Vegas...Baby...Vegas...

At about 10:45 pm on Wednesday, February 21st, Matt called me from his TDY in Turkey to tell me that he had assignment news for me. Ends up, the news was FANTASTIC. Sometime in the coming year, Matt and I will be moving to LAS VEGAS, where he has earned an assignment with the 422nd F-16 Test and Evaluation Squadron. We are both so excited about the assignment (it was Matt's first choice) and can't wait to live within quick driving distance of my brother, Goat, again...not to mention so close to all of our other family and friends.

We don't have any word on a report date yet, so as soon as we find out, we'll post it to let all of y'all know. Until then, start saving your quarters, nickles, and dimes...

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

Snowboarding in the Austrian Alps...Again

Over the Martin Luther King 3-day weekend, Matt and I went on our squadron's ski trip to Innsbruck, Austria. Since we've had a strange winter with not much snow, we weren't sure how much snow would be on the slopes. It turns out, there wasn't any at the place we had originally planned to snowboard, so our group ventured off a bit to a mountain with a glacier about 45 minutes away from our hotel. The snow at the Stubai Glacier was awesome and we had a great time snowboarding over the weekend. The weather was beautiful (we took our coats and hats off and ate lunch outside) and the slopes were fairly empty, so everyone had a fantastic time. The above picture is of Amy and Rylee, our squadron commander's daughter, out on the slopes.

For our apres ski (after ski fun) on Saturday, we found an Irish pub not too far from our hotel and managed to drink a few pints of Guiness and hang out with everyone in the group. This picture of Matt and Boose (Boose is obsessed with the 80's--which explains the Kiss shirt) was taken inside the pub.

On Sunday afternoon, a group of us went to watch a national league hockey game in the Olympic arena. The game was anti-climactic, but we were able to chuckle for a while about this advertisement painted on the side of the ice rink. We all agreed that you couldn't write something that funny!

On Sunday night, Matt and I went out for Indian food and afterwards found a great wine bar near our hotel. We tasted a few Austrian wines with some friends and of course, told lots of stories. This picture of us was taken inside the wine bar.

Lucy

Surprise!!!

Around Thanksgiving, my parents bought a new Scottish Terrier puppy to provide Maggie, our bulldog, with a friend. Well, Maggie doesn't like Lucy very much and my parents are exhausted trying to house break Lucy. She's a handful...so much so that at school, my mom puts her in the trashcan so she doesn't run around the room like a banshee.


Over Christmas I got to finally meet Lucy and she is precious. I love that dog...and she loves me. All I wanted to do was hold her when I was at the house. My mom says that she bought Lucy for me but now she can't give her up...so I will have to keep dog searching so that when/if we move back to the states, I can get a puppy. Lucy has doubled in size since I saw her at Christmas, so this is the most recent picture of her. When Matt gets home, I'll update the post with some of her 'puppy' pictures I took at Christmas.

Home for the Holidays

For Christmas 2006, Matt and I were very fortunate to get to come home to see both sides of our family. We started the trip by visiting my parents and family in Tennessee. My brother, Matt arrived a few days after we arrived, so we had a blast telling stories with him and spending time together. Then, on Christmas Eve, Brent, Julie, and Maura made it into town. They were in Colorado the week before Christmas and got stuck due to the huge snowstorm. After renting a car and driving for over 20 hours straight, the tired Allen family finally arrived. We had to head out to Texas on Christmas Eve afternoon, so we only got to spend a few hours with them (and playing with Maura), but we were so thrilled that we were able to even see them due to the bad weather circumstances. The other days were filled with last minute Christmas shopping, trips to Starbucks, and get togethers with my grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles. Not to mention, lots of time playing with my parent's new puppy, Lucy, the cat, Iddy, and Maggie, our bulldog. Here are some pictures of Lucy and Maggie.


