First Day of F-22 Raptor B Course!

At the beginning of January, Dan FINALLY started B Course for the F-22 Raptor! This had been a long time coming, since he found out this is what he'd be flying last June at drop night! There are only two classes per year for the Raptor, though, and the last one started in July before he had completed IFF or Water Survival.

This is going to be a grueling nine months for him as he completes academics (now) and simulator training before finally flying the jet (probably in March) for the first time! Oh, and since it's a single seat jet, he'll be flying it completely solo for his very first (and every) flight! Ahh! I am going to be in panic mode that day, but hopefully I'll be able to go out and watch him take off!

Anyway, send good vibes for his training these next nine months and for my parenting ability for our two sweet girls since I'll be alone with them a lot of the time while he's busy training and studying!

(and in case you don't know what a Raptor looks like... here's one!)

Our 3rd PCS in 3 Years

Mid-December, when sweet baby Josephine was just two weeks old, we gathered what we'd need for two weeks and moved out of our home in Texas and into the TLF at Sheppard Air Force Base. We needed to get all of our belonging packed up and moved out so we could clean the house for our new tenants.

This is the first time we did not do a DITY move. In fact, we had people do almost everything for us, aside from Dan finishing up his home renovations - which turned out awesome, by the way, but that's a post for another day!

We had the movers pack and load up the truck, and we even hired someone to deep clean the house and another to clean the carpets - all things we've typically done ourselves. That just wasn't feasible with a toddler AND a newborn, though. Overall, our experience with the military moving us went much smoother that we imagined, but we still like that extra payout from DITY moves.

Half way through our TLF stay, the water heater leaked all over the laundry room, and we were forced to move into one of the MUCH older units across base. Lame. But it worked out okay... it was just a huge hassle to pack up all of our things (you have a LOT of stuff when you have two young kids, so I'm not exaggerating the hassle here), especially when we had plans to meet some people for dinner at a specific time. Yikes. That is a day I don't want to re-live.

Finally, we made it out of Texas, though, and started our trek to Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida. Thank goodness for our camper because we were able to sleep in it each night instead of moving all of our stuff to a different hotel room each night. It was also nice for discretely nursing Josephine along the way. We could stop anywhere, and I'd just get in there with her and not have to worry about using one of our covers (that we actually LOVE, by the way, but we were still learning our breastfeeding relationship at this point - remember, she was VERY young still!)

On day one, we made it to Louisiana and spent the night. On day two, we drove through the rest of Louisiana and all of Mississippi and stayed in Alabama. We made it into Florida on the third day, had lunch with some friends along the way, and then made it to our home! It was late, and our stuff wouldn't be delivered until the next morning, so we actually parked our camper at the Fam Camp at Tyndall and stayed in it for one last night.

The next morning, our household goods arrived! (Quick - I know! It helps that it wasn't peak PCS season... and it also meant that we skipped our New Orleans adventure we had planned because they called and said it'd be there on Monday morning, and if we weren't there, it'd go into storage... that meant we'd be waiting for our bed (and more importantly, Annabelle's bed!), and it would have another opportunity to get lost or damaged... so we said okay and hightailed it to Florida, skipping our time in New Orleans.)

I really like our new home. We're just renting for the time being since B Course is only a nine month training. If we end up staying at Tyndall after he graduates, we'll want to buy somewhere in this area... but this house is totally great for what we need right now! And it's in the closest neighborhood to base (which is still a 15 minute commute for Dan each day... the city is weird).

I can't say that we're in love with Panama City... it's very different from what we assumed... BUT we're going to give it a fighting chance before we make that decision since the weather has been SO COLD (worse than it's been in 28 years, in fact, according to the news), and we haven't had time to go do anything fun... so we'll blame the "blegh" feeling on that for now and hope we end up enjoying it more once it warms up!

Now we wait to find out if we will be staying at Tyndall for Dan's follow-on flying assignment or if we'll be moving again this fall. We will put in our request in a couple months and find out hopefully sometime in May or June. He graduates in August and goes to SERE after that, so we'd be moving in October or so if we do!

