It's a great day to check out some "Ats"!

An "at" in Tanner language is "airplane".  He sees them flying over the house all day long.  And we hear them constantly.  It's gotten to the point where I can completely ignore it.  But Tanner loves them.  When we are at the park (on base) he stares at each one that flies over.  Every couple of minutes.  He points and yells, "AT!".  So this last weekend on our way to walmart we stopped by the visitor center outside of the main gate and let Tanner check out the static displays.  He's done this before back in July in San Antonio, but he was only 7 months old and I'm sure he doesn't remember.  But I do! See?

Such a sweet little thing.

OK, back to this weekend.  He enjoyed them.  But he really liked the rocks on the ground.

 

Twins. We are a mustang loving family.

I LOVE this picture!

We tried to get a picture of Tanner in front of the sign.  I thought it could be something we do at every base to move to.  He wasn't really having any of that.  

Walking back to the car.

Almost lost something important!

This was on our way to Walmart.  Oklahoma can be pretty.

And just a random picture because he is adorable.

Randolph Planes Photo Dump

We are nearing our last days here at Randolph AFB.  If Nick is able to get his last check ride in today we will leave to go home to Oklahoma tomorrow night!  But...we have thunderstorms all day today.  And tomorrow, and the rest of the week.  I'm hoping there is a break in the rain long enough for Nick to fly that last 3 hour flight.  


We have some static planes back at Vance, but Tanner was still a little too young to enjoy it.  So we took him out to the static planes here for a quick photo shoot before we leave.  I am still trying to figure out this camera.  But being stuck in a hotel room with only a bed is keeping me busy (trying to keep Tanner from rolling off the bed onto the hard floor).  We also have one tiny window, so there is hardly any natural light.  


It will be so nice to get back to our house with carpet. And windows.  And my kitchen! 

Nick tried to get Tanner to hold onto the propeller, but he wasn't having any of that!

And this is Tanner's FAVORITE thing to do.  If he doesn't want to sit down, he will not do it.

"I want that green stuff!"   

Getting mad at dad.

He has his momma's stubborn side.

"Food?"

I love this!

He inherited talking with his hands from his daddy.

"Ooooo!"

We've been trying to teach him how to wave.  Lately he smiles when I wave at him, so I was waving while taking these pictures, trying to get that smile.  I don't know if this is coincidence or not, but I love it.

We had to take a picture in front of the Cessna for Grandpa!

:)

Vacation

We moved to Oklahoma in July of 2010 from North Carolina.  Every holiday it seemed like we could never make it home, whether it be because of pilot training, or me working in health care and never getting those types of days off. Or because of being 9 months pregnant or having a newborn.....

So when Nick graduated, and Tanner got a little older we figured it would be a great time to finally go home to visit family.  We got up at 1:45am on a Tuesday morning to drive to the city to catch our 6am flight to NC.  We had Tanner and our cat, Harry, with us.  (We can only have 2 pets while we are in an apartment in San Antonio, so Harry is going to live with my parents.  He's much happier there anyway.)

Harry loves his new cat tree!

This was Tanner saying goodbye to Harry.

Our flight to Atlanta went very smoothly.  Tanner was a complete angel.  I fed Tanner on take off (to make sure his ears popped) and he slept the rest of the way.  Harry had to be put on a separate flight from Atlanta to Greensboro because there were human organs being transported and  guess having a cat on board could cause problems.  He only got home about 2 hours after us.  

The first place we went to once we got home was Prissy Polly's BBQ.  There is NOTHING like NC BBQ.  We miss it so much.  While we were home we were able to eat other things that we only have in NC/or don't have in OK.  Biscuitville, Terry's Deli, Red Robin, Cagney's, Don Juan's, and Qdoba were a few of our favorites.   

That next day Nick went to our old high school and spoke to a few of the JROTC classes and visited our JROTC instructor and a few of our favorite teachers.  While he did that I had my hair cut.  I had probably a foot cut off and donated to Locks of Love.  I absolutely love my hair now!

We visited Nick's mom's work, and my dad's work.  We went to the shooting range, and to Target and Kohls.  I got to see my sister and nephews, and have my mom's cooking. Nick also got to work on Thumper some with my dad.  Thumper is my dad's '69 Mustang Fastback with a 408 stroker. It was an amazing time!

Thumper

That Saturday Tanner met some of his extended family.  His great-grandma, great-grandpa, and his great-great-grandma on his mom's side.  And a bunch of other family members.  It was a very long day, but I'm glad he was able to make so many people smile.  We also have some great video of it all.  

My dad with Tanner at the airport.  Tanner was getting ready to poop here.

Tanner and Uncle Don.

Tanner with his Great-Grandpa Barber.

4 generations.

5 generations.

Tanner with Great-Grandma Barber

On Monday we flew to Tampa to see my Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt.  We only had about a day and a half there, but it was amazing.  The weather was beautiful and it was great to show Nick a few of our favorite places. We also ate at Sonny's.  :)

Out on the pier in Tampa.

Mom, Grandma Chenault, Tanner, and me with downtown Tampa behind us.

We finally made it home late Wednesday night.  Tanner did so well on all 6 flights.  I already miss it so much.  But with Nick being done with pilot training and me not working right now, we can probably make it home a little more often than every 2 years. 

Tanner is people watching at the Tampa Airport.  

Passed out on the plane.

I'm hoping we can make it back to Tampa to stay a little longer.  It's like a second home for me and there is so much more I want to show Nick.  And come on, it's Florida!  Coming back to Oklahoma and not having that salt water smell in the air, and no palm trees anywhere is a little depressing.  

Tanner's schedule did get completely screwed up, though.  He's no longer sleeping 6-7 hours at night now.  More like 1.5-2.  He also got a little fussy there at the end of our trip, but I think waking him up from naps and teething didn't help that any.