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.