We stayed home for New Year's Eve this year. Steve had gotten and cooked us up some huge, thick rib-eye steaks, medium rare, and I had some potatoes left from Christmas to bake up, and we had corn, and rolls, and Richard and Ann came over to eat with us. Yum!
Kaylee, on the other hand, ended up going with a friend of hers, G, to a hotel in town with an indoor pool, and they all had a swimming New Year's Eve. Warm water on a cold day, hanging out, ordering pizza, and just having a great time. There were two adults and 14 kids there, and those two adults are used to doing that, but man, not me. Kaylee enjoyed herself, bringing in the new year with a pool "party" and a friend, so that was good.
Steve and I watched a movie, popped some champagne, watched the ball drop, and had a nice evening. I think it's the first time since before we had kids that it was just the two of us on NYE. Usually we've been down in Tennessee, or had company up here, so it was different this year. It's nice being with everyone and it's nice being alone too. :)
We were up until almost 3 a.m., because nobody has been having to get up early, so, well, we aren't. Tomorrow that changes, as I have a lesson in the morning, but that's okay...
Before we went to bed last night, we saw on Facebook that our niece, Morgan, said "Yes". The proposal came after midnight, at the New Year, with her whole family there. So, the date hasn't been set yet that I know of, but Miss Morgan is about to be Mrs. Ricky!
Steve and I took today, the first official day of 2015, pretty slowly too. I did have a lesson this afternoon, and I could have canceled it because of the winds and where the person is in their training. But...I decided to go up and work on a few other things. It was a little bumpy, nothing fierce, but enough to make a new person work at it. Originally the winds were a 40 degree crosswind gusting up to 26 or so. By the time we had been going for very long, the winds dropped some to a 30 degree crosswind down to 20 knots at the most, sometimes lower. We went out and did some other air work, and then stayed in the pattern for some crosswind practice, not actually landing until the last couple. It's good to be able to get and stay straight before actually hitting the ground. :) But the winds calming down from 26 to 16-20 helped make it more reasonable for someone trying to figure out how to do a basic flare, albeit still a lot of work.
It was also very cold out there. The sun was out, at least, but man it was cold. So I broke out my big old what I call Mukluk Coat, and the fur-lined, ear-covering hat. It looks goofy but it keeps my head warm without being super tight and uncomfortable and triggering my head claustrophobia. ;) Tre gave it to me, and I'll tell you what, I use it!
Kaylee is packing tonight, as she is going on a trip to Chicago tomorrow morning with her friend A. (And her parents, of course). They'll be gone until Saturday. A little adventure is a good thing, and I don't think Kaylee has been to Chicago before. They're going to Chinatown there too, and that throws me back, because I remember visiting Chinatown with my church group when we were up there for the AWANA Olympics. I was only one to two years older than she is now when I was there, and I can remember it quite well, so it sort of weirds me out (not in a bad way). I'm not sure why, it just does.
Well, it looks like last year I flew 615 hours, which is on the low end of my typical yearly average, but not bad. So today I started off January 1st with a whopping .9, and off we go from there. :)
Me in the fuzzy hat, smiling because the sun is out and I haven't left the car yet. ;)
My first official flight of the year.
Driving home from the airport, first sunset of 2015. :)
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