Week four of Cadets....

Week Four of Cadets is known as one of the most difficult. Those cadets who have been here for over three weeks are starting to drive themselves up the wall, and of course I had a whole new bunch of kids come in and we just finished our first week. Last Saturday I was told that I had 8 percussionists 1 flute and 1 trumpet, and was I scared! It panned out alright - I have 14 cadets, 5 percussion, and 9 instrumentalists. A few beginners, and mostly those who have played for awhile.

Aaron's visit was fantastic! Though we did have a scary storm on Saturday. Saturday we went to a movie, and then came back to base. We were resting for awhile, and considering going out for a nice dinner, when we heard the wind start gusting. It was scary! So, in my black dress, and Aaron in dress clothes we head to the common room to find some of my colleagues in there. Because we use radios for communication, we started to hear that all cadets were "Weathered In" and they started to count the cadets, and ensure they were in the hallways of the buildings. Sincerely, I think we were preparing for the worst, but in the end the wind, hail and rain just made the roads icky, and we had some large trees snap in half. This is the same storm that killed someone in Camrose.

So, around 7 pm Aaron, Jon and Megan and I headed to the Rusty Pelican in Red Deer for some prime rib, filet mignon and more! We had a great dinner before returning here for the party of the week - Mardi Gras.

Sunday was rather relaxed, and Monday Aaron left back to Saskatoon.....

Monday and Tuesday were difficult days starting in my new position and conducting the band... however it got better, and Wednesday and Thursday were much better. Add in Adult Staff Drama and you get a tiring and interesting week. Friday we took our Barker Flight Kids to the Gliding Center at Netook. After a week of rain, and the pilots not able to take the cadets up in the gliders all week, at 11 am on Friday we started flying and got all of our cadets up in the air.... I also got to go up for my second flight ever - and first in the front seat of the glider.

Here are some pictures from our day!



This is what the glider looks like on the ground...



This is what it looks like on take off.... part 1...



This is part 2. So basically we have a winch, which sling shots the glider into the sky. We get about a 5 min or so ride, depending on the weather etc...



This is me, and my pilot Teegan - she is a staff cadet. Very talented!



Here is the few from the front of the glider...



And the few in the air!


One of the many exciting things... Next week is our big band display and a crazy busy week with very long days. I am hoping to give you a bit of a tour of base in my next blog...

Until then...

Ivy