Easter, space shuttle, and family

Sarah checking out the space shuttle launch

Sarah's Grandmother Ruth and Step Father Gary at the launch.

Riley can't believe how many eggs the bunny left.

Riley fixing his ride with his new tools.

Roxanna is a little bored.

Hello everyone,

There's no time to blog, I'm having too much fun with the babies. Sarah and I met her family at the beach right across from the base to watch the launch. It was pretty over the ocean. Their mission has been a success and the shuttle has docked with the space station. Roxanna is a very good baby with a few fussy times but no colic. Riley is way into dinosaurs, his dogs, and going places with his Daddy.Right now Grandma Ruth, Sarah, Roxanna, and Riley are napping. Benjamin is doing his duty as honor guard and has two services today. Lauren and Gary are hanging out watching TV. Last night I babysat and Benny, Sarah, and Lauren watched Hot Tub Time Machine. They said it was funny. I ventured out to Walmart this morning to buy a few things and spring break is happening down here. I haven't went on one walk with Riley but that changes tonight. The weather has been wonderful. Love to All. Rudi

Springbreak in Florida

Hello everyone,


Finally, I have met Roxanna Lillian Smith and she's a cutie! I arrived on Friday night and it's been wonderful spending time with the kids. Benjamin is back on Honor Guard detail and attended two grave side services on Saturday and one is scheduled for Monday. It looks like a busy week. Sarah looks and feels so much better now that baby Roxanna has arrived. Their house is so cute with Easter decorations and Riley has attended two Easter egg hunts this year. Today is Easter Sunday and Roxanna is a month old. Riley woke up to find his Easter pail next to his door and had to gather Easter eggs from throughout the house. The Easter Bunny also left fun filled baskets for him and Roxanna. Sarah's Grandmother Ruth, sister Lauren, and stepfather, Gary arrived today and we had Easter feast at Cracker Barrel. Tomorrow morning at 6 am we are all going to watch the space shuttle from the beach across from the base. All systems are good as of right now.
Katie will be arriving from Tampa tomorrow afternoon to visit for one day and leave on Tuesday for Cincinnati. Most of my time has been spent holding Roxanna or playing with Riley and life is good. Today I actually took both kids to the playground and thankfully Roxanna slept in her little seat for all the fun. Riley picked flowers and dug in the dirt. Happy Easter All. Love, Rudi

Riley is 2 years old!

Great sweater fron Nana.



Sidewalk chalk is cool.

Riley checking out Katie's wheels.

Riley and Grandpa getting their tootsies wet.

The Christmas presents are riveting.

Benny, Sarah, and Riley

Die hard Bengal fans.

Sarah takes good care of both her babies.

Taking a story break from putting in a new gate.

Daddy likes Riley's new big boy bed.

Yeah!!! 2 years old

Benny and Riley downtown Cincinnati in November.

Hello everyone,

I didn't get a chance to update my blog while in Florida. It was a busy time down in the Sunshine state. We left Portsmouth around 12:30 p.m. on December 24 after making a short stop at second street dairy bar for a footer. It was a real blur of a visit at Moms but it was nice to see Ernie, Linda, Larry, David, and Jason. I was sorry that we missed Jake bearing some Christmas goodies from the Halsteads. That drive was stretching out in front of us and we were trying to make it to Florida for Christmas.

We arrived at Patrick AFB around 2:30 a.m. Christmas morning so we made great time. It was great to see the kids and Riley still remembered us because they had just been up for a visit in November. He loved his Christmas presents and the candy cane tucked in his stocking. Sarah and Benny went all out on decorating for Christmas. The inside and outside was decorated so festive. They have three Christmas trees! We had a very nice dinner and a quiet evening to recover from our trip.

That evening Sarah mentioned her throat was scratchy but the next day was feeling pretty good, just a sore throat. I babysat for the sweetest boy in the world that evening while Ben, Katie, Benny and Sarah went to the movies, they saw Sherlock Holmes. They weren't too impressed with the flick. Sarah woke up the next morning with a straight up cold. It seemed to have settled in her chest. Since she is seven and half month pregnant, there's not a lot of medicine she could take.

