July 1, 2001

It's Friday morning...the real beginning to a long weekend to celebrate out freedom that has been fought for for so many years! I lie in bed listening to the sounds around me.  I hear the hysterical laughter of my little boy as Daddy tickles him and chases him as he gets woken up and gets ready for the day.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family!! I just want to say thank you to my awesome husband and father and all my many friends that have made my freedom to do this possible!! I love you guys and we pray for you every night!!  Have a safe and fun weekend!!

(I tried to update this from my phone, but it came up as nonsense!)

UPT Wives update

Tuesday this week Kile's flight had a spouses night so we could meet the squadron command and their wives.  They were very nice and the wives from the flights, there are 5 of us, love to get together whenever we can.  We were missing one though. Kirsty was back in Canada waiting for her Visa to come live here full time!!

While we were there the Squadron Commander told us that we should think about taking on a roll to help out the flight. We have to raise money for our 3 big events: track select, assignment night and graduation banquet. Slight pause, one thing I love about Kile and I is that we are on the same wave length a lot of the time! That being said...Kile voiced what I was thinking. "You should do that!" Being that I have had some experience with event planning and such, I volunteered to head up the group and be the main contact person for the events and fundraisers. So, if anyone has any ideas for fundraising, please pass them on. Oh and please be praying for me!! haha

Well, that's about it for now. I'm off to wake up Cody and get some more done around the house before this big 4 day weekend!! Hopefully I'll talk to you all soon!! I'll do my best!

UPT update

Well today marks the end of "15 days." The first 15 days of phase 2. I think Kile would agree that they have been pretty brutal! Kile's flight doesn't have enough IP's (Instructor Pilots) so they don't get to fly as much as the other flight in there class.

Kile was feeling pretty sick for most of the first 15 days, but he got some meds from the flight doc that seem to be helping.  Today he has a couple big tests. One of which we know he already passed.  The other is at 5 pm our time.  Right now he is there trying to study and stay awake. These 12 hour days really take a toll on the guys.

There's not a whole lot more to tell right now. Hopefully I'll have more news soon!

I'm really bad at this!

I warned you that I would probably be bad at this. I tend to have the time, but always forget to post. I now have it on my phone so, maybe that will help.  We have had a lot of adventures this past month. We are still trying to get fully moved in. Some days I wonder if it will ever happen. We still have a garage full of boxes and a guest room full of random stuff we have to find places for. We have a little more motivation this week though, at least for the guest room.  Uncle Mo, Kile's brother Montana, is coming to visit for 10 days on July 9th. We're very excited to have him, now we just need to get ready...Organized!

Most recently Cody went with the playgroup to the Vance Fire Station.  He and the other kids had a great time! The firemen let them climb all over the trucks for over an hour! One of Cody's little friends even flipped a lever an accidentally turned on the water on one of the trucks. hahahaha It was so funny! Gotta love little ones!

Look Mommy! I'm driving!!

Cody made a new friend fast!

CHEEEEESE! 

This is the truck they use for the flight line.  They showed the kids how it worked. I is a very cool truck!

These are a few of Cody's friends. Will, Johnny, Cody (of course),
Elena, and Emma. :-)

These guys were so great with all the kids!

Park day and Retreat...May 10, 2011

Today is Tuesday May 10th.  We were supposed to have playgroup today, but when we showed up, none of the other families were there. So, Cody got to play on the huge base playground by himself for a while! He loved it!! It was even better when his friend Lilly showed up and wanted to play with him too!! And of course Maddie and I got time to talk. Those two are so cute! Lilly is such a happy little girl.  Cody says, "Mommy, I love Lilly, but sometimes she's loud!" haha To which I reply, " You were too when you were her age....and still are." Lilly is 2. We had a great time playing though, until it got a bit too close to nap time and Cody got cranky. Cranky Cody is not a fun Cody to be around...Let me tell ya!

Cody loved the Mickey Mouse see-saw

It's way more fun with another kiddo though!

