Sunday, September 25, 2011

Learning to Talk



Ainsley is at the stage, where every few days, she is able to speak a new word.  Most of the time  I think she has been practising how to say the word for some time and we finally understand what she has been trying to say.  For example, for some time she has been saying some word that sounds like Honey to me but a few weeks ago I finally figured out she is saying Connie (our daycare lady).  Wow, was she excited and now Connie is a main word in our home.  Practice, practice, practice.  Now, she can say many of the kids names @ daycare and more importantly we know what she is saying.

A few weeks ago, Ainsley and I were playing on the floor and I said 1-2-3!  She decided that would be fun to practice so needless to say we practice this everyday.  She practices when she is running around the table or down the hallway, jumping off the stool, or chasing the dog.  The video is a good example.  It makes me laugh how she says 1 with the hand motions.

Another of her favorite words right now is BIRTHDAY which I think is quite a big word.  We were making zucchini muffins the other morning and she kept pointing to the pictures of the muffins and saying birthday.  I continued to try and convince her they were muffins but she was having none of it, they were birthdays.  Kasey's mom later pointed out to me they look like cupcakes.  Ah, don't I feel silly.  Since then, all muffins or cakes in our house are Birthdays!  It really is more fun to eat them with that name.

Ainsley's vocabulary now includes mine, more, night night, Leah (who is Connie's dog), Ajax will always be doggy,  open (which sounds like up on), cut, outside, horsey, commands to Ajax, with hand motions of course, like down, stay and no.  Yes, not used often enough, excuse me, please and working on thanks.  She is really putting words together into sentences that are almost understandable and I am excited to hear about what she is telling me. 

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Best Flight Ever




I know its been a while since I've written on here but that's because Jenn is always hogging the laptop. Well she's been very sleepy at night due to growing a new baby and all, so I'm taking advantage and sharing about a really cool experience I had last week.

Between Layers on the way back to Auburn

  
Ever since I was a kid, I have been fascinated by airplanes. It was only natural that I would eventually become a pilot.  I wanted to join the navy and fly F-14's. Somewhere along the way, I veered off course (regrettable pun).  I was on track to become an airline pilot, I had obtained my Flight Instructor Certificate and only needed to teach for a while, gain my hours and boom, fly the big planes.  But along the way, I discovered  I enjoyed teaching people how to fly and have found a passion on the business side as a bookkeeper for the flight college I work for.  

Me & Jon above the clouds on an Instrument flight

















My view

But back to the navy, what happened to my fighter pilot plans?  I obviously didn't go that route but I did get one step closer to flying a navy fighter....just a couple generations older than the F-14.

 






 

The mission was to introduce a new cadet (me) to the systems and operation of the North American T-28 Trojan. I was to assist my flight instructor (my boss Michael) in pre-flight check of the airplane, review bailout procedures in case of emergency (you didn't see that mom), start-up procedures, and finally the best part...the flight!!

Cadet Maiorca after his first flight

After takeoff we turned out to the east where Michael handed me the controls.  It was amazing.  I've never flown such a balanced aircraft.  The plane seemed to move without effort.  I could move the stick just a hair to the left and I was in a 30 degree bank, then a hair right and I was level again.  Before I knew it, I was ordered to circle a possible target.  (ok, I'm slipping into the part to much but ohh well)  By now my confidence is high and i bank it 50 degrees and look for my target....I couldn't find it.  but that;s ok, this is all for fun this time.  We 're at 2500 feet and I receive the order to climb to 7500 feet.  The throttle is increased, I ease in the rudder, I pull back and set pitch attitude for climb, 140kts.  (by the way, fastest I'd ever been was 140 during my multi engine training, now I'm climbing this fast, I love this plane!) We reach 7500 feet and I realize why I was ordered that high, it was nice and cool up here...ok, so maybe it was to avoid the Cascades, whatever, this plane is so cool, the mountains would have parted to let it through!  My instructor took the controls and showed me a taste of what this thing could really do. Some fast dives, hard turns, and ride through Stevens Pass and I had the controls again.  We ended up heading home over Lake Tapps, I flew over my parents house (only to find out later they weren't home, errgh) and brought her into the pattern back home.  Michael took controls again to land (this was a good move on his part) and we landed safely.  Hands down it was an awesome ride and I hope to have another go some day. 

Thank you to my T-28 instructor and friend Michael for sharing this experience with me, I will never forget it.

Signing off,
Cadet Maiorca