The next evening, she was having trouble breathing and had to go to the ER. She was suffering from throat spasms due to the constant coughing. The Doctor was able to give her some cough medicine and she is better but still sounds congested. Riley came down with the same cold as soon as we left and Sarah said he is a snot machine but is feeling better. I'm glad we missed that.

Riley turned 2 on January 5 but we celebrated this big moment on January 1, 2010. Good thing, because he was so sick on his birthday. It was a great visit and we'll probably be going back in March after our little girl is born. Love to all my family, Rudi

Back in Ohio

Our last walk

So many books



Hanging out at the pier



Waiting for the shuttle








Hello everyone,

Finally, I am updating and closing this blog. I returned home last week but it has been a busy time. We finally have a new AC unit for the house. Ch-ching!!!! Ben's shoulder is getting better. He is now back at work and wishing he had about two more weeks off. Katie will have surgery on her ankle tomorrow for a torn tendon. I really miss my family in Florida. It was such a joy to get to know Riley. He is so much like Benny that I was constantly being transported back to those days of watching my children grown up and it happens so fast. The space shuttle finally lifted off the day after I left Florida but it was fun going to the beach and hanging out with all the other sky gazers. Sarah is still suffering from nausea. They went to the doctor for a sonogram and the baby has a very strong heartbeat. The Doc gave her a due date of March 7 and thinks she is about 7 1\2 weeks along.
Well, this is it for the Grandma blog. Thanks for visiting my site and enjoy the rest of summer.
Love, Rudi

Last day

Hello everyone,
Today is the last day of my vacation. It's time to go home. It has been such a treat to spend so much time with Benny, Sarah, and Riley. One of the highlights of my trip was hearing Riley say "Grandma" for the first time. He's actually bilingual because he then called me Grand mama. Unfortunately, the space shuttle launch was cancelled Saturday and then Sunday. Fortunately, there is a window for the launch this evening at 6:15 so we will see. I'll post photographs and write more once I get home. It's sad to leave but I'm anxious to get back home. Love, Rudi
P.S. Computer is garbage so I'm at the wonderful base library.

Crash and Burn

Hello everyone,
Benjamin and Sarah's computer crashed yesterday. There was an electrical power outage and after the electric came back on the computer would not turn on. Yes it was on a surge protector. Sarah and I are at the base library using their computers. I will be returning home on Tuesday and will update and close out the Grandma blog. Love to all, Rudi

Bucket Head Boy

A really cool rock found at Cocoa Beach Park

Ahh-h-h

Hello everyone,

There are so many senior citizens here so it must be a great place to live. When I was driving around Cocoa Beach (yes, Riley and I went down I dream of Jeannie Lane) I saw many gated subdivisions and lots of golf carts parked on the curb. We had a rough night last night or I should say Riley had a rough night and only wanted Mommy and Daddy. He woke up at 1, 2, and 5 a.m. and I got him at 7 a.m but after a small glass of milk he zonked out until 9:30. My shift was easy. We left the base about 11:00 and ventured down to Cocoa Beach and then further down to Cape Canaveral. When I realized I was so close to Benny's work I called him and he met us at Wendys for lunch. It was time to go back to the base to pick up Sarah. We dropped Riley off at this play group and went to the BX. I have very pretty pink nails thanks to my manicure. Sarah was craving Taco Bell (Heidi did this also) so she ate a quick bite during my pampering. While we were in the store another whopper of a storm blew in and left the streets a bit flooded. The amount of water that falls from the sky is amazing. Good thing they have an ocean to catch the overflow. Sarah and I had a good time even though it's still touch and go with stomach right now, We went to the base gas station and they had run out of gas. I'm told this happens all the time. We went to the pharmacy to get her vitamins but had to go to the other pharmacy at the clinic to get them. All of our errands seemed to be such hard work today but we finally did what we needed to do and picked up Riley from his play group. After supper, Benny, Riley and I walked up to the pier and we saw manatees again! We called Sarah and she drove up to see them. They have seen dolphins (I haven't seen one since I've been here) but this was the first time Sarah had seen the giant sea cows at the pier. Tomorrow Riley and I are going to explore outside the base again. This time we will turn left instead of right when we leave the base.

