As we mentioned in the previous post, we went to Dallas, Texas for Christmas this year. We stayed with Allison's parents in Grapevine, as did Allison's brother Patrick and his expecting wife Lydia. The first Watts grandson is due in February.
You'll notice in the pictures, linked to later, that we had our "first" Christmas on Dec. 20th before we left for Dallas. We opened all our presents to each other and those from family and friends mailed to us because we didn't want to tote it all to Dallas.
We left at 4:15AM eastern time on Saturday, Dec. 22nd for the all-day drive on I-20 to Dallas. 13 hours and change later, we arrived in Dallas around 4:30pm central time. See the last post if you're wondering why we drove.
First thing's first. Dinner at Freebird's World Burrito. If you know us, you know that we always try to eat at the places unique to that area, especially our favorites like Freebirds (only in Texas) and In N Out Burger (only in CA, NV, or AZ). So we headed out to the one near the TCU campus in west Ft. Worth.
The next day we went to church at Allison's parents church in Grapevine, the same one where we got married. After that, we spent most of the day at the Gaylord Texan, one of four Gaylord super-mega hotels around the country. They have the place all decked out for Christmas, go figure. There is also a renowned ICE attraction which is a massive ice-sculpture presentation created by some people in Asia. We waited quite a while to get in but when we did, complete with the provided gold jackets, it was worth the wait. But we'll probably never go again as it was a bit expensive. Patrick and Lydia arrived that evening via Southwest Airlines.
Christmas Eve was a lazy day at home. The girls baked stuff and the guys sat around grunting. We all played with our new Nintendo Wii toy, the Wii Zapper. Essentially, it's a piece of plastic shaped like a gun that you attach the controls to. It included the Link's Crossbow Training game which is a target shooting game set in the Zelda world. Fun stuff. That evening we attended the candlelight service at church which featured a bunch of good Christmas songs.
Christmas day morning we, you'll never guess....opened presents! Then it was time for the Watts family gift card exchange. John (Allison's other brother), Michelle his wife and Reganne our niece were on speakerphone from Boise, Idaho during the exchange. We ended up with an REI gift card. Woo hoo! We also talked to Pop and Polly in Dayton as well as my parents later on. The rest of the day was spent at the Dan Patrick's, Allison's mom's cousin. Their 3 teenage boys were ushers at our wedding. We had a big Christmas dinner with family and friends and even played a little Guitar Hero 3 on Xbox. The boys made us feel old already as they were REALLY good at it. I still prefer the real thing myself.
The next morning, I headed out by myself at 5:40am with all the stuff loaded up in the Honda. Allison stayed an extra couple days to go shopping with her mom and hang out with a couple girl friends. She arrived back yesterday evening, the 28th via Delta MD-88. The drive was quite a bit more lonely this time, but I've done most of my long-distance driving that way so at least it wasn't new to me. I stopped in Monroe, Louisiana to exchange some stuff at Target for Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. It was on sale!
In other news, you can officially call me Captain Dave now. I passed my simulator checkride last night, the 28th. Yey! Talk about a weight off my shoulders! What does it all mean? I am now an Airline Transport Pilot (the highest level pilot's license) with a CRJ type rating. What that means is I can act as pilot-in-command (aka PIC aka Captain) of the CL-65 series aircraft that includes the whole family of Canadair business and regional jets as they are the same cockpit with small differences between them. FYI, per the FAA, any aircraft greater than 12,500 pounds gross takeoff weight requires 2 pilots as well as an aircraft-specific type rating for the PIC. Hence, why I got what I got in order to be Captain.
It's nice to get your ATP rating while working at an airline. Why? Because it's FREE!! It's included in your type ride if you don't already have it.
Anyway, click here for our Christmas 2007 pictures. The captions explain what you're looking at. Enjoy!
We hope everyone has a great, safe happy New Year 2008!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Texas Christmas 2007
We are headed for Dallas tomorrow for that big December holiday. We start out bright and early, as in 3am. Why you crazy people, you ask? Because we are DRIVING. Straight through. 12 hours. That's right.
I won't go into the details, but Delta changed our flight benefits due to the fact that they sold us to Skywest last year. Well, they got worse. So trying to fly standby around the holidays to argueably the hardest domestic destination to fly standby in Delta's system....
You get the idea.
Plus I have my Captain checkride on the 27th and the last thing I want to do is stress myself out about making flights or not in time to get back for that. That on top of the normal stress that the checkride creates in-and-of itself.
It will be fun and we don't have to worry about how much stuff we can bring.
We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
I won't go into the details, but Delta changed our flight benefits due to the fact that they sold us to Skywest last year. Well, they got worse. So trying to fly standby around the holidays to argueably the hardest domestic destination to fly standby in Delta's system....
You get the idea.
Plus I have my Captain checkride on the 27th and the last thing I want to do is stress myself out about making flights or not in time to get back for that. That on top of the normal stress that the checkride creates in-and-of itself.
It will be fun and we don't have to worry about how much stuff we can bring.
We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
CRJ Sim Pictures
This one is for the AOL users...
