At Dave's PhD defense presentation.  Dave's in the background in his uniform.


Dave's parents brought his framed diploma from NY on their visit in October.  Since we didn't know where we'd be living when NC State mailed it out, Dave played it safe and had it sent to his parents.

It goes without saying that the highlight of Dave's year was completing his PhD at NC State University over the summer.  He defended in mid-June, received his final signature in early-July, and was officially deemed "Doctor" in mid-August.

If you want to see the fruits of his labors, you may visit this page to see the abstract, and select the link at the bottom of the page to download the document.  Or click here to go straight to the download (it's big!)

I have to say, though, that I've never seen Dave so focused in my entire life!   Dave's preparation for his defense was so incredibly intense...I did my best to keep the boys and myself out of his way! 

In retrospect, despite warnings from other Air Force PhDs' families of things being much worse, I think Dave did a great job during our time in NC balancing his hard work with spending time with the family.

For Dave to receive full credit for his Air Force "Intermediate Developmental Education", which is a combination of the PhD with the USAF's Air Command and Staff College, he had to finish some correspondence classwork.  He finished that just before Thanksgiving.  As Dave said, "That's a monkey off my back!"

Dave is now working at the Air Force Weather Agency at Offutt AFB, NE.  Since they're changing things around there all the time, I can say that as of this writing, he's in charge of the scientists who convert weather data into functional graphics that help warfighter decisionmaking.

                                     Congratulations!
 

Dave and Jacob were invited up to Pennsylvania in May to participate at an open house and operating session for one of the largest privately-owned N scale model train layouts in the country.  The layout, owned by Todd Treaster (a locomotive engineer for Norfolk Southern) fills a six-room basement and hosts some 1500 locomotives and 14,000 cars and represents the former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and Conrail mainline between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.  The open house was a who's-who of well-known N scale model railroaders.  Dave was invited to bring along his own PRR models including his scratchbuilt PRR 4-8-2 steam locomotive to run on Todd's layout.  Even Jacob was given the chance to open up the throttle and pull a 100-car freight out of Todd's 53-foot-long model of Enola Yard.

Dave and Jacob stayed in York, PA with Bill and Sally Lewis, and spent the morning railfanning the now-Norfolk Southern mainline between Harrisburg/Enola and Lewistown with Bill and several other railfans.  The morning's hunt netted several stack packs, a coal drag, the Lewistown Local, and the eastbound Amtrak Pennsylvanian.  Jacob was grinning ear-to-ear the whole time (and so was Dave)!

Jacob surrounded by N scale trains
 

Jacob reading me a book via webcam. Jacob is in Nebraska, I'm watching/listening from Hurlburt Field, FL.  This picture was taken in Florida, Dec. 4th.

Many of you already know I'm headed to the Middle East the first week of January.  Even those friends from North Carolina remember me talking about making the trip.  I don't think I had finalized dates until we got to Nebraska, but I'll be gone approximately from New Year's till Easter.  The dates aren't exact, but that's a broad estimate.

I will be doing weather support to coalition air assets...I've worked with these folks via IM-style chat and e-mail when I'm working at Shaw AFB, SC...it'll be exciting to get to work from the other side of things.

I'm very excited about the opportunity.  For the first time in over 10 years I get a chance to practice what I have been training to do. 

As I draft this newsletter, in fact, I'm in a training course at Hurlburt Field, FL (between Pensacola and Panama Beach), learning how to run an air war.  I'll be home on December 25th.

Dave will have to play single Dad for the rest of the winter, he's getting plenty of practice now while I'm in FL, and so far he's doing very well.  The boys are set up in full-time child care programs,  Timmy at a local church, and Jacob through his elementary school.  Both boys so far really like their programs, so I'm sure they'll be just fine.

As you can see on the left, we have the webcam set up with the boys, and they really enjoying talking to me most evenings.  Friends who are at the base right now say that Skype is commonplace over there, either with just voice or else with the webcam. That will help immensely!

I've promised Dave that once I get back I'll never volunteer for another deployment again!  If the AF has to send me involuntarily, well, that's another story!

I plan to keep up from my deployed location through my blog,  http://vollmerdp.blogspot.com/.

This year I was the ultimate Soccer Mom!  I coached Jacob's soccer team...this was such a rewarding experience.  We made it to Bellevue with just enough time to squeeze in under the registration deadline for the Bellevue Soccer Club, and the under-6 league parents were notified that there were 19 kids who wouldn't get placed unless there were more coach volunteers.

This was the "U6" league, there weren't more than 4 kids on the field at any time, and we didn't keep score.  Even without keeping score, I could tell that the Chipmunks were somewhere in the middle.  

