Recap: Trip Home to St. Louis

It's really hard for me to write this blog post because I feel guilty focusing on my time at home that was fun.  When I think about my trip home, Grandpa's passing is the first thing that enters my mind.  And it's hard to push that aside and remember all the fun I had while home.

My original intent for going home was not for Grandpa.  I go home every August to get my yearly surgery AND because my Dad would be turning 60!!!!  Grandpa going through chemotherapy treatments was just a perk for me to get to spend that time with him.  I know a lot of people think I was heading home because of Grandpa, but in reality, I had my August trip planned since well before we even knew Grandpa had cancer.

Leah and I headed home to St. Louis, with her dogs in tow, on August 2nd.  Here are some of the significant highlights from my trip home:

Cousins' Night Out:  Backstreet's Back!
On August 3rd, after spending the day at Grandpa and Grandma's house, we headed out for our Cousins' Night Out.  We decided to relive our childhood at the Backstreet Boys concert (Let it be known that we were all obsessed with *NSYNC.  Our loyalty still lies with them but who could pass up a boy band concert to relive the past?!)  We went out to dinner and then headed to the concert.  After the concert, we had a slumber party at my cousin Teeny's condo.  In the morning, we crashed her parents house for my uncle's infamous chocolate chip and M&M pancakes!!!

(we are not duck-facers.  This was done with the intention of mocking that ridiculousness.)

Endoscopy
This was the reason for my visit home and thankfully, all went well.  (I blogged about this while I was home so you can check it out HERE)

Chemo with Grandpa
In 2006, I underwent a very intense cancer treatment regiment.  I first started with radiation, which lasted six weeks and I went every weekday.  Following those six weeks, I had another six weeks to try to gain some weight (radiation knocked me down pretty badly and I was weighing in at just 101 pounds).  I finally began chemotherapy and my regiment was the most intense at the time, with two of the strongest drugs.  I went to chemo Monday through Friday every third week over a 15 week period (five total weeks).  My chemo sessions kept me at the hospital for almost 8 hours each day.  Because chemo was so long and so frequent, my mother could not attend all my treatments with me.  As I'm sure you know all know by now, I have an amazing family.  Aunts, uncles, siblings, friends, cousins, etc took off work and skipped classes to take me to chemo, sit with me, and bring me home.  During this time, I was pretty sick.  I slept the entire day...the ride to the hospital, in the waiting room, during my chemo infusion, the ride home, after I got home, and all night long.  I really was not awake during my chemo weeks.  In addition to this, I got so weak that I was wheelchair bound unless in my own home.  Grandpa, being retired and so awesome, was one of my regulars at chemo.  He sat with me, in those freezing cold rooms, all day long.  So caring and loving.  Always providing a smile and a laugh.  It was very important for me to get to attend at least one chemo treatment with him.  I could never repay him for all the love, support, and laughs he gave me during my cancer journey, but I wanted to do this with him.  I wanted to now be his chemo buddy.  Thankfully for me, one of his chemo treatments fell during my visit home.  This was his second chemo treatment, and it ended up being his last.  I drove Grandpa, Grandma, and Leah to chemo on August 8th.  We sat with Grandpa, having quite a few laughs, and I helped Grandma with feeding tube "lunch".  The next day, I took Grandpa back to get his white blood cell shot.
I am so thankful that I was able to spend this day with him.  Grandpa's love and support during my cancer battle meant the world to me and I'm happy I was able to repay him, even though it was nothing compared to all he's done for me.  I'm happy we were able to fill his days with smiles and laughs during such an awful experience.  I will forever be grateful that I was able to attend a chemo with him, as he did with me.

