Tuesday, August 25, 2009

weekend in AL

this weekend, i traveled down to alabama to hang out with my friends, matt and erin steck. matt is in the national guard and is in flight school training to fly apache helicopters (so cool!!!). the next three weeks, he's involved in SERE training. scary stuff. so erin asked me to fly down, spend the weekend and drive back to st. louis with her so she could have a car while staying here with her family. LONG EXPLANATION, SHORT WEEKEND, but we had a lot of fun!!! i love playing with those guys and miss them a lot!!!

i forget how much i love to fly until i'm in the plane again. i just feel really small...well, i'm already small, but this is small in the universal sense...work with me here.

"...the clouds are the dust of His feet..." --nahum 1:3

welcome to enterprise, alabama. home of the only statue in the united states dedicated to a bug. not only a bug...but a boll weevil. why is the boll weevil held up by a 4ft tall stone woman?? no one knows. but apparently, it's important. :) i'm still cracking up about this by the way. hehe.

on saturday, we visited ft. rucker and the museum there. it was super cool! matt knew all about the planes and helicopters and i had millions of questions...no surprise there. hehe.

matt in bronze. hehe.

matt with an apache. he's SO cool!!!!!!

we decided this guy belongs in a bug's life. don't you think so? he looks like a bug! in real life though, he was the president's helicopter...

love the avocado green seats and curtains!!! the president sure rode in style!!!!


i refuse to be medivac-ed out by this helicopter. seriously. just leave me in the field.


CHICKEN WIRE...are you kidding me???????????

what do you do in the army? i drive the jeep out of the bottom of the helicopter!!!!!!! what an awesome job!!!!!!!! i want to do that!!!

erin doesn't look like she knows what she's doing, but apparently she is supposed to be my pilot. i, OF COURSE, had to be the gunner. i'm not doing very well either...i'm shooting blanks, and i can't reach the pedals. lol!!!

we are just too cute!!! hehe.

matt in color. :) ps. this is what he will actually be wearing...well, probably not this actual suit but one just like it. ;)

you know it's been a bad day when you break your helmet. just saying.

i HATE taking pictures of pictures, but this one was too amazing to pass up. erin says she will give me a copy of it...what an awesome friend!!!

later, we went back to their house to finish some last minute stuff, play monopoly (matt lost, hehe...), and watch the curious case of benjamin button...which was, in fact, curious.

time for a haircut!

don't worry, matt! she's doing a great job!


she promises not to cut off your ear! :)

erin and i left sunday morning at 8 and drove 11 and a half hours back to st. louis. passed 450 million dollar generals in the middle of nowhere in tennessee...had 3 thwarted trips to dairy queen...don't worry kiddos...we finally found one (yay for thin mint blizzards!!!!!!!!!!!!! you gotta try one...i'm serious!!!!)...2 tanks of gas...750ish miles...and lots of fattening--but delightful--foods. we arrived looking really pretty...sorry...no pics to prove it, you'll just have to take our word for it. :P
thanks steck buddies for a great weekend!!!!!!!


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3 comments:

Queen Mommy said...

Sounds like a really fun weekend. I actually just tried a thin mint blizzard on Sunday when we were driving back from my IL's. They ARE really good, although I think the flavor is similar to a mint oreo blizzard. (My husband has been waiting with bated breath for the cotton candy blizzards to arrive, however, it doesn't look like they will be doing those this year, doggone it.) Hope school is going well so far and you've been feeling well.

wife.mom.nurse said...

Glad that you had safe and very fun and interesting travels :)

I so admire your friend. What an awesome adventure he is on, and how honorable for him to serve our country!

Rachel said...

Totally loving the pictures of all the fun you had with the aircraft!

And still cracking up about the bug statue. Is that for reals?!?!