Military Spouse Appreciation Day Link-Up

Today is Military Spouse Appreciation Day, and I'm linking up with Amanda at Somewhere Over the Camo and Jen at Marathons and Dogtags for a fun get-to-know-you post! 

//Tell us about yourself and your blog. Hi, I'm Janelle! I'm a wife to Lieutenant Lovemuffin, also known as Dan. We have an eight month old daughter, Annabelle, and we recently moved to Wichita Falls, TX so he can go to pilot training. I used to teach 8th grade reading and writing before getting married and being whisked across the country. I love reading, writing, running (when I'm not injured), blogging, crafting, my cats, game shows, and all things Kansas City sports related. I also run an Etsy shop, named after my little girl: AnnaKate Paperie.

//What branch of military are you affiliated with? Air Force! But Lieutenant Lovemuffin originally enlisted in the Army nearly 10 years ago in June of 2006! He then transferred to the Air Guard and was training to become a B-2 Crew Chief when he received his acceptance to the US Air Force Academy in 2009. He graduated and commissioned from there in 2014, got his Master's degree in Applied Physics at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and is now ready to begin pilot training (ENJJPT) at Sheppard Air Force Base. 

//What is one thing you enjoy about the military lifestyle? I am not a big fan of the unknown, so a lot of aspects of military life aren't for me... but all the adventures we've been able to go on and will be able to go on in the future are pretty awesome and have definitely helped to break me out of my comfort zone. We've traveled via Space A twice now (and are planning a third trip VERY soon, so hopefully that works out!). I'd say Space A is a huge benefit. I've also made a few really great friends through this military lifestyle... not many, but hey - quality over quantity any day!

//What advice would you give other spouses who are new? Learn how to be alone comfortably. It took me a while to get the hang of being my own company, but I'm an expert at it now and sometimes crave it. It's a great skill that I'm happy to have acquired. Sometimes (okay, often times), you'll be alone as a military spouse, and it's no fun at all dwelling on the fact that you're missing your man. Also, go with the flow. It's easier said than done, I know. But it really will make you less crazy... and you know what they say: flexibility is the key to air power. ;-)

It's been fun linking up today, and I look forward to meeting some fellow military spouse bloggers who I haven't connected with before! 

Hello, Texas!

Well, we made it to Texas! We are moved in to our new home, and we love it!

We've been taking our time unpacking boxes, figuring out where we want things to go (isn't that always the worst when you have a new layout in your home and certain things just don't seem to fit anywhere?!), and getting settled in.

We've checked out some local stores and the base, and it seems like we're really going to enjoy our time here.

Lieutenant Lovemuffin doesn't start pilot training until June, so we have a couple months to relax before the full-blow CRAZY begins... and I'm okay with that.

I'll be going back through everyone's blog posts from the past week and a half and going on a commenting spree to play catch up... so I apologize in advance about that! ;-)

Do you enjoy moving in to a new home?

Goodbye, Ohio!

Today, we are driving away from our house in Ohio. It was our very first duty station as a married couple. Once Dan graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2014, we got married and moved to Dayton, Ohio so he could get his Master's degree from AFIT, the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Last night, he received that Master of Science in Applied Physics degree (more on that coming soon), and we completed our time at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Thank goodness. We were not so much a fan of this town, but we also know it could be worse. There's nothing AWFUL about Dayton... there's just nothing exceptional about it either. In all fairness, we probably would have felt that way about any base after coming from gorgeous Colorado Springs.

Although we are not upset to be leaving Ohio behind for more exciting things (ie: pilot training and all the fun and craziness that comes along with it in Texas), we did make some special memories in Ohio...

We lived in our first house as a married couple. Sure, we rented it, but we worked hard to put it together to look and feel like a home, and I will definitely miss the layout of that house. It's also the home we welcomed Annabelle into, and while she will have many homes growing up, this one will always remain special because of the middle of the night feedings, sweet newborn cuddles, and many first milestones that took place in this very house. I'm happy to be leaving, but I'm also overwhelmed with sadness about leaving that part of Annabelle's life behind - she'll never remember it, so I'm happy that I at least captured her nursery in photos for her to have when she's older.

