Florida

This is going to be short and sweet!

We went to water survival with Jeff this week and had a lot of fun. Jeff was working Tuesday- Thursday, so Jackson and I had some time to explore.

The first day we got there we went to the beach, aviation museum and out to a really nice dinner by the bay.

Our foot prints

Jeff and Jackson playing in the water

So cute!

Jeff and Jackson sitting in the cockpit. Jeff said the last time he was at the aviation museum it was packed and he couldn't get that close to anything. So here are the boys having so much fun, they sat in about every plane!

The welcome sign

A sting ray that Jackson and I saw on one of our walks. We also saw needle fish, crabs and lots of fish.

We headed over to Pensacola Beach and was surprised to that the water was so warm. The only bad thing was that there were so many Jelly Fish!

Family picture on the beach!

Jeff and Jackson playing in the water again!

We had a really good time! We are off to California now! From the East Coast to the West Coast!

Centrifuge

(FYI, you might want to pause the music playing at the bottom of the blog to hear this video)

I had to do my F-16 9 G qualification this week at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. Every Jet has a specific profile with the F-16 being the hardest of them all except for the F-22 (which is the same viper profile just sitting up straight). These profiles are designed to see if a pilot can handle the High G loads that the viper( f-16) is capable of pulling. The 9 G profile was no joke and is the most feared by pilots. The F-16 Has more deaths related to G induced loss of consciousness (GLOC) than any other airplane, my flight commander always says "It will hurt you!" And he was right. After the fuge I couldn't walk and couldn't turn my nugget (head) and I have bruises all down my thighs, broken blood vessels called Geasles all down my back and butt. I did not pass out, but I can see how pilots pass out. They teach us to strain by flexing the legs and abs and breath against a closed throat, and if I let up at all I started to lose all my vision which is the first step to passing out. As a pilot losing sight is unacceptable, and losing consciousness is certain death in the viper, so I learned some valuable lessons that day; The viper will hurt me, I have a lot of respect for pilots that pull 9 G's on a daily basis, I am way out of shape for dogfighting, and I don't ever want to have to do the fuge again. I am proud to say I am 9 G qualified!

Family Picture

Just another picture of our family at graduation.

What did he just say...

I have to add this!
Yesterday my neighbor and I took Jackson and her son Logan for a walk through the rain puddles. The boys were having so much fun and Cecilia and I were yacking away. I wasn't paying much attention and stumbled and stubbed my toe on a raised crack in the cement. I was aware that the boys were there, so I knew better to not say something bad. So, I blurted out, "ouch, that freaking hurt." Well, leave it up to Jackson to repeat me, but he said it all wrong! He says, "ouch that f@#$ing hurt, mom?" I know what your thinking and yes, I did correct him, but boy did Cecilia and I laugh our butts off! It was the funniest thing I have ever heard. He said it with concern too, like he was asking me a question and if I was ok.
These darn kids can say the darnest of things!

Random Pictures

I wanted to post some random pictures from our family visits and from assignment night and graduation.

We had the pleasure of having Jeff's bother Gregg and his wife Lauren come and visit us. They brought their two little boys Carter and Kyle, and boy was Jackson excited to see his cousins. Here are Jackson and Carter eating a banana before bed and getting their giggles out!

(Jackson 2 yrs 5 month & Carter 1 week shy of his 3rd b-day)

giving hugs

This is the little man, Kyle! He is so darn cute, but a fussy little guy. I told Jeff we should keep him and Jeff said 'no, he's broken!" LOL Poor Lauren and Gregg had their hands full with this little guy. He loves his daddy and every time Gregg would leave the room, Kyle was crying for his attention! He's a daddies boy!

Poor Bella! We caught her sitting in Jackson's chair being as still as can be. I think she was trying to be so still and maybe, just maybe the boys wouldn't notice her if they ran by. She had a hell of a weekend trying to dodge them all and eventually got locked in a room for a break!

I had cookies made for Jeff's graduation by The Cookie Mama. They were awesome and the detail she put in to the wings were great! I think I ate most of them!

Jeff and I at the graduation dinner. He looked so handsome in his penguin suit! I even got my own sweetheart wings that night!

The family guys at graduation dinner. From the left, Art (Jeff's step dad) my dad, my brother Jeff & Jeffrey.

Jeff's buddies from his class

My favorite, the 3 amigos sitting on the couch.
We had an awesome time with everyone who visited us this past month! We wished there was more time to show everyone around. Spending time together is what matters the most and we are all glad we got that!

Assignment Night & Graduation

Here he is, 2LT Jeffrey Blaufuss! A winged Air Force Pilot.

This picture is supposed to be under the graduation section, but I accidentally deleted it!

Jeff accepting his wings and graduation certificate.

Assignment night was the beginning of a long 3 weeks! This was the first event to kick off the graduation process, but for all guard pilots it's a little less stressful! Assignment nights is more for active duty and boy are they stressed out and anxious. Each class has a drop of airplanes for the graduating class, they announce who's getting what based on your overall performance during your UPT training. Most guys come in to pilot training wanting fighters and and a handful wanting heavies. It's amazing to see those who have wanted fighters and have given their all to this training program and actually get what they want.

So here is how it starts. Usually more than 50% of the base comes to assignment night and the main attraction is really the free beer! But, everyone is really curious to see who gets what and where they'll be going.

(This is the welcoming screen after everyone is seated)

(These are the rules as each pilot comes up for their roasting)

(Here is Jeff's and most of the information you see it not true. Jeff says that the information on the screen is to just embarrass the heck out of you.)

(After the roasting and the anticipation, this screen pops up and depending on what you get the audience goes crazy. We already knew what we were getting, but it was still exciting!)

(These are the guys from Jeff's class who got fighters. From the left, 1LT Ben Kempen F15 C, 1LT Lawson Cass F22 Raptor and 2LT Jeffrey Blaufuss F16)

Graduation
4 September 2009

Finally the day had come for Jeff to pin on his wings! We started the day off with a class breakfast and then continued on to the graduation. It was like any other graduation, the guys went up and accepted their wings and filed down back to their seats. Please see first picture on post! (The one I deleted and had to add again!)

(These are all the guys lined up after receiving their wings)

(Here are the guys after breaking their first set of pilot wings.)
Breaking of Wings
Since man started flying, he has taken to the air with a certain amount of risk. To counter that risk, a tradition was established years ago when the Army Air Corps first started issuing pilot wings to their aviators. This tradition is called "Breaking of Wings." At every UPT graduation, the Air Force issues the pilots their first pair of wings. As tradition has it, that first pair of wings should never be worn by the pilot. To bring good luck, the pilot should break the wings into two parts. One half should be kept by the pilot, the other half be given to the pilot's best friend or relative. To preserve the good luck, the two halves should never be brought together while the pilot is still alive. After death, the two halves are once again united with the pilot
for good luck in the next life. Anonymous
(Here are the guys breaking their wings and raising them up to see who did it the fastest)


Jackson and I are so proud of Jeff and all of his hard work. This has been the hardest year for us as husband and wife, but as we all say, "what doesn't kill us, only makes us stronger." We have been through a lot this year and I am so glad we did it together and I am so very proud of Jeff.

Family picture! Jeff's mom and step dad on the left and my family on the right.
We had an awesome time visiting with our families. We want to thank you all for sharing Jeff's special day with us!