Luke Days 2009

Luke Air Force Base hosts an open house/air show called Luke Days every year - free to the public. There are many static displays of jets and planes. The world famous Thunderbirds perform at the end of the show. I had never gone, so Amy and I decided we would go and take Charlie. We met our friend Gerald there, and we all had a good time. We weren't able to stay for the Thunderbirds, but saw plenty of fun things! There is almost always some kind of plane our helicopter in the air at all times. Below are pictures from Luke Days.

F-16 flight line.
Amy and Charlie enjoying the show!

A "heritage" fly by. F22 Raptor, P51, A10 Warthog, and British WWII-era fighter.

Nose of B1 bomber in foreground, speck in the sky is an F22 Raptor. The Raptor was very loud, and Charlie slept through it (with the help of mom's hand over his ears).

Strolling along in the bomb bay of a B52 bomber.


Charlie and Dad in front of "Sentimental Journey", a WWII B17 bomber that still flies.


Charlie and Dad in front of dual .50 caliber tail guns of the "Sentimental Journey".

While we were going back to our car, we were treated to a dust storm off of the desert. I think we can all still taste the grit. Ugh.

More (!) pics of Charlie...

Charlie enjoying being liberated from most of his clothes. 

Charlie and his dreaded "tummy time".

Charlie's first "hike" with Dad and Mom - up the mountains just east of our house.

Story time with Mom!

Camping!

We took Charlie on his very first camping trip this past weekend.  We went up to the Mogollon Rim, north of Payson, right around Clints Well.  We went to an actual campground (as Amy and I usually go dispersed camping), which was very nice.  The weather was low 70's for the high, and mid 40's for the low.  Amy and I enjoyed ourselves, and Charlie really liked being outside.  He didn't really seem to mind the cold when we had to change his diaper.  Oh, and for those of you who were wondering - he takes going to the potty while camping in stride.  

Below are pictures from our trip.

More Charlie Pics (imagine that)!

Charlie peacefully sleeping.


Daddy pointing out the dangers of the Arizona high desert at a rest stop near the New Mexico/Arizona border.

Charlie after a bath - wearing a gift from Aunt Danise!

Tired Daddy and tired Charlie.

Charlie with Grandpa McDowell.

Charlie's subconscious Hulk Hogan pose while sleeping.

More Charlie Pics

Charles Davidson Kratz

Amy and I are pleased to announce the arrival of Charles Davidson Kratz, born on Wednesday, June 18 around 1:45 AM! He is 22.5 inches long and weighed in at 8 lbs, 4 oz.

He is named after my father Charles, and Davidson is a last name that was in Amy's family going back a very long time. We are going to call him Charlie.

Click on www.kneka.com/CKratz061808.exe and save for a slideshow of pictures that our photographer friend Kneka took. Turn your sound on for music. This will only work on a PC, not a Mac. To exit the slideshow, hit escape.

There will be more details later, and more pictures later!

Baby Update

Here is a picture of Amy and baby in front of baby stuff. Everything is going well, which we are thankful for. Only 4 more weeks! At least until the "official" due date (June 13). So needless to say, the packed overnight bags will be sitting beside the door by the end of this week. Yes, we're probably jumping the gun, after all, this is our first time!

Yes, I have approval to post these pictures!

See Aly and Amy. See Aly and Amy's bellies. Aly is 6 months along. Amy is 5 months along.

He's A Boy!

We found out today at the doctor's that he's a boy! We knew it! We both are excited, of course.

He "looked" at us a few times, and the image was very skeletal, so I had the theme from "Pirates of the Caribbean" going through my head. Not really, but Amy thought that it was funny. At one point, he stretched his fingers out, almost as if he was waving.

Welcome!!!

Welcome to the KratzBlog.

Here, I will periodically post entries pertaining to life in general, updates on our future child, and sometimes just random thoughts on anything I feel like! I will not blog every day, as Red Green has said that "a blogger's brain is about half the size of their free time". Anyways, enjoy the blog and if you want to comment, go ahead!

However, I WILL start out by posting a picture of what our future baby looks like (above), this is as of Nov 7. We'll probably get another picture this week (week 12).

Stay posted for further updates!