I just realized I haven’t written a word since Christmas. I actually wrote a really long post in April and forgot to hit publish, and seriously it’s probably for the best. I was deep in the despair of our political situation at the time. Not that I’m okay with things now, but I was particularly upset then. And I have found Xanax-don’t judge, it helps. So much has been going on! Rick and I went to Florida in February to help Jenna and Tyler move out of their rental house and to the home of their dreams which they bought. It is truly beautiful! The perfect place to raise kids, or kid, whichever they decide. We packed up the old place, cleaned it up, helped move, painted some rooms in the new house and unpacked the boxes and put stuff away. I think they each took one day off work for the actual move, and we were happy to help. This was during the 4 month period we rent our condo, so we never even went to the beach, which was really weird. I stayed a couple extra weeks after Rick went home to finish up organizing the kitchen and fun things like that. That wasn’t sarcastic, by the way. I’m German and love to organize. Getting to spend so much time with Sloan was the big bonus! What an adorable little character she is! It’s hard to believe she is almost 8 1/2 months old already. Watching her grow and master new tasks is so much fun! It amazes me how quickly it all happens. I have now spent more time in Florida than in Arizona this year. I just got back two weeks ago after being there for 8 weeks and am returning a week from Sunday. Tyler joined us for a week on the last trip. He can’t get enough of Sloan either…. I’m so glad we bought the condo and can all enjoy it. Together, separately, however it works out.

The new house is a little farther from our place, but not bad. It takes about an hour and a half. It is a beautiful drive through the greenest country, passing rivers, lakes, farms, horse ranches. Nothing like Tucson to Phoenix! I have driven it so many times, I think I can nap through it. We found a really neat state park that is between our place and theirs where you can rent kayaks and paddle up a river to a spring where you can see manatees and alligators. Luckily when we did it, we only saw the manatees. I’m still not a fan of alligators. There is some crazy freaking wildlife in those parts.

My car currently resides in Florida, which I thought would present more challenges than it really has. So far, so good. Plus it gives us a ridiculous amount of room in our garage in Tucson. We also don’t have to rent a car every time we go there, like we did last year. We even have neighbors who take us to the airport and pick us up when we get there. I remind myself constantly how lucky I am. I just wish my mom had been here to meet Sloan and see how well everyone is doing. In April we drove down to Boca Raton to see my mom’s dear friends Stefanie and Milan for a nice lunch. We love getting together with them! Earlier in the year that my mom died, she had gone to Florida to visit them for the first time and absolutely loved it. She was already talking about her next trip she planned to take there. She’s still never far away in my thoughts.

During this last trip, we lost two more family members back in Germany. My cousin Traudi’s husband Roland, who I could not have loved more, had he been my own brother. Over the years those two and their daughters Stefanie and Michaela have been the closest family we had and the loss of Roland was a horrible shock. He was only 70 and just a few months older than Rick. I still can’t wrap my head around it. And shortly after that, my mom’s older sister, Alice, died. And now there are only two left, her younger sister Helga and her only brother Hans. As Jenna put it, I hate death. I just remind myself that without it, we wouldn’t have the joy of birth. The bitter to the sweet…

Some photos

This past Saturday marked a year since mom died. On Friday, the 28th, Tyler and I were both hyper aware that last year on that day, we stayed by mom’s side all day other than when we grabbed a bite to eat. We watched her deteriorate hour by hour. It feels like yesterday. And it feels like forever. We still think of her every day. We still miss her.

I read this on Facebook yesterday and it couldn’t have been more appropriate. 

Tyler and Rick got here very late on the 27th and we stayed up talking until 3:00 a.m. We all slept in and then headed to Tavares to see Jenna and Sloan. Tyler was very excited to meet his new niece. Before coming here he went to Build-a-Bear, and dressed it in a U of A t-shirt and added a recording of his voice saying “Uncle Tyler loves you,” whenever you squeeze the bear’s hand. It is adorable. He changed her diaper-with some coaching…He held her for so long. We went out to lunch and she slept through it. It was a fun day-very touching. And very soothing somehow-the whole life goes on concept.

There was a concert across the street when we got home, and our friends from the condo all went and really wanted us to join them. They wanted to see Tyler. I explained we weren’t really in the mood, so of course at ten, three of them were banging on our door. One of the hazards of living so close to others. Apparently they had been drinking for hours! Yikes. They were drunk. Loud. Inappropriate. It could have been very entertaining if we had been in the same “place” but we weren’t. It was a late night.

We took another trip to Tavares to spend some more time with Jenna and family while Tyler was still here. We also squeezed in a trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios on Halloween. I’m glad we were all able to spend time together for this weekend. We all needed it. I will post photographs separately-the gallery function isn’t working today.