Sibling Weekend
The weekend of the 9th through the 11th, Leah and I headed to Kansas City (well really Kansas but who wants to admit they went to Kansas??  Not I!).  Randy moved to KC a few months ago for work and Ben just recently moved there after getting a new job.  It's weird to have him living 4 hours from home but I'm happy he's happy and finally back with Randy.  We had a great weekend seeing his new place, hanging out with friends (they started out as his friends but after my many years of living in CoMO, they've turned into my friends as well), and enjoying time with just us siblings.  We talked about our childhood, our concern for Grandpa, Grandma, and our own parents.  We talked about our fears and wishes.  It was a much needed mini-vacay for me and I wish my siblings and I could have this more often.

Of course we went out for some Kansas City BBQ

Ben & Mark found a video game-esque beer so of course they bought it.  And of course Ben drank it out of his Mario Brother's mug.

Ben bought an original Clue game at a swap meet but he'd NEVER played before!!!  Of course we broke it out to play a few games (while also watching the movie "Clue")

Dinner with Friends
I was able to squeeze in some really quick dinners with friends.  I hate that time home is so rushed but I love getting to see my friends.  I consider myself very lucky to have kept in such close contact with so many of them and I feel we're closer than we were when I was living in St. Louis.

Cardinals Game
Nick came in town halfway through my (what should have been) last week in town.  His aunt and uncle invited us to a Cardinals day game and of course we accepted.  We met them at a casino downtown where the guys gambled and Nick's aunt and I chatted.  We attended one freaking awesome game where the Cardinals made a ridiculous come back to beat the Pirates in extra innings.

Fireworks for the WIN!

Afterwards, we happened to walk by Jim Hayes and Rick Horton doing their post-game show.  We took some photos of them doing their broadcast and then Nick's aunt suggested that Nick and I pose with them behind us, at their desk, doing their show.  As she takes the picture, we see her laughing.  Upon getting my phone back, I look at the photo and see this:

They photobombed us!!!  We wanted them just sitting there, doing their broadcast but instead we got this.  Epic!! When I looked up, the two of them were laughing so hard and they asked to see the photo, upon which they laughed even harder.  They are Nick and my favorite sports talk show hosts because they always seem like such goofy guys, always laughing.  And this photo just confirms that!

Dad's 60th
This was one of my main reasons for coming to St. Louis.  Dad turned 60 on the 16th!!!!  My Dad is who I get the "big kid at heart" thing from so for his birthday, he simply wanted to spend the day at the Zoo with his family.  And that's what we did.

We had dinner plans but we got a call that Grandpa was being taken to the emergency room so we all headed there instead.  Sadly, this is where we spent the remainder of Dad's birthday, and Leah's birthday the next day.  Sunday was supposed to be a large birthday party for Dad and Leah, but we decided immediately to cancel that because of things going on with Grandpa.  (Which ended up being a good idea, because Sunday was the day Grandpa passed away.)

My amazing family, together, as we were for three days, in the waiting room.

Unfortunately, the rest of my visit home would be one of tears and heartbreak.  Grandpa never left the hospital.  All 16 of us stayed the next three days at St. Anthony's until Grandpa finally left us to be with Jesus.  His passing was very unexpected.  Many have asked what happened and I do plan to write a blog post about it.  I apologize in advance because it might be all over the place.  Friday afternoon through Sunday all seem to run together but I'll try to remember what I can.

What's Next for Our Navy Family?

After my last post, I had pretty much every single person I know ask us when and where we're moving to.  So here's a post for everyone else I haven't explained it all to (which is probably only two people now)

What's next?  We don't know yet.  And won't for a while.  We keep getting this question all the time.  Friends and family seemed annoyed that we don't have an answer but imagine how we feel.  This is OUR life and we don't even know!!