On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Matt and I jumped on a flight headed south to Texas to visit the Garrison family. After Matt left me inside the airport terminal, (Casey was able to find me) we headed home to see Mom G...and of course, we had to stop at Sonic on the way home. The following week was filled with a great Christmas morning, fun times playing with Micah, and a Christmas lunch with some of Matt's extended family down in Duncanville. Matt and I had a fantastic time seeing everyone and getting to spend some quality time in Texas. We already miss the brisket! Here are some pics of Matt and Micah on Christmas morning...Micah loved Matt's crocs and Dad G's glasses!

For New Year's Eve, Matt and I met up with our best friends from Germany, Paul and Janna, at none other than Billy Bob's Texas in Ft. Worth. Paul and Janna (along with her twin brothers, Brady and Chandler, their wives, and a few other friends) and the two of us went to dinner at Joe T. Garcia's and then headed over to Billy Bob's for the Jack Ingram concert. We had a great time hanging out for the last time with the Willingham's...so much so that I cried the whole drive back to Matt's parent's house. Paul and Janna moved to Phoenix, Arizona, a few days after the concert, so we had to say our 'see you soons' in the parking lot of the hotel. These are some pictures from New Year's Eve. The one on the top right is of the whole gang and the one on the far left is of Matt and Wyatt at the Flying Saucer down on Sundance Square in Ft. Worth. The rest are from inside Billy Bob's during the concert. In addition to seeing Jack Ingram at Billy Bob's, we were also able to meet up with Aunt Chop during the concert. It was great seeing her there and also at her ranch in Argyle (Amy had to go visit Turbo, her bull terrier!). Here's a picture of the three of us.

It's been really hard without Paul and Janna around, as Janna has been my best friend here...but we're hoping to move to Vegas this year (it's only a 4 hr drive from Phoenix), so God willing, we'll be close to them once again. Here's a picture of Janna and me from the concert. I think it was taken a little bit before we rang in the new year.

On our way back to Germany after having a wonderful Christmas, Matt and I stopped through New York City for a few days. Matt's parents went to the Big Apple with us, so it was great to get to spend a little more time with them while in the States. In New York, the four of us got to go see the Broadway musical, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," eat at all of our favorite restaurants, and sight see the whole island. Needless to say, we had a great time.

Thank you to everyone back home for making our trip home so great!

Ghent

(from left to right: 'Slick' Rieck, 'Trap' Nichols, 'Nomad' Baumgart, Matt, 'Vandal' Mann, 'Q.' Quadri, 'Chewie' Murray, & 'Wyatt' Willingham) Sorry about the 'birds' flying in the photo.

The first weekend in December, Matt and I travelled to Ghent, Belgium, with a group of 15 friends for a quick get-a-way weekend. We had a blast hanging out with our friends and Matt and the fellas took the opportunity to try out some new Belgian beers. The story behind Matt's shoe-less foot (picture on the right) and the basket of shoes (picture below) is this: the hole-in-the-wall Belgian pub that we were hanging out in had a beer they served that came in about a meter long glass. If you dared to try it, you had to give the pub your shoe. They would then put your shoe into this basket that suspended from the ceiling. Once you were finished with the beer, you could get your shoe back. If you didn't finish the beer, you would spend the rest of the night shoe-less, because they kept your shoe...for good. Needless to say, Matt got his shoe back a little bit later in the evening before we headed off for dinner at the fondue restaurant (where the top photo was taken). You can kind of see Matt's shoe on the far left if you double click the photo to enlarge it (the pub was dark and his shoe was a chestnut color). His shoe is hanging out of top left of the basket. Sorry for the blurry photo... the basket was on its ascent to the ceiling.

Christmas Tree Cutting

Another Hawk tradition is our annual Christmas tree cutting in a local forest. Matt and I were in charge of the cutting this year but didn't actually cut a tree (we were coming home to the States for the majority of December and it didn't make sense to cut one). As always, we have a great time in the forest trying to find the 'perfect' trees. On the left, you can see one of the stumps we created from all the sawing. This particular tree was a bit difficult to cut down, so Matt got to help knock the tree over to snap the final bit of trunk that they couldn't saw through.




