Thanksgiving in Idaho

Since we were unable to fly back to Texas for Thanksgiving, we were so excited to be able to spend the holiday with Ashleigh, Matt, and the kids in Idaho. We hadn't seen them in over two years, so our time spent together was extra special. With their house being only a nine-hour drive away, it was affordable as far as money and leave go.

The night of my birthday, I got really sick. It wasn't letting up after a few days, so Nathan took me in to see the doctor on base. We were afraid our trip was going to have be cancelled, or at the very least delayed a day. I explained to the doctor that I didn't want to make our trip and infect everyone if what I had was a virus. After giving me some pretty faulty logic and making some outrageous statements, she prescribed me an antibiotic and a pill to combat nausea. My meds, combined with feeling like I was on the upswing, gave us enough confidence to go on to Idaho, so after arriving home, we packed and hit the road.

The first leg of the drive was pretty, up near Tahoe. But then we entered Nevada, which looked like a wasteland, and the tiny corner of Oregon we passed through was deserted. It was complete darkness and we lost cell service for a while as we approached Boise and all its suburbs. The kids were already in bed when we arrived, but we stayed up talking with Ashleigh and Matt before calling it a night.

Thursday morning was devoted to cooking, mostly done by Ashleigh, and then we had our big Thanksgiving meal in the early afternoon.

Friday morning we helped Matt put together the Ikea furniture we had picked up for them and brought with us, and then took a walk around the nearby streets. In the evening, we dropped the kids off with a family from their church and the four of us went to downtown Boise. We saw the big Christmas tree that had been lit earlier in the evening, and then we had coffee at a local place called Dawson's before eating a delicious dinner at Fork, a farm to table restaurant. After picking the kids up and getting home, we watched Intolerable Cruelty.

On Saturday, we stopped at the Farmer's Market in Boise and at Whole Foods before driving out to Bogus Basin. The road was extremely winding and we had to stop before reaching our destination because everyone was feeling so carsick. The kids had a good time in the snow and ice though. After making the drive back down, we ate lunch at LuLu's Pizza and then picked out their Christmas tree. After dinner that evening, we helped them decorate the tree and watched them open their Christmas presents from us. Once the kids were in bed, we watched Children of Men and a few episodes of Seinfeld.

We went to church on Sunday morning, and then had to hit the road after their congregational fellowship.

We had such a good time together, and already have high hopes of seeing each other again in the next six months or so. 

For pics, check out Ashleigh & Matt's blog.

My 28th

This year, my birthday fell before Thanksgiving, so even though it threw me off in getting the date for T-Day wrong for a while, it meant I was able to celebrate my actual birthday with friends : )

Nathan bought me a cashmere sweater, an extremely extravagant present,

which I opened prior to church. 

I received many calls, texts, and Facebook birthday wishes throughout the day. We then had friends over for dinner at our house, and a few accompanied us to

The Melting Pot in Sacramento for dessert.

It was a great way to celebrate my 28th!

See how we celebrated my birthday last year.

A Perfect Score!

At the end of October, Beale underwent the Combined Unit Inspection (CUI--prounounced like buoy with a "C"). Nathan and his squadron began preparing for it not long after we arrived here in the middle of June. Within a few months, Nathan realized his entire flight's training records were non-existent. In a phone call to his higher-ups in D.C., it was communicated that this error, while no fault of Nathan's, could earn them a failing score, and therefore reflect very poorly on Nathan's career. One of those really crappy things about the way the military works. It seemed to be an impossible situation, but we prayed and Nathan worked his tail off to get all of the records as up to date as possible. His airmen rewrote SOPs, practiced weather observing, and worked the exercise that was going on in conjunction with the inspection. Everyone did a fabulous job, and they ended up getting through without any write-ups. That's just about unheard of in weather. Their flight did so well, that even though only their squadron as a whole was supposed to receive a score, the inspector specifically requested to rate the weather flight because they earned an Outstanding. A huge honor. On top of that, two of the people in Nathan's weather flight were named Exceptional Performers.  The final result of the inspection was surprising and wonderful, but even more so considering that just a few months prior, we were worried about the result being a huge black mark instead.

