Laura's 1st Flight in a KC-135!

A couple of weeks ago rumors started flying around about a spouse's flight! Laura was on top of that like no other! When she was told that she had a seat waiting for her with her name on it, she was so excited! The day came, and Oh it was a beautiful day! The kids were at the neighbors and Laura was off to fly! Clay let Laura take his headset with her so she could listen to the pilots on the radio the whole flight (Laura quickly found out that she didn't understand very much. They talk really fast and in sooo much code. It gave her a better appreciation for what her husband had to learn during pilot training (well at least one part of it!). Laura was lucky enough to be able to be in the boom pod when one of the F-15s came up to refuel. She was able to have a front row seat to all the action. Then, after the refueling was done, the boom operator let Laura sit in the seat and move the boom around. Wow..that is really neat. Watching it in action, really makes you appreciate what these men and women are doing every day....Did I already say, WOW? Laura was also able to go up into the cockpit and watch the pilot and copilot in action... wow. Amazing experience. They didn't hand over the controls in the cock pit though..too bad, maybe next time! The only thing that would have made the day better would have been if Clay could have been on the flight with her, sharing the experience and telling her everything that was going on. But, since the USAF won't allow Active Duty pilots and their wives to be on the same flight, I guess we will have to either go Space A, or over seas! But, since Laura didn't have Clay, she was able spend the day among friends...which are a good second!

Why we are bigger fans of Sunscreen

Clay had to get a few stitches on his face after they removed a basal skin cancer from his left cheek. They say some of it is hereditary, but it is mostly from lots of sun exposure. The surgeon said that he mostly sees...pilots, who get sun exposure through the cockpit; farmers, who are exposed to a lot of sun by working in the fields; and I honestly can't remember the third.. but whatever it doesn't matter. The first two were the ones that caught our attention because BOTH of them applied to Clay...he is a pilot and he grew up on a farm, plus he spent two years in the Philippines, where he was exposed to a lot of sun too. But thank heavens, we got it taken care of now and not later....after removing a silver dollar size piece of skin they were able to declare that it was all gone. Clay is doing really well, we can't believe how quickly he is healing. What a blessing to have modern medicine and insurance! We also just bought Clay some SPF 70! And he is faithfully using it!

Visitor...

Keaton, an old buddy of Clay's from Dietrich, came up to Fairchild to do some training! Yipee...that means that we get to spend some time with old friends! Keaton was able to come over several times during his stay here. The boys latched onto Keaton really well! By the second night, Keaton was reading stories, wrestling on the floor, playing cars, etc. they were all best of buds. Hey, they were such good buddies, that Keaton decided to get married on Preston's upcoming birthday - April 11! (the date had already been decided, but we thought it was pretty neat!). Thanks for coming to see us Keaton...good luck with your wedding...Wendy looks and sounds like a neat girl!

Bowling and Roller Skating

We had a great Saturday! The base had a fun day at the fun spot....FREE food, bowling, mini golf, and roller skating! Free...yeah, that is a good price.. we are going! We never thought we would do ALL the activities...but we did! We started off with the bowling, which the boys LOVED! In the past, the boys' attention span usually lasted about half a game, then we were running after them trying to keep them near the lane so we could finish, but not this time! No, no...they were glued to the game, well, CJ was - CJ loved the fact that he could carry and throw the ball by himself, and watch the pins fall down. Preston also enjoyed carrying the ball and knocking down the pins, until he discovered the "Dance, Dance Revolution game" in the arcade room....after the discovery had been made, that was all he wanted to do: hear the music, see the lights, and dance! What a man!

Roller Skating was our next activity. We had never taken the boys roller skating, so we thought that they would last just a few minutes and be done...but no... the boys loved it and lasted as long as they physically could...Pizza was the only thing that pried CJ away from the skating floor; sleep was the thing that actually stopped Preston. He passed out on Mom's shoulder as they skated! They have already asked to go again....so I bet we will be skating quite a bit in the near future! Yipee.

Cute Cowboy and Camoflauge

Preston loves his motorcycles. He carries them around everywhere. We had a few days where we couldn't find them anywhere....devistation! We searched the entire house over and over again. Mom could remember the last time we saw them...we were reading stories one night, and Preston got restless and didn't want to hear the end of the story, so Laura finished it with CJ, and when the story was done....so were the motorcycles. We knew they couldn't be far, but Preston couldn't remember where he put them and we had no clue where he put them either. OH GREAT! As many of you know...when a kid has a favorite toy and he can't find it....trouble. We braced ourselves for the tantrum, cries, even screams (they usually come from this kid with the slightest provacation..so we knew we were in for it) However, we simply said, "We can't find the motorcyles" and we went searching the house, after about 10 minutes (way past bedtime at this point, we had to give up the hunt) . Thankfully Preston just went to bed asking for them, but no outlandish behavior. Mom and Dad were pretty sure that they would show up in the morning. Well...days went by and we were all puzzles...where did those things go? Preston consistently asked for them, but we sure couldn't find them. We knew they were in the house somewhere..and somewhere where little hands could reach, but where? At the end of the week, we finally found them....in the bathroom. We have a little potty, for potty training, which no one is using right now...thank goodness, because the motorcycles were inside! His secret little stash! But, all is well in the Ward house now that the precious motorcycles have been found.

CJ...our cute cowboy. CJ loves to put on his cowboy hat and play with swords, guns, or his bows and arrows.
We are still learning to control some of his swings or shots...He is getting better! We trying to teach him that family members aren't moving targets.