One Week Later

Pararescue exercise

C130

usual afternoon storm

This trip so far has been everything I hoped it would be. It's so nice to have time just to take a long walk, look at the ocean, get to know my grandson, visit with the kids. I have a pass to go off base so Riles and I are venturing out tomorrow morning. It will be a busy day. He goes to a day care on base for about 2-3 hours every other week basically to interact with other children. Sarah and I are going to treat ourselves to a $10.00 manicure while he is there from 2-5 tomorrow. Today was an easy day. Riley and I tried to take a walk in the afternoon but a horrible storm blew up a little earlier than usual. This evening we all went back to the pier to see if we could find more manatees but no luck. It was simply a gorgeous evening. Low humidity and a wonderful breeze. We sat down there for about an hour. While we were there, something really cool was going, a para rescue exercise. A C-130 circled the area about 5-7 times and Riley was having a good time waving at the plane. He and I had walked up the boardwalk and were sitting on a bench looking at some rocks he found. I looked up to enjoy a breeze and was surprised by about 8 parachutes floating down into the water. Later some boats came along and picked then up. About a half hour later, 2 more parachutes came down, below is a short video fron the pararescue website:

Manatees

It was another hot breezy day but no thunderstorm. Riley and I had a great time at the library. It was a little hard for him to sit through all three stories so we visited the children's section and returned for the craft. The theme was "Things That Go" and Riley made a race car. After story time, Riles and I checked out some small shops on base. It was back to work for Ben so it was pretty quiet around the house. I want everyone to know why there aren't any pictures of Sarah, my wonderful, beautiful, and loving daughter-in-law on this blog. She hasn't felt very well and doesn't want here picture taken, yet. I promise there will be some pictures. Later in the evening, Benny, Riley, and I went back to the pier and saw two maybe three manatees. They are huge!!! The water was really choppy but it was pretty calm by the dock and that's where Benny spotted one. It's weird to see this enormous body under water and then it slowly surfaces with it's snout sticking out of the water. My pictures aren't great but it was totally amazing to see the manatees. Tomorrow, I will get a pass to get on and off base so Riley and I will start exploring the surrounding area. This should really be an adventure with my sense of direction. Did you know there is a I Dream of Jeannie Lane in Cocoa Beach? There's also a natural history museum that sounds interesting. Hopefully, Sarah will join us but she is content to stay home at this stage in her pregnancy. She isn't sick all the time but there are surprise attacks of nausea and headaches. We are enjoying our visit and have gotten the book of baby names out. Until tomorrow.

The Fun Continues

Sorry about missing July 4th but as I have said, being a Grandma is exhausting. It's nice to write this blog at the end of the day so I can include all the events but I was just too tired. Yesterday as usual it was very hot with a fantastic late afternoon thunderstorm. It's totally awesome how these storms brew up so quickly and then they're over. They leave behind more mugginess but a spectacular cloud show. Yesterday, Benny and I went to the BX, it's officially called the Base Exhange, because we had seen a SpongeBob Squarepants sprinkler the day before and I wanted to get this for Riley. He really loves playing in water. However, SpongeBob was sold out so I decided his manhood could handle a Dora the Explorer sprinkler and Benny agreed. Riley enjoyed his soaking completely. Benjamin made us a traditional fourth of July dinner. We had grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, corn and watermelon for dessert. There were many firework displays in the surrounding small towns but we opted to walk over to the boardwalk and watch the displays from across the river rather than get caught up in all the traffic. They fireworks were far away but we could see about 8 displays at one time. Pretty cool. Many of the neighbors had the same idea. Earlier in the evening we had walked farther down to the pier to look for manatee and dolphins. We heard a big splash and caught just the back of a manatee diving under water. There was a very smart alec bird that did not want us to be on the pier but he reluctantly shared his territory. After Riley went to bed, we had a very competitive game of Yahtzee. There was some smack talk. Sarah was the victor.

