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!

Unexpected Gift

Today while I was putting Jackson down for a nap, we got an unexpected knock at the door! It was our mail man who is just awesome by the way and he's holding a box. I didn't order anything or maybe my mom finally sent the package she's been telling me about for a month now?! Well, I sign for it and take it in the house when I have finally looked at the return address. It's from my Aunt Sally! This is a surprise and totally unexpected! So Jackson is at my feet asking, "Mama, what is it?" I get the scissors and open it up and see a note and a quilt. I read the note and then pull out the quilt that her and my cousin have made and start crying. These are good tears, but what a surprise. I absolutely love it and Jackson was checking it out too. Obviously this is for him, but what a surprise! Did I already say that? LOL

Jackson received 2 knitted blankets as gifts, 1 at my baby shower from a distant cousin Maggie and 1 from our neighbors John and Carrol. Both I love dearly, but this is awesome! The detail of stitching and the colors! They just pop when I look at it!

So, here it is! The theme is Frogs & Dragonflies and the stitching all around the quilt even has frogs and dragonflies.

Close up
Jackson says, "Thank you great aunt Sally and cousin Beth!"
Backside of quilt
There is a patch on the back and it says,
Frogs and Dragonflies
for
Jackson Blaufuss
Aug. 2009 Columbus, MS
Pieced by: Great aunt Sally
C. Sierra Vista, AZ
Quilted by: cousin Beth
H. Phoenix, AZ
Thank you so much for thinking of us and Jackson! I have always been a little jealous when I see people receive home made gifts and now we got one, especially a quilt! It makes it that more special and it will last forever! Thank you!!!!!

Duathlon at Lowndes Lake

My friend Lindsey forwarded this email to me last month telling me to sign up for a Duathlon. It is a 4 mile run and a 13 mile bike ride. I was like yeah right, me run 4 miles! I can do the 13 mile ride only because I have been riding around perimeter road for the last 3 months. I knew I could run the 2 miles before the the bike ride, but wasn't sure about the 2 miles after. So, I ask Cecilia if she wanted to do it with me and she said "yes!" Cecilia asked Tara to join us as well and she agreed.

Well, the race started at 8:15 and we (Cecilia & I) finished at 9:53. I think Tara was 10 or 15 minutes ahead of us. I didn't finish off the last 2 miles all that great and I totally took a wrong turn on the last mile of my bike ride. So in all reality I finished last and probably should have been disqualified! But what the hell, I did it for fun and the exercise! My first 2 miles weren't bad considering all the hills, when I got going on the bike and started up my first hill it wasn't to bad. It was halfway through when I thought I was going to fall off and have to lay there for a while. On one hill we went down we got up to 34 miles an hour, so that kind of tells you how steep they got. When I got back from the bike ride, I totally talked myself in to walking, but ended up running half and walking the rest.

I am really proud of myself for even doing it!

Here we are after everything. Cecilia is on my right and Tara is on my left!

This is us getting ready before the event started
All of the runners

Cecilia and I taking off

Coming back from my bike ride

Crossing the finish line!

All in all, I had a really good time!

Packing

Today has been a productive day so far! We have managed to use all of the 15 boxes we bought from Lowe's , plus a couple that were just laying around from our last move.
I am actually surprised at how excited I am to be moving, even if it's down the street and around the block. It will be something different and we'll have painted walls! I also wanted to share my thoughts about today's packing!
It's all so over whelming and as I stand in the rooms, I wonder where I should begin. This all goes back to my New Years Resolution, being ORGANIZED! I do feel I have organized my life some what, but there are definitely somethings I have slacked on. My picture printing and filling the empty albums I desire to have. We have managed to go through a lot of stuff and toss it as we're packing, so I do consider this part of my organizing. So my thoughts for this move will be organized packing!
I have also enjoyed packing up all of my pictures. Looking at our wedding pictures and Jackson's baby pictures bring back such great memories. I also can't believe that Jeff and I will be married 5 years this October. It really seems like we just got married after looking at all of our pictures. I am so blessed to have married my high school sweet heart and my very best friend!
Now, the rest of the house is another story!
I wish packing the rest would be like packing my pictures!
I know this is a random post, but what the hell! That's why it's called blogging!

