Baby Nicholas

We are officially grandparents of three as of 9/4/08 @ 1:51 pm when Nicholas Andrew Grindy made his arrival (20 days early). We received "the call" at 3:45 am from Katy..."mom, they just admitted me and I'm 4 cm's. sooooo thinking hey it's her first baby and that we have plenty of time we stayed in bed until 4:30 discussing if we should take the trailer (we already had reservations at Pismo for the week-end with friends and we figured it was too late to cancel). Any how we got up and got ready, hooked up the trailer and my phone rang...."hi mom, where are you, I'm 5 cm's. Needless to say we are now wondering if we will make it to Santa Barbara in time....especially pulling the trailer. So we prayed that God would get us safely there in time and took off at 6:45 am. Just past Kettleman my phone rings again...."hi mom, where are you, I'm 6-7 cm's and am going to get my epidural". So we drive a bit faster...At about 10:15 we were in Pismo Beach and this time I call to let them know where we are and Katy says she is 8 cm's. We have approx 1 more hour to drive! At 11:35 ish we arrive at the hospital but can only find a 90 min parking place to fit the truck and trailer so we decide that I should get into the hospital while Gene continues to find a place to park. I speed walk into Cottage Hospital and up to the 3rd floor to Labor and Delivery (I have to think how appropriate is this....I spent 13 years working as a Labor and Delivery nurse on the 3rd floor at Fresno Community Hospital). As I walk into the room, trying to be a parent and not a nurse.....the baby's heart beat begins dropping! In came the nurse to check Katy and we are informed she is 10 cm's and ready to start pushing. What an awesome God we have!!!! I called Gene and he had found a parking space about 3 blocks away but the street sign say no parking from 9am-12 noon for street sweeping. It is now about 11:55 and I tell him to hurry....the nurse says we can wait if he isn't going to be long. Any how he comes running in just in time to see Rob and Katy and give her a kiss. Then off the parents go to the waiting room to....wait. At about 2 pm Rob came out to the waiting room with a glow on his face that only a new dad can have. Nicholas Andrew (none of us knew his name until that instant) weighed in at 7 lbs and is 20 inches long.....imagine if he had spent another 20 days in there......Rob and Katy did an awesome job during the labor and the delivery! Uncle Brian got to the hospital that afternoon and was quite taken by this new addition to the family. Now I'm hoping his turn will come within my lifetime. I am sure I will never tire of getting new grandkids :)
What a blessing it was for us to be able to be there and hold and love on our new grandson. Thank you Rob and Katy for that gift. We love you all very much.

Italy

In June Michelle and I had the awesome opportunity of joining with the Music department of Fresno City College on their trip to Italy. My girlfriend's husband is a part of the Community Symphony Band and that is how we got hooked up with the trip. Unfortunately Gene was unable to join us due to work committments. We left on June 8th from San Francisco and flew to London and then on to Rome. Our tour guide, Alice (who swears she dated Arnold Schwartzenagger, "before he was a 'monster') was with us the entire trip. By the 3rd day we were convinced we were hooked up with Atila the Hun and most of us were ready to kill her but after a couple of our group members, Michelle being one, had some words with her she lightened up and we actually fell in love with her by the end of the trip. We had 3 days in Rome that were beyond description. The Sistene chapel "wow", the Colleseum and Forum"double wow", St. Peters Basilica, the Vatican. The ancient architecture is beyond imagination and walking among and touching ruins where thousands of years ago the Ceasers and Paul walked was somewhat overwhelming. From Rome we traveled in our tour bus (with "Salvadore" our italian bus driver) to Sienna, a town that is the essence of my idea of Italy. I could spend 2 weeks just wandering the tiny streets and the surrounding Tuscan countryside! We only spent the day in Sienna and then traveled on to Florence where we stayed 2 days. In Florence we went to the The Academy of Fine Arts (which was built to house Michelangelo's David and many of his other sculptures/paintings) The David is a tear jerker, a complete emotional experience. From Florence we traveled to Venice for 2 days where the first day was spent roaming the city in the rain ("it never rains in Italy in June") though it was wet we had a blast and the second day was beautiful for our gondola ride. From Florence we traveled to Milan for 1 full day/overnight. We enjoyed wandering the street of the world famous fashion mecca and seeing the world's largest Gothic cathedral and also visiting La Scala, the best known opera house in the world. On June 17 we flew from Milan to London and then to San Francisco. One of the biggest contrasts for me between Italy and America: they preserve their history and pride their ruins while americans mow down the old and replace it with a new 7-11 or super K-mart.....go figure! Needless to say I had a blast! Anyhow here are a few of the pictures.

Catching up with the times

I think we just moved into the 21st century......who would have thought that we would be laggers. This whole computer age is so confusing to me and I can't believe I'm doing this, since I'm doing well to even access my email. Anyhow thought this would be a good way to keep up with the times......and maybe slow down the "Alzheimer's" by challenging my gray matter. The U.S. Postal service must see itself dwindling. Maybe that's why postage keeps going up. We are so happy with the coming addition to our little family, a third grandchild! Our baby girl Katy and her amazing hubby Rob are expecting their first and it's a boy.....he will join his two cousins Jacob and Brie this September....Brie is hoping for the 28th. Since she isn't getting a girl cousin, maybe, just maybe, he will arrive on her birthday! You can see the incredible video of the ultrasound on their blog at: afewgrindys.blogspot.com. What a miracle. OK I guess this is enough for a first post....