C-17 Flight

Being in the Air Force has many perks.  It also has challenges just like any job.  But when they give you an opportunity to do something really unique to them, you have to take them up on it, even if you're not sure what you're getting yourself into.

Such was my experience on February 20.  An invitation was sent out for spouses to come together and take to the skies aboard a C-17 or a KC-10.  Ethan signed me up for the C-17 because he said he thought it would be cooler and what he'd want to ride.  I am completely oblivious to anything about planes, so it made no difference to me.  I wasn't really sure if I even wanted to go, but my dad convinced me that I really needed to.  I think it made Ethan happy that I decided to go for it.

So, early Saturday morning, (as in 5:45 am) I hit the road to get to the passenger terminal at the base by 6:00 am.  Once there, the spouses watched a little welcome/orientation video and then divided up based on which plane we were going to be on.  I headed to security with my orange ticket in hand.  Once everyone was through security we loaded up onto the bus to ride out to the flight line and our C-17.  A friend from church was also on the plane with me, we made a couple new friends and snapped a group selfie on the bus.

On the flight line we were able to snap a couple pictures outside our plane.  Its 170 or 175 feet wide and long.  Quite impressive.

We got to sit in these seats with remarkable back support.  I think I might have the bruises to prove how supportive they are.  :)

My friend has a lot of energy.  Like A LOT.  She says her spirit animal is a hummingbird.  Sounds about right.  She was loads of fun to sit with, we came up with lots of ways to entertain ourselves.  The first game was one person makes a pattern with her feet (like right, left, right left, cross, heel, toe or something) and the other person has to copy the pattern.  Once they get it right then its their turn to come up with a pattern.

Another time she turned to me and said, "What face are you going to pull when you make eye contact with someone?"  So we both came up with some silly face to do and then did it with someone across the plane.  One of them joined us in our foot pattern game!  It was loud on the plane and we all wore ear plugs.  So at one point we started singing out Disney songs as loud as our hearts desired.  And then we also played a game of Moods, where one of us made a facial expression and the other had to guess the mood associated with it.  It evolved into naming the scenario which produced the emotion and thereby the face.  We laughed a lot.

Before we left the ground, they showed us how they do a cargo drop.  We taxied around the flight line with the back of the plane open.  I thought it was funny that these crewmen just hung out right in the open air.  When they were ready to drop the cargo (you can see a tiny bit of it in the photo above with our feet) the plane just accelerated quickly and the whole pallet slid down the wheeled tracks and out the back of the plane.  It was kind of crazy.

The called us up two at a time to go join the pilots in the cockpit.  I was lucky enough to be there for take off!

I had to get all strapped in to my 5 point harness and everything.  It was pretty cool!

Most of the flight we had to be belted in to our seats, but when I was coming out of the cockpit I saw everyone up exploring the cargo space.

This part of the plane was open for the cargo drop.  Amazing what all they can deliver in one of these things!

There are very few windows, but it was neat seeing the snow capped mountains out the 8" diameter window.

We all got a second turn up in the cockpit (very briefly) when we were near the San Francisco Bay.  You should be able to see a couple bridges (including the Golden Gate) but I'm not sure if my tiny phone camera was able to capture it.  I heard a couple people comment on how tiny such a huge city looked from above.  Made them feel better that maybe we aren't using up the entire earth surface.

The last 45 minutes of the flight were pretty choppy and a lot of people were taking deep breaths.  Only one person had to use their barf bag, although I'm sure it was close for several others!  I didn't ever feel like I was going to really lose it, but I kept feeling really weird.  Like having hot flashes or something.  And there was one time we were banking and I was able to see out one of the tiny windows and it totally messed with my equilibrium.  We were all happy when we touched down again!

I snapped this picture of my friend in the pilot's seat.  We had a great time together! It was quite an adventure!

Parenthood aka Running around like a crazy person.

This is the first time in quite a while that we have signed the kids up for extra curricular activities.  Last year, rather than signing up for various teams we decided to put on a play all together.  We were busy, but we were together.  It was close to home and only twice a week.  It was also a lot of work and some of us wanted to try something different this year... so we signed the kids up for some new activities.  Eliza did gymnastics, Bryant did a ninja/parcourse class and has been playing basketball with the YM at church (they're undefeated!), Bolton, Levi and Jonas are all playing basketball in the base youth league.  