We Are Moving

Today we finally decided on a house to move in to! Cecilia and I went walking this morning from 8:30 to 10 o'clock trying to find houses that are basically up to our standards! LOL While we were doing so, Jeff was driving around doing the same. The funny part is that I didn't know he was looking and vise verse! So we ran in to each other and found one!
Cecilia is a friend I have been bike riding with and our boys are in the same class at the CDC. Well, to make a long story short, she is taking the house next to us, so we are going to be neighbors!
Our house is pretty much around the block from us! We will have the updated kitchen cabinets, beige painted walls and all the tile is now white. I will post pictures when we move in!
We move in August 7th, so it is very soon!

Dates...

As most of you know, CAFB is doing some renovations around our neck of the woods. We received a 30 day notice on Thursday telling us that we have to move out and to be quite frank, we aren't to happy about it. Jeff graduates September 4th and we will be moving from Mississippi to Phoenix in December. We have decided that we will pack up the house and only unpack what we need. I will do a separate post on the moving situation!
Why am I telling you this? Since receiving the 30 day notice, Jeff and I have been questioning our future as far as schooling dates and over all dates for the next year on active duty orders. Jeff contacted his unit on Friday to see if they had any news for him and they said they would try to have something for him by Monday. They left a message last night giving us Jeff's IFF dates and the dates of when his next class is to start in Phoenix. We haven't gotten any information or dates as to when he will attend Water Survival School. (5 days long)
So here are Jeff's class dates!
Combat Survival Training: 14 September to 2 October (Washington State)
IFF: 16 October to 21 December here in Columbus
Phoenix: 15 January to 20 October
We will let you all know what we decide to do on the dates in between and if we will be able to come home. As of now were are just trying to figure out where they are going to move us and packing!
I hope I answered some questions as far as when and where we will be going. People keep asking and so do we. So that's all we know for now.......

What the..........

This is the most random post ever and who would of thought we would be posting about ceiling fans. Well, we are! God forbid we live in a normal well put together house, these kind of things probably wouldn't happen.

So let me tell you about our little episode this morning at about 4 a.m. We were sound asleep and out of no were our ceiling fan falls and lands on my foot and then falls to the ground. What the..... was what came out of Jeff's mouth and he hadn't even realize what had happen. He thought lightning had struck the house and broke the window. So he jumps up and says the ceiling fan is on the floor. I already knew that, that's the first thing my eyes looked at after it crashed on to my feet. So he gets up and takes a look and finds that nothings broken, so we left it to clean up this morning.

Oh, and by the way it did hurt after landing on my foot. I told Jeff that to bad one of us wasn't standing under it when it fell. We could have totally made some money! LOL

So here is the attachment in the ceiling

Here is our beautiful ceiling fan on the floor

We layed in bed this morning well after the sun came up. Jeff's adrenaline was going and I was hungry! Jackson was of course in our bed and it didn't even bother him! Luck guy!

What Was He Thinking?

Sooooooo, yesterday started out like any other day in the Blaufuss home. We got up ate breakfast, went for a bike ride (13.75 miles) and we came home to shower and run some errands. Well, Mr. Jackson decided to flood the kitchen counter and spray the wall with the sink sprayer. He also likes to fill one glass up and empty it into another. He finds great pleasure in the small things in life!

Yeah, right!

So here he is playing in the water

Here he is after I caught him and the water is running off the counter and down to the floor

He managed to get Bella's dog food bag and feed her. Don't ask how much the poor dog ate, but it was in her water bowl. So she had some mush for her second breakfast yesterday!

I'm surprised she didn't throw it all up!

I didn't get a picture of the dish soap he smeared all over the ottoman in the living room. This kid was on a rampage yesterday and it was all while I was in the shower! Oh, and not to mention that he escaped and slipped right passed Jeff yesterday and decided to ride his bike out in to the road. Jeff was putting a water bottle holder on my bike and said he didn't ever hear or see him come outside. So all I could say to Jeff yesterday was "what was he thinking?"
It's like they get something in their little brain and a compulsion comes out and they can't be stopped. Well, at least not while your in the shower!

