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July 16, 2000
We know it has been along time so here is the lengthy update. We moved out of our house in Alexandria, VA on 28 March and began our trek to Hawaii via Rocky Mount, NC and Charlotte, SC. After visiting with Trudy's friend Linda, we continued on to Jacksonville, Fl where Keith was scheduled to put on the training wheels and learn to fly again. After 30 days in the sun, Trudy and Kellen flew Corpus Christi, TX to see her parents. After that they flew to Tucson to see Keith's parents while Keith drove to San Diego for more training. Keith flew to Tucson on the first weekend break and picked them up. The next weekend, Keith flew to Oregon to pick up our new 2000 Honda Odyssey. We gotta tell you - We love it and so does Kellen! Next, we drove to San Francisco (to visit tons of people) via Mammoth Lakes, CA (to visit Aunt Darla and Uncle Freddy) and Reno (to visit Howard and Judy Lenfestey). We may look at retiring in Reno. We looked at housing while we were visiting. While we were in San Diego, we got a call from Trudy's friend, Patty Smith. She said she'd found the deal of a lifetime - a beautiful 4br/3 bath house with 2 car garage overlooking Pearl Harbor. We rented sight unseen and only had to sign paperwork when we got here. Ah, but getting here! Therein lies the rub. We showed up at San Francisco airport with family and 9 heavy bags in tow and 5 carry-ons. Trudy checked in while Keith returned the rental car (side note: It was Brand new Ford Explorer that had 75 miles on it when I rented it. It was falling apart when we drove to the airport because the transfer case was coming apart! The crowd of people running toward my car when I pulled into the garage was quite a sight. Then Hertz's great customer service kicked in - "What did YOU do to the car?"). Unreal. Next, Keith got a frantic page. Our flight was cancelled. Apparently these idiotic prim Madonna United pilots cancelled 24 flights (including 8 747 flights) as a union bargaining stint. Apparently 80 hours work a month for a meager $130K is too taxing. What a mad house. We got compensated 3 X $400 vouchers and got on the next afternoon flight. The acrimony going on there at SFO was a sight to behold. But at least we have a free CONUS roundtrip. What a trip. Fortunately, I used some of my frequent flier miles to upgrade us all to business class. By this time, Trudy had attempted to get a flight to Corpus and had notified me that she would allow visitation rights after the divorce was final. I knew my negotiation skills would come in handy one day and this was it. She got on the plane the next day but was counting down her 7 day cooling off period before she would leave from HI. As I said, base housing was unavailable so we rented but got a smoking deal in the hills off of Pearl Harbor with a great view. Keith has been busy installing ceiling fans; AC units for the house; carpet for the lanai; plants; light fixtures; kitchen faucet; etc... Our place here is huge and in a great location. We really got lucky. I looked for rentals for our friends the Paytons and there is nothing but junk for $600 more a month than we're paying!!! So since we have been here this has been party central. We had 6 parties in 10 days. We just had to say no to some. This social requirement is a little more than I realized. One friend spent $300 on sitters their first month. Oh, by the way, they (sitters) get about $3/hour here! We were paying $7 & $8 in DC. Kellen has been having a ball. He loves the water and there is clubhouse and pool we take him to regularly as well as going to the Bellows AFS beach. He is full bore running now which is quite a challenge and is finally back to sleeping through the night. We have weaned him from momma and that was a chore. I tried to explain to him that the desire never goes away and will like peak in his teens! We will be working on a new one come Sept/Oct. The VP-47 Change of Command occurred on 30 June so Keith is actually employed again. He is the Executive Officer who answers to the Commanding Officer, CDR Greg "Slim" Wittman. Keith enjoys the new job although he is a little overwhelmed with all of the paperwork. On the positive side, his boss is great and he enjoys working for him. March 23, 2000 Wow! It has been a while! To catch up, Keith detached from the pentagon in December and reported temporarily to an office in the Arlington, VA area while he goes through some schools on the way to VP-47. We all made a pilgrimage to Tucson over New Years to show Grandma and Grandpa Kellen. We returned and Keith went to Norfolk, VA for a week of legal school. He came back and one week later he left for two weeks to go to Command Leadership School. He came back and three days later left for eight days in Monterey, CA for Command Safety Class. Now we are preparing as the movers come next week and we begin the slow inexorable trek across the U.S. with our final stop in Hawaii around the beginning of May. Standby, we may be coming to a theater near you! Kellen celebrates his one year birthday today but we will have a celebration on Saturday night when Grandma and Grandpa arrive to witness Keith's baptism on Sunday, March 26. We'll try to post photos when able! Until then.... Unfortunately, Kellen's favorite babysitter (Alla) had to September 18, 1999 Trudy sprained her ankle while doing aerobics last weeks so she has been hobbled a bit. She was going to go to New Jersey to babysit her nephews Ray J and Michael but hurricane Floyd took care of that. She was going to take Amtrak up but Brett's basement flooded precluding them from leaving and the trains between DC and points North were halted. It was all for the better as Trudy wasn't trotting around like her old self and Kellen got a cold - his first. Aside from a great soaking, Floyd did not do much to the Bluestein household but Keith did get the day off as the fear and panic caused by excessive media coverage prior to the storm led the Pentagon to secure the military. September 16, 1999 We are back on line! We had gone off line as Keith had cancelled the contract with our previous web hosting provider - Hostway Corp. Word to the wise - DO NOT USE THEM - THEY ARE AMATEURS AND DO NOT KNOW HOW TO RUN A HOSTING FIRM. We apologize if you'd had errors from our sight previously. Most of those were like due to their incompetence in installing and servicing the required web extensions on their servers. We are now working with Burlee Networks who is a dream to work with. Please let us know if you have problems with our page!