Nick is still scheduled to wing on Friday, August 23rd.  This is the big ceremony where he will get those glorious wings of gold!  The Tuesday before (the 20th) he will find out what he's flying and where we're headed to next and then that Thursday, the 22nd we celebrate this at his soft patch ceremony (the soft patch is the patch he wears on his flight suit.  It currently just has the Navy crest on it but those will be replaced with wings).  It's a little frustrating but that is Navy life.  We aren't sure how quickly we'll have to move.  Some people get a month, some get maybe two weeks.  I really hope we get somewhere between 3-4 weeks so we can take our time packing because we plan to move ourselves again (after the money we made last move and the fact that we have no kids, it just seems logical.  Plus Nick has heard too many horror stories to trust anyone with his beloved belongings...he's very possessive over his objects lol. Moving ourselves from Maryland to Florida really wasn't that bad).

What are we hoping for?  Summer training 2007, right before his last year at the Academy, Nick went on an aviation training with a squadron out in Norfolk, Virginia.  This is an MH-53 squadron (a type of helo) and Nick fell absolutely in love with the aircraft itself (it's a beast), the missions, and the close community.  The 53s are a very, very small community.  There are only two squadrons in the entire Navy and both of them are stationed in Norfolk, VA.
Nick put the MH-53 as his first choice of helicopter.  I'm not too excited to move to the east coast or Virginia, but it's Nick's dream to fly this helo and I 100% support his happiness and his career.  (And let's be honest, I'm me.  I'm a positive and optimistic person so I'm sure I'll come to love it there.  It's just not my first choice of duty station for quite a few reasons.)
Unfortunately, because this community is so small, they do not select for it too often.  Being a small community that doesn't need pilots often means there's a chance when Nick wings, they will not have any open slots and he won't be able to get his dream aircraft.  (Your aircraft is primarily determined by the needs of the Navy and also your performance. But you could be the best pilot on the face of the planet and if there's not a slot available, you're just shit out of luck).  Realistically, he said he'd be ecstatic to fly ANY helicopter, but his sights are set on the 53.  I really hope he gets it but even if he doesn't, I'm he'll love whatever he flies.  Nick somehow can say "Meh, it is what it is!" and be super happy with any situation.  I envy this trait about him.  

Seeing as the odds of flying the 53 aren't really in our favor, we have backups.  You can essentially choose your location plus a type of helicopter.  These are the 10 choices:
MH-60R East (Jacksonville, FL)
MH-60R West (San Diego, CA)
MH-60R Hawaii (Kanoehe Bay)
MH-60R Japan (Atsugi, Japan)
SH060F/H  East (Jacksonville, FL)
MH-53E East (Norfolk, VA)
MH-60S East (Norfolk, VA)
MH-60S West (San Diego, CA)
MH-60S Japan (Atsugi, Japan)
MH-60S Guam (Yigo, Guam)


So here's to nerves and butterflies the next week as we anxiously await where the next chapter in our lives will be!  I'm nervous to get out into the fleet, but I'm (surprisingly) excited for the change.  I can't wait to become a part of his squadron and meet more awesome women!!!  (However, I am NOT looking forward to house hunting!)

Roadtrip: Cardinals vs Braves

If you know me at all, then you know that my husband and I are die hard Cardinal fans.  Actually, we just love baseball in general.  One of the perks of this military life is traveling the country and getting to live all over.  We decided to take advantage of this perk in regards to baseball and added an item to our ‘Marriage Bucket List’ (we each have our own individual ones as well).  We want to visit as many Major League and Minor League stadiums as we possibly can, preferably when the home team plays the Cardinals or the Memphis Redbirds.

Living in Pensacola, we have the Blue Wahoos minor league team, but we‘ve yet to go to a game.  Nick getting his schedule only the night before makes it near impossible to plan things.  However, in just a week he will be finished flying and we’ll have a few weeks to complete our ‘Pensacola Bucket List’ which includes attending a Blue Wahoos game.

Pensacola obviously doesn’t have a Major League team but Atlanta is only a 5-6 hour drive from us so we knew we’d be visiting Turner Field.  We got lucky enough that the Braves were playing the Cardinals over a weekend so we planned to attend this series.  We had to hold off on buying tickets until the week of the game because with Nick’s flight training, everything is up in the air.  Once we knew his schedule, we were good to buy tickets.  Our original plan was to attend both Saturday and Sunday games but they changed Sunday’s game to a night game (7:05pm start time) which meant we couldn’t attend.  We were a little bummed but seeing one game was definitely going to be better than seeing no game!

