Thursday morning Aaron had training all morning. They assured us that the kids could come along and it would be interesting. I don't think they really knew how our kids could be when they said that, though....We got there bright and early. It was interesting to see Aaron get outfitted in a jumper, g-suit (which looks like a horribly uncomfortable corset), boots, helmet and face mask. Aaron was going through the training with two other guys--one from Hill Air Force Base and one from Georgia. It took about two hours to get Aaron outfitted in all his gear. By that time the kids had had enough and were starting to get rowdy. Since this training wasn't just for Aaron I didn't feel like I could keep them there for the other three hours they had left. I decided to take them all back to the hotel instead. Aaron was just fine with this decision. Besides the rest of the training involved going through all worst case scenarios which I really didn't want to know about all the possible horrible things that could happen to my husband while he was flying. I really thought ignorance is bliss was the best way to think about that. Anyway here's the kids watching Aaron get outfitted. Aaron is the third person from the left picking out his g-suit.
After getting his jumpsuit on Josh randomly asked Aaron, "Wow, how did you get that on?" It came out kind of rude although I don't think Josh meant it that way. Everyone in the room got a good laugh about that one. I think Josh was just wondering how he got the jumpsuit on since it was all just one piece instead of a coat and pants.
Here's Aaron getting the g-suit fitted on his body. Wow that looked like it was really uncomfortable because they had to get it so tight. The g-suit helps keep the person from passing out while flying and doing maneuvers. It works by pumping up with air to keep the blood from draining from their heads while twisting and turning. For example I have almost blacked out by going on a fast roller coaster--this g-suit would prevent that seeing as riding in a jet is a million times worse than going on a roller coaster. I hope that made sense...
The face mask has oxygen flowing to help keep the person oxygenated since they will be so high up in the sky.
After I left and took the kids with me Aaron commented about how much quieter it was in the room. I believed him. He had lots more training and took pictures of part of it. He learned how to use the parachute in case he had to eject. They had a mock parachute to learn on. Aaron said it was not comfortable at all.
They had a mock set up of the jet where Aaron could learn how to strap in and how to use some of the controls.
He's making sure he understands:
After the training we went and picked Aaron up. We had to change hotels that night so we spent the rest of the day moving hotels and then swimming the rest of the evening. It was awesome to have it be hot enough to swim in an outdoor pool in October!!
Later that night we needed to get to bed early since we had to leave our hotel at 5:50 am to get to the base on time for Aaron's appointment the next morning. Aaron's flight was at 8:30am, but they had some more training to do with the pilot and Aaron so that's why we had to get there so early. When we woke up the next morning Aaron was so nervous. For the most part the kids were ok with getting up so early and getting ready. We had to skip breakfast because it was so early. Doh!! Luckily, we did remember to put his Scopolamine patches on behind his ears to help with motion sickness and nausea while flying. We had gotten the prescription from Aaron's doctor about a month before since the doctor had to write a note saying Aaron was fit to fly. They told Aaron to be well hydrated and to eat a bland dinner and breakfast in case he ended up barfing which happens quite often. They said to eat bland foods that would taste the same coming back up as they did going down. Gross. Here's Aaron get all his garb on with shaking hands because he was so nervous that morning:
Aaron met with the pilot while the rest of us got to tour the facilities. We got to see how they pack parachutes and change out supplies in the emergency bags. It was fun to see the behind the scenes stuff. During our tour Josh had complained about being cold while he slept the night before. The sweet tour guide rounded up a space blanket for Josh to keep so he wouldn't be cold in the hotel room again. What a crazy kid! We also all got some emergency water packs to try. The kids did not like the way they tasted, though.
When the time came for us to start heading out to the plane we all had to ride on golf carts. Seeing as there were so many of us we had to take two carts. When we got outside it was so loud!! Luckily, they gave us all noise cancelling ear muffs to wear.
I have no idea why Noah is walking like that. What a funny kid!
