Fun with the Twins!

I finally had to depart Boston and got to cross the pond for England. It was a great flight and I got to see this as the sun came up



The fun part about this segment of my trip was that I was going to get to see Scott and Karyn and their new twin boys, Tyler and Colin. I had not seen Scott and Karyn since they left the states about 2.5 years ago. When I did see them it was a surprise and they didn't know I was coming, Scott's parents called me one night and told me to head up there and surprise them so I did, 8 hours later :) This time I was going to surprise Scott's parents as they were up visiting and seeing the new babies as well.

It worked out well, they were pleasantly surprised when KC walked in the front door. We had a great trip, from feeding babies to walking the town and checking out a beautiful church.





These are some of the pictures from a large church in Ely, we climbed to the top and it only took 288 steps!



We ate soo good this trip, everyone helped out and made amazing meals like this.

But now I am back on a bus heading for London to depart back to Boston. Why Boston? Well I am told that I have more chores to do at Amy's new house... Hopefully she will let me out of the house to check out the fall leafs this time ;)

Location:England

Alaska Photo Album

Aloha everyone, I just wanted to see if this works. This is a link to a photo album...
I hope all is well,
Aloha!
 

Click here to view this photo book larger

Fishing Alaska Style

So I went dip netting for the first time and it was crazy, I caught 20, yes 20 reds in one day!!! That is well over 250 lbs of salmon. It was intense, you just stand out in the water with this huge net and wait for the salmon to swim into your net then BAM, you got one! Well there is a little skill involved as you drop the net on the fish then pull it out. If you try and scoop the fish out of the water you wont be able too, I mean this is a 20' pole with a 10+ lb fish! Some people tried to do that and the fish got away, I didn't let them out that easy ;) Today we are going to vacuums pack it and start freezing it. We are also going to try and can some and maybe make some salmon jerky too. I don't know why but josh wants to go and catch some more salmon... We already filled two big coolers up with fillets alone so I don't know where all this meat will go but he wants more. Maybe we can fish a little when we come back from our halibut charter, that's what I really want is halibut! I like salmon but love halibut.


I never thought I would be so excited about catching a fish....


Maile was there to help bonk the fish over the head, she did a great job!


I could not beleive the size of these things, they are huge!


Yes I ended up with 20 for the day, notice most of the big ones (almost all of them where huge) could not even fit in the cooler with out having to be bent, crazy!!! Then we needed to go to garbage bags as we filled 2 coolers with all ths salmon.

E got some video of me fishing and I'll post that once I get a copy of it, but this trip has been awesome so far and I even got my luggage today so no more excuses... I get to wear clean undies, hahaha! Just kidding but it will be nice to use my own soap and toothbrush :)

Till next time, Aloha!

Time to see Maile!

Ok so this is my second attempt at this (really a lot more but I am not trying to remind myself...) and if it doesn't work I will give up on using all this new fangled technology.

So yesterday my adventure began to come to Alaska and see my new niece. It was a lot more of an adventure then I had barged for but none the less it has been an adventure! So I made it to the airport with the help of friends a and even managed to get on the flight with minimal delays. Then as we landed in Dallas I was reminded of a certain hail storm that I got to experience and even receive a check for as the jeep did not fair so well. In any case the thunderstorm was so bad we could not taxi in to parks so instead we sat on an empty ramp and watched the 56kt winds and rain throw luggage carts everywhere, yes we were really lucky they didn't hit our plane. We were also lucky that the lighting didn't hit our plane either as this was the closest I have ever been to lighting striking the ground. I fact here is a shot of the weather.




So when we finally did get to the gate everything had already been delayed and that gave me time to get a quick bite before my flight out of there. So who do you think I would run into in Dallas... Josh! Yea the very guy that is supposed to be picking me up at the airport in Alaska is in Dallas!!! It was way cool that we got to see each other earlier then expected and even share a beverage together, but thats where the fun stopped. My flight was delayed but not as much as Josh's so when it came time for me to fly out he handed me the keys to his car as he said that i needed to go take care of E and Maile for him as knew he was not making it back :(

Well as this story of planes, thunderstorms, and delayed flights continue I did eventually make it into Alaska just in time to be told that my bags were going to be hanging out with Josh and I won't see them for the next 24 hours. Oh on a side note isn't it ironic that the last 2 times I put my bathroom bag in my check luggage it didn't make it, hahaha yea I think I'll be carrying my soap like I used to.

Finally after searching the parking lot for hours I found the jeep, ( not really it was only 2 cars from the garage entrance but I thought it added to the story) then I was able to navigate to E's home and finally lay my head down after my 24 hour adventure.

Then 5 hours later when I woke up laying on the floor (apparently the air mattress that I have used here a few times before does not hold up as well as it used too, don't worry E it's fine and I'll fix it) I was reminded why I stepped out the door on this adventure.




Ok so it's not a picture of Maile but I am sure she will wake up soon and I can see her, tell then this is all you'll get ;)

Ok now let's see if this posts... Aloha!

I am starting to like Maui

:)

Ahh yes life can be rough

Hope you all are having a great day, we did! I'll post some of our snorkeling pictures in a bit, Aloha!

Da Young's are together again

It was a great day! Amy, E and myself were all at the same place at the same time, and I scored because that place was my house.

E was down in Colorado Springs for a work thing and Amy was just getting back from her cruise/party/work thing with Dad and I was not in the desert so the stars all aligned and we were able to met for a BBQ at my place.

