The Joseph's: The Cool Elephant Show, Good Air Show, etc

So Tommy and I went to a mini circus with horses, camels, elephants, dogs, cats, clown, a acrobat, and performers. It was actually very cute how they trained the cats and dogs to do different tricks. There were elephant rides and to ride them it was like $10.00 a person and we didn't even want to pay that so we didn't ride them. We didn't take any pics but it was cool.

Then we went to Wings Over Whiteman Air Show. We should have left before way before 9 a.m. before it started because the traffic was horrible. The traffice ended up being miles and miles long. We ended up going around the back side of the base and sneaking in through the back gate to beat all the traffic and to get a descent parking spot. It was amazing how the pilots fly all the different airplanes. We got to go up in the B-1 and see the cock pit. It was cool. We have pics so you can see them and us sunburnt. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. Just a little breeze so it was nice.

If any of you are interested in a cheap, easy vegetarian low fat chili that we made for dinner, here is the recipe from the healthier home cooking magazine we got. We made it to use up some canned vegetables and stuff from our pantry without having to go out and buy things for a meal. It actually was pretty good for having no meat in it.

Ingredients:

- 1 tablespooon vegetable oil

- 1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)

- 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped (1 cup)

-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

-2 fresh jalapeno or serrano chiles, seeded, finely chopped

-2 cans (15 oz each) Progresso black beans, drained, rinsed

-2 cans (14.5 oz each) Muir Glen organix fire roasted or plain diced tomatoes, undrained 1 1/2 cups water

-1 tablespoon chili powder

-1 teaspoon ground cumin

-1/2 teaspoon course (kosher or sea) salt

-1 cup Cascadian Farm frozen organic sweet corn

-Sour cream or plain yogurt, if desired

-Shredded Cheddar cheese, if desired

-Chopped fresh cilantro, if desired

Directions:

1. In a 4-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic and chiles; cook 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender.

2. Stire in black beans, tomatoes, water, chili powder, cumin and salt. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in corn. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered 5 minutes longer.

3. Top each serving with sour cream, cheese and cilantro.

We made everything but the green pepper, corn, and cilantro because we didn't have it and put sour cream and cheese on top. We also made corn bread to go with it.

Next weekend, we want to make Spinach Manicotti. It looks delicious.

Next week Tommy will be on Evening shift all week for training to learn more about his job. He isn't looking forward to it. It is all stuff he already knows. I have to work one evening shift and the rest day shift.

B-2 Bomber. (The bombs on the trailer are different versions of the GBU-31 JDAM) Tommy builds these bombs.

This is the B-2 motorcycle that the Teutels made in Dec when they came to the base to present it. We didn't get to go see it because Tommy was away in school. By the way The Teutels use to my neighbors in New York when I was little

The Aeroshell Acrobatic team. They performed stunts.

.50 Caliber Barret Sniper Rifle (Long ranged rifle)

This is the EOD blast suite used when EOD is trying defuse bombs. Tommy and our friend got to wear the suit and it was 75 pounds including the helmet. We all got to play with the robot they use to check for bombs when it is unsafe for people.