Saturday morning at 5am we headed to Ft. Rucker, Alabama with the pups.  We dropped them off with my sister and Kyle and then continued on our way to Atlanta.  We wanted to get there a few hours before game time to walk around the stadium and explore a bit. 

We had a really great time at the game!!!  Their stadium is really nice and the Braves fans were great.  I was shocked at how many Cardinals fans were in attendance.  I am not joking when I say half of the stadium appeared to be in Cardinals attire.  Our fans are just amazing!!!!  What’s even more awesome is that a “Let’s go Braves” chant was started and within two chants, “Let’s go Cardinals” was ringing throughout the stadium so much louder than the Braves fans!  (Just another reason we’ve been dubbed the best fans in baseball! ;) )

The game itself was pretty freaking boring and we lost which didn’t help, but despite those two things, we had a great time!  This was my first Cardinals game in another team’s stadium…heck! It was my first major league game outside of Busch Stadium and it didn’t disappoint!  We had great seats just a few rows up in third base line/left field corner by the foul pole and we got to see a lot of our favorites before the game and in the bullpen.

Sexy Waino (Wainwright for you non-STL fans)

A few people (Atlanta natives) had warned me that Braves fans can be rude and disrespectful but we didn’t experience any of that!  Everyone was so nice and welcoming and there wasn’t any rudeness or disrespect.  After the game, one Braves fan made a comment to me about losing the game (in a joking manner).  I refrained from reminding him that (at that time) we were the best team in baseball.  And that we’ve upset their beloved Braves in 2011 and 2012.  Instead, I just smiled and reminded him we still have long way to go until October.  But again, this was all in good fun! 

{{Please excuse this rant:  My only complaint would be that they tend to make fun of their fans a lot.  They have two different “games” (for lack of better words) that they put on their jumbo screens.  One is an “Oblivion Cam” where they zero in on someone (usually a larger person shoving their face full of food) and start a timer to see how long it takes them to notice they’re on screen.  The other is a look-a-like game.  They post a photo of someone/something (Snooky, Jabba da hut, Mama June (Honey Boo Boo’s mom), Duck Dynasty members, etc (basically, all unattractive people) and find someone in the stands who resembles them.  I’m sure this is meant to be in good fun, but to me, it was cruel.  Maybe it’s because I don’t find humor in cutting other people down and I’m a big advocate for ending bullying.  And that’s exactly what this is.  How do you know that person you just zeroed in on isn’t already suffering from severe depression or self-loathing?  By putting them on the screen, publicly making fun of them to THOUSANDS of people, you just set them back in healing or recovery from their issues.  Again, I’m sure the Braves staff think this is humorous but I think it’s just downright mean.   But then again, our society thinks cutting down others is amusing and a great form of entertainment.  Which is really sad.  But I’m just not the type of person who likes to sit around and gossip or make fun of others.  But this was my ONLY complaint and it obviously didn’t ruin my time so it’s not a huge deal.  It’s just something I’d wish they’d do away with.  Until we as adults stop things like this, bullying in children won’t stop.  They’re learning from us.  But I’ll get off my soapbox now.}}

The Cardinals/Braves game was definitely a great experience!!!  I'm happy to put the check mark next to Turner Field!  And excited to explore more stadiums!  I'm so happy to have a husband who shares this same love of baseball with me.  These adventures together are going to create a great scrapbook!

Grandpa Update: Complications and the Start of Treatment

It's been a while since I've posted an update.  A long while actually (which means this will be a long one.  Just warning you now.)  My family hasn't wanted vast details posted on the internet and I hate thinking about my Grandpa going through this all so I've just been holding off.

