Old Ward Farm

The Power Family, neighbors and friends of the Ward's, were nice enough to let us come over and meet their baby cows...or to be correct, calves (as Laura was corrected.) Laura just loves the feeling of those calves sucking on her fingers and having them all slimed up..(actually, I really do..it's a really neat feeling!) CJ tried for a second to feed the calves their bottle and hand them their food, but he mainly liked to play in their buckets of water and "Moo" at them. It was quite funny.



Along with the cows, CJ got intoduced to the horses. We have been working on all the animal sounds with him, so it was really fun to let CJ see them up close and have him recognize the animal and say their sound.


And of course, Nia, the dog. CJ loves Nia. That poor dog took a lot of abuse by the end of the week. CJ would wrestle her, pull her hair, step on her tail, poke her eyes, you name it...he did it. And she still loves him - what a champ.

COUSINS GALORE!!

After a week, it was time to take another airplane ride and head to Idaho. CJ enjoyed the short flight by looking out the window, climbing over the seats, eating airplane treats, and waving "bye-bye" to everyone as they deboarded.


From left to right, Rhein, Kastin, Laura, CJ, Maydin, and Kelly. All the cousins had a great time playing together. They all especially liked ring-around-the-rosy on the trampoline.


Left to right, CJ, Maydin, and Rhein. (in the back is Nia, the dog.) In the short week that we were in Dietrich, CJ learned all essential the tricks. He learned how to Throw rocks into the ditch, wrestle with the dog, eat Schwann's thin mints, and spit. Oh boy....

The Park and Berry Picking

CJ loved the blackberries that are behind Grandma and Grandpa's house. Luckily, he didn't discover the bushes until our last day, so he didn't get too sick. When he was done eating, his belly was full of all the berries that made it into his mouth, and his face was covered with all the berries that didn't.


Bryce, Laura's brother, took us to one of his favorite parks. CJ had fun looking at the ducks, trying to get into the water, and playing on the slides. Each of us "adults" took a turn going down the BIG slide. It was actually pretty big, I was surprised! We got some good speed.


Watch out Grandpa... CJ is a glasses stealer and breaker! If he gets close enough, he takes one look, and then he snatches them before you even know they are gone. He's a quick one!

Girls Will Be Girls

Crazy girls!! Late nights, teeny bopper movies, giggling in bed, and manicures...it felt like being a kid again. Isn't it great to be a girl...Girls just want to have fun!





Since neither of us had ever gotten a manicure or pedicure, Becky and Laura headed to the local beauty school and got them both! It was such a wonderful experience, I do believe it will happen again, and soon! The best part was the massage...heaven. So, Ladies... if you are looking for a fun and pretty inexpensive activity, the manicure/pedicure comes highly recommended.

The Portland Zoo

We have heard from more than one source that kids tend to get their horns at age two... it looks like CJ grew his a little early! At least these horns are detatchable and didn't come home with us.. thankfully, we left them at the zoo for all the other kids to try on!



Here is CJ in the petting zoo! After only being able to look at the other animals, CJ was excited to touch a goat and run along side it. However, it was time to go when CJ started pulling their hair and tails. Oops.



We found out that the zoo just isn't as thrilling for a bunch of adults, as it is for a bunch of kids. Especially when all the animals happen to be napping when you are there... How dare they sleep when we pay good money to look at them! WAKE UP ANIMALS!! Grandma Smith had a good time coming up with some ingenius ways for zoo visitors to wake up the animals to make it more exciting... you will have to give good ol' Grandma a call to hear about her ideas, they are now patented and confiscated by animals rights activists!



(From Left to right) Laura, Grandpa Smith, Becky, Grandma Smith, CJ, Shane, and Julie. CJ loved playing with his Grandparents, aunts, and uncles as long as one eye was always on Mom.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Since Clay will be starting his training on August 7th, we have been doing all the fun activities we can here in Enid for our "mini vacation at home." We found a little park that has a few rides for little kids that we thought CJ would enjoy, and he did!
We first took our chances with the train, which runs on little tracks that go all over the park. CJ had a lot of fun making 'choo choo' actions and pointing at the ducks as we chug-a-chugged by.