Holy cow.  It is a lot of running around.  The week Ethan was in San Antonio I was worried about having to do all the running around on my own.  I had to get 4 kids to 3 different basketball practices all at the same time and all in different places!  But we managed to survive that week.  The gymnastics and par course classes ended a week ago so I'm feeling a little less crazy with our schedule this week.  

Being a parent is full of so many emotions and stresses.  Thankfully, the good definitely outweighs that crazy!  I love these wild berries!

Bolton had his first basketball game on Feb. 12.  It was hysterical.  Those kids are so dang cute, running around without a clue in the world about what's going on.  Someone passed the ball to Bolton while he was faced the other way and it just bounced off his back.  Ethan is the coach, but thankfully there is another dad who is doing a lot to help.  Ethan had to miss the first game because of commitments to a scout campout.  Coach Mike to the rescue.  He told the kids to play defense and guard another player.  Bolton took this very seriously and he paid no attention to the ball but made sure his hand were up and blocking his opponent.  Even when he was supposed to be on offense.  I haven't laughed like I did that evening in a long time.

Our kids have been getting into playing games lately.  Rummikub is a definite favorite.  I had to forbid the younger three from getting it out without permission because they were getting it out so often-and those tiles just won't put themselves away, can you believe it?  I love to see Eliza and Bolton figuring out successful plays in the game.  They're smart little cookies.

Eliza also spent a few minutes with her dad on evening and learned to ride her bike without training wheels!  When I came out to see I cheered her on big time and Ethan laughed, saying to her, "Mom and I have different reactions."  She readily agreed.

She loves to get out on the bike as much as possible now.  One afternoon when she got home from school we both headed out on the trail nearby.

She asked if we could stop to explore around the creek and got right to work building a dam.  She was so funny.  I need to spend more time one on one with my kids, I guess.  She was like a different person.

On Friday, the 19th of February I got to spend the afternoon cheering on my girl for moving up another level in accelerated reader.  Jonas was supposed to receive an award too, but he stayed home from school that day.  We have been hit pretty hard with a vicious cold bug the past couple weeks.

That night was Levi and Jonas' first basketball game.  Jonas missed it, unfortunately, but Levi got to play.  They played a team that was a lot better than them and they lost something like 30 to 15.  Levi was in tears at the end of the game.  First he said it was because they lost then he was upset because he didn't get to play very much (I agreed, he didn't play much at all...maybe 10 minutes total out of 32).  He cheered right up, though, when he got his goody bag.  :)  Their team had another game on Saturday and Jonas tried to play, but only lasted a couple minutes.  Levi said he played more minutes this time and seemed happier.

Even though its crazy, I'm really glad that we're doing these sports with the kids. They are going to learn a lot and are having a lot of fun!  And its lots of fun being the mom to them.

The end of January (and our exciting news!)

The end of January has already come and gone!  Holy cow!!!  The last full week of the month Ethan had to travel to San Antonio, the kids and I entertained ourselves by taking lots of silly pictures.

The 27th was crazy hair day.  The kids were really excited to do something epic.  Levi had me buzz down the middle of his head and then we spiked the long parts out.  He looked sort of like Wolverine.   Jonas loved his faux hawk.  And Bolton is still talking about how crazy his hair was.  I went in to help in Bolton's class that day and wished that I'd taken the time to do something crazy with my hair... but oh well!

While Ethan was away we weren't sure if he would be able to check his work email.  We have been hoping for a new assignment from the AF and each day we would wonder if today was the day we'd find any news... I got a text from Ethan

The frowny face was the closest I could come to being a supportive wife.  I was heartbroken!  I called my parents and couldn't fight the tears.  I feared that if we didn't move this year we would miss some amazing chances to live overseas (because they wouldn't be available next year).  I struggled all that day.  I didn't want to get my hopes up just to be let down again, so I ignored that 20-30% chance Ethan suspected.  That afternoon I texted him and told him that I really wanted to talk with him.  But got response.  Finally around 6 pm he called me.  His phone wasn't working for some reason so he had to borrow someone's.  He'd been trying to call me all day.

"How did you feel when I told you we probably weren't moving?" He asked me.

"I cried a little," I admitted.

"Well... I checked my email and had an automated message with a new assignment!"

"What?!?!" I hoped he wasn't messing with me. "What do you mean? What's going on?!"

"We are moving to Misawa!"