I gave an update a while ago, but after over three weeks in the hospital, Grandpa was FINALLY released.  He faced a few issues that kept holding up his discharge such as the drain that just wouldn't stop draining (a quick, simple surgery fixed the apparent thoracic duct that was cut during surgery), delayed eating, rise in blood counts, etc.  Nothing major but with a surgery so severe and the intensity of his cancer, any small thing was a hold up.
Needless to say, he was very excited to get out of the hospital.

Being home was an adjustment but he and Grandma handled it well.  Unfortunately, shortly after getting home (the very beginning of July), he got shingles.  Thankfully, they weren't painful and didn't bother him.  (I think he's just trying to mimic my cancer journey ;)   I went into the hospital to get my portacath put in.  The IV was in, I was just about to go to the OR, when they asked if I had any bruises, cuts, or scraps.  I mentioned that I got bit by a bug and had developed a rash.  Come to find out, it was shingles and surgery {and thus chemo} had to be postponed until it was cleared up.  But mine was like his and we are both fortunate.  No pain, no itching, no discomfort.  Just a nasty rash.)

Grandpa then had to go off his heart medicine for a week to prepare for his feeding tube surgery, which was scheduled for July 16th.  (As you can imagine, blood thinners are not conducive for a surgery.)

That week, July 12th, Grandpa met with his medical oncologist (the ones responsible for chemotherapy).  They have decided to change up his treatment plan.  Originally, Grandpa was going to be hit with a very intense, very debilitating radiation treatment scheduled for five days a week for seven weeks followed by chemotherapy.  Now, they believe the best route is to start with chemotherapy.  This is a very aggressive cancer and they need to try to get any remaining cancer cells in his body (chemotherapy is the intravenous drug that circulates throughout the bloodstream seeking out fast growing cells, such as cancer cells, and destroys them.)  It was determined that Grandpa will start with chemotherapy on July 18th.

Two days later, the 14th, I was at the National Museum of Naval Aviation with Nick's family when I got a call from my brother.  Grandpa was on his way to the hospital because he was having a stroke.  It took everything I had to not buckle at the knees and fall down the IMAX stairs.  I couldn't breathe.  I just wanted to hop on a plane and be by his side.  Was he going to be okay?  How much would he suffer from this?  How would this affect him physically?  Especially with already having so many issues on the left side of his body?  What if this greatly affects his mobility?  Strokes can have awful effects.  How would this affect him emotionally?  He just seems to keep getting pummeled by complications.  At some point he'll break, right?  What if it's now?  What if he loses his strength and decides this is too much and he gives up?  This can't happen.  I had so many questions and it's so hard to not be there and get updates via text message.  Thankfully my amazingly awesome cousin, Teeny, text my siblings and I updates every 5 minutes for the next hour plus.
Thankfully, shortly after getting to the hospital, his stroke started to reverse itself and he was starting to regain the feeling on his left side.  It was the best text I got all day.  He underwent a few tests to see how severe the stroke was, or if it was another TIA like back in the spring.
As always, Grandpa recovered from this like a boss.  And he's still in amazing spirits!!!!  We also found out the cause of the stroke.  Essentially, him going off his heart medication in preparation for the feeding tube caused the stroke.  It, for lack of better terms, (this is how the doctor explained it to us), branched off from the older TIA.  The doctor described it by saying the brain will give off TIA symptoms because it is an addict in withdraw and is missing it's drug, aka his heart medicines.  It was good to know the cause but we were worried that it would continue to happen.
Thus, they decided to keep him off his heart medicine and keep his feeding tube surgery so we don't have to chance this again (because he needs this feeding tube.)
Thankfully, Grandpa was discharged from the hospital the day after the stroke....because he's such a strong determined man.  And then the very next day, the 16th, he went in to the hospital, again, this time to get the feeding tube put in.