Next we hopped on the cars (which seemed to be CJ's favorite). He loved the cars so much that he couldn't stand being parted with them; which explains what happened after he got done riding the cars.....a few minutes after he got off and we went to another part of the park, we turned our backs for one second which was all that CJ needed to make his getaway. He bolted for the cars and before we could get to him, he made a grab for the moving cars and proceeded to get 'ran over' by them. Some crying and the dabbing of blood off an aching knee was the extent of the crisis, and a few minutes later CJ was wanting to get right back on the ride.....So Yes, this last Monday CJ was "Hit by a Car".





The airplanes were the next feat to be tackled. Surprisingly, CJ wasn't too happy to get into the planes (to the chagrin of Clay), but we learned that if you just strap the kid in, even if he's crying and screaming, and turn the ride on, they'll eventually warm up to it. By about the second lap CJ was having a great time in the planes and didn't want to get out by the end of the ride (Daddy was redeemed!).





After a few rounds on a horse carousel we headed to the pond to feed a few ducks and a large swan. CJ was having fun throwing bread to the ducks.... for about two seconds, then he spent the rest of the time either trying to get in the pond, or making a break for the playground equipment.



All in all, Meadowland Park in Enid, OK made for a good FHE activity.

Fun on the boat!

Yesterday we had a fun day out on a local reservoir with our neighbors, the Hendersens, who were so kind as to invite us to tag along with them in their boat. It was a lot of fun and we're plenty sore enough to prove it.

CJ Paradise

On Friday we went to Leonardo's Discovery Center here in Enid. It's basically kid heaven where everything can be 'hands on' and nothing is breakable (for the most part). It's a big warehouse where there are all kinds of interesting science experiments, cultural and historical activities, animals, mazes, painting, pottery, aquariums, moon rocks, etc... We even got to see a small boa constrictor catch and eat a mouse, it was cool! And everything is geared towards little kids and having fun (the snake show is of course geared towards us bigger kids).
Oh, and for Les and Janie, they even have a miniature Post Office.

Welcome To Enid, Oklahoma!!

Sorry it's been so long since we've updated the blog, but it's been a busy couple of weeks.
Since last time we've packed up our home in Milton FL, moved into our new home in Enid OK, and unpacked and situated all of our stuff; along with a bunch of in-processing stuff that had to get taken care of. A lot of things have happened while getting from there to here, such as wearing the wrong color shirt in Mississippi and getting offered drugs, blown tires, mysteriously-vanishing-churches, and bad movers with slippery hands who tend to drop things!

Storytime:
Before we left Florida we contacted the housing office here at Vance AFB in order to see how long we would have to wait before we could get into a house. They told us that there were lots of homes available and that we should have no problem getting into a house right away. Excellent, right? Well, when we actually got here they changed their tune and said that we would probably have to wait as long as 3 weeks to a month before we could get into a home, which meant that we would have to live in a 1 room hotel room for that period of time. Well it didn't take long before we noticed that CJ was having a pretty rough time in that situation. The daily temperatures were well over 100 degrees (sometimes 112 ish), way too hot for CJ to play around outside, and the small quarters of the VOQ (our hotel room, or visiting officers quarters) were not conducive to the energy levels of a 16-month-old. Another depressing thing about the house wait was that it meant that the movers would have our stuff here before we get a house, meaning that it would all go into storage (more man-handling which usually means more breakage), but what could we do?
Well on Wednesday morning (19 July) about four days after we arived at Vance, Laura got a call from the movers saying that our stuff was in town and they needed to know where to put it. Laura had to tell them to put it into storage. After that conversation Clay came home from in-processing and while Laura was telling him the depressing news, the phone rang again; this time it was housing telling us that a colonel had just called and decided not to live on base, so if we wanted a house right away, we could take it.... We took it. We hurried and called the movers and got them to deliver our stuff. So within a half hour we had a house and had our stuff to go in it. Heavenly Father definitely has a hand in all of our lives.

Welcome to the USS Alabama!

Click on a picture to made it larger!

Yesterday we decided to head to Mobile and check out the USS Alabama; an old WWII battleship. It was awesome to be able to see how big the ship was and how everything was put together. CJ had a blast running around and trying to turn every knob, climb every ladder, and basically try and get the battleship running again from what we could tell. He is definitely a boy. Anything mechanical is what he wants to get his hands on. Even here at home when dad was out getting the tow dolley ready for the move, CJ was right along side with dads wrenches, trying to unscrew everything from the lug nuts to the tire stems. He's a lot of fun.

