Patuxent River Naval Air Museum

This is a museum right off base and it is free!! I only took photos of the airplanes outside but there is also a lot to see in the building. I liked the replicas of the Carriers that were built to scale. The jets aboard them looked so tiny. It kind of puts it all in perspective. So, Wayne works on the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35). There are different types and he works on the C or carrier version. In the display of jets there were the Boeing and Lockheed Martin jets and LM won the contract so that is who is building the jets for our country's military. Wayne used to be in the Air Force for the first 10 years of our marriage. Being here definitely reminds me of the good old days :)

But seriously, I love hearing the jets fly around here. Plus it means that his job is secure.

So...here are the photos:
The first thing you see when you walk in is this lighthouse. It is pretty cool but the ones that are actually on the water are better. The story is that this part was removed from the abandoned lighthouse. It says on the plaque that it is circa 1896.

The one on the left is the Boeing version of the JSF. I didn't take close ups of the signs to tell what each individual plane is so you'll just have to guess like me.

The one above and below are actually the Lockheed Martin X-35C which is the plane Wayne works on.

WARNING...Michael downloaded my pics!!

So...I was flipping through my photos on my camera which I thought were stuck there because I had left my cord in Arkansas when Michael said "here let me look at that". He then proceeded to remove my SD card (or whatever that card is that holds all the photos), shove it into our MythTV computer, and copy them onto my computer. Talk about EXCITED!!! LOL!! So I will make a few posts on our happenings since I have been home.

When I returned home Don, Donna, Aaron, and Natalie were here visiting. We did a lot of sight seeing and playing Pepper. Here are some of the sights we saw:

Calvert Marine Museum. Across the bridge in Calvert County. We showed up and it was only half an hour to close so we decided it wasn't worth the entrance fee but we got a few shots of the Drum Point Lighthouse...here is one:

Here is the bridge:

It doesn't look that impressive from here but let me tell you...it is a long, narrow, and tall bridge.

Above are some birds that we saw out on a pier. We (Don and I) got fairly close but I still zoomed in to get this photo.

These next two are the restaurant we ate at that evening. It has VERY good food and best of all there are non-seafood choices for my men :)

By the time we got out of the restaurant it was dark. Michael and I played around with my camera trying to get some shots in the dark but failed miserably. Hopefully with time I can master night shots. This next photo I shot when I shot the ones above. Wayne is always talking about this house / mansion across the water on the St Mary's side and this is it zoomed in. At night it is lit up but my attempts at that failed as referred to above.

Another day we took a trip to St Mary's City and the POW/MIA confederate cemetery. Here are a few photos from that trip:

 Above is a ship on display in Historic St. Mary's City. It was closed the day we were there so we couldn't go aboard although that would have been cool.

These next few are of the Confederate Cemetery. We have been there three times and I swear, each time we go there it has changed. Last time we were here they had scaffolding up and were working on it. I was very glad to see the work was completed.

 It took a few shots to get the POW/MIA flag in the correct position. There was just a gentle breeze the day we were here.

 If you click on the photo below you can view it real size and read about the "bean pot". You can barely see the bean pot behind the gate and inside the little building. It is said that this was what they used to feed the prisoners.

 For all my Texas friends...here is OUR flag. Even though I am not in Texas any more I still feel apart of it and it will always hold a very special place in my heart. I love my friends there.

These next couple photos are of chapels in the area. We wanted to go take photos of more but only got to a few. There are some very historic churches in this part of the country...some dating back to the 1700's.

 The chapel above is on Solomon's Island and the one below is in St Mary's City.

Here is our Thanksgiving Dinner, all ready to serve:

It was very yummy :)

Here are a couple photos of my family room decorated for Christmas:

 We have a gas fireplace which I love, Love, LOVE.

And finally for this post's ending; today it snowed. Here is a photo I took just after it quit snowing.

I have two more posts to make so stay tuned. One is of the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum. I got a lot of photos of jets, helicopters, etc. The other is of Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Museum. It was awesome but I really need to figure out how to condense my photos on my new Linux Mint computer so that I can upload them more quickly. Full size (about 4mb) takes FOREVER!! :D

HOME!!

After spending 2 months at my mother-in-laws home I came home for Thanksgiving. It was hard for me to make the flight because Rusty had come down with Shingles and he was scheduled to have his first treatment in Hot Springs before I was to return. But he went to the doctor the day he dropped me off at the airport and they gave him medicine to help with his illness and he improved quickly. He found  out the he has to wait after being sick to start his treatment so it will probably start in about a week and a half. Other family is going there for Christmas so I am going to just stay home until the end of the month when they will need me for his second treatment.

We had good friends from Georgia come here for Thanksgiving and we had a blast. I took tons of photos but I left my cord to my camera in Arkansas so I will have to post pictures at the end of the month when I return there. We saw a lot of the sights in Southern Maryland and ate way too much and played tons of Pepper but had so much fun. We are going to have to get together more often with them...it used to be we got together every year but life has been busy for both of us and it is hard to find the time.

We had donated our Christmas tree to the Colleyville Stake nativity a few  years back and since I am staying home for Christmas this year I decided to buy a new tree. I bought an LED tree and brought it home but the middle section wouldn't light so we took it back and got another one that works!! So right now I am in the midst of decorating the house. I have a Christmas letter too write and gifts to purchase and mail out. I am looking forward to our first Christmas in Maryland.

Michael came home for Thanksgiving and has decided to change colleges (again). He is all enrolled at the College of Southern  Maryland and it looks like they will take most his credits from TCC. It will be good to have him home. His time away at college was a learning experience for all of us.

There is probably more but I can't think of what right now. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Arkansas

I am in Arkansas and have been since I posted that I was leaving. I miss Maryland...mostly because Wayne is there but also because I missed the color of fall and was really looking forward to it. I am going to try to make it home for Thanksgiving...especially since we have company coming.

I got a new calling in church right before I left and feel guilty that I am not there to do it. I might not have it when I return...if I were Primary president I wouldn't want a teacher that was out of town for an extended period of time.

There is a lot going on in my life, but nothing that I am really at liberty to post on a public blog. I can, however, field phone calls or emails.

I remembered my camera but forgot my charger so when we went to Roaring River state park (in MO) a couple weeks back I couldn't even take pictures. My mother-in-law has a film camera that we took. We need to take the rest of the pictures so we can get the film developed. Besides the trip to Roaring River we also took a trip to St. Louis to see an oncologist there. He did not have any new or better treatment than can be gotten here in Arkansas so that was kind of a bummer for us.

So I haven't done a whole lot here but hopefully they think I have helped.

I suppose...

I should pack my bags...I'm leaving on a jet plane in the morning!!

Today...

I got a new calling...SUNBEAM teacher...end of story!!

More photos of new home

I took some more photos today~first up is the kitchen:

Next is our family room. We brought our LCD TV and finally found the mount so we could hang it. The corner desk is Wayne's and the open roll top is mine. Still figuring out what to do with the fireplace.

OK...these next photos are of the basement. As you can see I am still working on it but you can tell how far I have gotten too. This is our storage room AKA bedroom #6. They finished the entire basement so there is no room for storage. Food storage in right closet and holiday decorations in left closet. Shelves along the walls. I organized and labeled the blue tubs.

Obviously I am NOT finished yet but I am definitely putting a dent in it:

We have a walkout basement!! It makes it SO light down there. Here is the basement bathroom and lastly the previous owners had a shelving unit with shot glasses on it that was held to the wall with screws in those brackets and just left them. So I decided to cover them up with my character cake pans...I just need one more!!

I still have a lot to do down there but I am really making a dent on it.