A Day I will never forget

I had an experience of a life time. Owen's squadron set up a spouse's orientation flight for us this past Tuesday. We were able to go onto the KC-135 and experience a flight and a refueling. It was so amazing to view an actual refueling. We refueled 4 F-15 over the North Sea. Our pilots were Col Clifton and Capt Jessen Malathu. They were wonderful. We also had a pax monitor Lt Andy Nickles and our boom operator was A1C Jon LeMessurier. We had a show time of 6:05 in the morning, where we went through the events that the pilots go through when preparing to fly. We started by watching the weather briefing. Then they took us into the conference room and we observed the pre-flight briefing. We then went out to the plane and observed them going through all the check list on the pre-flight. We were on the plane for about 1 hr 30 min before take off. Once we took off we flew just east of England putting us over the North Sea. There we circled in the pattern until the F15 arrived to be refueled. We were there about 2 hrs. They let us go down into the boom pod to watch the refueling take place. I was so amazed at how close the planes really do get. I told the boom it would sure take a lot of nerves to do this because of how close they get. It is only about 30 feet from where we are looking from. The boom operator was Owen's boom from when we were in Altus, OK so he let us play around with the boom for a little bit. I got to move it all over. That was awesome because Owen told me later he has never got to even do that. After we had refueled all of the planes we then headed home. We landed around 12:00. It seemed like a long day for us but they said to them it was really nothing compared to what they normally do on a daily bases. I had a great time and would love to do it again. Below are a few pictures and a video I took during the flight. I hope you enjoy.

Col Clifton and Capt Malathu

The boom pod.
They actually lay on their stomachs the whole time they are refueling the planes.

A view from the boom pod
An F-15 we just refueled
Me and the boomA video of the refueling

Easter

Easter was a crazy day for us but really enjoyable. We woke to 3 unexpected inches of snow and more coming. It was rather beautiful but cold. We then went to church and heard a wonderful sermon. After church we went to our friends Jake and Sarina's house in Ely for dinner. There were 8 of us and we had a great time. After dinner the guys sat around and watched some basket ball while us women played a few games. Easter was a great day even with the unexpected snow fall. We hope you all had a wonderful day also.

Easter Day

Week with the Mom's and Aunt Janice

This was such a great and wonderful week with the mom's and Aunt Janice. They arrived early on Thursday the 21st of February and we had them for a full week. We started out their trip with a short ride from the airport to our home. Since they had flown all night to get here we fed them breakfast and let them catch their barrings for a few minutes. We would have let them take a nap but they probably would have slept the rest of the day. So we decided to take them to a nearby town called Cambridge. We viewed a lot of colleges, went to a chapel service at King's College (heard a young boys choir sing), and had lunch near the river. Then we called it a day. On Friday we let them sleep in and then took them around the base to show them where we worked. Owen was wonderful and actually got to take us to view the KC-135. I think they really enjoyed seeing what he flew and what it looked like inside. On Saturday and Sunday we went to London. Saturday we went around and saw as many sites as we possibly could, war time tunnels, British Museum, Big Ben, The Eye, Houses of Parliament, West Minster Abbey, and many more. That night Aunt Janice treated us to a London show. We saw "The Sea" and I bought a cup (really about 1/4 of a cup lol) of ice cream for $6. Pretty crazy but boy was it good. Oh and the show was great not wonderful but pretty good for my first real show. Then on Sunday we drove back to London and spent all day touring the Tower of London. Even though it took most of the day, it was worth it. Then we took them on a river cruise at night to see all the sites on the river.

Monday was a down day to catch up on some sleep and relax a little bit. We did take them to Bury St. Edmond to view the abbey and do a little shopping. Then on Tuesday we were back on the road to see Dover Castle and the White Cliffs of Dover. That also was a long day but well worth it. It is located southeast of London and took us about 3hrs and 15 min. to get there. We saw the castle and then took them to eat the famous Fish and Chips (french fries) and then headed home. We hit rush hour traffic in London which was pretty crazy but Owen did a great job getting us through it and home safely. Wednesday was a day of last minute shopping and going out for some English tea in a little tearoom here at Mildenhall. Then Thursday we said our goodbyes and took them to the airport for their long journey back to the states.
It was so so wonderful to have them here and to show them a little bit of what England is like and what we are doing here. We hated to have them leave and wished they could have stayed longer but that just means they are going to have to come back soon to do more site seeing. We did a lot for a weeks worth of touring and hope we didn't wear them out too much but we had a blast with them and can't wait till they return.
Well now that they have been gone for a couple of weeks we are back to our schedules of work work and more work. Owen is currently on a week TDY to Spain, Greece and the Desert. But is to return on Saturday. He also found out he is scheduled to deploy in April for 60 days. We are not looking forward to being apart but are hoping it goes by fast. As for me I will be here working and am planning on taking a couple weeks the end of May to come home since he will be gone until sometime in June. I just ask you keep us in your prayers and that everything will go quickly and that God will keep Owen safe while he is down there and me while I am here without him. (If anyone wants to come and keep me company during that time I am looking for takers I will even put you up and feed you lol) That just about sums everything up for what we have been doing lately. Hope everyone is well and would love to hear from you all soon. Keep in touch. Missing everyone dearly,
Sara and Owen

Owen and I on the river cruise down the Thames River in London


A gun display at the Tower of London
Thought those from Atwood would appreciate this. We stumbled upon this in London and thought of all of you back home.
A fruit cake display in Harrods. Harrods is a seven story shopping center in the rich part of London. It was really overwhelming but gorgeous.
A guard on duty but don't remember what building he was guarding, sorry.

The White Cliffs of Dover and the English Channel.
Port where you can catch the ferry to France. They say on a real clear day you can see France it is only about 23 miles from here.
A view of the coast from the castle
Tea at Emily's (Sylvia, Sylvia, Janice, Sarina, and Kyle)

Visit from Amanda

Well I know it has been quite awhile since I have posted anything and I apologize for that. We had a pretty busy February. The month started out slow but soon became rather busy but a lot of fun. We had our first visitors from home and it was great. Amanda as some of you know was doing an internship over in Ireland. Well while she was there she decided since she was so close she would come down and see us. So her and a friend flew down to Stanstead the weekend of February 18 and stayed until that Sunday. We tried to do as much with them as we could fit into the weekend. On Friday I took them to a what we would call a country club to hear an American country singing sing. His name is Bobby D. Sawyer. I have never heard of him but he was pretty entertaining. We also got to see people do a lot of different line dancing. Our landlords were among them. They were great.
On Saturday we made a quick trip down to London and showed them as much as possible. It was a very cold and windy day. We did a bus tour which allowed them to see all the sites from the outside and then we chose a couple to actually go into. I also took them to a little tea room to have some English tea. Then they had to return early on Sunday so that was all we had time for. It was a real quick trip but I think they enjoyed it . Hopefully they will come back when they have more time to see everything. It was great to finally see someone from home. It made me miss home quite a bit but it helped to know that people are always close by. Thanks for coming to see us Amanda . It was a great weekend.

This was at a store in London located on Oxford Street. It is the longest shopping street in all of England. This was taken just outside of Buckingham Palace.