Airborne Picnics & Jaeden's 1st Birthday

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June 13, 2005 - Sunrise 4:24 am - Sunset 11:37 pm - High 70 F
The past week or two has been pretty eventful. It started out with a "fun jump"/picnic. My whole company jumped from C130's (that's a medium sized cargo plane) and landed on the drop zone where the wives, children, and soldiers who couldn't jump had set up a picnic. It was a pretty fun day. The mosquitos were again quite impressive. I saw a small child carried away and drained like a raisen.

Best of all, no one got hurt on the jump. I may not have explained yet the dynamics of a military jump. On TV, and in the civilian world, we see sky divers steer themselves around the sky and float in for a feather light landing. Well, the Army figures that during all that time you're a big, fat target; so they design our 'cutes to bring us in fast. Steering is possible but not as effective as you might think. And the heavier guys fall considerably faster. So, if you would like an idea of what it's like for a 200 lb man (like myself) to jump a military paracute, climb on your roof and drop a brick in the mud. Or if that's not descriptive enough, take into account the fact that I'm an inch shorter than I was six months ago when I started Airborne school. No joke.



Since the picnic, we've done a little hiking with Jaeden. We're trying to get her used to the backpack in which we carry her. Believe it or not, Laura is the one that totes her around, while I wear a little knapsack. Equal opportunity does have it's benefits. ;-) However, I did have to do another 12 mile road march the other day and turned my feet into hamburger. My blisters have blisters. :-(



But the big news of this blog is:

Jaeden Turned One Year Old!

We didn't want her to get a bunch of presents since we spoil her as it is, so Laura had the good idea of printing invitations to her party on card stock and printing a big, blank butterfly on the other side for each person to decorate. Some people were very creative. My favorite was "Kung Foo Butta' Fly." We going to use them to decorate her room. We grilled out for her party, and Laura made Jaeden's first birthday cake from scratch. Jaeden loved it, as the pictures show..

I got Jaeden her first soccer ball, football, and basketball; and Laura got her one of those large rubber balls from Wal Mart that's almost as big as her. All she says now is "Ball, ball." Her favorite ball, however, is the soccer ball - just like mommy.



I'm getting ready to be deployed to Austalia for a couple weeks, so stay tuned for the next travel blog around the 4th of July. It should be interesting. Please pray for us in the interim. Five of the ten deadliest snakes in the world inhabit the swamps I'll be living in, and Laura will be here alone with Jaeden. The separation is always hard on us.



Interesting Alaska Fack #5: Alaska has, on average, 13 earthquakes EACH DAY. That's more than 10%!o(MISSING)f the quakes in the whole world.

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Photos

Jaeden's Party Guests
Jaeden, Keely, Chole, Jaden (yes another one), and Nathan

Fun Jump
It's hard to tell from the angle, but you can see in this picture that I am falling faster than the people around me. I'm always one of the first people to hit. Thud! Guess I should lay off those donuts.

Comments

[Eric]

So it's kind of like an egg drop, right?
Did you forget to flap your arms? Glad to hear that you're all doing well, Happy Birthday Jaeden!

[Sunny]

it's good to hear
Laura I to so good to hear from "you" and see the pictures. Life is an adventure and yours surely lives up to that statement. I will be praying for you as you are alone again. We really know that you are NEVER alone, God is always right there beside you! Happy Birthday Jaeden! She is just getting so big!