Here are some other pictures of Matt helping some of the guys cut their trees. The last photo is of one of Boose's truck (he's one of the guys in A-flight). I think they managed to stuff 10 trees into the bed--and of course a few fell out on the drive home--which made for a long journey for Boose!

The Garrison's European Reunion

Here we are in front of one of Prague's famous churches

Well, this year for Thanksgiving, we were blessed with a visit from the Garrison clan. John, Laura, and Casey packed their bags and headed east to spend some time with us work-aholics in Germany. Like all family visits, we didn't let them un-pack for long, as we made them jump onto another plane and head further east to Prague, Czech Republic.

Before heading to Prague, we took the family to Ernie's for a wine probe. Every time we visit Ernie, our intention is to chat a bit and pick up a few bottles of wine. Each visit then turns into a 3-hour event full of wine tasting. With the Garrison's in tow, this visit did not disappoint. Eight bottles of wine and eight crossed eyes later, I drug our poor family out of the cellar and into the car. I think there was actually even a point when Casey and Mom G. asked if the room was fuzzy. I felt badly because the lengthly probe wasn't what they were expecting, but Matt thought it was funny.

We finally made it to Prague...after participating in nothing less than a circus. Our intentions were great, as we were to get to the airport about 2 hours early. However, our first train to the airport was delayed, which caused us to miss our connecting train en route, which then caused us to get to the airport with less than one hour before take-off. After standing in a slowly moving check-in line, what seemed like a mile-long security line, and then the passport control lines, we still hadn't made it to our gate. For some un-known reason, there was another security checkpoint located in front of our gate, so we had to endure another long line. Once through this line, we finally made it to our gate--5 minutes before take-off. Oh, and did I mention that Matt and I lost the rest of the family somewhere in between check-in and the gate? Matt is a speed demon when he travels, so he just takes off and leaves everyone behind. Luckily, I know his travel style, so I was able to keep up with him. Unfortuantely, the Garrison clan must have forgotten about Matt's urgency when travelling and we lost them along the way. Crisis was averted, as they caught up to us at the gate, and all 5 of us made it onto the plane (nice and sweaty, of course).

Once in Prague, we had a great time seeing the sights of the city and trying Czech food. Paul and Janna Willingham (and family) happened to be in Prague the same time we were, so we were able to meet up with them and have some gluwine and dinner one night. Here is a picture of Prague's famous astrological clock in the main square.

Prague isn't a huge city, so after seeing the castle and all the other tourist things, we managed to also visit a Communist museum (it was a lot of reading) and take a Ghost Walk one evening. The Ghost Walk was Casey's idea and an experience we probably won't ever let her live down. Our guide's english was shaky at best and the tour was filled with ghost stories followed by people dressed up in sheets who would jump out in front of us to try to create a shock factor. The group with us who had also purchased tickets started off with about 30 people. By the end of the walk, the group dwindled and I think we were able to count maybe 10 of us (including us 5 and a freaky German man with a chin-hawk). Given that we're Garrisons, we just laughed and made fun of the 'scary situations.' If you ever find yourself in Prague and interested in participating in the Ghost Walk, we do have a 10% off coupon for you! The picture on the left is of Amy sitting in a gigantic chair she managed to climb up into...we were thinking that maybe Gulliver had been in town before us.

Overall, we all had a great time in Prague and enjoyed spending some fun time together.

Happy Halloween

All we can say is TRAILER TRASH. We were a little late at ordering costumes from the States, so we had to be creative and come up with costumes using things we already had and things we could buy at the BX. So, after much pondering, we decided to be trailer trash. Matt was happy because he could pull out his old monkey and lube tech shirts. I think we did a pretty good job putting random crap together, all things considered. What do you think?