That surgery went smoothly.  Quickly and smoothly.  Thankfully.  It seems to be the very first thing to go well (speaking relatively in a medical sense that is) so we're happy about that.  He did have to stay overnight for observation but we knew that weeks before this so that wasn't any new change.  The next day he was out and I'm sure Grandpa was happy to not see that hospital bed for a while.

The next day, July 18th, Grandpa went in for his very first chemo treatment.  His treatment plan is as follows:
He'll have treatment on Thursday, get the next two Thursdays off, and return again.  After two chemotherapy treatments, they will perform a scan and see if the cancer has grown.  If it has grown any, then we know his cancer is not responding to treatment and chemo will end there and he will go straight into radiation.  If the cancer has not grown, he will continue with chemo for another two treatments (a total of 4) and then start radiation.
The radiation is still going to be very intense and will still be every day for seven weeks.  It's going to knock him out pretty badly.  They suspect he'll lose about 30ish pounds and eating will become a very difficult task for him seeing as radiation is going to completely fry his esophagus and throat.  (I experienced this same thing and it was horrendous.  I only had the bottom of my esophagus radiated and even that was unbearable and I was unable to eat.  It was just insanely excruciating pain.  I dropped from 120 pounds to 100 pounds, which is obviously not ideal when you're 5'8".)

Chemo lasted about 3ish hours and he did well.  He didn't really feel anything while there.
I called him that afternoon and spoke with him and he sounded great!!!!  I called the next day and he was still feeling and sounding great!  He said he hasn't experienced any side effects of the therapy which is great!  In time, he might start feeling weak and he will lose his hair in about 14 days, but thus far, things are great!!!!  Medicine has advanced so much and hopefully with his intravenous anti-nausea meds in conjunction with his pill form to take at home, he won't experience any sickness.  (I didn't get sick too often.  I would get waves of nausea but I never actually threw up because I had some awesome medicine!  Thank you scientists, research and all that donate to it!!)



I want to thank my friends and family who've continued to text, email, and call me check on Grandpa (I do apologize for the lack of updates) and on myself.  It truly means the world to me to know that my Grandpa has remained in your thoughts and prayers.  PLEASE keep praying for him.  His road is only going to get worse and eating is becoming more of a difficult task for him.  He needs to continue to eat food and not just rely on his feeding tube to keep his strength up and beat this awful disease.  So please, please, please keep praying for him!


As for me, I'm doing okay.  Right before the stroke I hit a rough patch.  Grandpa and I talked and he asked me lots of questions about treatment, life with cancer, and life after cancer.  It broke my heart.  I do this a lot.  I have and continue to help so many people with this.  I've talked with so many people about these exact same issues and concerns.  But when it's your own Grandpa?  Your own Superhero?  You don't ever expect to be trying to ease your hero's fears and concerns.  I was happy to do it and I know I helped him a lot, but it was difficult.  It was difficult to hear the fear about side effects of treatment.  It broke my heart to hear him ask me when he would feel normal again.  It wasn't so much his question that hurt, but that I knew I was about to give him the answer he didn't want.  That he would never feel normal again.  His life, like mine, has changed.  A lot.  And will continue to.  Our bodies have changed.  It's affected us mentally.  I tried to ease his mind that he'll soon find his new normal and in time, he'll forget what his old normal was.  I will admit, I still long for my old life at times.  It was simpler.  Filled with less worry, fear, discomfort, and pain.  But I find myself thinking, "I don't even remember what _____ was like?"  He'll get to that point.  It sucks that the new normal is not a pleasant one.  And for him, he had his normal for 83 years, whereas I only had mine for 21 years.  I was still learning and growing.  Grandpa will have a harder adjustment.  But he can do it.  I'm confident in that.  Thankfully, he took our conversation well, like he does everything.  By the end of it, the fear had left his voice.  He was optimistic again and ready to fight the world!!!  And that is the reason he's my Superhero.  His moments of fear and concern only last a short while and then they're gone.  That is why I know he can tackle this.  He can and will win this fight!!!!

