Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Three weeks ago, Tyson started Phase 2 of pilot training. The beginning of Phase 2 means that Tys is officially flying and not just taking tests. Phase 2 also means long 12 hour days where he isn’t allowed to leave the flight room. Before beginning this long, tiring schedule, we decided to visit Austin, Texas. 

Austin was a great city and reminded us a lot of Athens. We walked around campus, visited a few local shops, and scoped out the University of Texas stadium. I mean, you can’t be a “Texan” without paying respects to one of their beloved football teams. 

That night we visited Target and enjoyed a little Starbucks (luxuries we don’t have in Del Rio). We also grabbed some delicious BBQ for dinner at Salt Lick. It was absolutely delicious! 

Since our trip, life for Tys has gotten quite busy! Here’s a few pics to recap what we’ve been up to. 

Buying pumpkins at our local pumpkin patch.

Tyson’s Dollar Ride (His first ride in the T-6 with an Instructional Pilot)

I made a trip to Georgia to see Tara cheer and attend Homecoming! 

It’s been a great month with lots of fun. We are definitely looking forward to next week when the Hills come to Del Rio for Thanksgiving! 

UP Next: Tyson’s T-6 solo!! 

After months of anticipation, we are finally residents of Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas! We arrived in this quiet little border town on August 19th and have been slowly making our way through the of boxes of stuff. The movers were supposed to arrive on a Monday with our furniture…but didn’t actually show up until the following Friday! Needless to say, I was very annoyed. In the end, our items arrived in this unconventional way. (I was expecting a semi, not a truck with crates on the back). 

Luckily, Tyson’s mom and dad were able to drive his car, along with the pups, to Texas. They were such a huge help and I’m so glad they were able to visit. 

After a day of unpacking, we were headed to San Antonio for a little weekend exploration. We stayed right on the Riverwalk and enjoyed visiting shops and tasting the local cuisine. 

If we are going to live in Texas, we might as well learn about the rich history of this prideful state. So, we visited the Alamo which is a block away from the Riverwalk. 

Sadly, we had to drop off Mom2 and Dad2 at the airport the next morning, but were excited about heading back to our home in Del Rio. Although we were very skeptical about this tiny boarder town, we are really growing to love it here. They locals are so nice and really support the base. Tyson is currently in the “Academic” portion of his training, or Phase 1, and will begin flying in a few weeks. (A big congrats to him for making a 100 on his test the other day!)

I did a horrible job of posting our adventures this summer, so here’s a little recap of where we’ve been. 

While hanging out in New Jersey, we decided to take a day trip to New York City. The best thing about our location in New Jersey is that we can hop on a train and be in the big apple in an hour.  

The train to NYC stops a Madison Square Garden and is a few blocks away from Times Square. We spent the day strolling through Central Park and ended up in the shops on Fifth Avenue. 

After our trip to New York, we made the drive back to GA for a 4th at the lake. It was a beautiful weekend with both families. 

Tyson headed to Colorado on July 8th for a month of Initial Flight Screening. While he was gone, I had the opportunity to spend a month with my family in Statham. Here are a few pictures of the fun I had at home. 

Even though Tyson was gone, I had a great time with family and friends. At the beginning of August I flew back to Arizona for some quality time with Destin and April in the desert. It was a whirlwind summer, but we enjoyed every minute. 

Up Next: Moving to Texas

During our month in New Jersey, we were determined to visit a few famous Northeastern cities. Philadelphia, which is only an hour away from McGuire AFB, is a city I’ve always wanted to visit.

After an hour drive, several wrong turns, and paying to go across the same toll bridge twice (oops), we began our day with lunch at Campo’s for a Philly Cheesesteak. 

After lunch, we walked to Philly’s historic district to see some pretty famous attractions. 

One of my favorite stops of the day was Independence Hall. This building, formerly known as the Pennsylvania State House, is where many historic events took place. This local government facility was the meeting site for the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1783. It was also here that George Washington was appointed commander in Chief of the Continental Army in 1775. Most importantly this building was where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776 and the U.S. Constitution was drafted in 1787. (I learned all of this historical information from our handy-dandy tour guide who is shown below).

One non-historical fact that we learned about Philadelphia is that they are vicious when it comes to parking meters. Tys and I left Independence Hall and realized that we had about 10 minutes to get back to our car before our time was up. When we arrived at the car the meter reader was standing there watching the clock so he could write us a ticket. Next time, we are definitely taking the train into the city!

After cooling down from our race to the car, we visited the Liberty Bell!

Here are a few more pictures we caught throughout the day. 

Philly, you lived up to the hype! I can’t wait to come back and see what else you have to offer!

Because Tyson is in the Air Force Reserves, we know that after pilot training we will be moving to New Jersey. I have to say, I NEVER thought I would be living in New Jersey one day. Lets be honest, I probably couldn’t have located Jersey on a map two years ago. Since talking about our future moves, we’ve realized that a lot of people think New Jersey is a mixture of this…

this….

and this…

However, after living there for a month, we found out that New Jersey is a lot more like this….

…which is perfectly fine for us. 

After Memorial Day weekend, Tys and I headed to New Jersey. Tyson is currently on active duty military orders. This means that he is getting paid for working whether in training or not. After OTS, Tyson had a month of no training before Initial Flight Screening in July. In order to fulfill his active duty orders, we had to be at McGuire Air Force Base (our home base) for the month of June so that Tyson could work around the base. 

Here’s an interesting fact for you…The distance from Georgia to New Jersey is equal to the width of Texas. So, we had about a 13 hour drive ahead of us. To make the most of this trip, we decided to enjoy the beaches in Ocean City, Maryland. 

We loved spending the afternoon walking the sandy beaches of Ocean City!  Later, we grabbed some yummy seafood for dinner and visited a few surf shops on the boardwalk.

The next day we were off to New Jersey. Before leaving we had to visit The Fractured Prune, Tyson’s favorite donut shop! 

Guess who ordered the sprinkles. Yep, this guy!

 After OTS graduation, we were off to the lake! Lake Oconee is one of our favorite places to be. We have so many great memories there and it was our first “home” as a newlywed couple. 

On the way to the lake, I started noticing that everyone was acting a little strange. We had bought groceries at the commissary for the weekend and most of the groceries ended up in Tyson’s car. After dinner, everyone started taking the groceries out of our car and putting them in Tyson’s mom’s car. I was so confused about the situation because we were all headed to the same place, or so I thought. Little did I know that Tyson had planned a surprise visit to Ritz Carlton at Reynold’s Plantation. I was absolutely shocked! 

Everything about this hotel is beautiful. The entrance was breathtaking and the grounds were spectacular. Although it was the Ritz Carlton, the architecture of the building was very appropriate for our lake setting. 

Tyson is one of the most thoughtful people I know. He is so loving and knows exactly what I need. This mini-vacation for the two of us was perfect, especially since we had just spent three months apart. 

After our night at the Ritz, Tyson and I headed back to his parents’ lakehouse for the weekend. It was definitely a fun filled weekend that included everyone. We spent every day on the lake and had some awesome food! The best part was getting to spend quality time with so many people we love and don’t often see. 

Unfortunately the weekend came to an end and we all had to go our separate ways. We always cherish time with the everyone and had an awesome weekend! 

Up Next: Our trip to NJ!