RETREAT...
I don't mean run away...come back here!  I mean reason life on base has to halt at 5 pm every night.  I was used to it from every post we lived on growing up, but had forgotten about it for the most part, until we got here and we'd be "running" to the store or playing outside and Retreat would sound and we'd have to stop.  And then of course the National Anthem.  It's hard to explain to a 4 year old that they have to stop playing when music comes on.  To our surprise though, without fussing, Cody did what he was supposed to and stood still and quiet watching Daddy stand still and then stand at attention for the National Anthem.  Cody didn't want to put his hand over his heart. He wanted to be a "soldier" like Daddy and stand at attention. So, every day, while in TLF, at 5 o'clock Cody stops what he's doing and in some cases runs outside, and snaps to attention for the National Anthem. He is trying really hard to learn the words too. It is the sweetest thing I think I have ever seen him do.

Love good deals!!!! May 9, 2011

One thing I have always loved about the military is when they have "old" furniture or excess, they give the families an opportunity to buy it.  It is usually only gently used, but they are trying to update their look.  Well, we got one of those deals!!  Kile got an email this morning, Monday, that there would be a sale on bar stools from lodging starting at 12. Well, we had just been looking online to find some bar stools for the island in our new house on base.  So, we made our way down there in between his classes and found some great stools!  It was a max of 8/person.  And here is the kicker...they were only $5 EACH!! They were in great shape and the color isn't horrible. By the time we got through the line there were only 7 left so we bought 6 of them!!  God is so good in providing just what we need when we need it!  Now this may not have been a huge "need", but He knew that we couldn't afford everything else we needed to buy and those too.  We are so excited!!!

Game night!! May 7, 2011

One thing I love about the Air Force is how small a world it is! We got here and I have been able to meet so many people and have some great friends! I have even been able to meet some from Colorado.  I saw randomly on Facebook that this one girl was from Colorado Springs, so I sent her a message on Wednesday I think and then that Saturday we were invited over for game night.  We were a little nervous that we wouldn't know anybody, but it turned out one guy from Kile's flight, Michael, and his awesome wife Kirsty were there as well as Melody that I had just met online.  Not long after we got there another coulple walks in the door and right as Melody was about to introduce them we hear, "CALVIN!!!" Kile found a friend from the Academy.  :-)  He and Calvin had met through the radio station at USAFA.  I was definitely NOT expecting to hear that come out of Kile. hahaha The pictures above are of his adorable little son!! This is Clavin, too, but they call him Ayden (his middle name). He just fell in love with Kile.  Kile has a way of making any child feel comfortable and at ease with him! I love that!!

Anyway, we had a great night of talking and laughing and playing crazy games! I hope we have many more chances to do this!!

Friends!!! May 5th continued...

May 5th cont....

Still living in TLF and Cody has made new friends! He loves Alaina! Everyday we would get up or go outside and Cody would say, can I play with my friends now??  Alaina was eating and couldn't come out and so Cody decided to sit at the picnic table and wait for her to be done. They sat like this for a good 5 minutes. haha I love seeing Cody with his new friends! We miss our friends in CO, but it has been great to see him get to know the kids here and get attached to them too.  Sadly Alaina and her brother Nate will being spending the summer in WA, so we won't get to see them for much longer.  On the bright side, the Martinez family will be back from Kentucky at the end of the month.  And we will be in our new house by then so we will be even closer to them!

SORRY!!!

Ok...so I warned you that I wasn't going to be very good at this!! So, I am going to try and fill you in on what's been going on with the Kuzma family! I might need to break it up into a few sections so I can keep it all straight. *Sigh* here we go...

Cody's Eye Appointment

Today I took Cody for his first ever eye doctor appointment. He was so good and so excited to see the eye doctor. He listened so well and did everything the doctor said.  It was so much fun to watch him look at the pictures and say what it was and he was so proud. He has 20/20 vision but he is a little far sighted.  The doctor said at his age it is completely normal. His eyes are healthy and he said we should come back in a little over a year. No glasses though. :-)

UPT Decent and Landing Techniques

Living in the TLF, Temporary Living Facility, has it's perks.  Cody and I were able to walk over to watch Kile's class do there Decent and Landing techniques at a jump tower. It was so cool! I am still working on getting the photos uploaded, but what an experience!  I am so excited and proud to be a pilots wife.  The stuff they have to go through before they even touch a plane here is amazing! I can only imagine what the next phase will be like! I'll describe more and upload some photos in a bit! :-)

