There is life outside of Tampa!

At last, my dad and sister came to visit us out here in California and it was great!  Dad, unfortunately, was suffering from food poisoning due to a bad sandwich on the plane ride.  When he did start feeling better we had a good time in San Francisco and Napa!

More on snapfish, dad!

Until next time.

I'm going going, back back to Cali Cali!

Ok, ok.  So I'm already back home.  But I love that song, don't you?

I know, it's been a while since I've last blogged it, but I've recently started my Masters in International Relations, so my free time was split between work, flying, gym, food, sleep, and homework.  Nonetheless, after 4 of the longest months in our lives, both hubs and I are home together again.

Here are some pictures to sum up the last month of the deployment!

This was my crew for the last month, or so, of my Kuwait tour... just an awesome group of guys :-)

Here's the AC (aircraft commander) working hard at the pilot seat at cruise.  Hah!

Our main cargo were passengers, namely Army personnel, either heading home for good or R&R, or heading out the the fight.  This group was heading home.  

It may be hard to see, but my last mission out of Kuwait had us flying to Cairo Int'l, and we begged the controller during a busy time of the day to give us vectors at about 3000 ft above ground so that we could overfly the pyramids.  These were probably the best pictures I got.  We were absolutely ECSTATIC that we got so close.

The end.

~*~*~*~

Now, on to normal life!  If you can remember from earlier, we are planning a vacation, scheduled to leave Saturday for a college friend's wedding and then on to Cancun at the Excellence Playa Mujeres!  We are super excited about the all you can drink/eat/sun but are really worried about our passports.  Since we decided on the trip during the deployment, we had no way of getting our passports while away.  We are slated to pick them up tomorrow afternoon - that is, if there weren't any issues with the application/pictures/etc.  UGH!  I just want to go and be happy!

Another big update, Mr. Speedbird bought me a brand new SLR camera:  a Canon EOS Rebel T1i DSLR. So, standby for some really amazing pictures by yours truly... as soon as I learn how to operate the thing!

Good to be home.

Just for dad...

Turn down (or mute) your sound!  Sorry for all of the background noise...

... this was taken on a military airplane, you know!  Landing at Ali Al Salem AB, Kuwait, today.   Look at that amazing visibility!

... and the picture you've been dying for.  Taken today at Al Udeid AB, Qatar.

Happy Trails, Dad.

I'm procrastinating, so....

...picture time!  Since I'm bored and don't want to do homework, and in light of the deployment being more than halfway over, here are some downrange shots that I've taken so far.

Starting engines at Bagram AB, AFG

Loading a CV-22 at Kandahar AB, AFG

Holding Short of Traffic at Camp Bastion, AFG

Checking out a C-130 land while still holding short.

I almost completely forgot to talk about the Children's Deployment Day that our squadron participated in at Turkey!  We basically did a static display for almost 100 children and their parents/chaperones.  It was probably my favorite part of the deployment, hands down, and I didn't go anywhere!

...and, finally, me being full of myself.

Tata for now, kiddies.

And thus we begin the downward spiral...

Gule Gule Turkey, مرحبا‎ Kuwait!

Now it's really starting to feel like a deployment! 

Ok. So on the 1st day of merry ol' May, I packed my happy ass up and left for Kuwait. Ok, sorry. Didn't mean for the profanity. It's definitely different here.  I will say that I was quite surprised when I arrived.  The weather was actually pretty tolerable.  I guess the rolling thunderstorms sure helped.  Today, however, I did get a glimpse of how hot and humid it can really get here.  I can truly say, though, that I will really be productive here!  There's not really much else to do!  In the two days I've been here, I've done more pushups than I did the whole time at Turkey! (I should mention that there is a pushup challenge going on within the squadron. I'm already at 160!)  Swimsuit body, here I come!  

(( As a quick side note:  in the time that we haven't written, the Mr. and I have planned a trip to Mexico this summer as a welcome back from deployment gift to ourselves.  Something bright at the end of the tunnel. I won't talk much about it now, only when it is fully paid for and the leave is approved, will I go on further. ))  

Since I've been here in Kuwait, it seems hard to get to talk to the hubster. Now that he's on wacky flying schedules, and I'm on a tight schedule working the desk this week, we only have time to just miss each other via email. It's frustrating. I'll go into more detail on the living situation when I get the time to post pictures, most likely by next week.

60 days and counting.

downward spi

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