We went to many baseball games, went flying, and even made our own table for our patio! We're excited to move that one with us to Texas for all of the cookouts we see in our future.

We welcomed Smudge, Dan's childhood dog, into our home, and the kitties moved to their third state! Gilligan and Stormy are such well-seasoned travelers. 

Dan started his first Air Force job as an officer, going to school at AFIT. Those butterbars look so good on him. I turned my Etsy shop into something larger than I ever expected and shipped out a TON of orders for the holiday season. We took a family picture with all of our pets for our first married Christmas, and we celebrated our first year of marriage! 

In Ohio, we found out we were expecting, found out the baby is a GIRL, went through my entire pregnancy, and welcomed sweet Annabelle Kathryn. Life wasn't so bad in Ohio, after all. ;-) 

We bought our new car (the Dadmobile), spent our first Christmas with a baby, watched Dan defend his thesis (and graduate!), and took Annabelle to the polls to teach her the American way. 

While we're hoping never to be stationed in Ohio again (and as a pilot, Dan shouldn't be assigned there - but you know the military...), we will definitely miss some small aspects of it. And our small handful of great friends there. We will definitely miss them.

Now onto the adventures of pilot training! 

Do you ever feel sentimental when leaving a base, even if you didn't particularly care for it?

The Hotel Life

If you saw my last post about Annabelle's nursery, you know that I captured those photos since we'd soon be leaving our house in Ohio.

Well, we've left. But we're still in Ohio for the week. Lieutenant Lovemuffin graduates from AFIT with his Master's degree on Thursday, and we will head out on Friday morning.

Until then (and since last Wednesday), we've been living the hotel life.

And when I say we, I mean Annabelle and me. Dan has taken all of our household goods down to Texas and started setting up our new home. (This situation is all kinds of weird, but he went without us to drive the Penske truck down. We're doing a DITY because we have a deep freezer full of my frozen breast milk from exclusively pumping to feed Annabelle. This way, we can all ride together next week. He towed our Escape behind the Penske truck, and we will tow our Camry behind our Navigator when we drive down next week. Yes, we have three cars... also a long story.)

It's a small room, but it has a kitchen, so we've been just fine. Who am I kidding? I'm not cooking! This is like a vacation. There's also a TV with cable (which we don't have), so I thought I'd watch some good shows... but it turns out, there are no shows I like on cable, which is why we don't have it in the first place. Ha!

Hotel life hasn't been too awful, but I will say that I'll be SO glad when we are out of here and on our way to Texas!

Now check out this little cutie... she is thoroughly enjoying the hotel bed to play on, but she's sleeping in her Pack n Play. Ironic that she plays on the BED and sleeps in the Pack n PLAY. ;-)

 

Have you ever stayed in a hotel for an extended period of time during a move?

Back to Work... for the Husband!

This morning, after a fun-filled summer and 60 glorious days of my handsome husband being military free, he in-processes for his graduate school program. 

As he was heading out this morning! :)

I couldn't be more proud of him as he embarks on this new journey.

We have been at our first official base together for two weeks now, and we love it. We don't live on base, but the area seems to have a lot going on. It's not beautiful Colorado, but it's home for the next year and a half, and we are happy with that.

Since he had two months away from the Air Force, he decided to grow his beard out for the duration of that time. This is how long it got. Clearly he shouldn't have facial hair. I didn't like it, but I put up with it because I knew it was temporary... ;)

On Wednesday night, we went mini golfing and had ice cream together to celebrate him shaving his beard off! Okay, that's not true. We were celebrating two wonderful months of marriage! :)

And just for good measure, Gilligan and Stormy had a fabulous summer with my grandma... they were SO spoiled! Now they're all settled into their new home, and they love exploring it!