined it would be. It was fun to show the parents around the squadron and for them to see where Traver works everyday. We also got the opportunity to go out to the runway and watch other students come in for touch-and-go landings! It was incredibly loud but awesome at the same time! They even had a family day at the squadron where we got to meet Traver's CO and they gave out awards to the guys for different things they did throughout flight school. Traver got an award for excellent bombing skills and also for having the highest grades at the aircraft carrier when they went out to land! I even got an award for my wonderful work as a student naval aviator spouse, haha, it was funny but also greatly appreciated! The winging ceremony itself was great, it was fun to get to pin Traver's wings of gold on his chest, he even got me a wing pendant that I wear all the time now!

After all the official stuff was over, we went to lunch with the other guys from VT-9 (Traver's squadron) at one of their houses and got all the family together and it was great! That night was the winging party, which my mom, Janice, and I had arranged for all the food and cake. We BUILT and aircraft carrier cake, it was AWESOME! Everyone was super impressed that we had made it because it looked pretty realistic! We even had plastic airplanes landing and taking off of it, which ended up either stolen or crashed into the cake by the end of the night! The party was great, all our best friends were there and we got a chance to celebrate with everyone! The next morning we all (Traver and I and the parents) took off for Pensacola, FL. It was nice to show them where we so often go for weekend getaways. They got to see the beach, which was luckily all cleaned up after the oil spill and we took them to a favorite restaurant of ours, Mcquires, its an awesome Irish Pub that we go to most times we are there. We even got to take them to the Naval Aviation Museum. All in all it was a great trip and it was great to have the parents here for it! 

We didnt have long after the parents left before we left on leave to drive up to Annapolis. We camped our way up (Boeing too), stopping in Ft. Payne, AL for one night (worst nights sleep ever, hott and muggy, gross) and then we stopped in the Great Smoky Mountains for another night which was awesome, it was beautiful in the mountains (and cooler). We then drove up to Reston, VA to stay with my cousins and go to a wedding in Annapolis. The wedding was great and it was fun to see some of Traver's classmates we hadnt seen in a while. Boeing made good friends with my cousin's dog T-Bone and they got to swim and run and play alot, I think he is lonely and bored at home now, haha! We spent three nights there and then went down to Lake Anna where my great aunt and uncle live and stayed two nights with them. We camped one more night on the way home in the Great Smoky's, which was almost a disaster, since the campground we planned to go to was up a deserted, overgrown, dirt road, we went almost all the way up when we decided it wasnt worth getting stuck, crashing... where there is no cell service and no way anyone will ever find us! Boy it was nice to get home after that! 

All together we traveled 2251.5 miles on the trip and spent a total of 40 hours and 52 minutes driving (that isnt including stops that is actual driving time)! 

Now we are just trying to get the house back to normal, and Im preparing to go out to Cali for a job interview in Fresno and to do some house hunting in Lemoore for when we finally get orders and get to move! It should be pretty exciting! Ill let you know how it goes! 

Live it UP!!!!!!