This morning, Benny, Riley, and I went to the beach and it was very nice. It was so hot that you had to be either in the water or right beside it or you were sweating. Riley and I gathered more shells and started a sand castle. It was a very quiet day. In the evening we walked back to the pier to look for marine life after the usual late afternoon thunderstorm but we didn't stay out too long due to the pesky bugs. Time for bed for tomorrow is a big day, it's storytime at the library. Don't judge, just remember this is a Grandma blog.

To the beach

Riley likes his shadow

We got some good ones.

Patrick Air Force base is huge. One of the best things about this place, besides protecting our country, is that the beach is directly across the street. It takes about 10 minutes to actually get to the front gate to leave and then there's the ocean. What a nice beach. The weather was hot and sunny with just a light breeze and the water was great today. There were a few surfers out so that's always entertaining to watch. Since this was my first visit and my white Ohio body is not accustomed to being out in such strong sun, we took it easy and stayed out for just a little over an hour. Riley and I gathered sea shells. I found a 99% complete sand dollar! I'm hoping to make some wind chimes with the shells. I have put a NASA picture of the day on my site because I'm excited about being down here for a Space Shuttle launch scheduled for July 11. I was planning on leaving before that but Benjamin is able to get passes to go on base and view the launch. What an opportunity! When Ben, Katie and I came down last November, Benjamin gave us a driving tour of NASA and it was so interesting. After the beach, we came back home for lunch and Riley went down for a much needed nap. Later that afternoon, Benny, Riley, and I went to the BX (department store) and shopped around but nothing we couldn't live without. Sarah made a delicious meatloaf dinner for us. Riley and I had a great time washing our seashells but it was just a trifle warm out on the driveway. Right before sundown, a huge thunderstorm went through and cooled things down a bit. I went out for a walk and thoroughly enjoyed some peaceful scenery. Missing everyone but it's great spending time with Benny, Sarah, Riley, and the bump.

Being a Grandma is exhausting!

Well, it's hard to believe that someone so small can be so fast. I am having a great time chasing Riley all over the house and giving Benny and Sarah a much needed break. (The stinky diapers are something I have not missed.) Benjamin is off today and Friday for Independence Day so we let Sarah sleep in and took off with the baby to the commissary (grocery store on base) to replenish our supplies. It was interesting shopping with Benny and the baby. We dropped the groceries and Riley off at the house and decided to drive around Cocoa Beach. Sarah opted to stay home with Riley, just a touch of morning sickness. An observation, beach towns always look a little beat up. Must be all the wind, water, sand, and tourists. Benjamin and I both love to poke around thrift shops. We found one but unfortunately you will not be seeing us on Antique Road Show anytime soon. Then we stopped in at a mall and found some Cincinnati Bengal hoodies and shorts at a great price but who can think of football in 90 degree weather. We headed back to base and found Sarah looking a little green and Riley well rested after his afternoon nap. Riley decided to make a card for his Aunty Kate because he was missing her (me too!) and really enjoyed using his new crayons. He found the orange one quite tasty.

I hope to see my nephew, Jeffy, and his family while I'm down here. They live about an hour away. It is surprising how quickly a vacation goes by so I really have to plan this visit soon. Riley and I read his new books from the magnificent Moreno family three times. He also loved his new clothes from Grandma and Grandpa and ran around the house waving them all around and screaming. Great reaction. A few yards out the back door is the Banana River which hooks up with the ocean eventually. There's a wonderful walking path beside this river and this is something I enjoy doing a couple times a day. It's so hot that we go in the morning and evening, it's beautiful and Sarah said they have seen manatee and dolphins so my eyes are peeled. So far, just big birds that kinda freak Riley out. Benjamin and Sarah quietly left the house around 4:30 this evening for a date night. They called twice to check on the baby (sitter) and are now on their way home. They saw the movie "The Proposal" and their opinion: it's a chick flick but it's funny and entertaining. Until tomorrow, goodnight everyone.