Still Here

Just wanted to let you all know that we are still here and not much is new. Jeff is cross country this weekend and is headed to Dallas. So it's just Jackson and I this weekend! I have some things planned and hopefully they workout. I want to take Jackson to see the New Ice Age movie, but might have to drive 30 minute to see it in 2D instead of 3D. We will see how that goes and we will pretty much spend most of our time in the water.
I will have Jeff write about his weekend when he gets back!

Me Want Some Cookies

Hello all! I have been following this blog called "The Cookie Mama" for sometime now and absolutely love her cookies! I haven't had the chance to swallow one yet, but I am patiently waiting! She is offering 1 dozen cookies to someone who posts a blog, leaves a comment on her blog and publishes her button on their blog! Well, I am doing all three and want to win me some cookies! If you have a chance to check her blog, I suggest doing so. Her cookies are fun and cute! Hopefully I can get her to make me some cookies for Jeff's graduation! Shannon if you see this, I am requesting you!!!!!

http://thecookiemama.blogspot.com/

I ordered these for Jeff's graduation and just to send some cookies in. I know the F16 guys will love these, but the wings will be great for all of those who will graduate with him!

Hopefully I win!

Father's Day

I know this is way over due.

Jeff's Father's Day was really nice, but super hot! We ventured out to Huntsville, Alabama to explore the Botanical Gardens and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. We had the pleasure to spend it with Jeff's mom Kathy. She visited us for a week and it was so nice to have her here with us. Jackson thought it was the best thing ever!

Jackson and I are very proud of Jeff and all the things he has achieved this last year. We sent Jeff off last year to AMS right after Father's Day, so this Father's Day was even better knowing that he wasn't leaving us.

I love you so much Jeff! Jackson and I can't even tell you how proud we are of you. Jackson is going to be a lucky a boy when he can comprehend that his daddy is going to be a fighter pilot! I can just see him saying that's my daddy when you fly over the house or we venture to the base to see you take off.
I love to watch the two of you play together and I love to hear Jackson ask where you are through out the day "where's my daddy." You guys are like two peas in a pod and I know it's only going to get better from here. To the love of my life and my best friend, you are the best daddy and we love you so much. Happy Father's Day!

*Sorry I didn't post any pictures, but I did include this link to my photobucket account. Just click on the link and it will pop up as a slide show! I hope you enjoy it!


http://static.photobucket.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf?rssFeed=http%3A%2F%2Ffeed430.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fqq26%2FCiners00%2FFathers%2520Day%252009%2Ffeed.rss

Space Shuttle Altantis Lands In Columbus

Yesterday, Jeff came home to get the camera and said that the Space Shuttle is going to land here and refuel. I was like yeah right, last time it ended up going to Louisiana.

Well, he wasn't kidding! What a day, it was awesome to see the whole base lined up along the roads and watching with excitement.

Thanks to the Air Force for such a memorable experience. We are very lucky to see such a historical and amazing air craft land here! It landed here around 2 and took back off around 4 after filling back up. It was awesome and kind of a overwhelming feeling, knowing that we are very lucky to see this!

The Space Shuttle came in from California and was anchored to the top of a Boeing 747. It landed in California on May 24th after a 13 day mission to repair and enhance the Hubble Space Telescope.

Here it is coming in to land

I wonder how many times they have to change those tires

Awesome

Remember you can click on the picture and it will pop up larger!

Hope you enjoy the pictures! I know we will never forget this!

Hello New Truck, Goodbye Motorcycle

It is with great sadness that I inform you of Jeff's loss. Sniff, Sniff & a another Sniff! NOT!!!!

Yay!!! We finally sold the damn thing (Bike) and can now pay off some bills!

I know Jeff is sad about down sizing to the Tacoma, but we never used the Chevy and it was just starting to be more of a problem then we wanted. So he traded it in for this little guy and he is happy, but sad at the same time.

Boy is it fun to have a stick shift again, I can't wait to drive it!

Happy Father's Day to Jeff!

