Brandon…and Weston :)

It's been a long time since I updated you all on my eldest blessing :)

Brandon is finishing up his first year of classes at the US Air Force Academy and is now getting ready for his first of 2 summer training sessions.  

Brandon is really excited about his first training session…

I am not as excited about the training, but I am excited for Brandon :)  

What is Brandon's first training session you ask…Jump Training!  

The name of the course is AM 490…you can read about the course HERE…

but here is a brief summary…

In his book, “The Spirit of St. Louis,” Charles Lindbergh admits that he wasn’t completely sold on the idea when contemplating his first parachute attempt, “The thought of crawling out onto the struts and wires hundreds of feet above the earth, and then giving up even that tenuous hold of safety and of substance, left me a feeling of anticipation mixed with dread, of confidence restrained by caution, of courage salted through with fear,” he wrote.

Lindbergh isn’t alone in this feeling. Tell someone to hop into a plane, head up to 5,000 feet and then jump out of it for the first time all by himself or herself and most people would look at you like you’re crazy.

Not so at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Here, a few hundred cadets line up each year to take a turn.

The cadets don’t jump out of a plane right away, though. First, they complete nearly 40 hours of ground training, where they learn the ins and outs of parachuting — everything from when to pull the cord and how to properly land, to how to respond to in-air emergency situations.

The course, now in its 50th year and officially called AM-490, is a few weeks of repetitive, pound-it-into-their-heads training that is so for a reason: The course is the only known jump school where students perform their first jump all by themselves.

I will let you all know how he does…hopefully we will get some pictures :)  He has to get a GoPro!!

Don't think for a second, though, that Brandon is all work and no play…

This past weekend Brandon participated in a Spartan Race.  For those of you who have never heard of a Spartan Race…it is a series of obstacle races of varying distance and difficulty…they range in distance from 1 mile to a marathon...

and they are MUDDY!!!!

Here is Brandon before the race…notice the light colored shirt :)

Tough guy got his racing band…You have to be serious before you go jump in mud :)

 He went to the Race with some friends from his Bible Study group.  This is their signature on one of the walls in the race...

 And after the race…notice the color of the t-shirt…and the smile on his face…obviously my eldest enjoys the mud :)

And now for my youngest blessing…

Joshua has been busy taking lots of pictures…

 The twins and Elli wanted in on the action...

Trevor…where are you?