Hello Friends!
Well I think the title sums it up pretty well. It has been almost 5 months since our last posting and so much has happened! We will try to get everyone caught up as much as possible. Tyler found out that he would be learning to fly the latest variant of the Blackhawk (the Mike model) and that we would end up being here for a month longer than originally planned since the new variant requires extra training. Tyler started training in the Blackhawk at the beginning of March. He has loved getting to fly such an amazing aircraft, but the training is very intense (tons of studying and flight planning) and time consuming. During the 3 week Basic Combat Skills phase (learning to fly tactically) he was usually gone from 4:30 a.m. to 7:30 or 8:00 P.M. either at the flight line or planning his flights. After coming home and grabbing some dinner it was usually studying until going to bed at about 10:00 or 10:30 and then starting again the next day. Luckily his schedule has slowed down somewhat since. He got to fly the older model blackhawk for the first 10 weeks and is now flying the Mike model. He has taken two check rides in the Mike model and only has 1 more left. This coming Friday he begins his final phase of training, Nights. His schedule will change from work beginning at 4:45 A.M. to work beginning at 5:00 P.M. It will be interesting to see how the schedule change affects us.
Shanonn is no longer working at the school since the school year is up. After a couple of days break she was right back to work, babysitting twin 10 year old girls for the summer. She usually works from 8:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. The girls keep her busy as she tries to find ways to keep them from getting bored. Kahlua had a vet appointment this last week and we learned that she has lost almost 16 pounds in the last year. She now weighs about 30 lbs. It's hard to believe she has lost 1/3 of her weight. She is feeling more energetic than ever and would like any available bachelor dogs out there to know that she is available these days.
In other news, we have a tentative graduation date of August 9th, which means we will most likely be in Oklahoma by mid August. The Oklahoma Guard hasn't told us yet which unit Tyler will be in. The possibilities will be either in Tulsa or Lexington. If we get Lexington, we will definitely be living on Oklahoma City. If we get the Tulsa unit, we haven't decided yet if we will live in Oklahoma City and Tyler will commute to fly or if we would move to Tulsa. This has made looking for a place to live very difficult, so please pray that we find out soon which unit we will get!
We have had a great time watching the Thunder in the playoffs this year. Seeing all the shots of Downtown OKC make us really miss it and very ready to move back. Their are a couple of Oklahoma Guard guys that live down the street from us so we've been keeping up with the Thunder and representing them from Alabama together. We really hope they win the Championship and that we get to go to some games next year!
Tyler was able to make a quick weekend trip to see his sister graduate from college in early May. It was great to see the family again and our nephew Brady is now learning to say "Ty" for Uncle Tyler and "Shan" for Aunt Shanonn. He has "Ty" down pretty well but is currently pronouncing "Shan" as "Shish" (also what he calls Tyler's parents Goldfish) so perhaps he will get it down by the next time we see him. Tyler's parents came down to visit for Memorial day and we enjoyed a trip to Pensacola to go to the Naval Aviation Museum and the Beach. We drove along the coast on the way back and the views were beautiful. We will definitely miss being close to the beach. We also got to make a day trip to Montgomery to eat barbecue and go shopping. Tyler's parents are planning on coming to graduation so we are excited for that!
Well I think that's a pretty good synopsis on the last few months in Alabama. We are excited to enter our last month of flight school and counting down the days till we get to move back. We miss everyone and can't wait to see you all again! You are in our prayers and we hope everyone is having a great start to the summer!
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