Just a Little CJ

We just got off our walk earlier this morning and shot a short clip of the little "Bubba".

A Fun Day out on the Blackwater River

Yesterday the Ward Crew had a fun time hangin' out with the Morrisey's, the Baileys, and the Mayhans out on the Blackwater River. We rented a 12 person party boat and went out for a couple of hours and talked, looked for alligators (unfortunately for Clay none were spotted), and dodged sandbars. A couple of those sandbars snuck up on us and we ended up paying for a new prop. Anywho...what can you do? Nothing, so we still had fun boating around with a half-busted prop! After the river we had a picnic and enjoyed one another's company, as well as the Bailey's watermelon.

Selection Day!

Well, the end has finally come (at least this end here at Whiting NAS...there's still a long ways to go yet in pilot training). Clay finished his last set of formation flights on Tuesday, and we found 0ut on Thursday that our next training aircraft is going to be the T-1 Jayhawk. So in the next couple of weeks we'll be packing up the Ward Mansion and shipping it to Vance AFB, Oklahoma for advanced training. Fun, Fun, Fun!

A Resemblence of Maydin?

A Very "Sunny" Father's Day

For Father's Day, CJ and Laura had several suprises for Daddy. First surprise (ok.. not really a surprise, it's more of a tradition) was breakfast - French Toast, lots of bacon, eggs and apple juice! The second surprise, was a pair of sunglasses. On Clay's cross country flight to Texas, his sunglasses got stolen - he was so disappointed. He loved those things! He didn't think they made them anymore, since he bought them almost 6 years ago, but thanks to the world wide web - Laura was able to find them,order them, have them delivered and wrapped before Clay had a clue! The third surprise was 8 boxes wrapped in brown paper laying on the floor! The presents have been laying on the floor for the last couple of weeks, and they drove Clay nuts!! What was in the boxes? 8 different types of Capri Suns! There is a story behind this, let us explain... Laura has been purchasing Capri Suns for CJ. They are a nice and easy drink to take to the pool, park, boating etc. CJ likes them and hey it keeps him hydrated in the heat - but CJ is not the only one that likes them! Laura would periodically catch Clay in the kitchen "sneaking" Capri Suns. When she found him, he had the look of a kid getting caught in the cookie jar. It was classic. So, Laura and CJ decided to get Daddy some Capri Suns of his own! Happy Father's Day, Clay. You are the greatest!

Nothin' But A Smile!

Just a few days ago, while CJ was out and about, he got all of his clothes wet and dirty and had to be "shucked" before going into the house. Just for fun Laura put him in the pool. We thought that he might be a little hesitant and shy being out there in the buff, but as you can see he felt quite at home. All he's missing is a cool drink in hand.

Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

We took advantage of the long weekend and headed off to Lake Butler and St. Augustine to visit April and Craig Swenson, Clay's cousin, and their three boys Preston, London, and Jackson. We had a great time playing water volleyball, boating around St. Augustine, letting the boys play, and getting sun burnt. Thanks to April we tried the southern delicacy of boiled peanuts - not too bad... a little mushy, squishy, and messy, but not bad. It reminded us more of cooked beans than nuts...but whatever. Clay enjoyed sucking the water out of the shell, then cracking it open and eating the nut. Hey it works! CJ wasn't sure about the boat ride - he liked it, and then didn't. When mom finally let him explore - when the boat was stopped he walked all over to see how the boat worked, his favorite button was the horn. After several minutes of horn blowing, Craig regreted showing him that one. When we anchored for lunch, there were several jellyfish swimming around the boat. They are beautiful! But, we decided to choose another resting spot - we were not in the mood to get stung, even though Craig told us the "natural antidote" for jellyfish stings - we didn't want to risk it!

Laura on the Flight Line

Friday, May 26th was Spouse Taxi Day for VT-3. Lt. Cdr Best took Laura in the T-34, which is the plane Clay is currently training in, to an unused runway and let her "have the controls!" Laura had a great time working the rutters, spinning "cookies," and listening to the radio calls.
Based on her excellent

"maneuvering" in the aircraft, they tried to convince her to sign up, however, the cute little man sitting on the side line in the yellow ear muffs was too much of a temptation. The whole experience was a lot of fun and very eye opening - Laura has a lot more respect for Clay and all the things he is learning. WOW.