For Halloween, we went to a party at Kash's house (he's a punk in the squadron). There were about 50 people there clad in various costumes, so we had a great time laughing at what people managed to put together.

The picture on the left is of Matt and a fellow A-flight member, Chewie, at the party. Chewie showed up as an 'athletic coach,' and I think we're all still laughing about his costume (the shorts were Janna's and he was wearing an ace bandage around his left knee...not to mention white athletic tube socks and old sneakers). The stop watch just completed the outfit.

The Air Force Ball

We had made it 2 years without having to go to the Air Force Ball, but this year we weren't able to miss it. The squadron made a big push to the Ball, so in good fashion, we got all dressed up and joined in on the 'fun.' The speaker was actually the best part of the ball--he was a POW in Vietnam for 7 years and a Medal of Honor recipient. The buzz kill for the evening was Wyatt getting kicked out of the Ball. As you can see in the picture, Wyatt wore a Hawk bow-tie...and some enlisted punk went to the Vice Wing Commander and told him that Wyatt was out of protocol. So subsequently, the Vice Wing Commander 'excused' Wyatt from the remainder of the Ball. All 30 of us contemplated leaving with him, but decided to stay in order to hear the speaker. It was a stupid call on the leadership's part and even our Squadron Commander was outraged by the action taken. In the end, the night made for a good story and we all joke about it still.

Grape Picking 2006

Life is GOOD, isn't it?

Well, this is our 3rd harvest in Germany thus far and like in past years, we love the opportunity to get out and pick Ernie's grapes. This year, we were blessed with great weather (although it was muddy again--hence my shoes and jeans on the right) and many memories. I won't go through all the details again, since I've already explained the day's festivities and the manual labor we provide Ernie in past posts.


The one thing that differed this year was that Matt got to provide some extra manual labor to help Ernie press the grapes. Clad in rubber gloves, Matt and Ernie worked for about 45 minutes pressing grapes, disposing sludge, and then shovelling skins from inside the press.

The picture on the left is of Matt and Ernie.

On the right, Matt and Ernie are disposing of the remaining sludge from the press.

In this picture, Matt is shovelling the grape skins, seeds, and stems that were dumped out from inside the grape press into an empty wagon cart. Ernie uses these remnants for compost out on the vineyards.

HAWKtoberfest

Amidst the cheesiness of the name, HAWKtoberfest is another tradition that our squadron participates in each fall. A spin-off of the real Oktoberfest, the 23 hosts its annual Hawktoberfest each October. Usually for Hawktoberfest the celebration is only for our squadron and takes place at the squadron commander's house. This year, the squadron invited the entire Ops Group (the 22FS and 81FS), rented a big beer trailer, tent, and completely transformed the squadron into a German fest site. We served German brats, schwank, and pretzels along with the traditional German lagers.

Everyone dresses up for the event and it's a fun night of story telling and pilot lore. Here are some pictures from Hawktoberfest. We got the hats from Oktoberfest in Munich and just had to wear them since we weren't clad in our lederhosen and dirndle. The picture at the top is of us with Crystal and Andy, some good friends of ours who just arrived in Germany last August, and the picture on the right is of Matt and Moose, another one of our great friends.

Puerto Rico

Two weeks after Oktoberfest, Matt and I jumped on a plane (once again) headed west to the U.S. Since our favorite airline (and #1 rated trans-Atlantic carrier) is Singapore Air, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to fly with them to the States and then hop down to Puerto Rico on the #1 rated Stateside carrier, Jet Blue. All the travel went well and we found ourselves in the tropical paradise of Puerto Rico at the end of the day (it was a LONG day!).

The reason we went to Puerto Rico is because my parents were there for a business trip for my dad's company, Athlon Sports. We figured we would surprise my dad by showing up. My mom was in on the surprise and pretty much helped us plan everything, so it was so great to see my dad's face when we walked into the hotel lobby while he was conducting a quick meeting with his sales guys. It was priceless. He was so confused!

