Scott AF Base Show

Aviation has always fascinated me! When I was younger I had a poster on my wall that looked like this:

I would read books on jets and for some reason, I loved the F-16.  Jordan and I even wore cool flight jumpsuits Mom and Dad bought for us--I wore mine the first day of kindergarten.

The engineering feats, the loud noise, the amazing thrust and speed of flight all continue to fascinate me. From my very first 767 flight in early 2000 to my latest 747 flight around the world, I never tire of the exhilaration I get from flying. Though I have seen bits and pieces of airshows in the past (see July 25 post), today we got to see much more than I had seen before and at a much closer distance. It was awesome! As Megan put it, I was "just like a little boy." Though I still hope to see my Thunderbirds in flight someday, I must say the Blue Angels and many other skilled pilots put on a pretty sweet show:

Back to School

Yes, back to school once more. The exciting part is that this is our final year! The summer was wonderful and our experience in Crystal Lake, Illinois was better than we expected. I was offered a post-graduate fellowship with Centegra Health System and we decided to accept. We are excited to return and I will begin working sometime in May or June of 2011.

As a last "hurrah" this summer, we drove to Jackson, Wyoming and Roosevelt, Utah to spend time with our families. Leila and Ben loved seeing their cousins and just getting to play all day. We loved every minute as well--as always, it was too short. However, we hope some of you will come visit us in beautiful Saint Louis!

Our Summer in Summary

We haven't updated in a little while, so there is much to post about, but I'll be brief. First, we were so happy to have Jordan, Chelsea and family come visit us in June! We were planning on attending the famous "Cardboard Cup Regatta," but we were notified that the event was canceled due to E. coli. So, we decided to head into downtown Chicago on the train, instead. It was a beautiful, warm day and we saw lots of neat things.  The children were completely worn out near the end, so we took a water taxi back to the train station. Here are some pictures:


We were also very excited to have Nana and Papa come visit us over July 4th in Saint Louis! Crista, Wayne and little Adalyn came too! We were able to do many fun things including a parade, museums, Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, the Arch, an air show, Pappy's BBQ, homemade Cafe Rio salads, fireworks, and best of all, Nauvoo:

Grandma Eddington sent Leila a bonnet that was waiting when we returned to Crystal Lake. Also we had some barn swallows on our deck that eventually left the nest. The mom and dad are still hanging around:

Lastly, some pictures of the America's Cardboard Cup Regatta, which was rescheduled, along with pictures of an incredible storm a few nights ago. In some parts of Chicago, nearly 9 inches of rain fell...we received a little over 6 and had fun the next morning in our little lake.

I Love My Husband!

Tonight I had a little bit of a melt down, so being the GREAT husband that he is, Brent cleaned the kids up after dinner and headed outside to play before bed.

It has been a windy day - perfect for kite flying.

Brent had to chase the run-a-way kite a few times.

Ben would rather play with the football than the kite... it doesn't get away from him as easy.

Leila loves her new "Little Mermaid" kite!

What a GOOD dad!! I love you HONEY!

Our Little Monkey!

Ben is such a monkey boy!! He saw his bottle on the counter and it was JUST out of his reach, so he thought he would climb the wall to get to it....

What a cute little monkey! :)