A different perspective

I got to fly on a different jet yesterday and see what it looks like to have a half-million pounds worth of metal and jet fuel just feet away at 450 mph and 25,000 feet! It's part of the instructor program to make sure we understand how our techniques in the C17 affect the other jet while refueling in mid-air. Of course, I had to bring along my big camera!

New toy for the (pretend) princesses

The girls are always happy to see the UPS guy. He's a friendly enough fellow, but I think they like him because he brings them stuff. He stopped by the other day and was so kind as to deliver this from Grammy and Grampy:

Both of the girls have had a wonderful time playing in their castle. They have also had a wonderful time playing in the box it came in (sorry Grammy and Grampy!). In fact, Claire told me again today that we shouldn't get rid of the box. At least this gives them each something to play in, right?

Sick sick sick

Sorry for the recent lack of blog activity here. We've been battling all sorts of sickness. We had Claire to the Dr early last week for a chronic cough - Maddie came home with antibiotics for an ear infection. Then I went in last Friday for dehydration after a bout with a stomach virus. The girls went to the on-base day care that morning, because I couldn't take care of them. The doc gave me fluids and some phenergen. Good stuff. Then yesterday we went to our friends' house for dinner and Maddie came over grabbing her diaper (her signal that she wants to be changed). When I picked her up I noticed she was all warm and squishy where she shouldn't have been. She came home in a borrowed outfit. Seems to have picked up the stomach bug. Claire is still coughing. I swear, as soon as we get over one thing we pick up another! Phil has fortunately managed to avoid most of this, which is good. Anyway, I've heard that this is going around everywhere, but that explains our lack of blogs. We've been a bit tired. Hopefully we'll be better soon and I'll have more interesting things to blog about!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone reading this can snuggle up to someone special today. And Claire hopes everybody can eat lots of candy. She had a little party at her preschool today and came home with so much candy that it looks like she went trick-or-treating. She had so much that she shared with Maddie. Woohoo! Two sugared-up kids!

And the girls made me this card:

Claire says that's me on the left, and she wrote "MOM" and put a shark in the right corner. Maddie gave artistic direction and lent moral support. Not sure what the shark's about.

Bike riding

Phil tried out his new commuting vehicle this weekend! We hooked up the bike trailer (thanks Mom and Dad!) and took the girls on a little ride around the base on Saturday. I hadn't been on my bike for about 8 years - had no one to ride with and then with the girls I really couldn't go riding even if I had wanted to. It's true what they say, though: riding a bike just comes back to you like, well, riding a bike! Claire and Maddie had a great time in their trailer. I actually heard a few cries of, "Wheeeeeee!" as they rode down the street.

Here they are:

Claire has put in a request for the Easter Bunny to bring her a new bike (her trike is a bit small for her now) so Maddie may be enjoying that trailer by herself soon.

Beeeeautiful

In stark contrast to the snow we recently had, our weather was really nice yesterday and today. Highs in the mid- to upper-70s. Sunny. Not too much wind. The girls got to play outside without coats! I know it's just February, but we're sure looking forward to the spring.

(Click for pics!)

After the outside fun, we ended yesterday with a pizza "picnic" in the living room so we could watch the SuperBowl. The girls love to eat in the living room on TV trays as a special treat. I think they actually eat better, too, because they're out of their usual element and the TV distracts them from the fact that the food is going into their mouths. Claire really wanted us to pick a team (she likes to know which color jersey to root for) but we really had little interest in who won or lost. It's just fun to watch football and see the new commercials.

Snow

Last Thursday we looked out the window and saw this:

I know those of you in the frostier parts of the USA saw the same thing (only lots more of it!) but Claire was really excited about our little dusting. She begged and begged to go out and play in it, so we let her outside to run around in the white stuff before it all melted away. It was really COLD with the wind blowing, but she ran around like a goofball until the cold finally got to her.

It's so fun to see something like snow through a child's eyes. While we grown-ups were groaning about how cold it was, she was bouncing around like it was Christmas or something. It made the snow a little fun for us too. Not so fun that we went outside to play in it, but it was nice to see her excitement.