Wings Over Houston 2009 - Doolittle Raiders

Today the Kuritza and Frye men spent the day at the 25th Wings Over Houston Airshow. We had the honor of meeting many heros that fought for our country. The gentleman in the blue sweater is Lt. Richard Cole. Lt. Cole was Col. James Doolittles co-pilot when they were the first of 16 B-25 Mitchells that took off from the USS Hornet to bomb Japan. None of the 16 planes made it back. Lt. Cole bailed out of the B-25 with the rest of the flight crew above China at 9000 feet after the fuel indicator lights came on. They suspected in advance they would not have enough fuel to make it to the intended friendly Chinese airfield. The man in the yellow sweater is Tom Griffin. Mr. Griffin was also a Doolittle Raider. He was navigator on plan #10 "The Whirling Dervish" that flew off the Hornet that day. He also bailed out over China. He also spent some time as a B-25 navigator in North Africa where he was shot down and captured by the Germans and spent 22 months as a POW.

and no - those are not feathers sticking out of my hat....

Fort Worth Zoo

2001 vs 2008 - Things have changed a little : )

This pic was in 2001 with Raymond, Rob, Andrew, Adam & Sara.

This was in October 2008 - We are missing Rob and Sara but have added Amanda & Alyssa.

Next trip there we will have to have everyone there so we can somehow stuff them on top of the dragon - ha ha!

Awanas Crazy Hair Night

Crazy Hair Night at Awanas gets the kids really excited every year.

This year I was out of town on that day. Raymond was in charge of all the hair. He did such a bang-up job - he spent several hours just on the girls hair alone. (Of course i spent several hours late that night cutting out rubber bands - ha ha) They even decided to spray their ears - there is still green and blue paint inside their ears. Looks 'real' nice!!

Stinky Memories

My kiddos changed the screensaver on the computer to pull random pics - this was the best thing they have ever done to my computer. We all have had so much fun looking at pics from the past 10 years. How could they have grown up so fast???

This one is from 1999. Raymond is 2 and Andrew is 1. I wish it was showing their tails. This pic reminds me of my MIL - she always talked about seeing the boys walk up to her front door with their big tails dragging behind them. It was one of her favorite memories of them.

Sweet Tiny Baby Girls

These pics are of my tiny baby girls in 2003. This bear laying next to them is only 13" long. As I look at these pics now and then look at my big, strong, healthy girls - we know that we have been truly blessed.

This is Alyssa who was 3.8 #s

This is Amanda who was 4.2 #s