We spent last weekend in Stockton New Jersey visiting Trudy's brother's family. They have an annual wine tasting charity affair at the Fire Station at which Brett volunteers and we attended. It was very nice and had exceptional food and wines. While one might not normally equate fine wines with Stockton, NJ, the have a wine shop that matched any in California for quality and quantity of wines stocked. They (Phillips Wines) were the primary sponsor of this shindig.
Immediately prior to going to the wine tasting, we noticed that Margaux had a huge inflammation on the side of her mouth. Keith ran her to the Vet Emergency Center where they determined she had a dead tooth that was cracked and had become abscessed. We started antibiotic treatment and took her in for surgery on Monday. She was very groggy Monday night but she's back to her old playful self now.
Kellen continues to grow like a weed. He wears thing 2 or 3 times and he's outgrown them. He continues to be very alert and a joy to be around. We are trying to get him started on baby food right now. LET THE MESS BEGIN! Until next time......
August 12, 1999 Trudy came back from Corpus Christi on Sunday after visiting with her family. Of course they all loved young Kellen. He is the center of attention in most gatherings. life has gone back to normal. while Trudy was gone, Keith installed a sprinkler system on the small plot of land in the front plot of our house. The drought has taken its toll on the grass and the dogwood tree was going downhill fast. Other than that, there's no other real news right now. Keep checking back!
Ok, so
it's been a while. If I work on this it takes time away from Kellen and helping
Trudy and there is a price to be paid! Trudy left this morning with Kellen
to visit Corpus Christi and her parents. Keith is geo-bach'ing it for a
week. Ah, sleeeeeeep! It was somewhat traumatic seeing Kellen get on
a plane but I am sure Trudy will take care of him. Perhaps this trip will
provide the foundation for a proclivity toward flight. On June 1st Keith was promoted to Commander. Finally - more pay! We'll try to fill in more gaps as time goes on! 'Til then.... May 09, 1999 Life is slowly transitioning to some level of normalcy! Kellen has spurious 5 hour sleeping stretches at night and we anticipate he'll be doing 7 hours in the next few weeks. Trudy's motherhood hormone has kicked in and keeps her going through the constant demands placed on her by Kellen. She manages to maintain a very high energy level despite the low level of sleep she is getting. Trudy is visiting Brett and Cara in NJ this week which will be her first "road trip" since Kellen arrived. Kellen remains a most pleasant member of the household with only minimal complaints. April 18, 1999 Wow! Has life ever changed in the last few weeks. Our beautiful son Kellen cam home from the hospital on Thursday March 25. Sleep has not been the same since. Keith was off from work throughout the next week but it has been tough since going back to work as 0500 comes all too quickly. Kellen has become quite responsive and alert. He passed his 2 week checkup with flying colors and just last week passed a hearing exam. He had some difficulty pronouncing some of the Russian phrases but had no problem repeating Cantonese. He gets up about three times a night but fortunately Trudy can try to get catnaps to catch up during the day. Our social life has not been dramatically affected. Keith's sister's (Julie) boss was in town visiting (she'd visited us in 1994) and wanted to meet us for lunch. So, at 1 week old, Kellen went to Chevy's for a fine lunch and enjoyed the entire outing. This was followed the next weekend when Trudy's brother, Brett, came to town and wanted to take Kellen to Capitol Brewing Company. Kellen did sleep through most of the meal but did comment that he is not a fan of stout or black and tans. Then our cousin Al Emerick and his family (wife Dawn, daughter Latasha and sons Richard and Dylan) came to visit. Dylan is 8 weeks old and is quite the prominent young man. He is growing like a sprout. It was quite interesting as our home became the local nursery! Finally, Trudy is quickly returning to her old form (albeit more voluptuous thanks to the hormone prolactin). She has been doing great and is feeling much better as she transforms from baby host to mother. 'Til our next update... NEWS FLASH March 23, 1999 The world as we know it changed early this morning as Kellen Connelley Bluestein made his presence know on planet Earth! Weighing in at a robust 7 pounds and 7 1/4 ounces, this sterling example of poetry in motion blessed us all with his arrival at 0125 in the morning. Trudy, who was closest to the action during his arrival, was breathless during most of the commotion associated with his arrival. She couldn't wait to meet this future super action hero and was quoted repeatedly as saying "Let me see him" in 140 decibel tones. Once he arrived, she was immediately smitten and couldn't keep her eyes off of him. Keith was last seen cooing incessantly at the young titan and displaying attributes that can only be described as "the female side of him." Check back as this amazing story unfolds. March 19, 1999 We went and saw the doctor on Monday and she set up a delivery room for Monday March 22nd for inducing the delivery in the event Kellen does not arrive before then. Trudy has been having a lot of the "essential" pre-labor signs and lots of contractions but no baby yet. We'll keep you posted. Keith will be on 2 weeks of leave (on a phone tether to his office) starting Monday 3/22. |
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