Tobin and Erin

Pictures below!

Tobin promoted the 4th of July to 1st Lieutenant…there’s a picture of his rank (2nd, then 1st), that he sewed on himself!  We saved some cash by having him sew on all his rank.  He did a great job!

We celebrated the 4th with the help of Tobin’s parents (Mike & Jacque), his younger brother Kellan, and Kellan’s girlfriend Staisha.  One of the activities that weekend was a four wheeling trip.  Our friends from Hillcrest, Mike & Haley, and their precious baby girl Sarah Kate, joined us for an hour or two as well.

For the last two weeks of July, we took an extended vacation and took a tour of the great Midwest.  Starting with a stop in Louisville, Ky, we spent a few days in Troy, Ohio, trekked across Indiana with a quick stop in Fort Wayne, ended up in Chicago, IL, and took a couple day trip up to Grand Rapids, MI as well.

Some of the many activities we enjoyed were:

four wheeling
shooting
a picnic & cornhole tournament
the Dayton air show
lunch with my sister in her new apartment
meeting my new dog niece Zelda
swimming & trail riding/walking in Chicago
homecooked food
a day in the city
a tour of my dad’s campus
lunch with my parents
a four-hour traffic jam in Chicago (ok that wasn’t so enjoyable)
a lovely shower in Grand Rapids with oh-so-patient family & friends
a picnic with family at a Michigan park
and a two day trip home with a stop in Louisville, KY.

In the photos, you can see the condition of the Torrent (borrowed from Tobin’s parents) on the way home…the poor dogs had barely a place to lay down!  You can see they managed, though.  Yes, Rogue is completely on top of Titus in one of the photos.  Once we made the switch back to the Tahoe, space got smaller as we added a head/footboard in Louisville.  The completed bed, set up and everything, is in one of the photos.  Thank you, Gpa Jim & Gma Dixie!  The bed is beautiful.

I’ve included a photo of me with my new diaper bag.  My friend, Ashley, made it herself.  She is very talented, and has an online store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/AshleyNicoleCarter?ref=seller_info.

We are glad to be home!

Bought the pups a wading pool & some fish; videos to come!

Tobin had his official winging ceremony on June 25th.  His parents, Mike & Jacque, flew down for the weekend; and my mom and two of my sisters, Betsey & Elyse, drove down for the day.  Thank you everyone who made the long trip from the Midwest!  It was so great to see everyone, to have you there for the ceremony, and to hang out for the time that you could stay.  We love you guys!  For the actual ceremony, our life group leader’s wife – Vicki – made it out as well.  She has an amazing camera, so as soon as I get those pictures from her I will try to post them.  She got some of the whole clan together, which would be wonderful to see.

For more pictures (and some of the same), see my Mom’s website – she also has a pretty great camera and was able to catch some events I missed.

Here’s the start of our day, at a blessing of the wings inside the special aviation chapel on base.  Behind us is one of the several glass showcases of the wings of aviators who graduated from the Naval Air Station’s Naval Flight Officer program.  Tobin left behind one set of wings that will be displayed in a similar showcase to be prayed for by anyone who visits the chapel.  It’s nice to know we might be in someone’s prayers at any time, and complete strangers at that!

Tobin volunteered to read the Scripture for the blessing ceremony.  Unfortunately, our camera’s automatic focus picked out the tall chandelier as the obviously most important part of this picture.  Thus the blurriness.  I apologize.

During the prayer.  Is it ok to take pictures during prayer?  Hm.

The priest blessing the wings (which are on top of the altar).  He also sprinkled water over them from a fancy gold thing, but I missed that part.  It was interesting to be part of a Catholic ceremony!  I certainly hadn’t done anything like it before.  To the left of the altar is the chaplain who is a really great guy and helped us out when the going got tough during training.  They call him Chaps, but I’m not sure of his real name.

Speaking the Aviator’s Creed.

Tobin’s wings are the set on the far left.  He left behind one of them and I put the other set on his chest at the next ceremony!

Not sure if these are saints or what their names are, but the one on the left is a navigator.  The one on the right has a plane in her hands.

At the actual ceremony inside the Naval Aviation Museum, we listened to a speech by a 3 star Admiral (yikes!).  Here is Tobin (the first to get his wings!) with me pinning his wings on.  I was so proud of him!

Look at those shiny wings!

Next, we went through a reception line with the CO of each training squadron Tobin has been through, plus the guest speaker & chaplain.  The man shaking Tobin’s hand is the CO of VT-86, the squadron Tobin just completed training with.  Tobin received a certificate stating that he had his wings, signed by a big kahuna in charge of training.  I also received a humorous wive’s certificate, plus a tiny pair of gold wings that I wore today on my dress.  :)  They are lovely, and a very nice gesture by the squadrons to appreciate the stress of training life.

If you took pictures at this event, please send me any you don’t see here!  We will put together something as a reminder of all of Tobin’s hard work.  He earned it!