I honestly didn't think I'd have a good time with this, but the kids on the team were friendly, polite, enthusiastic and all seemed to like each other.  By the end of the season, I had a little trouble because the kids were having too much fun.  They were such buddies they started ignoring the other teams!

Patricia with her little Chipmunks!  September '08.

Jacob at his desk on his first day of Kindergarten, Aug. 12th


Jacob blowing out his 6th birthday candles, Sept. 13th

Of course, Jacob's big news is that he's now in Kindergarten.  <Sniff sniff>.  He started quite early in the year, in mid-August, and that actually dictated our moving to Nebraska as early as we did.

It was tough for Jacob to say goodbye to his many friends this past summer.  During our move, Jacob was downright a changed kid, in fact.  He became very withdrawn, and the only thing coming out of his mouth was related to Star Wars.  He only seemed happy playing Wii and I was quite worried.

To my delight, Jacob LOVES Kindergarten and looks forward to school each and every day.  It absolutely melts my heart with how much fun he has, and how much he wants to tell me about what he's learned.

We gave him a small birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's in September and invited some of our new neighbors' kids -- Jacob's new friends -- and that's about the time I saw Jacob coming out of his "PCS Funk".

(Note: PCS = Permanent Change of Station, a military move)

His teacher, Mrs. Brockhaus, immediately saw Jacob's interest in math and science and even comes up with special work for him to help him further develop in those subjects. 

PS: Jacob has asked that he not be called "Jake" anymore.

We managed to arrive in Nebraska in time for Jacob to register for the Bellevue Soccer Club.  Unlike the league he participated in in North Carolina, this was an outdoor league and the teams were MUCH smaller. 

As you read above, I was this team's coach.

Jacob really enjoyed this league and it was great to see how well he could hold his own against the other teams; all the skills he learned at Dream Sports paid off!

The league starts up again in April and I really hope I'm home from the Middle East in time for it.

Jacob hamming it up for his soccer picture, September '08.

Timmy has adapted to Nebraska well.  He was a little older than Jacob was during the move between FL and NC, which meant a couple nice things for our drives.  (1) Timmy could use a belt-positioning booster seat, meaning he had a little more freedom for our 4 long days of driving and (2) Timmy could manage HEADPHONES for the DVD player.  Peaceful.

There is absolutely no doubt that he misses North Carolina, though.  He asks about his North Carolina friends: Daniel, Joey&Johnny, Kirk, Evan&Kate, and his cousins quite a bit.  It used to be him asking when we'd see those friends again, to which I can only answer, "Soon, but we don't know when."  Now he mainly inquires about his friends' well being.  We've been able to set up webcam time with Joey and Johnny Goldman, which was very special.  If others want to try the webcam...um...experience with Timmy, send us an e-mail and we can set it up.

Before we moved, I made a point to get the boys to the beaches as often as I could.  I believe we made 5 trips to the beach before we left in late July, and Timmy had a blast each and every time.  Jacob enjoys the beach, but our little Timmy LIVES FOR the beach!

This year his temperament has really mellowed out, which has been wonderful.  As his vocabulary has grown, he has become very good at using his words to express things.  We're catching glimpses of the boys playing well together at the park, in the yard, or at card/board/computer games.

Timmy attends a 2-day per week preschool at the nearby Lutheran church.  It isn't the church we attend for services, but it's nice having it only about 1 1/2 miles from our house.  Timmy's child care center is co-located, which means I didn't have to disenroll him from the preschool -- Double Bonus Word Score!

Of all the special days I'll be missing during my upcoming deployment, Timmy's 4th Birthday in January will be a heart-wrencher, I'm sure.  I'm thinking about a special family party before I leave...it just wouldn't be one of my boys' birthdays without a homemade cake, right?

(Top) Timmy enjoying his last days on the East Coast, Va. Beach, Memorial Day weekend. (Bottom) Timmy as R2-D2 for Halloween.

It broke my heart to hear our vet call Howie a "Senior" dog at his checkup this past July.  But I guess he's right.  He started putting on some weight, so we're now making sure he isn't overeating, and that he gets enough exercise.

Howie LOVES Nebraska.  I'm sure the climate is reminding him of Ohio, his native land.  He is really enjoying the large fenced yard, and seems to be kept occupied by the squirrels and voles.  Unfortunately, he has dug more than enough holes...we're kept busy keeping them filled.

These days, Howie is enjoying actually getting to play with the boys normally...for the past 4 years or so Howie has had to be careful with either Jacob or Timmy being a bit too rough-and-tumble. 

North Carolina was brutal on Howie's allergies, so it was a welcome sight this past fall to see that, for the first time since 2004, Howie didn't lose his entire coat.  He's fluffy and warm as he spends his days outside in the backyard.

Woof woof!

Howie playing in the first snow of the season, November 30th