Today I went down to the field just to practice taking off and landing. I found out last week that I was having some throttle control issues upon takeoff (obviously didn't want to look down, but I wasn't giving the plane enough throttle. Still getting used to thumb positions!)

Anyway, it was really gusty, with winds in every direction. I've learned that it is important to land with some power in windy conditions, so that's what I did. Then the wind died down to almost nothing, and I continued to come in with power.

AMAZING!!! You have so much more control of the plane with a little throttle - I was able to wag my tail around as needed, gain altitude or raise the nose, and actually flew my plane down to the ground! What an awesome feeling! I was able to do some touch-an-go's after that, too, since I had so much more control, and wasn't really performing a controlled crash into the runway like us newbies start off doing.