Altitude Chamber and UPT update

Today we had an awesome experience!!  We, Cody and I, got to go over and watch Kile in the altitude chamber.  It was so much fun!  We got a text from Kile telling us that we could come over and watch them go in the chamber.  When we got there we had to wait for a while.  At least we had some good company!  The other wives in the flight were there too.  It was great to meet and get to know them better.  I have really loved getting to know the ladies here.  After a little while of waiting the guys went in to the chamber and got there helmets and masks on to prepare for the change in altitude.  They simulated 25,000 feet and took there masks off to see how they would react at that altitude; what the hypoxia symptoms were.  Then they put there masks back on and went to 18,000 feet and took there masks off and did night flying demos.  Then they "landed" and came out of the chamber for a few minutes.  Then they went in to the rapid decompression simulation.  WOW!! What a thing to watch!  It was so much fun to see the whole process.

UPT update - Kile is in his second week of academics.  He has had two finals so far this week and aced them both!  Another one tomorrow and 5ish more week of academics before flying starts.  Lots of studying and early and long hours. Not a ton to tell right now, but we'll keep you updated!

Who'da thunk it??

Sorry for the long time in between blogs.  I keep thinking about doing it, but life happens.

So, one thing people never really expected from me so much was becoming the Suzy homemaker type.  I have though...at least I'm on my way.  And to top it off...I LOVE it!!  I have been cooking a lot and trying new things I've never cooked before.  I've been making yummy desserts like strawberry cheesecake and  brownies.  For those of you who know me well, you know that I have never really been good at cooking or even liked it, but I have found a new respect for making my family meals and keeping up the house for them.  If anyone has some good and easy recipes they would like to share, I would love to try them!

...

So I realized just how much like my dad I really am...I have goofy come backs to peoples questions, but this time it actually paid off.  The cleaning lady for the TLF has asked me a bunch of times in the last couple weeks if I needed anything and a majority of the time I answered the same, "More space!?" So yesterday she asked me yet again and I was good and just said no.  She asked if we still wanted more room and I of course said, "YES!"  So she showed us a room that was the same as the current one, but this one has an extra room attached!!  I got so excited! So Cody and I went over to the office and asked and they gave it to us!!! I texted Kile and told him and we moved yesterday afternoon!!  It is so nice! We have so much more space to spread out now! So, I am so thankful for silly jokes or responses.

Kile has spent much of the last 2 weeks in-processing here.  Well, Wednesday he had his flight physical.  He found out he has to get glasses.  He is very sad about it...Luckily he can still fly he just has to where these fun glasses!  We also went and got him some for everyday. The ones in the above picture are just for flying.

Cody and I went to the gym yesterday...they have a parent/child room.  It is so cool.  It has some cardio equipment, weights, exercise balls and a playroom all in this old racquetball court. Cody loved it!!

Today, we spent time playing with Cody's birthday presents from Grammie and Gramps!  They got him a hockey set! A net and 2 sticks...He LOVES it!  He and Kile went outside right away and played with it.  Then after nap today we decided it would be fun to go bowling.  We went over to the base bowling alley and played a couple of games!  Uncle Mych came and played with us! Cody loves hanging out with Uncle Mych and we are excited to spend lots of time with him this year!

So inquiring minds wanted to know...

So there have been some questions since we started this blog that we thought we should address.  So here is the deal...Kile and I are married! We are so happy and excited! We wanted to keep it quiet until we sent out invitations to our wedding, but that isn't exactly an option.  So here is what happened.  We basically just signed the license and filed it with the state.  We wanted to move to Oklahoma all together, but in order to do that we had to be married and on his military orders.  So, we got legally married and NOW we are going to start planning a BIG wedding back home in Erie, PA!  We don't know all the details yet, but as soon as we do we will let you know.  We are sorry if we hurt anyone by not telling you, but originally we thought this would work better. We were wrong.  We kept it quiet to not hurt anyone, but we know that back fired somewhat. We hope all would forgive us and celebrate our wedding with us in the near future! If you have any questions we'll be glad to answer, but please know that we love you all and again...we did not mean for anyone to get hurt!!

Crazy week!! On to real life...

