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.

Hi everyone sorry it has been so long since I have written to tell you how things are going. It has been busy but not to extreme. I have been working crazy hours and Owen has been on the schedule to fly but has been taken off the flights more than he has flown them. We haven't been to see any sights lately not because we don't want to but we have been lazy and are just enjoying the weekends by relaxing.

I finally got to schedule some leave at work and are anxiously waiting for the 21st of February. Why you may ask? Well that is when Owen's mom, his Aunt Janice, and my mom are coming to visit. They are staying until the 28th of February. We are so excited to have them and can't wait to show them around England. We have a lot planned so hopefully we don't wear them out.
I am taking on a room lead position in the 6 months-1 year room and are looking forward to learning more about how the room is run and all the things we as leaders get to take on. I though, am not looking forward to the change in hours. They aren't terrible just crazy. Oh well you do what you have to do.
Well as you can see below I had a complete hair change. I have been wanting to change it for a while but didn't know what I wanted and being overseas I was really sceptical with getting it cut on the economy. Well I finally found a style that I liked told myself if I was going to pay $80 for a cut I might as well go all out. So I did and thanks to a friend with a coupon it only cost me $40 and they served me tea, massaged my head while they washed it, and then cut and styled it for me. It was a great day of pampering. I am still trying to get used to the cut and styling by myself but for the most part I really like it.

Before
After Front

After BackThis was taken by a pilot who was flying one of the Tornado's that Owen refueled. The KC-135 in the picture is actually Owen. This pilot posted it on the web and a friend found it for Owen. Pretty crazy that it ended up being Owen in the picture. He was pretty excited to be on the Internet.

Christmas Party

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas day yesterday. If your day was anything like ours it was full of excitement. We hosted Christmas at our house and had about 25 people. Like always we had enough food to feed an army. We had a cooked 0range glazed ham, fried turkey, mashed cheesy potatoes, stuffing green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, bread, salads, and way too many desserts. It was wonderful and everyone had way to much to eat. :) We also played white elephant and had lots of crazy gift given. One guy got and ate a dirty diaper (corn, peanut butter, and nuts), well just some of it. We played scene-it as a big group and some of the guys played darts. We had a fun filled day but missed seeing everyone back home.

Main Meal Spread

Part 1 of the Appetiser and Dessert spread
Part 2 of the Appetizer and Dessert spread
These are some of our friends who we hang out with quite a bit.
Christina, Bella, Sarina, Jake, and Kyle
Dan, Carrie, Emma, Owen and James
James eating the dirty diaper

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope this finds you all enjoying the Christmas season. I was going to send out a letter like everyone else but kept finding myself procrastinating, so instead I am sending out a Christmas email/blog and since everyone I was going to send it to in the mail is on my email address I figured it would work just fine.

Well 2007 has been a crazy year for the Walker's. It all started really the end of January when Owen went to Altus, OK for 5 months to train on the KC-135 plane. While he was there I stayed in Enid and continued teaching my 4 year olds. By the end of February things started to get to crazy for me at work so I packed it up and went to Altus to be with Owen. We were there until mid June. He was flying and I was enjoying my time off. We still had our place in Enid and were basically living out of suitcases in Altus. In May our mom's came down to Enid and helped me pack up the house and send all of our stuff overseas to England, so it would be there when we arrived in August. It was a busy time but I was so thankful for there help and company. (Thanks again mom's)

In June Owen completed his training at Altus and then was off to water and land survival training. He first went to water survival in Pensacola, Florida for 1 week and then flew to Spokane, Washington for land survival, which was 19 days long. While he was there I went home and spent time with family and friends. When he returned from survival we had to return to Enid and finish up some paperwork and a few last minute things for a couple of weeks. Keep in mind we had no place to stay, all of our stuff was on its way to England, and we had been staying in hotels and living out of a suitcase since February. By the end of June we were ready to be in a home and have our stuff back but we still had another month of moving around.

July wasn't so bad, even though we still had nothing, but we were in Kansas and with family for a while. We got to spend about 2 weeks at home saying our goodbyes and taking everything in for one last time before we were off to England. It was wonderful. Our parents even threw a going away party for us. Well those 2 weeks came and went fast and by the time we knew it was over we were on a plane headed overseas.

We arrived in Mildenhall, England the 10th of August and spent another 3 weeks in a hotel room. We had to buy a car and look for a house before we could really do anything else. It took about 2 of those weeks to find a house that wasn't extremely small and we could get all of our stuff into it without problems and find a car that would get us around safely. We did ship my car over here but it wouldn't arrive until September. But as you all know we successfully found both and are doing well now. Our landlords are great and we enjoy going to there house and learning about the English ways and foods.

As you can see from the blogs I have posted, we have done a little bit of traveling since we have been here. We haven't done a whole lot lately because it has just been way to cold to do anything outside. Owen has been flying a little more than he was when we first got here but they have been keeping him busy at the squadron. As for me I have just been working at the child development center and doing things with other wives when work allows it. They finally placed me in a room with 6 months to a year old children. I really enjoy it. I miss teaching and hope to maybe teach over here before we leave but I don't know if that is going to happen or not.

We hope you all have a safe and blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. Miss everyone dearly but hope to see some of you soon. COME VISIT anytime. The house is always open.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Owen and Sara