It has been at least 3-4 years since we have all been together so there were a lot of lies to swap and food to be eaten. We had some Kalua Pig, pineapple, kabobs with chicken and steak and yes some cold beverages!

This morning I had to get up early and leave for a 3 day trip to Florida, too bad as I would have like to spend all the time I could have with Amy and E. I will how ever get to go and see my buds Scott and Karyn in Fl.

The pictures of the 3 of us are on my camera so I will post as soon as I can, but here is a picture of the new 8 blade props that I am flying in right now down to Fl to show off.

Time for more fun

Ok so I have been a slacker on updating this as I did not tell you about my Atlanta trip and the cool things that happened there. Well here is the quick story.

A buddy Kevin was my nav and he invited Gail (the other pilot that went to the sim with me) and I over to his house. He has a beautiful house and a wonderful family that cook us steaks and was wonderful company for an evening. We ate out at a indian place the second night and that was cool too, but the coolest part came the last day after our simulator.

Kevin works for Lockheed and got us into the plant were they make the F-22 and C-130J. We walked "the line" of both of these aircraft and got to see how they are made. It was neat seeing an F-22 being made and how big they really are. The guys building it got a kick out of knowing that my little sis E flys them.

I got to see how the C-130s are made and it was really neat that I am building my plane the same way as the big boys build them. In fact I was a little surprised that I thought I was a little more picky about the riveting, oh well I will still be picky because its my plane and my bottom, oh wait I fly the C-130s too and its still my bottom =o It was just nice to meet a few of the workers that put these planes together and shake their hands, they do amazing things and because of them I get to fly these great planes.

Hard to see but the above rivets have a very shallow shop head (for those that know what I am talking about)

Aloha!

Beach Week!

Wow where do I begin… OK let’s just say that this has been an AMAZING week here in Florida.

I showed up last Saturday and started the trip off with having a BBQ at Scott and Karyn’s. It was nice hanging out at the house and catching up, ok there was not as much catching up as we all talk a bit now, but there was still tons of old stories and lies being exchanged.

So back to this week, Scott had a lot of work to do as he is still in training to become a Navigator / WSO (hoping for an F-15 so keep your fingers crossed for him), this unfortunately keep him so busy that I think I saw him 8 hours this whole week, in fact I am sitting on his nice new couch as he is off flying (read partying) in Key West! Karyn has had a lot of school work as well for her Nursing Degree and had to drive to school an hour away.


OK the twins did make it out to the beach one afternoon =)

The weather could not have been better as everyday was a beach day! We would get up early, aka noon ;) and head to the beach till the sun started to drop out of the beautiful blue sky. It was great doing nothing but trying to darken our little bums.


Yes beach time is where it's at!

On Tuesdays beach session we spent a little too much time in the sun and got a nice shade of pink all over our bodies so we decided to take a day away from our beach and check out Pensacola Beach.




We ate at some seafood place on the beach and the girls looked at me a little funny when I ordered my Key Lime pie and asked for it first but they quickly learned why. I didn’t know what I had done but I had caused a leaning tower of Key Lime pie to be delivered to our table, it was CRAZY!


We dug in!

So it’s pretty easy to sum this week up; beach, BBQ, margaritas, beach, BBQ, sushi, wine, beach, wine, Key Lime Pie, BBQ, beach, BBQ, wine… you get the idea.

OK, now you know what I have been up to this week, unfortunately it has flown by way too fast and I am now getting ready to head home to reality. I wish this week could have lasted forever but I think we will just have to continue this beach excursion in Hawaii this July, yea that sounds like a plan! ALOHA!

In Dallas

Well this works out well, the USO is right across form my gate! I stopped in and got a free sandwich but its a little crowded so I am hanging out at my gate.

I am sure thankful for all of the support that we are getting being in the military, it really is awesome!

OK back to my book Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, it a good one and hard to put down.

KC's on Vacation

OK well I have had a fun time being back. I went camping at Gledno Lake in WY with some buddies and it was a blast, just hanging out on a lake in a pontoon boat and having a few beverages, ah the life. I had not camped for a few years and it was nice to wake up and cook a brat over a campfire for breakfast =)

Then after 2 nights at the lake I headed to my sister Amy’s place and helped her move out of the loft that I moved her into right before I deployed, yea bad timing on my part. I was soo tired but I managed to get some sleep on her floor that night before I headed out to the airport to fly to Topsail Beach NC (yes spend the last 3 nights out of my bed, so why do I have a house?)

I then spent a week on the beach with my buddies Scott and Karyn and Scott’s family and friends. It was an awesome house on the beach and yes the water was warm. I was thinking that the Atlantic would be cold but it wasn’t and it was really nice to body surf everyday =)

After spending a week eating to my heart’s content it was time to come home. I got back on Sat and had 2 nights of rest before my mom and her sister Gail came up here to visiting.

Oh can’t forget that I helped Josh cut down a 40’+ tree on Monday, it was insane. I have never worked a chainsaw from 30’ in the air, can’t say that I want to do that again but it all worked out. The tree is gone and the neighbors house is OK!

Today we went to Ft. Collins and spent my life savings on furniture, ok not all of it but it was pretty depressing. I will now have a new living room and bed room and I will take some pictures of it when I get the new camera that I ordered.

OK well sorry so short but I wanted to catch up and without pictures I know that no one is that interested. Tomorrows plan is to work on the plane and maybe get some new sheets, yes I did upgrade to a King size bed =)