Of course we took lots of pictures and will show them to you. As I mentioned before, Alabama is a beautiful place and a great place to see nature. So we took the kids on some nature trails.
Don't we look so happy. Well, right after we took this I went to get the camera off the little trail sign and when I picked it up, the strap caught on the sign and rattled the hollow post. You may already know where I'm going with this. So I heard the tell tail buzz and there I was, eye to eye with my long time enemy. Lets lets pause for just a moment to explain something. Now, I've got about 2 years in a combat zone and just about 1000 hours of combat flight experience. During that time I've seen mortar fire, bullets flying past, rockets, road side bombs and various other things that pose a threat to human life. Namely mine at the time. I always seemed to maintain my cool and continue with what ever mission I was assigned. Now back to the nature walk. My current enemy has six legs, a huge stinger and if that isn't enough, God gave him wings too. So he scurried out of the sign post, paused, looked me square in the eye, then leaped toward me. Now imagine this all happening to a seven year old girl and that probably what my arms looked like trying to beat him out of the sky. I did knock him to the ground but not before I dropped our camera in the dirt and he landed on my belly and did his little horny dog routine. I'm just glad he stung me and not one of the kids or Laura. Truth be told, that's why I was waving my arms, so he would come after me.So the weekend continues and we went to the beach in Panama City. Actually, it was Grayton Beach State Park which is a few miles west of PCB. (have the Rowles ever been there?) It was a wonderfully hot day but the kids had lots of fun playing in the sand and sitting on my shoulders out in the waves.
If you thought the pain was over, we have a little more. After the beach, we went to the public shower to change and Will kept complaining about something hurting on his leg. When I wiped his leg off, my finger started to sting. It wasn't that bad on my finger but poor little Willy's leg was really bothering him. It must have been a piece of a jellyfish?
So the next adventure was something the kids have been bugging me about and I was able to make it happen with the help of an old friend. I contacted my old IP from flight school and went to church with him one Sunday. As it turns out, he owns a helicopter now and gives lessons and rides. Well the kids are always wanting me to take them for a ride in the helicopter but that is against some pretty big rules so the next best thing was to have my old IP take them for a ride in his. He took Laura and the kids on a 20 minute ride all around Enterprise, AL. There wasn't enough room for all of us so I stayed behind and took some pictures. Of course Laura took a few hundred pictures from the air.
About 15 minutes into the flight Will politely asked if he had any gum in his helicopter.
So as the weekend continued we went swimming a lot, saw a movie, ate out, and drove around in my old bug. It was a weekend to cherish. Thank you Laura for enduring that drive and my little hotel room.
My last check ride should be in a couple of days and I'll be on my way home. I'm stopping along the way to visit with my old company commander from Iraq and then I'll be home for good. I'm so tired of being gone and I shouldn't have to leave home for a long long time after this.