Holy cow.  Misawa is in Japan.  Its in the north of Japan and gets a TON of snow and is cold.  And its in Japan!!!  He wasn't able to talk to me for too long, but called when he got back to his hotel.  I can't remember if we told the kids right after he told me or later, but they found out that same day.  Levi's reaction was so funny.  We let them each guess where they thought we were going.  Eliza guessed Japan, Bryant and Jonas guessed Germany, and Levi guessed England.  Then we announced that Eliza was right and Levi started bouncing almost to the ceiling shouting "Yay! Yay! Yay!"  

The other kids reactions were less excited.  Jonas was sad, he has a best friend here he is really going to miss.  Bryant was mixed, a little happy a little sad.  Eliza was worried that we were going to go on a plane and "we might get struck by lightning" once I explained that she didn't need to be worried about that she got excited.  Bolton was the only one who was adamant that he didn't want to go.  I never did figure out why.

We snapped this picture while Bryant was at YM to share our news with Instagram.  The Woodbury clan is moving to Japan!!!

The kids wanted to be able to tell their friends and were anxious to get to school in the morning.  When they came home they were all full of excitement for the new adventure.  I'm sure there will still be sadness to leave their friends and nerves about the new culture experiences we're in for, but they are all happy about our upcoming move.

Its not really a secret that I've been struggling here in California.  There are lots of things that have affected me here, but I think a really big struggle I've had is Abraham's temperament.  I deal with lots of yelling and screaming.  And it gets me down.  I don't like to take him out places because I never know what kind of behavior he's going to have.  So we stay home a lot.  And it gets me down.  I get frustrated and yell back at him sometimes.  And it gets me down.  Well, I was talking to a friend of mine and she recommended this book.  I knew other friends that had read it and enjoyed it as well so I decided to buy it.  Because something really needs to change in our relationship.  It will help him, it will help me, it will help the whole family.  So far, (I'm only a few chapters in) I really like it.  I'm seeing that he (and Levi) is wired differently than my other kids.  I knew that.  And I've tried to deal with it, but I've always hoped he would grow out of it in some ways (like it seems Levi has).  But Levi hasn't really changed, he's just learned to cope with the differences.  And so have we.  Its a process that we continue to work on.  Now we get to do it all again with Abe.  But our attitude's make a big difference!  I'm excited to see the changes that happen in our family as we all learn to work together.

I've also recognized that I am also "spirited" as the author describes it.  I'm hoping that as I come to understand the kids a little better I will also come to understand my own brain and be able to change my thought patterns.

The weather has been a great mix of rain and sunshine.  The other day we took full advantage of the sunshine and played at the park.  It felt good to get out with some of the kids and just play.  We definitely need to do that more.  Bolton was with us, too, he just didn't ever let me get a good picture of him!  Little stinker!

Cataract Falls

Since Ethan and the kids both had the day off for MLK day yesterday we decided to get out and hit the trails.  We found an awesome trail that follows 1.6 miles of falls cascading down the back side of  Mt. Tamalpais.  After we finally found a place to park and walked to the trail head we were excited to be on our way!  Ethan offered to take the picture so I could be in it.  It makes me so happy to see myself surrounded by all those amazing kids.  I'm so blessed.

My phone takes pretty good pictures, but it leaves much to be desired sometimes.  The color quality is all over the place in the rainforest.

It was almost like we were back in Hawaii.  Except that we all needed hoodies.

The trail was more strenuous than we expected based on the book we used to find it.  But Abe managed to hold his own for quite a while.  He didn't complain at all while we were going up.  He and I just went slower than everyone else.  Well, until Jonas started complaining about getting tired.  Then he and Bryant kept us company.

It was gorgeous.  Around every new bed we found another picturesque scene.

And it was fantastic that we didn't have to hike the whole trail to get the "reward" at the end.  We could just turn around when we were ready.  Which we were about .5 mile in.

Ethan had Abraham on the way down so I was able to stop and get some better pictures of the other kids.

Ah.

Bolton didn't complain at all on the trail either, but when we made it off the trail and still had a hike back to the car Jonas offered to give him a piggy back ride.  Glad I got a picture when I did, this lasted about 1 minute.

After all the rain we've had the trail was pretty muddy and we all looked it at the end.

While we waited for Dad and Abraham the kids went up to see this little waterfall.  I realized as we were driving away and Bryant found three ticks on his clothes that going off trail and into the grass was a bad idea!  The tick check at home showed no signs that anyone else picked any up, thank goodness!

It was a really fun way to spend the day!  I think Ethan and I should go back without the littles and go the rest of the way!  It will almost be as good as a flight across the Pacific.  :)