We had a wonderful week in Puerto Rico, sitting on the beach, lounging by the pool, playing golf, getting spa treatments, and escorting my parents around the island while my mom was 'looking' for a vacation home. We have some really funny stories from that car trip (we almost died several times and I almost got eaten by a dog) and I don't think we'll ever let her live that one down. Aside from the random car-trips, we had a great time with my parents. The time passed way too quickly though.

On the last few days before leaving, Matt and I decided to go on a sailing trip out to some private islands. We were able to snorkel, have a great cooked lunch aboard the sail boat, soak in some rays, and managed to make some new friends. The picture at the top is of us with the Captain of the sailboat, "Erin Go Braugh," and his wife. The picture on the right is a picture they sent us of the sailboat. The name is Irish, which is why the sails have clovers on it!

We had a fantastic time in Puerto Rico re-integrating with each other and visiting with family. Hopefully, sometime down the road we'll get to do something like it again.

Honoring Those Before Us

As a Hawk tradition, every Veteran's Day, the squadron goes to the American Cemetery in Liege, Belgium, to honor its fallen comrades. The 23rd Fighter Squadron is the only fighter squadron in Europe that has fallen comrades buried in Europe. These fallen men were killed in action during World Wars I and II.

Although rainy, the day was quite memorable. The protocol for the day is that the squadron members wear their service dress and present wreathes at the grave of each of the fallen Hawks. In addition to placing wreathes at the graves, the squadron members give each comrade a moment of silence and conclude with snapping to attention and saluting the grave. It's pretty touching, to say the least, and something that we were honored to take part in...and going to the American Cemeteries is definitely something everyone should take the opportunity of doing if they come to Europe.

Oktoberfest...the REAL one

(Don't we look great?)

After returning from Venice, Matt and I didn't stay home for very long. The weekend after the Venice trip, Matt and I boarded an overnight train bound for Munich with over 20 of our friends. We arrived into Munich the following morning at 7am and started our long day of festivities in true style. Dressed in our traditional Bavarian lederhosen and dirndle, the two of us spent the remainder of the day and the following day holed up in Oktoberfest tents enjoying the local fare of beer and pretzels. Everyone dresses up for Oktoberfest, so we fit right in with our Bavarian apparel. To explain Matt's 'wild' socks...those are his A-Flight Friday Socks. Matt bought them when he became A-Flight commander and has given them to every member of his flight to wear on Friday's and to squadron related events. This was our second time visiting Oktoberfest in Munich and as always, this trip did not disappoint.

Matt and I had a fun time spending our weekend in the Hof Brau Haus and Hippodrome tents as well as the famous Hof Brau Haus (the location of Hitler's meetings) with all our friends. The picture on the left is of the outside of the Hof Brau Haus tent and the one on the right is of the Hippodrome tent. All of the tents except for the Hippodrome tent are temporary structures that are put up strictly for Oktoberfest. The Hippodrome is the only permanent tent that is up year-round. The bottom right picture was taken at about 10am--right after the doors opened. By noon, the doors are locked and the tents are at their maximum capacity. In order to be served food or drinks, you have to be seated, so even if you're inside it's not a guarantee for a good time. Getting through the front doors is like being in a rugby scrum, as everyone is shoving one another trying to get inside to claim one of the few tables available. In the course of the day, if you get up to go to the bathroom, you better have a friend sit in your seat for you, as people will come and try to plop down to take your seat before you have even stood up. If you're lucky enough to get reserved seats, that's the best way to go--but they're hard to get. We had reserved seats at the Hippodrome on Saturday, so that was a treat.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit the real Oktoberfest in Munich, it's an experience you'll never forget (you don't have to drink beer!). I don't think there is anything else in the world like it. Oh, and Oktoberfest doesn't happen in October--it takes place the last three weeks (yes, it's packed even on the weekdays) in September!