Here's Aaron getting ready to get in the jet with his pilot named Oscar (Jeff Kennedy) and the sweet lady that outfitted him and took care of me and the kids while we waited whose name was Kate.
Here's all of us posing in front of the jet:
Here's Aaron getting strapped in: Did I mention that he was so nervous?
Getting the face mask on:
Here's the pilot making sure Aaron is strapped in properly:
Here's the jet number. Aaron was curious about this because with this number you can follow the jets history. He looked it up when we got home and found out it used to fly with the Thunderbirds. Awesome!
Here's the pilot looking everything over before starting:
Here's the rest of us watching all the stuff that is going on. There is a lot of prep work to get the jet in the sky!
They started the engine:
Waiting and watching:
When it looked like they were getting close to taking off they loaded me and the kids in a truck to go down the flight line in order to see him take off. Here's the flight line as we drive down it:
It was amazing to see Aaron take off. He came out so fast and right after he passed us the pilot took the plane in an unrestricted climb which is where they go fast and vertical for as long as the airspeed will allow. He went from 0 to 18,000 feet in seconds. Aaron said he felt his stomach just drop, but it was exhilarating. It was neat to watch.
When we all got back to the radio room they tried to contact the pilot so we could talk to Aaron while he was flying. The first time we tried they were too far away. The lady said they were probably close to the Mexico border. A few minutes later they tried again, but the pilot had just started doing a loop and Aaron was unable to talk during that. A few minutes later we tried again and it was nice to hear Aaron's voice and see that he was loving it.
The whole flight was only about 45 minutes so we didn't have to wait too long until it was time for them to land. Good thing they had cartoons for the kids to watch. When the plane was coming in we went outside were able to see the jet circle around until they could land:
It was fun to know that Aaron was in that plane!
It was nice to see the plane on the ground, though. I got to breath a sigh of relief--whew!
Here they are parking the plane if that's what it's called.
Aaron, although he was green around the gills, did not toss his cookies. He proudly held up his barf bags to show us they were empty. They had us all take a bet on whether that would happen or not. All of us except Matthew bet that he would throw up. Matthew was happy to win that bet.
Getting out of the plane:
Here's Aaron and pilot posing for the after pictures:
Us posing along with Aaron and the pilot:
We had such an early morning that Noah hung on Aaron the whole way back to the building:
Aaron was presented with a certificate that was quite humorous signed by the pilot proving that Aaron actually went through with the flight.
Aaron was quite proud of the fact that he didn't vomit--so proud, in fact, that he took his empty barf bags to work Monday morning to keep at his desk to prove he's a tough guy. Good thing I love him--haha!
After the flight Aaron had to take it easy for a little while because he was still a bit dizzy and disoriented. Luckily he was able to function about an hour after. He still wasn't back to 100%, but able to function. Since we had had such an early morning and hadn't really had breakfast we decided to take the kids to a Pizza Hut Buffet so we didn't have to listen to their whines of how hungry they were. That way they could eat until they were full and be able to pick out all the things they wanted to eat by themselves. The Pizza Hut wasn't very busy which was another bonus. After Aaron and I got the kids helped and settled down to eat we were able to enjoy our meal. The kids were actually pretty well behaved for that lunch. About 20 minutes after starting lunch the server came over and told us that a man who had just left had anonymously paid for our meal. Oh I could have just cried. How sweet. People can be so awesome! It made me want to pay it forward :).
After lunch we headed over to Colossal Cave to check it out. We had to 30 minutes until our designated tour time so we just enjoyed the views:
As the group ahead of us were starting their tour Noah noticed the iron bars on the cave door gate and got upset. You can't see them in the picture, but they were there. As the group was entering the cave Noah yelled out,"DON'T GO! IT'S A TRAP!!" He figured once they closed the barred gate on you you would never leave again. What a crazy kid. Luckily, he saw the group come back outside after their tour so he knew it wasn't a trap and willingly went in when it was our turn.
