Air Show:

Today was the second day of the Shaw Air Expo or Thunder Over the Midlands.
I worked with the OSC yesterday morning, but C and I wanted a chance to go and actually watch, so we decided to go today. We got really....really sunburned.
We ended up riding in that rapid strike you will see in the background of the first picture, we ate air show food, and ran around looking at all the static displays, but the best part was watching the show form the top of an old fire truck that the Gamblers have.

All in all, it was a great day for watching planes, and we definitely had a blast!

Fly Safe,

Barb

Family Day:

Hi Friends!
Today We had Family day at  McEntire!
It was so much fun. They had two P-51s, a Viper Demo and static, and a blackhawk and apache from the army side. We had some fantastic BBQ, got to see an r/c viper, see a K9 at work, and watch a demo show.
The demo was great because it was very different than what you normally see when the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels preform, it was much closer to what C does everyday.

Fly Safe,

Barb

Rainy Day In the Swamp:

Yesterday I got another chance to go hang out in the mobile truck and take some pictures. It was a lot of fun! It started raining while I was out there, and you can see that in some of the photos. Totally brings the swamp to Swamp Fox! 

This is the squadrons Wild Weasel tail!

   F-16s: sexy from any angle.

    See the vortex by the intake? (F-16d)

 Definitely my favorite photo from the day!

    These are all block 52s.

   Tail 169, the wing tail number.

Fly Safe,

Barb

Swamp Fox

Recently I got a chance to go hang out with C while he sat mobile. I'm a sucker for sitting and watching planes, and was stoked for the chance! Unfortunately the movers had my good lens, and my camera cord and charger, but I did manage to get a few decent photos. Now that I have my stuff, I can't wait to get out again!  

Check out that pollen in the first picture! 

Fly Safe,

Barb

Great news!

If you read my Murphy's Law post, you know about our interesting neighbor. He's been super polite, and says hi every time we see him. C ran into him hooking up his own cable, and he even offered to hook ours up too! Unfortunately, we opted to go with time warner instead. 

Well, yesterday I needed to walk to the mailbox...to check the mail... And I opened my door to a face full of SWAT team. That's right. 15 guys, all in full SWAT gear. Guess who had their door busted in? Now, aside from being startled and kind of worried people would think we had something to do with it (thank you husband, for naming our wifi "surveillance van 1") it wasn't a huge dramatic thing. Besides... We are moving out soon anyways.

Today, actually. That's right! We closed on our house today! 

As soon as we get the apartment emptied (no need for you to see our air mattress, that has recently lost its ability to stay inflated) I will show you the apartment we've been living in for the last month! 

Fly Safe,

Barb

Sunday Brunchday:

So for our first weekend in SC we decided to explore a little bit! We wanted to get Moose out of the apartment, so a trip to a park seemed appropriate! C found the Columbia Canal and Riverfront Park so we decided to check it out.
Unfortunately we showed up and the park was temporarily closed. There was still a little space to walk around, so we got to see what the park looked like...and I will definitely be going there to run!



Moose had a great time, and he even got to walk around carrying his own leash for a little while!

On Sunday we decided to find a place to go to brunch, and C pulled up Eggs Up Grill. Normally we try to avoid chains, but this is a decently small one, and one we had not heard of before...plus if we completely excluded chains we never would have tried Snooze, and Snooze is AMAZING.

We both got the "cuppa cocoa" Its coffee and cocoa mixed together, with homemade whipped cream on top...and it was delicious.


For food I got the Mason Dixon, biscuits and gravy, sausage, eggs and homefries, I ordered a side of grits.

I love grits.

C got Steak and Eggs, and he seemed to really enjoy it! I know the bite I got was good!

So that has been our first big outing here in Columbia! So far we really enjoy it here, though getting used to having weather is odd.

Look at this cute guy. So fluffy.

Mustache March

Did you hear that?

The collective moaning and groaning of every fighter pilots' wife? Listen closely, so you don't miss it. 

That's the sound that lets you know March has arrived. Which means it is mustache March, the month in which all fighter pilots grow out their mustache. All of them. Not just fighter pilots either... Most of the male members of the Air Force! 

This man is Robin Olds, arguably the greatest fighter pilot of all time. Check out that mustache. As you can probably guess, this legendary man, and his equally legendary mustache have a lot to do with Mustache March. 

Mustache March is a tradition to honor Robin Olds and his incredible life. 

From the Mustache March Wiki: 

  The idea stems from an early Air Force tradition in which members of the U.S. Air Force would grow mustaches in good-natured protest against facial hair regulations during the month of March.^[1] The act of growing a mustache as a gesture of defiance against dogmatic leadership is attributed to U.S. Air Force triple-ace Robin Olds who grew an extravagantly waxed handlebar mustache which did not comply with U.S. Air Force regulations.

It is and was also common belief that a mustache makes you bulletproof. With a Stache like that... How could you not be? 

If you haven't had a chance to read Olds' book, I highly recommend it. You can find it on amazon! 

I for one, am all for honoring this legend, and since I can't personally grow a very good mustache, I will just have to will some extra power into C's.... And if it helps make him bullet proof... I won't complain! 

Happy Mustache March!