Walker Update

Hey everyone,

I hope everyone is starting to enjoy the spring weather. Here in England it changes so much one day it is just beautiful, sunny and warm, and the next it is freezing, raining, and windy like it was still winter. Pretty crazy. Well not much is going on for us. I am keeping busy working and hanging out with friends. Just this weekend I went with a group of women from my bible study to a heart spa rally. It was wonderful. We went to Alconbury RAFB, about 1 hour from Mildenhall, on Friday afternoon. We had supper and then got to make some home spa remedies. On Saturday we got pampered with pedicures, manicures, and facials. We had a wonderful speaker who talked to us about being a light for God in our everyday activities. It was just a great weekend to get away and hang out with other women who love God and not be stuck at home.
As for Owen I get to talk to him about every 2-3 days. He is keeping busy with flying but loves it. He is on the night schedule so he sleeps most of the day. He said it is getting pretty hot there so he is glad to be flying at night when it is cool. He said there is not much to do there but eat, workout, and watch movies but it is not that bad, could be worse. A friend from church who was there sent me a picture so I would sort of know what it was like there.
Well that is about it for now. Just keep us in your prayers. If you want to email Owen is address is owenkwalker@gmail.com
Talk to you later,
Sara

The girls I went with

Kristy, Me, and Sarina

Michelle and Me

A place at Quatar

The Plaza (social focal point)

He's Gone

Well it is pretty quiet in the Walker household. Owen left bright and early yesterday for his 2 month deployment to Al Udeid in Quatar. He should return mid June He will be quite busy, flying as much as possible. He is living in a trailer that is split into different rooms with each room holding 2 people. The bathrooms and showers are in another trailer and they have a food hall where they can get things to eat almost 24 hrs a day. They are allowed a TV if they can find one and one computer that has to be wiped clean before they can use it. Not too pleasant but could be worse I guess. We are able to email and he calls whenever he gets a chance. I talked to him yesterday just long enough to let me know he made it and was doing fine. As for me I am doing better than I thought I would be but I am trying to keep as busy as possible with work. The nights will be the hardest and the longest but I guess I will manage, right. I am planning a trip home the end of May for a couple of weeks to help pass the time and I can't wait to see everyone again. Well that is it for now. I will keep you posted. Feel free to write or call I would love to talk to everyone or just come visit that would be great. :)

Here is a picture of Owen taken on the morning of his deployment.
Here is a picture of Owen's latest project that he took on during the month of March. ( hint: Mustache March)
Talk you soon,
Sara

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.