Nick Update: Almost Finished!

In exactly one month, I will be pinning wings of gold on the sexiest aviator ever!
Time is starting to go by so quickly!  Nick could very well be finished flying by this time next week!!!!!

My last update was back in early April so a lot has happened since then.

Me in front of Nick's helo, the TH-57

Nick started out flying the TH-57B (Bravo). It allowed to them learn the basics of flying and hovering.  They learned to autorotate, a term which sounded fun until Nick explained it's learning to "crash land".  Essentially, when the engine is cut, the blades autorotate and provide a little lift and lighter "fall" while they try to regain power or control.  (These are the things your wife doesn't want to hear.  While I'm happy he's learned to do this and it could save his life and his crew's life, I'd just rather not know.  A simple "training went well today.  I've landed safely" text will suffice.)

The TH-57B has one set of instruments (or gauges), no stability and although it can fly at night, they only flew during the day and it had to be flown in good weather. They start out in this learning the basics of flying a helo and hovering in about 18 flights. 

They start with the “contact” flights which is just familiarization and learning to fly a helo, then a checkride to determine if they’re safe for solo and then a solo. 

After their contacts solo, they do “super-FAM” (familiarization) flights to fine tune the previous skills.  Following these is “tactics” flights.  These are exposure to confined area landings (for example, landing in a gap of a trees), pinnacle landings (landing on a raised surface, like a plateau or building), external load operations (pick up weights and drop them, lift, transport).  Since it’s an “exposure” to them, they only do one flight for each of these 
Below are videos of him doing the external load operations:

Once they've "mastered" flying, they move up to the TH-57 Charlie model. This is a different model of the helicopter (but to me looks exactly the same):  It has two sets of instruments, stability control, and is capable of flying at night and under poor weather conditions (such as conditions where you don’t have to see outside.)  Again, they start out with familiarization flight learning the new helo.  It begins with basic instruments, which is learning to use JUST the instruments in the helo, without visual.  For these, Nick flew with a hood attached to his helmet that blocked his vision outside of the helicopter.  (An instructor sits in the seat to the left of him and is his eyes for the left side of the aircraft, with another student sitting behind Nick, acting as his eyes on the right side. Just in case.)  These skills will greatly come in handy when he’s flying over the water at night when it’s pitch black with nothing visua to reference. 

After these flights, Nick moved onto RI flights (radio instruments).  This is where he started flying to other airports in the area such as Mobile, Tallahassee, or his “cross country” flight to Memphis.  During this phase of flights, he uses the instruments that are receiving signals from navigations devices on the ground to fly.  Essentially, this stage allows them to learn to fly and operate under instrument flight rules (IFR) which allows them to navigate without seeing where you’re going using things like GPS, signals, etc.  This is THE most important and biggest stage of all of flight school because once he completed this, he was essentially “instrument rated” meaning that if he were a civilian (or Navy pilot) he could fly under instrument/IFR conditions without having to have someone else who was qualified for that. 

During this time, Nick was pretty non-existent around our home.  He was putting in about 10-12 hour days on base, coming home, showering, and going straight to the office to study.  He spent the rest of the night in there until about midnight (sometimes later.)  It was rough on him and he was downright exhausted all of the time.  (Good thing he loves what he does!)

After this, he did a “cross country” flight to Mobile where he took the helo off by himself (with an observer, but no instructor because there must be two people at the control at all times), landed somewhere else, shut down the helo, went and grabbed lunch, then came back. 

After this it was on to “low levels”.  Despite the biggest hurdle being accomplished (the instrument rated part I just mentioned) and the rumors that flight school was all downhill after that, there was still a lot of work to do for the remaining flights.  Low levels (there were 5 of these flights) required a great deal of planning, preparing charts and planning routes at low altitudes, beginning at 500 ft and later flights at about 200 ft above ground.

