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Welcome to the 2009 Vollmer Holiday Newsletter |
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Thank you for visiting our webpage. Happy Holidays!
Please visit other photos from our year at
http://picasaweb.google.com/vollmerdp
And remember you can always e-mail us at vollmerdp@aol.com
Want to skip ahead? Click ahead for
news about Dave, Patricia,Jacob, TimmyorHowie.
You are visitor number
since December 5, 2009
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School portraits of the boys, taken this past fall. In the center, our family Christmas picture, taken December 6th.
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I've been busier than I've ever been in the Air Force. Besides playing Mr Mom for nearly four months, I've had a number of positions within Air Force Weather Agency. At the moment I'm now the commander of the Product Applications Flight, 16th Weather Squadron. For now. I'm now in charge of aviation hazards, meteorological satellite applications, and AFWA's new Web Enterprise Team. We're working to develop a single web presence for all Air Force Weather products, web services, geo-locatable data, and more! During September I was covering for three other field grade officers when my gallbladder finally quit. Since surgery in Nebraska around Labor Day seems to be my new tradition (lost my appendix last year), I had it removed. Now, I still have my tonsils, so anyone want to bet if I'll part ways with another non-vital organ next year? Better be non-vital, anyway...! I could prattle on and on about work, but those of you reading this would either have no idea what I'm talking about OR you worked at AFWA yourself, so you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Either way, suffice it to say it is a challenge, but rewarding. My unit is filled with some of the smartest officers, civilians, and contractors in all the Air Force. They make the challenges far less so. Oh, and a scary thought; I'm preparing for my Lieutenant Colonel selection board next March! It seems like I just pinned on Major. Two years ago the boys gave me a Mr. Beer home-brewing kit for Christmas. Since then, I've upsized my beer-brewing rig. This year I decided to grow my own hops. With Patricia's help, we grew four huges vines of Centennial hops. These ended up being the basis of my first American-style India Pale Ale brew... At a 5.8% ABV with a nice dry-hopped aroma, it was well worth it. I'm also making Oktoberfest lager another annual tradition. Since Jacob has joined the Cub Scouts, I thought it worthwhile to help out. I'm now one of two Tiger Cub Den Leaders for Pack 464. Jacob is so proud of being a Scout. Scouting teaches important concepts like citizenship and service. I hope Jacob sticks with it. He has a LOT going on with soccer, Scouts, and piano lessons. Earlier
this year I got a taste of what Patricia had to deal with while I was in
Iraq. I certainly got to know my two boys much better than I otherwise
would have by being a single parent while Patricia was in Qatar. I
still had a demanding work schedule, however. So the good news is,
besides male bonding, I also learned how to cook dinner, do the dishes, pack
lunches, bathe the boys, tuck them in, fold laundry, and set the coffee
maker all before 9 PM. The boys took their mother's absence far better
than I could have hoped. Lots of snow to play in plus birthday parties
for friends almost every weekend made things easier for them. They're
two amazing little people. |
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I've been working sporadically on the model railroad hobby, although time has sometimes been a real challenge. In April I displayed my train layout at the annual Burke High School show in West Omaha. Then, in May, I attended the Conrail Historical Society annual Spring Rail-B-Q in Marysville, PA. Two days of train chasing, beer-drinking, and meat-eating. Some people chase tornadoes. Others chase trains. And when you're pacing an ex-Conrail SD70M making time out of Enola Yard, it can be just as dangerous! This August I began my own model of Enola Yard, expanding my original 36" x 80" model railroad by another 24" x 80". This yard is a much scaled-down version, but includes classification tracks, a drill track, a cabin (caboose) track, and engine house, fueling facility, and two relay tracks. Progress has been slow due to other commitments, and because I volunteered this year to lead AFWA's annual Sub for Santa charity model railroad project. Keeping with what I know, I designed a 36" x 80" N scale layout, but this time based on modern-day railroading in the Council Bluffs, IA, area. Five of us built it over two months, and it's being raffled off in the Offutt AFB Base Exchage. The money goes to AFWA's Top III organization, who will give the proceeds to the family of a needy Airman for the holidays. Any time I can build a model railroad for charity, I'm there!