Here's Nathan's Facebook post about it:
Just want to thank all of my former 7 WS mentors/leaders...today my weather flight at Beale AFB was lavished with praise for our performance in the IG inspection (CUI). I'm so very proud of my flight, but on a personal level I simply could not have done it without all of the leadership lessons, good counsel, and discipline that I received from all of you, from NCOs to FGOs.

Fall Festivities

We had a fun time at Bishop's Pumpkin Farm with Nick & Jodi. 

MSgt Black's family threw a Halloween party for the flight. 

We went as Cristiano Ronaldo and Kate Middleton.

A Journey Through Portuguese Football

Sometime in the later half of 2012, Tom started talking with Nathan and a few other guys about writing a book on Portuguese football. Nathan began writing his two sections (one on the Portuguese national team and one on Portuguese players in the Spanish league) at the end of April, after his last knee surgery. The whole project was completed in September and culminated with book releases in Lisbon and Porto. 

Nathan's super proud of it, as he should be. It's the first book written in English on Portuguese football. 

You can get a copy on Amazon!

Boston

Ever since Nathan found out Portugal would be playing Brazil in a friendly in Boston in September, we have planned on being there. He applied for and was given a press pass for the game and what they call the Mixed Zone, which is where the press is able to interview the players after they emerge from the locker room. So we bought our crosscountry plane tickets and prepared to see as much as we could of Boston in two days. 

Monday, September 9th: We left super early in the morning to drive down to the airport in San Francisco. We got stuck in such bad traffic, we were afraid we were going to miss our flight. Somehow, we ended up boarding in the last five minutes before the gate closed. We hadn't had lunch and the flight was only serving food available for purchase. We bought and split a fairly big snack box, but I was given a free one for waiting in the back after getting blocked from my seat by the drink cart. Apparently it's a big deal these days when you are patient and don't flip out on people for every little inconvenience... 

We arrived in Boston in the evening and took the bus/metro, which they actually call the T, and ate dinner at Chili's after checking into our hotel. We had to stay pretty far outside the city (last stop on the T) due to price and availability.

Tuesday, September 10th: We stopped in at Dunkin Donuts before taking the T to Boston Common for our walking tour. The tour was enjoyable despite the rain, but ended at the Old State House, near the site of the Boston Massacre. We hadn't realized we would need to take a second tour to complete our historical siteseeing. We had sub sandwiches at Al's, which were really good, and then journeyed to Trinity Church, an impressive building inside and out. Being up at 8am had felt like 5am to us, thanks to the drastic change in time zones, so we rested a bit in the pews while taking in the beautiful architecture and stained glass windows. Afterwards, we did a little people watching from a nearby park bench and Nathan surprised me with a ticket to see the game that night. I was so happy! We had originally planned for me watch the game somewhere in the city by myself. Not my fave. We walked around some more and ended up at the Public Gardens. It was then time to take the metro and the commuter rail out to the stadium for the game. We literally ran and jumped on the commuter line just before it started to pull away from the platform. Once we caught our breaths, we realized we had not purchased specific tickets for the commuter line (we had been using a 7-day pass for the T) and began to panic. But this is America, not Germany, and we were offered a chance to purchase a pass with cash (we had none unfortunately) on the train and then were simply given a ticket to be paid by mail. Because the stop for the commuter line was entirely too far from the stadium for us to walk, Nathan called a taxi to take us. We had to wait forever at an intersection for the guy to show up. He dropped us as close as he could to the stadium and we walked the rest of the way with flocks of fans, mostly Brazilian. Nathan made sure I found the gate I had to enter and then headed on to the press section. I was able to go in through the pro shop and skip a huge line, and made it up 6 ramps to my seat. The game was held at Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots play. It's ginormous! It felt like an amusement park compared to all the stadiums we had been to in Europe. There were food vendors and giant screens everywhere. Nathan and I texted throughout the game, which was a good one even though Portugal lost and Ronaldo wasn't there. After the game was over, I waited in the stadium's bar while Nathan interviewed players in the Mixed Zone. The audio clips from those interviews were posted on portuGOAL's website that night and generated the most interest the site has ever seen in Mixed Zone interviews. Nathan said he had a really great experience as part of the media. They fed him a great meal prior to the game and were helpful in getting the players to give interviews afterwards. The Media Director funneled the players to "the tall guy in the green shirt" haha. Being his sixth game with a press pass, he felt sure of himself and some of the American press guys even ended up looking to Nathan for identification of the players as they exited the locker room. Silly Americans… They know nothing of European soccer : )