Next was “formations” (4 flights), which is exactly what it sounds like.  Helicopters (two of them) flying in formation together.  The last was a low level formation flight at 200 feet.  He has just finished this block of training and now he's moving on to Search and Rescue flights.  This is just one flight and it gives him exposure to search and rescue, which includes running search patterns.

Following those will be his last block of training, NVGs (night vision goggles).  It sounds pretty basic (and fun) but apparently it's more complicated and exhausted than one would expect.  

After that, he's flight school complete!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

I hope all of that made sense.  Nick tries to explains things to me in terms I understand and therefore I tried to do the same for our friends and family.  I probably know a little more than the average person since my husband is in this field and talks aviation all the time, so I apologize if I still used phrases or words that didn't make sense to a non-aviation follower.  I tried to remember things Nick said that provoked a "uhhh huh?" look from me so if I didn't explain something well enough, shoot me an email or comment under this and I'll try to furhter explain.  I know you all back home love these updates so I tried to be as thorough as I could to let you peek into what Nick's life has been like (and why you rarely see him on our Skype sessions, hear him in the background of our phone conversations, or why he himself doesn't communicate often with you all.  I promise, he loves you all, he's just busy.  I live with him and barely see or speak to him!  Give him a week and he's all yours!!!!)

Nick's Family Visit

Nick and I were fortunate enough to have his Uncle Scott and Aunt Debbie come visit us for a week!  This was their first trip here and we could not have been more excited!!!!!

For those that don't know, Nick's uncle and aunt are like second parents to him.  His parents are not a part of his life anymore but these two make up for that vacancy tenfold.  We could not ask for any better relatives than these two.  They support us and love us just any parent would.  They go above and beyond what any parent should, let alone an uncle and aunt.  I am so incredibly blessed to have married into a family like his.  So many people complain about their in-laws but I can say with 100% honestly that I LOVE my in-laws!

Their visit seemed to fly by but we made the most of it.  Nick only had the weekends off work but we spent those days touring his base, visiting the National Museum of Naval Aviation, going up in the Pensacola LightHouse (it was our first time up!  And boy is that a workout!  Nothing compared to my leg day workouts!!!!).

Stairs that go up the top of the light house

How would someone survive that fall?!  

The Pensacola LightHouse is said to be one of the most haunted lighthouses in the US.  In the basement, we watched the entire Ghost Hunters episode about the light house.  So neat!  I want to do the Ghost Tour at night here!

Nick and his Uncle Scott in front of the T-6B Texan II, the plane he flew in Primary Training

Explaining about his helo's engine

Professor Nick explaining how the helo works

Nick explaining the areas of his base

Nick and Scott in his helo as he explains it all to him

During the week, Nick's family and I headed to the beaches.  It was really great to spend so much time with them, alone.  We only see them when we go home and it's always so busy.  We're usually around at least five other people so it's not real quality time.  It was so great to spend so many hours, relaxing by the beach, and just talking...hearing stories about Nick's childhood and his family.  I truly cherished these days with them.

Bushwacker of course!

Bud Platinum

Nick had an early flight and was able to join us for the last half of the day.  So of course we stopped for sno cones!

We spent our evenings going out to dinner, sitting at home having adult beverages, and going through old family photos!

Lunch view

Lunch

Nick's family's homemade amaretto, over ice.  Delicious!

Of course we had dinner at McGuire's.  And what's a McGuire's outing without an Irish Wake?

Lunch on the beach

This also happened to be Nick and my first visit here as well!

Wine and delicious spinach artichoke dip!

I had never seen pictures of Nick pre-high school but he dug out a huge box of photos he took from his mother's abandoned storage unit and we went through them.  Um, can you say adorable?!  He hasn't changed much at all!!!!!!!

It sucked saying goodbye to them after such a great visit but we're happy we'll be seeing them in August when we venture home and again in late August when they head back for Nick's winging!  I truly am blessed to have this family in my life!