Potty Training

So last weekend we decided to try and see if Jackson was ready for potty training. We were very surprised to find out that he was and is still going strong!
We started on Sunday and he's been wearing Big Boy Underwear since! The only problem that we have so far is: he doesn't want to poop in the potty, so I have to put a diaper on him and then he goes. When he went to school on Friday, he had a sub and she will be there for the rest of next week, so she isn't his normal teacher who agreed to work with me while he's potty training. He did end up in a diaper on Friday while he was at school and other then that he did tell me that he wanted to wear his diaper on Tuesday and part of Friday.
Other then that he wears a diaper at nap time and at bedtime. I have taken him to the grocery store in his underwear and to a couple of other places and we haven't had an accident yet. He also told me while we were out for a walk on Wednesday that he had to go potty and so we stopped by the park and went pee pee in the grass.
I know it's going to take some time, but he is doing so good and I thought this was going to be so much harder.

Pee Pee In The Potty!

Jeff and I were getting Jackson ready for bath tonight and I told Jackson after taking his diaper off to go pee pee in the potty. I was thinking yeah right, well boy was I wrong. He sat down on his potty and went. I was literally jumping up and down and saying GOOD BOY!

Ya for Jackson!

Our Mother's Day/ Father's Day Gifts

Here they are! I am so excited about this gift and it was just completed on Monday when our helmets came in the mail. This is my first nice bike as an adult, so I am going to take good care it!

Since we've gotten our helmets, we have ridden our bikes every day and Jackson loves to sit in his trailer. I know I posted on Facebook a few weeks back that I was going to attempt riding a friends bike around the perimeter road here on base. Well, I did it and let me tell you it was so hard. I did it with a mountain bike that had the clip on shoe pedals, mind you I borrowed the bike so I wore my tennis shows. Jackson sat in a bike chair behind me and he liked it so much he fell asleep.

I have been wanting a bike, but wasn't sure how Jackson would like it. After riding the perimeter road, I was more persistent it my want for a bike, but I had to have a fat lady seat! Not a long distance seat like the one I borrowed. Do I need to tell you how bad that hurts! I don't think so, especially when the perimeter road is over 10 mile long and it took me 2.5 hours to ride and I burned 1180 calories! Ok, then! LOL

So now I sit comfortably on my seat and my pedals are perfect! So long gas, I have been riding my bike pretty much every where on base. I even road to the grocery store this morning, but they were closed. I guess I will take the car!

My bike is with the bike trailer and Jeff had the nice all black beach cruiser! No beach, but a cruiser!

Thanks Jeffrey, I love my bike & I hope you like your Father's Day gift!

Changes for Mr. Jackson

Let me introduce you to our 2 year old, make my own decisions, sentence talking, showing interest in going potty little man. Saturday was a rainy day most of the day, but we did manage to make it out side in the morning. It was so hot and muggy that Jackson did need a bath before his nap. When Jeff was getting him dressed, Jackson told him what he wanted to wear and what shoes he wanted. The bad thing was that we weren't going anywhere. Well, he stayed in his PJ's all day and when we did decided to go to the book store he insisted that he wear this and his crocks! The only thing I could say is, "I guess we'll fit in!" My little okie!

(Fire truck pants, white t-shirt & crocks with socks)

Here is our newest purchase! Jackson is showing a lot of interest in going potty, but it's always after that fact. We just have to get him to tell us before he goes or not when he's going. I have made an effort to flush his poop in the toilet so he sees that this is where it's suppose to go. (Wow, never thought I would be talking like this!)

So we aren't stressing the issue, but we are willing to let him try!
Last but not least! Jackson is just talking up a storm and saying some pretty funny things! Jeff was calling Jackson "Sugar Lips" all weekend and now Jackson says it. I need to record him saying it a find a way to put it on here, It is so funny and cute.
He is also starting to fill in the ABC's when I am saying them to him. If I say "A" he'll say "B" this is something I am really excited about because I don't think the persistence and hard work sometimes shines through. I know it does, but this one (ABC's) seems to take the longest. At least I have a well mannered kid. He says "please" and "thank you."

Last, Jackson is sleeping by himself now! I know you're probably, "saying again," but this is the last time. Nap time isn't that great, but bedtime is getting pretty good. Ya, for Jackson!
(Sorry for the random post, just wanted to share with you!)