Quick Update

We haven't done anything too interesting lately (not even the mildly interesting activities we typically blog about), hence the lack of posts. Scott is in the middle of working towards his commercial rating and is switching flight schools to finish it because the rest of it needs to be done on a complex aircraft that is unavailable at his current flight school. As soon as his paperwork goes through and he gets assigned an instructor he should only have a couple months before he gets it but we'll see how the schedule works out.

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It looks like summer is here to stay with temps in the 90s or 100s every day. But it's a dry heat so it's not too bad (eye roll here).

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We're looking forward to vacation in a couple weeks...we decided to visit Washington DC. Scott is making a personal pilgrimage to the National Air and Space Museum and apparently there's a couple other cool things to see there too :-) We'll be sure to post pictures when we get back!

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Bridget is throwing up periodically again (in fact that is how we woke up this morning, to her retching noises). We switched her food a couple weeks ago as after doing some research (googling the topic) it appeared she might have a food allergy. Renee took her to the vet yesterday to get her annual vaccinations and told the vet how we had really kind of resigned ourselves to the fact that she throws up sometimes, that's just how she is and it seems like there's nothing we can do about it , and the vet said, "Well you have to look at it from our perspective, do people just throw up periodically? No, not unless there's something going on there." Duly noted. So we will give this new food a couple more weeks and if it's still a problem will switch to a brand of Science Diet that is most likely to accommodate a food allergy.

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So as you can see, nothing exciting happening here but the second something does, we'll let y'all know about it!!!!

Midland, TX

After flying to Odessa last Friday and thinking it would probably be the last time Renee was there, she actually had to go right back Monday and stay all week for work! Midland is actually where she was staying, which is 20 minutes east of Odessa. But it's really all the same city, they're connected by the aiport in the middle. It's very flat with very few trees. It's actually very close to the New Mexico border. The weather was really nice all week but always windy.

This is another huge high school football stadium. This and the one by the Odessa airport are the two major stadiums used in the area.

Flight to Odessa

Today we flew to Odessa, TX to fulfill one of the requirements for Scott's commercial rating. Odessa is about 5 hours away by car (340 miles) and a little over 2 hours away by plane (260 nautical miles). It's northwest of San Antonio, close to the New Mexico border in west Texas. If you've ever read the book, seen the movie, or seen the series "Friday Night Lights" about football in west Texas, Odessa is the setting (and the book was actually nonfiction...not sure how close the movie and series followed). Anywho, Renee had read the book about three years ago and at the time assumed she would never have cause to visit Odessa in her lifetime as it is not a vacation destination and is in the middle of nowhere in west Texas. It seemed a completely foreign place. And here we are, three short years later. Isn't it crazy how life works?

Taking off from Stinson...

Renee hadn't sat up front since New Orleans!
Leaving San Antonio...
I-10, going through the middle of nowhere on the way to El Paso. The same I-10 that went through New Orleans and Slidell...

Junction, TX (very small).

Again, nothing around for miles and miles on the way out there. Not even really many houses.

Barnhart, TX (even smaller).

Scott monitoring while the auto pilot did all the work.

Oil fields near Odessa. There were hundreds and hundreds of pumps as we got closer to Odessa, it was surreal.

Coming in to Odessa Airport (Schlemeyer Field).

A high school football stadium. Look at the size of the parking lot!

Luckily the airport had a courtesy car we could use for a couple hours to go to lunch and check out the town. It was a nice little car and the airport was so nice, very hospitable.

We went to a BBQ place they recommended called "The Rockin' Q."

Picture of a pump from the ground.

Taking off from Odessa heading back to San Antonio. There were empty patches of land all over town with no trees or anything on them. Not sure if they were just green space or what.

It got to be a long time in the plane and Renee got bored. And a little crazy.

We stopped at a couple airports on the way back but nothing interesting, just meeting the requirement. As we got back to San Antonio we passed near Medina Lake, which is just northwest of the city.

Back at Stinson.

It was kind of a long day, but everything worked out and we got to visit a new place and see new sights. We couldn't ask for more!

Lazy Sunday

Today the most exciting thing we did was go for two walks. The first was to the park, where we saw a deer laying down by the path just hanging out.

Until Bridget spotted her and caused a ruckus.
After dinner we went for another walk since it was such a nice day. This time we stuck to the street by our apartments. Everything was so crisp and clear and pretty Renee just took a few pictures.
Right now we're hanging out on our balcony...Scott is working on work stuff on his computer and Renee is updating this blog on her computer, it's really peaceful and we're just enjoying the sunset. Bridget is keeping an eye on goings-on below. It was another beautiful day and although we didn't do much, we enjoyed ourselves. Sometimes it's the simple things :-)

A Day at the Beach

Jamie was nice enough to come visit us this weekend, and we planned a trip to the beach. She came in late Friday night and left early Sunday afternoon so it was a pretty short trip, but we had a lot of fun while she was here.

Bridget LOVES Jamie. She posted herself outside the office door waiting for Jamie to get up in the morning, waited outside the bathroom door while Jamie was taking a shower, and jumped all over her whenever she was available for jumping on. Bridget's inner monologue sounded something like this...."Jamie Jamie Jamie Jamie jamiejamiejamiejamie Jamie! Jamie! Jamie! Jamie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We flew from Stinson Airport in south San Antonio to Mustang Beach.
Ready for takeoff.

Taking off from Stinson. The metal building is actually the museum we went to a couple weeks ago and you can barely see downtown in the background.

On the way to Mustang Beach.

Jamie at the controls flying towards the Gulf.

The Gulf (very blue on this day).

Coming in to land at Mustang Beach.

The beach, looking north.

There aren't any courtesy cars or rental cars at this airport, which we originally thought might be a problem, but luckily there is a trolley you can take as a shuttle bus around the island.

We took the trolley to Moby Dick's for lunch.

We then walked across the street to "Nautical Wheelers" and rented a buggy in which to tool around the island for a couple hours. They were all brightly painted and themed. Ours was named "Lone Star."

We buggied over to the ferry landing to see if we could spot some dolphins, but they weren't out today.

Someone was drying their jeans out their car window in the parking lot.

Jamie had forgotten her sunglasses, but purchased a pair of ZZ Top sunglasses for just $1 at the buggy place, which got the job done and were stylish to boot.

It was windy enough that people were surfing.

Cruising the island in the buggy. We all took turns driving and riding in the back.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day...

Taking the trolley back to the airport.

The beach from the air after takeoff.

Jamie trying out flying again.

Aerial view of the whole island.

Heading back to San Antonio at sunset. It was such a clear day, all day the horizon was really crisp.

Coming in to land at Stinson.

Unloading just as the sun was setting.

It was a very full, but very fun day. The weather was beautiful and everything worked out great. We're so glad Jamie could come visit us, we had a great time!