our bag of donuts

the T

our tour guide: Phyllis Wheatley

 view of Beacon Hill from Boston Common

Nathan was picked to play Captain Kimble, who kissed his wife on his own doorstep 
after returning from a three-years' ocean voyage and then spent two hours in the stocks 
for his "lewd and unseemly behavior." We threw mud and manure at him, in true Puritan fashion : ) 

balcony of Park Street Church, where William Lloyd Garrison gave his first anti-slavery speech and where "My Country 'Tis of Thee" was first sung by the children's choir

Granary Burying Ground, where many historical figures are buried

James Otis coined the phrase "Taxation without representation is tyranny."

John Hancock's tombstone

Paul Revere's tombstones

Samuel Adams' tombstone

Omni Parker House is where Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" was first performed and has employed many famous people, like Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X. JFK visited this hotel often.

above & below: The Old Corner Bookstore, which is now a Chipotle, first published many famous books, such as The Scarlet Letter.

above & below: Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was first publicly read from the balcony on July 18, 1776.

Ye Olde Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in America, opened in 1826.

above & below: Old South Church

Trinity Church from afar

market! just like Europe : )

above, below & following: Trinity Church

outside Trinity Church, facing the Boston Public Library

 

 above, below & following: Boston Public Gardens

 George Washington & an illustration from Make Way for Ducklings (which takes places in Boston Public Gardens) on the back of a truck

 Gillette Stadium
 

 Nathan's seat in the Media Tribune

final score

Portugal's players about to board their bus

Wednesday, September 11th: We were exhausted after staying up so late because of the game, so we had a late start in the morning. We made it into the city, stopped for Starbucks, and then ate lunch at Regina Pizzeria in the North End. It was the closest to authentic Italian pizza we had had since leaving Europe. We explored a little of Fanueil Hall and then began our second walking tour there, which ended in the North End. It was ridiculously humid that day, so by the end of the tour, we were beat. We got a Lobster Tail at Bova's and ate it on the sidelines of an outdoor basketball court. We then headed to Acorn Street, which was so charming, but we weren't able to get pictures that really captured what our eyes did. We spent a little bit of time sitting in the grass of Boston Common and then headed to dinner at a Spanish food restaurant called Toro. The paella was ok, but the sangria was great.

 above, below & following: Pizzeria Regina

 Faneuil Hall

 Cheers

 This book is everywhere.

 inside Faneuil Hall

 I can't remember who our second tour guide was supposed to be... 

 The golden grasshopper weathervane was discovered to have money hidden in it!

 oldest restaurant in the U.S.

Paul Revere's house 

 Paul Revere with Old North Church in the background 

 above, below & following: Old North Church

cubicles instead of pews, bought/owned by parishioners

If you were wealthy, your cubicle was elaborately decorated.

last stop: Copp's Hill Burying Ground 

gravestone of Prince Hall, a free black man of Boston who founded America's 

first Black Masonic Lodge 

 Mather family grave
Rev. Cotton Mather was involved in the Salem Witch Trials.  

You can walk the Freedom Trail on your own, following the 

red line (sometimes made by bricks).

 lobster tail

 Fall was already arriving in Boston.

 Old South Meeting House, where the Boston Tea Party began

 Boston Common with Beacon Hill in the background

 Massachusetts State House

above & below: homes of Beacon Hill, an historic neighborhood

above & below: Acorn Street, the most picturesque street in Boston 

People were lining up and practicing for a 9/11 parade that started at Boston Common.

Thursday, September 12th: We packed up, checked out, rode the T to the airport, and flew back to San Fran. We hit up In-n-Out for dinner and drove home.

Two days was too short, so we would love to go back. It was like America and England had a baby and named it Boston : ) What could be better than that?