The cave was interesting, but my favorite cave is still Timpanogos Cave in American Fork Canyon. Josh liked chatting it up with the tour guide.
There were some interesting things to see, stories to hear about and lots of stairs to climb up and down.
After our cave tour we visited Saguaro National Park. The Saguaro Cactus is protected in Arizona and they are trying to increase their populations. The cactus is only found in the Sonoran Desert and through Mexico. The Saguaro National Park was formed to help with increasing the plant populations. It was made a National Park in 1994. As we visited we tried to take a picture of the biggest cactus we could find. Some of them were huge!
It was a really pretty park!
After the cactus dies it leaves behind a woody skeleton which looked interesting:
It was a fun afternoon. Also while we were in Tuscon we drove by the airplane boneyard as well as the Pima Air and Space Museum. We didn't stop by the museum because it was really expensive so we just drove by and looked at the rows and rows and rows of grounded airplanes. There were a TON!!
During Aaron's Friday morning training one of the trainers recommended getting a Sonoran Hotdog. That's what we decided to eat for dinner. It is a hot dog wrapped in bacon covered with pinto beans, pico de gallo, cut up fresh tomatoes, grilled onions and jalapeno mayonnaise with a soft hot dog bun. It usually comes with mustard, but Aaron HATES everything about mustard especially the smell so none of the hot dogs had mustard on them. It was really good despite not having any mustard on them.
As I have previously mentioned our hotel had a hot, cooked to order breakfast which Daniel LOVED. Every morning he got a huge pile of bacon on his plate and ate it all. Daniel was in heaven every morning knowing he was going to get some bacon.
Speaking of children I lost track about how many looks/stares and comments we got by having such a big family by todays standards. Most people just stared, but the ones who commented always said, "Wow I would hate to see what your grocery bill is like!!" or "One girl?! I bet she's a princess!" To both comments I would just say, "You have no idea--haha!" Most people were polite and I am glad those that weren't polite kept their comments to themselves. However, the last morning before our LONG drive back home we were eating breakfast when a lady walked by and gave me a dirty look because my kids were being a little too loud for her standards. As she did that she spilled her coffee all over herself. I had to laugh at that because my kids weren't being that crazy or loud and, trust me, I know how crazy and loud they can be!!
After breakfast we stopped by to feed the fish in our hotel courtyard. They also had four turtles the kids tried feeding, but the fish ended up getting all the food because they were faster.
On our way home we hadn't gone too far before everyone had to stop for a potty break. We stopped by Cabela's and while we waited for everyone to go potty we looked at their fish in the aquarium.
We also drove by and saw the Gilbert, Arizona temple. It was beautiful!
We did a University of Phoenix Stadium tour where they host the Cardinal Football team and have also hosted a number or Superbowls in the past 10 years. It was ginormous!
We exited the tour through the gift shop where Sarah and Noah found the foam hands and tried them on.
Wow it was a LONG drive back!! I am so glad for Books on CD! The kids actually enjoyed listening to them as we drove which hasn't always been the case on road trips in the past. It was fun to hear them requesting us to start the book as soon as we were driving after any kind of stop we made. We finally made it back home late Sunday night. Too bad we didn't get a day to recover before we had to come back to reality! It was so hard for everyone to get up and start back to reality the next morning. Let's just say Monday morning was not a great morning for anyone!! After Sarah had gone to school that morning I found her checklist that she had made for herself. What a funny girl!
I should have made my own checklist because I had a hard time getting my act together Monday morning!! I needed a bit more vacation recovery time and I think I can say that went for everyone else in the family!!
Sarah lost a tooth last night. As she was getting ready for bed she insisted that she needed to write the Tooth Fairy a letter asking what her name was. She then drew some hearts on it, too. Good thing the Tooth Fairy didn't forget to come that night!! Phew! And if you didn't know Sarah's Tooth Fairy's name is Bindweed Jupiterfrost.
