Jonathan Turns 23 part II

Once I got off of work I went home to get ready for a surprise dinner date. Jonathan didn't know where we were going...and I actually kept it a surprise the entire time! (Pat self on back here!) We we to the Shogun restaurant. It was lots of fun as they cooked our meal out in front of us, making it basically a dinner show. We laughed and ate a lot of yummy food :)

The employees came out banging a gong and dressed Jonathan and sang to him! He was just a tad embarrassed.

THE NEXT DAY...

We took a trip to the Spokane County Fair. We watched some Mutton Bustin, a hypnotist, walked through the animal barns, had yummy food and ended the night with a monster truck show. I forgot how much I loved going to fairs. We had a great time checking out all the interesting exhibits...and people!

Alpaca

This ended our weekend celebration of Jonathan's 23rd birthday!

Jonathan Turns 23

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!!!

Jonathan's Birthday was on September 17th. (Yeah I know my post is late :)

We celebrated the day before and ran the celebrations right into the weekend!

We were house sitting for some friends and staying with their daughter so Thursday night we ordered some pizza, Jonathan's favorite meal, and I made an ice cream cake (oreo) and we had a mini celebration. I also made him 'hopscotch crunchies' to take to school to share with everyone.

Friday, September 17th we got up early. Early enough so I could make him a yummy breakfast and get him out the door in time to make it to school. Before heading out though he got to open his birthday gifts and cards. A combined gift from Mama & Papa de Jongh and I was a flight simulator game and the controls that go along with it. He had absolutely no idea as I had him pretty convinced that that wasn't it, even though in the beginning he insisted it was :) ha ha ha

I know the picture quality isn't great but this really captures his surprise!

to be continued...

1 Year Anniversary

August 15th marked the celebration of our 1 year anniversary. We drove up to Castlegar BC and stayed at a beautiful B&B there. It was a great time of just relaxing and enjoying each other!

The wife of the couple who owned this B&B is an amazing artist. Above is a piece of her work!

where there is an airport, no matter how difficult it is to spot...my pilot husband WILL spot it!

Any guesses on what we saw here!?

We had a great day at the beach. Swam in some freezing cold water and caught a lot of sun rays.

This is the place we ate dinner and listened to a live jazz band at. Interesting little place. I guess it is to go along with the interesting town, Nelson BC.

We had a great time talking and exploring together. The B&B had a hot tub outside that we could sit out under the stars in. We spent 2 days in Nelson BC. The first day at the beach and the second day we went whitewater kayaking! Wish we could have more weekend getaways like this!

Jonathan's Solo

August 2, 2010 Jonathan completed his first solo flight!

I got to go up into the control tower and watch and take pictures. He did a really great job. I had a grin from ear to ear!

To complete his solo he had to take off and make three complete landings. Here are some pictures and videos of his adventures!

His instructor waiting for the engine to start

Tradition at Moody is to have your instructor cut out the back of your shirt as you finish your solo. The instructor then draws a picture on it and dates it and it gets hung up on a wall at Moody.

Adding 2 To Our Family

for those of you who have seen our place...it is lovingly small :)

i have a desire for a pet of some sort but we aren't allowed to have any pets.

is a fish or a hermit crab a pet? (because, outside of having a dog, this is what I wanted)

i thought i would have to convince jonathan as to why i 'needed' a fish or hermit crab.

nope.

we went to petsmart and came home with 2 fish!

male and female

betta fish

betta are known as 'chinese fighting fish'

they can't be kept in the same container

so here is what we came up with 

she is in the middle, he is on the outside.

there are no names yet...

any suggestions!?

Jonathan is Flying!

He has waited so long to be up in the sky in command of an airplane and finally on July 12th he started flight school! We have made it through the first week; 2-3-4 hours of reading a day, 5am mornings and early to bed. Jonathan is doing really well adjusting to his new schedule and the excitement just beams off his faces when he tells me all about his days. Jonathan is soaking up all the new information and has already flown 3 flights...today he will add a flight to that count!

On my day off I went out to the hangar and watched him prepare for his flight, taxi and take off. I felt so proud sitting there watching him. So proud in fact that an instructor came up to me and was asking me some questions and all I could do was smile and blabber something that didn't make much sense out of my mouth :) Seeing Jonathan's excitement and success makes me so happy!

Jonathan is going through his pre-flight with his instructor.

It was hard to time this picture because I wasn't really sure when he would be coming out from behind the buildings but...above he is the small plane on the right taxing down the runway!

Just taking off. His wheels are off the ground :)

Flying overhead

Heading out to his "practice playground"

So I decided to follow his as far as I could so I could maybe get a picture of him up in the sky. The sun was so bright that I could see it well with my eye but couldn't capture him on the camera. All you can see is a bright speck pretty much in the middle of the picture near the power lines...thats him!