Boy Scouts Aviation Outing

Aviation with the Boy Scouts

As most of you may or may not know, I am the assistant Scout Master/Deacons Quorum Advisor. Today we were treated to go to McChord AFB and Thun Field to help the boys complete their aviation merit badge. We started in the AFB control tower which was a lot of fun. We learned how they control planes coming in and out and how landing/departing runways are named. I didn't have a memory card at the time so there are no pictures of that.

Below is some of the pictures from Thun Field, the airstrip in Puyallup. We did a pre-flight inspection on the Cessna below. That is Eric in the pilot's seat, Matthew is co-pilot and Duncan is the passenger.

Part of the pre-flight instruction with Bro. Vance the merit badge counselor.

This was at McChord where we got to go out on the tarmac and check out a C-17. It was huge but apparently compared to the C-5 it is tiny.

This is inside the fuselage looking forward. Again the size was just big.

We also got to get into the cockpit of the C-17. More switches and dials than it seems one could learn. After talking with Captain Vance of the Air Force, it sounds like they have made it very pilot friendly as technology is replacing a lot of the crew that it use to take to fly these big birds.

We had a fabulous time thanks to father and son both Captain Vance, the Air Force, and of course the Boy Scouts (which often gets us permission to do things we otherwise would not have been able to do.)

Piano Concert

Rachel and Eric had their first concert with their new piano teacher. They both did awesome. I got a bit scolded from Wendy because I took this picture of Rachel while playing. Eric's picture is posed after the concert was over.

Chocolate Truffle Layered Cheesecake

For Christmas Wendy got me a Hershey's Dessert Cookbook so every Monday we find an awesome dessert from it and make it for an after FHE treat.

2010 Winter Olympics

So we headed up to Vancouver, BC for this extended weekend to take in the Olympics. Although we were never able to get a hold of tickets to get in because they were either too expensive or sold out, we still had a lot of fun. We stayed at a "host family" that were so hospitable. Their daughter is one of the nurses that I work with in the OR. It made for a very fun trip.

We of course went and saw the Torch, but I was surprised how far away they put up the beautiful chain link fence to keep everyone out.

We went to the Royal Canadian Mint where they make the Olympic medals. There was a huge line to wait in, but it was worth it.

They gave us special gloves to handle the medals. No one was to touch them as they would be awarded later to the athletes. Of course Brian was able to sneak in a couple of bear handed grabs.

Here is the Gold

Andrew's got the silver

Rachel's got the bronze

Oddly enough, the silver metal, if melted down, would be worth about $250. The Gold medal is also silver with a little gold plating so it's not worth much more. Why the cant just make a pure gold medal was beyond me. The bronze, if melted down, is only worth about $3.50

Here are the children with their favorite Olympic Mascot

A pose next to the torch. Can't go to Canada without curling. . . still not sure its a sport, but apparently they have programs in their schools to introduce it at an early age.

We went sledding without snow. Very clever those Canadians.We also went ice skating without ice. It was the first time for R, A, and B on skates and it was hilarious. This is one of the only times Andrew wasn't either on his rump or in the act of falling.They didn't have any skates Brian's size so he ran around an looked cute. . .but when Andrew was done, we put his skates on Brian, and as you can see below, it was a family affair getting him to skate.
We also went to see the Vancouver, BC temple. It was beautiful.

I'm so glad that families can be together forever. We had a blast!