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Obviously, most of you knew I was lining up to take my first deployment to the Middle East when I was writing this up last year. In fact, your Christmas cards from last year were postmarked from Fort Walton Beach, FL (if you looked closely). I was down on FL panhandle training for my trip. So right after New Year’s I said goodbye to my boys and hopped on a flight from Omaha to Baltimore, then the next day flew from Baltimore straight to my base in Qatar. The experience I had there was incredible, I learned so much about how important it is for the Americans to help maintain stability in the region. Many of you saw the pictures from my adventures over there. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to take pictures while I was working, so I apologize if I was giving the impression I did nothing but shop and eat shawarma in town. I served in the Middle East for about 3 months – much shorter than most servicemembers, and I flew home the night before Easter. What’s ironic is that I was gone during the coldest part of our family’s first winter in Nebraska. I got to experience a low of -9F just before Christmas, but it didn’t get nearly that cold again for me. Meanwhile, we experienced record low temperatures at my base in Qatar: it got down to 39F THREE TIMES this past January! Break out the wool socks! Once I came home, I finally felt like I could get involved in the community in Bellevue. I’d been slow to join groups and get the boys too involved in activities, but I threw myself into things full swing when I get home. Perhaps I overdid it? I’m an officer in the local American Meteorological Society Chapter, the webmaster for Dave’s unit’s Spouses’ Club, plus I’m involved in the school PTA and don’t forget my AF Reserve job. Which brings me to my next news, this past summer, I was notified of a job opening for a Reserve Weather Officer right here on Offutt! I’d been looking to transfer right after my deployment (the commute to South Carolina was brutal!). I started the new job at STRATCOM this past September and it’s really exciting.
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Jacob has become pretty busy this year, especially after his Mom returned from the desert. Jacob’s a 1st grader now, and continues to love school and do pretty well, especially with math and science. Jacob started piano lessons this year and loves them! It’s a great setup, his teacher lives right up the street and sees Jacob right after school once a week, so Jacob merely has to walk over to Mrs. Swigert’s house and then walks home after that. I love having so much in walking distance! He continues playing soccer for Bellevue Soccer Club, and continues to really enjoy it. While I will admit he’s no Dave Beckham, he has a really good time playing and would gladly ditch every other extracurricular activity so long as he can keep his soccer…
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| Jacob joined
the Cub Scouts, and his troop meets at the elementary school Jacob attends,
so, once again, we have a short walk around the corner for his den and pack
meetings. Several of his classmates are in his den, so he has a good time
there, too. Dave’s particularly proud of Jacob’s interest in the scouts,
since Dave himself was in the Boy Scouts through high school. In fact, Dave
is the assistant den leader and loves the time he gets to spend with Jacob,
teaching him fire safety, working on the pinewood derby car and attending
the meetings with him.
They have many cool activities planned this year, including a trip to the local TV station in December to see an on-air meteorologist in action, and the pinewood derby in January -- Jacob and Dave designed a car together and it's looking super-cool! |
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| Timmy's growing like a weed! I can't believe my
baby's going to be FIVE YEARS OLD in about a month. When he was 2-3
years old, Timmy was definitely more of a challenge when it came to
discipline, and was certainly the "Momma's Boy" of the family.
I think my deployment cured him of much of that. When I returned in April, Timmy was very grown up to me. Jacob didn't change too much, but Timmy's vocabulary, cheerful attitude and (most of all) his reading were all such a welcome thing to see! Timmy is still in soccer with the Bellevue Soccer Club, and he's clearly one of the best kids on his team. Not that he's Pele or anything, but Timmy loves playing, and he's among a lot of kids who'd rather stand there and scratch their bottoms, or cry for their parents. He's now in a 4-day-per-week pre-Kindergarten, at the same school he attended last year, co-located with the child care center we're able to use when I do my Reserve work. I love that Timmy doesn't have to miss school when I have to work all day, the teacher walks around the corner and picks up the students who are in the child care center. He's still our little comedian in the family, he's even come up with his own Knock Knock joke that I'd never heard before (but perhaps you have?) "Knock Knock!" "Who's there?" "Ivan" "Ivan who?" "I've....an....Working on the Railroad! All the live long day!"
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Howie is now 9 1/2 years old. And he's definitely getting along in years. I hate thinking about my baby's time being limited, but it's looming out there. Decisions Dave will have to make about where to get stationed next might have impacts on whether Howie can come with us. <Sniff sniff>. During the first week of March Howie tore his ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) while, we suspect, chasing a squirrel through the snow in the backyard. He walked out the door just fine but came back in limping. The vet confirmed the next day that Howie had blown out his knee...and it would take surgery to correct it. He had his surgery the 2nd week of March and it was a slow laborious recovery. Howie seems *almost* back to normal now, if he overdoes things too much, he ends up limping for about a 1/2 day afterwards. He put on some weight as he has to be much less active than he used to be, but at least he still has his same silly personality -- enjoying playing with his stuffed toys, rope bones and tugging at loose pant legs.
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