Monday, January 30, 2017

Motherhood Moments #20

Sometimes motherhood looks like...
There are some days I miss the convenience of calling upon one of my barber buddies when my son looks like this...
Granted it only took me 20 minutes to wrangle him and trim it, but most of that time was spent holding him down. Here is the final product:
 But here's what my little man really thinks of his new hair cut...


Monday, January 23, 2017

Motherhood Moments #19

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...
 A folded wash cloth. The cloth on the left is mine and the one on the right was and attempt to fold by little girl.
Sometimes motherhood looks like a bigger mess than you anticipated. Making tortillas is MUCH harder with 6 hands.
And sometimes motherhood is a beauty of cooperation when washing and rinsing dishes.

Friday, January 20, 2017

Hangar Happenings #3

What a busy week we've had at the hangar! In the first blog about Hangar Happenings I talked about the Caravan inspection that is going on. What I didn't mention was that the inspection was an inspection based on calendar time. Since the calendar inspection was completed, the airplane has flown 15 hours in the last 3 days. That means the caravan is now due for inspections based upon flight hours. This inspection is mostly focused on the engine.
Things are getting busier for me as well. There is an audit coming up the beginning of February. A third party auditor will come in to inspect everything in the hangar - from parts to planes. They want to make sure that we hold ourselves to international aviation standards. This is good because it ensures that we stay on top of things and forces us to evaluate ourselves and change if need be. But for me, there is much work that needs to be done in the parts room. I am now going to go into the hangar three times a week - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until the inspection is complete and I have been assigned temporary assistants!
Nancy working hard on the hardware.
Fidele working hard to label all the O-Rings.
Do you remember the construction from last week? Well it continued this week. While Leopold placed bricks in the bathroom (more photos to come later), Kevin and Matt did some demolition. One morning I was in the office staring at a wall and within an hour, the wall was gone. The room I am in is going to be the new parts room and the old parts room will become the new office.
The wall that forms the office for the moment.
 
Thor...ahem...Kevin at work.

I still managed to do some work even with the distraction.

Matt made sure all the wires discovered weren't active.

All of this was done in an hour! 
Kevin told me that today all of the top part and side came down, and all of the rubble was cleaned out. Also, the new two stall bathroom is almost done. All the tile is in, and the toilets will be installed on Monday. I will get to see the final product soon. And so will you!

Monday, January 16, 2017

Motherhood Moments #18

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...
 amazing fun with friends! We did balloon races and it was a blast.
 Half the kids gathered on one side to release an inflated balloon that was taped to a string.
 The air inside it propelled it across the distance to the kids standing on chairs waiting to declare their team a winner.



Friday, January 13, 2017

Hangar Happenings #2

The last Hangar Happenings talked about the inspection on the Caravan. Well, now I am going to talk about construction! Right now, MAF has an administration office all the way at the other side of the city from the hangar where the pilots and mechanics work. This year, one of the many goals is to focus on improving team building. An easy (and also cost saving on rent and transportation) method is to combine the two offices. After much talks, planning, drawing, erasing, quoting, and staring, the decision has been made official!

The project began with cleaning up the "attic" space which will become the new offices. The next step was to fix up the bathroom. They tore up the old tiles that will be replaced and cut concrete for new pipes. They placed new pipes and new walls all to make two separate bathrooms. At the moment, one toilet was able to handle all the biological needs of the workers. But with all the administrative staff joining the staff at the hanger, an additional toilet was needed. Also, with the changing of a few walls, we will be able to recuperate some space for a more effective work flow in the maintenance and pilots offices. THEN, we will be able to build the offices in the attic. All of these things so far have be accomplished with our hanger employees (or our husbands).

I am super excited to see all the changes and improvements that are coming our way and I hope to share with you all the excitement!

Letting the dust settle after breaking up tiles

Matt in action, cutting concrete for new pipes

Wane (Juan-eh) cleaning up the tiles he busted up


Wane breaking concrete with a hammer
and chisel for new pipelines 
Digging out the old pipes and placing new.

Two pipes for two toilets

Matt getting all his anger out...

New doorway for the remodeled bathrooms


Matt and Leopold cementing the wall

He is a hard worker! This was all in one day.


Monday, January 9, 2017

Motherhood Moments #17

It's been a while since my last Motherhood Moments blog. So I thought I would start back up again. Sometimes motherhood looks like this...








Hand, foot, and mouth disease. Poor baby boy had not been feeling well a while back and the lymph nodes on both sides of his neck swelled up. After starting a course of antibiotics, they began to go down. But the lymph nodes had been fighting HFMD and when the swelling dropped, the symptoms popped up. Poor kiddo! Luckily he was a trooper and got through it quickly and it did not spread around in our family.

Friday, January 6, 2017

Hangar Happenings

Right now, the caravan is having a 12-month, 200, 400 and 1600 flight hour inspection all at once. Since I work at the hangar as a parts room specialist (not a real title, but it's catchy!), I get to help in my own way(s) - searching for parts, ordering more parts, keeping inventory on things used, and looking up information for anyone asking. I feel so useful right now! So in my eagerness to express how I get to be a part of my first "inspection," I took some photos of the guys working this week. Enjoy!
Kevin just finished replacing some worn spacers on the Caravans flap

Garth is waist deep inspecting the landing gear

Brett is upgrading the brake system

Kevin tightening something before re-installing the flap

Matt installing an access panel after the flap has been installed.

The inspection continues

Lovely!

Check out one of Kevin's custom built maintenance stands