Apparently AOL can't handle picture attachments so I'm posting them here instead.
Click here to see a CRJ-200 simulator at Flight Safety Atlanta.
Apparently AOL can't handle picture attachments so I'm posting them here instead.
Click here to see a CRJ-200 simulator at Flight Safety Atlanta.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Costco Cat Christmas
Allison and I were at Costco today for one thing and ended up leaving with 4. Something strange about how that place does that. Anyway, after exchanging her phone with the Verizon dude, our only goal, we wandered about. How can you not, right?
We came across an item made with felines in mind that we had seen before. At the time, we had only had Vincent for about a week or two and weren't even sure if our allergies, etc were going to work out, so we didn't buy it. Today was the first time we'd seen them back in the store since, so we were all over it and Vincent got his present early. I mean, after all, imagine trying to wrap this thing:
So far, it is a hit.
Earlier this week, I got a picture of him sitting in an empty bottled water box in the pantry that reminded me of the first hour we owned him.
This is the 1st picture we ever took about an hour after we got him. And no, it is NOT the same water bottle package he was sitting in last week.
We came across an item made with felines in mind that we had seen before. At the time, we had only had Vincent for about a week or two and weren't even sure if our allergies, etc were going to work out, so we didn't buy it. Today was the first time we'd seen them back in the store since, so we were all over it and Vincent got his present early. I mean, after all, imagine trying to wrap this thing:
So far, it is a hit.
Earlier this week, I got a picture of him sitting in an empty bottled water box in the pantry that reminded me of the first hour we owned him.
This is the 1st picture we ever took about an hour after we got him. And no, it is NOT the same water bottle package he was sitting in last week.
Friday, December 07, 2007
101 Posts!
I suppose it would have been more appropriate to celebrate 100 posts but I didn't notice on the last one so here you go. Also, I haven't posted in a while mostly because I've been spending my time studying while going through Captain upgrade training.
The most notable event since the last post was our Thanksgiving / Pop & Polly's 65th wedding anniversary trip. For those unfamiliar, Pop & Polly (their nicknames) are Allison's grandparents on her mom's side. Anyway, like we have before, Dayton was the destination for dinner at the Officer's Club at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The following day was the anniversary celebration at St. Leonard's Church, right next to Pop & Polly's house. Allison's family were all there, including her parents and both her brothers and their families. Since I'm the third person now to blog about the events, I'll link you to said blogs instead of reiterating everything.
John & Michelle's Blog
Patrick & Lydia's Blog
And of course, here are pictures to view. The blogs above have eerily similar photos from slightly different angles.
Had it not been for my Captain upgrade training that started Nov. 20th, Allison and I would have been aboard the Crystal Serenity with my parents and grandma sailing through the Panama Canal. Luckily, the day they went through, I was able to be there virtually through the wonders of technology. Between the webcams aboard the ship and the ones at the canal itself, I have the event pretty well documented. I talked to dad a couple of times throughout the day (he has one of those snazy int'l phones). I had them hold out a towel so I could see them as they went through the Miraflores locks.
Here's a sample:
Before you view the rest, a few things to know about the canal. There are 3 sets of locks. The Gatun locks are on the north side near the Gulf of Mexico. The other two, the single Pedro Miguel lock and the final Miraflores locks are right next to Panama City and the Pacific Ocean. The photo series linked below starts in the morning with the Gatun locks and ends at the Miraflores locks, a whole day ordeal.
Click here to see some more.
There are a bunch.
But you can scroll through them quickly.
Adios!
The most notable event since the last post was our Thanksgiving / Pop & Polly's 65th wedding anniversary trip. For those unfamiliar, Pop & Polly (their nicknames) are Allison's grandparents on her mom's side. Anyway, like we have before, Dayton was the destination for dinner at the Officer's Club at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The following day was the anniversary celebration at St. Leonard's Church, right next to Pop & Polly's house. Allison's family were all there, including her parents and both her brothers and their families. Since I'm the third person now to blog about the events, I'll link you to said blogs instead of reiterating everything.
Patrick & Lydia's Blog
And of course, here are pictures to view. The blogs above have eerily similar photos from slightly different angles.
Had it not been for my Captain upgrade training that started Nov. 20th, Allison and I would have been aboard the Crystal Serenity with my parents and grandma sailing through the Panama Canal. Luckily, the day they went through, I was able to be there virtually through the wonders of technology. Between the webcams aboard the ship and the ones at the canal itself, I have the event pretty well documented. I talked to dad a couple of times throughout the day (he has one of those snazy int'l phones). I had them hold out a towel so I could see them as they went through the Miraflores locks.
Before you view the rest, a few things to know about the canal. There are 3 sets of locks. The Gatun locks are on the north side near the Gulf of Mexico. The other two, the single Pedro Miguel lock and the final Miraflores locks are right next to Panama City and the Pacific Ocean. The photo series linked below starts in the morning with the Gatun locks and ends at the Miraflores locks, a whole day ordeal.
Click here to see some more.
There are a bunch.
But you can scroll through them quickly.
Adios!
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