WOW! We had a crazy week last week. Trying to get settled to our temporary housing and still have time for our family.  Tuesday we went to Leonardo's Discovery Center with our new friends!  Cody had so much fun running around and playing with everything! (Pictures coming) Tuesday night I was able to go to girls night here and meet some great girls.  We sat and talked and played some fun games.  Excited to get to know them better. Kile got together with some of the guys from his UPT class and had a BBQ and played some Wii! We both had a great time and Cody got to spend time with Grandma and have a sleep over at her hotel.  He got to go swimming and play with her. He loved it!!
The weather has been beautiful here, a bit windy at times, but nice and warm! Feeling bad for family in PA that just got snow. :-( We've been able to play outside and do lots of things here!  We're getting to know the town and the surrounding area.
Saturday we decided to get out of here and head up to Oklahoma City with Grandma for her last couple days here.  We hung out at Bass Pro Shop...I never would have thought that hanging out at a store would be so fun!!  It was like a mini amusement park!! :-)
Sunday was so much fun!! We went to the Oklahoma City Zoo and spent a good part of the day walking around there before we had to take Grandma to the airport to fly back to Colorado. :-(  We all had a great time at the zoo! It was so cool and we are excited to go back.  They just had a brand new baby elephant and we want to be able to see the baby.  Hopefully in a couple more weeks we can go back. :-)
My mom was such a HUGE help while she was here!! I appreciate everything she did SOOOOOO much!! We all do!

We are now on to "real life" without any help from our family.  Well at least not the way we used too.  We are so excited to be on this journey! Hope you all stick in there with us!

Testing Testing...Is this thing on?

Good morning all!
Well, we'll see how this works. I've never been very good at keeping up with blogs, but let's see if I can keep this going.

So the purpose of this blog is to keep everyone up to date on our lives as we start this new adventure as an Air Force family. We are at Vance Air Force base in Enid, OK.  Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself. I'll start with our trip out here...After a crazy week of packing, we left Colorado Springs on Sunday at about 10 am. We had  one crazy set back after another. First we had to figure out how to get a heavy duty tarp that went over the trailer to stay down and not fly away. It took many many bungees and straps, but we got it down.  Then Kile realized that he had barely any gas and oh by the way, there was barely any air in the tires of the trailer, so we made it to the gas station and go that taken care of. Then after getting the cars weighed, we were on our way.  We had to make a couple more stops so the trailer didn't take off with all of the air rushing through the tarp. So more bungees and straps went on... OK so now we're on our way... haha

We had a smooth drive, making only a couple stops for gas.  Cody was great!! He didn't fuss or get wiggly...he just sat quietly in the back seat watching movies. It helped a little bit that he wasn't feeling well so he was kind of lethargic. So after driving for about 7 hours, we stopped in McPherson, KS for the night.  We wanted to stay at a hotel that had a pool so Cody could swim, but the pool was freezing so we didn't exactly get to swim.  That's ok though, Cody was completely happy just sleeping at a hotel.  He got to have a sleep over with Mama, Grandma, who was soooo awesome to drive my car out here so I didn't fall asleep driving.

We got up Monday morning, had breakfast and then after a quick stop to top off the tanks, we were on our way again.  Monday's drive was even faster...only 3 hours.  Again, Cody was great and we made the trip without any stops.  We arrived at our new home, Vance Air Force Base, at about one in the afternoon.  We are living in temporary housing for about a month until a house opens up for us on base.  The TLF, temporary living facility, is rather small, but we are just happy to be together.  On the up side, right next to our door is a little playground for Cody to play on.  We met up with Stephanie, Kile's meteorology partner from the academy, and she showed us where to find some VERY yummy subs for lunch! Uptown Subs...mmmmmmmmmmm!

Last night we were invited over to the house of one of Kile's class mates, Christian, and his awesome wife Stacy! (Hope I spelled that right.)  Cody was sooooooo happy to meet new friends Elisa and Jonathan.  They also have an adorable new baby girl named Sofia.  Kile and I loved holding her!!

So that brings us to today...Tuesday April 12, 2011.  We are currently sitting in our little house trying to get organized and watching Tangled.  Today will be full of grocery shopping and hopefully getting enrolled in Tricare. :-) Cody and I both need to go to the doctor to get rid of the crud that we have.  We are praying that Kile doesn't get this.

So there you go my friends.  A start to our adventure in Pilot Training and the Air Force! Stay tuned for many more exciting and some not so exciting posts and pictures. We love and miss you all!!

Love, Jenni, Kile and Cody