Luke AFB

Last Friday Emma and I had the opportunity to go to Luke AFB and take a tour. I wasn't able to take pictures in a lot of the places we went, but let me tell you it was a great time. We started out by going to the tower. We got to watch some F-16s take off from inside the tower and then we made our way out onto the catwalk to see even more. Emma loved watching the planes take off and the roar of the jet engines.

After that, we went to the flight line and got to see the F-16s up close. As we were wrapping up, some of the planes were returning from flights and taxied right by us. Emma did not appreciate them showing up because it meant she had to put ear protection on and the muffs were way too big for her. As you can see in the picture below, she was less than thrilled.

Here's the pilot of one of the passing planes saying hi.

After the flight line we had some lunch and then checked out the loading area where they put the weapons on the planes. Emma was wiped out by then and I think she was grateful to get back to the car and pass out.

Ready for Bed

We've been trying to cut down on Emma's TV time lately, so after Josh is in bed Jill has been sitting on the couch with her in the front room and reading books with her. I made this image last week after they were done reading a book and Emma was doing her best to stall going to bed.

Birthday #2

Last Friday was Josh's second birthday. There wasn't a whole lot of excitement on his actual birthday, but I did have the day off so we spent the day playing and having fun.

We had a small gathering on Sunday to celebrate with family. Josh made out with tons of motorcycle and Toy Story (also his party decor) themed gifts.

Here are a few images from the day. It's hard to believe that Josh is already two. He's getting so big and talking like a fiend. Such a big boy.

Fishing

You may recall back at Emma's 4th birthday I had a few images of her with her new fishing pole. After her birthday it got placed in the closed and kind of forgotten about for a while. Last month while Emma spent a day at school with her mom, Josh and I went down the street to the riparian preserve. There is a small lake there that we walked while Josh obsessed over fish and the fact that he couldn't see them. Luckily we ran into a nice couple who had caught a few fish and were happy to show them off to Josh. In talking to them, I learned that the lake had just been stocked.

Valentines day was around the corner, so I told Emma that I had a surprise for her and we took a trip down to Sportsman's Warehouse to get all the tackle we needed to go out fishing. The next Monday was President's Day and I figured that would be a good day to do our inaugural fishing trip.

Since he had the day off, Emma's Poppa Mark swung by to join in the fun. We didn't catch anything (probably since Emma constantly wanted to reel the line in as soon as it was cast), but it was still a great time.

Sergio & Lisa

Back in January we took a trip to Georgia to celebrate the wedding of Sergio and Lisa. It was a great weekend and a fun break from the kids for a few days. The wedding was beautiful and I was very glad that I got to be a part of it. Unfortunately since I was in the wedding I didn't have a lot of chances to take pictures. Nor did I feel like I needed to since Paul Gero was shooting it and I knew his work would be spectacular.

Here's one frame that I snapped during their first dance. This is my favorite of the images I took.

Catching up

Wow, it's been two months since I've posted anything on here! I guess I better get caught up. Over the next few days I'll try and get everyone caught up on the goings on around here.

Resolution

It seems like everyone is posting their resolutions for 2011, so I figured I would jump on the bandwagon. However, my resolution for this year is not your standard one-I've decided that I want to learn how to hunt.

This has actually been a goal of mine for quite a while, but for one reason or another I didn't actually take the jump to do it. Most people I know aren't the hunting type and so I have had to go out of the box to learn the basics. I took a coyote hunting class almost a year ago and kept making excuses that kept me from going out into the field-namely my cheapness to buy a hunting license halfway through the year and not make use of it.

For 2011, I made sure I had my license bought way in advance and back in December I decided that I was going to try and make it out New Year's Day to start my hunting adventures. Jill was good with it at first when it looked like I would have a companion out there with me, but when that didn't happen she decided that she didn't really want me to be out there by myself. After a lot of reassuring that nobody would mess with (or probably even see) the heavily camouflaged man with an AR-15, she relented.

Then came the biggest test of my will to go out-the weather. We had a major cold front come through right before the first, and it was a beast. The morning I was planning to go out was forecast to be 27 degrees (yes, below freezing in the desert). I stuck to my plans though and bought a bigger jacket.

So long story slightly shorter, I made it out on the first at the break of dawn to a beautiful sunrise over snow-capped mountains. I trudged through some thick brush in sub-freezing weather and saw frozen ponds in the desert. I saw tons of quail and a few coyotes (between myself and a road, no safe shot). In the end, I came home empty handed but loved every minute of it. I think I'm officially hooked.

I'll be heading out this weekend to try again and hopefully I will have some better luck. But even if I don't, I'll still be outside enjoying nature and learning a new skill I can pass on to my children someday.