Today is 3 weeks since we got here. We’ve experienced a hurricane and the birth of our new grandbaby. And we’ve spent a lot of fun times with our neighbors. But I’ve gotta say it can be exhausting. Every now and then I feel a little…… unsocial. Plus I think my liver needs the occasional break. I literally sometimes feel guilty when I don’t want to have dinner together or watch a football game, or…… Coming here for two weeks at a time always seemed too short, but I’m starting to think three weeks could be the perfect amount of time.

Rick left yesterday to go back to Tucson for a few days to work and check on things at home. His absence, however, was short-lived. I left him at the airport at 2 and was back around 5:30 to get him again. I was at a birthday party when I found out he had not taken off yet. There were airplane problems that would take too long for him to make his connection, so they were happy to send him on his way and not have to put him up in a hotel and feed him. He left again today-this time first class, thanks to Delta.

It’s kind of weird around here without him. He’s a pretty entertaining person to have around-lol! I miss him already. I did a little shopping after leaving the airport for the third time in 24 hours. While out and about, I was invited to watch a football game back at the condo. Seriously, I get a sports break for a few days, and you won’t find me at a football watching party. Nope, it was time for a Grey’s Anatomy marathon and a kale salad for dinner. I’m gonna do a few things around here tomorrow and then head to Tavares for a couple of days to give Jenna a hand and to get in some baby cuddling time. Rick will be back here on Thursday night and he’s bringing Tyler back with him for a little visit. I’m really looking forward to it!

Be still my heart! What a sweetie!

Sloan had an appointment today with a photographer for a newborn photo session in Daytona Beach. Lucky us! In her first 6 days of life, we have missed only one day. She got to come to our condo after a long morning of being adorable for the photographer. She met some of our condo friends and then we all went to lunch at a restaurant on the beach. This little girl loves being outside. This will be quite handy for our little Florida girl!

Our daughter, Jenna has been amazing! She had a c-section 6 days ago and is bouncing back like a champ! She was in such great shape going into this and it has served her well. She is so calm and loving with her baby-it makes my heart soar with pride!

8:00 a.m.

It’s looking like the hurricane is now downgraded to a Cat 3. Also, so far it is tracking just to the east of the coast. They are saying the danger is not over yet, the slightest wobble of the eyewall can take it from 65 mph to well over 100. The next 4-6 hours are critical for the coast. Where we are, it looks like the winds will be in the 30’s. Thank god. And baby is still exactly where we want her right now.

2 p.m.

The worst has passed and we were very lucky that the worst case scenarios did not come true. We spoke to our friends who stayed in our building at Daytona Beach Shores. The building lost power for about 20 minutes. Our unit appears to have sustained no damage, no water leaks at the windows or doors. There were some gusts that reached over 90mph at the Daytona Beach airport. I have to say the governor did a great job preparing everyone. Always-better safe than sorry!

We’ve been hanging around watching tv and eating. After a while we all went for a little walk to ease the cabin fever, but it’s still a blustery day out there. Good ending to a scary hurricane!

Damn. This is some scary shit. We are already getting some rain, but that should increase by 3:00 a.m.along with increasing wind speeds. So far the hourly predictions are saying it should lessen by tomorrow afternoon. This is a damn storm though, it sounds like guessing to me. As far as I can tell, these storms can turn on a dime. I’m so worried about Jenna going into labor during this storm. I wish she were at the hospital just in case. If she wakes up and feels off in anyway, they will head to the hospital and we will try to keep the dogs calm at home until the storm passes and then meet them there.

I think we’ve done as much to prepare for this as we were able, with our combined limited experience with hurricanes. Now we just hope for the best. I’ll check in occasionally with brief updates. Wish us luck!

Well, I can now say, firsthand, that having a home in the path of a Category 4 Hurricane is terrifying. We had originally planned to visit Jenna on Thursday and head back to the beach on Saturday. Keep in mind that we got to Daytona on Sunday evening. As of Tuesday, it was clear that the storm was heading towards us. Rick wanted to wait until Thursday morning, but yesterday around noon, Governor Rick Scott made an announcement that the storm was imminent and that if you are on the coast and can evacuate, to do it before mandatory evacuations. I was ready to walk out the door within an hour. Rick resisted, because it was, after all, Poker night. We also found out that all the bridges to the mainland would be closed when wind speeds hit 39 mph. (They are now closing the bridges this evening at 6:00 pm.) After getting a few texts from Jenna, urging us to leave early, I just decided it was time to go. By 7:45 Wednesday evening, our area was under mandatory evacuation.

Wind speeds on the coast are anticipated to be over 130 mph. Where we are now inland in Tavares winds could possibly be as high as 74 mph. At least we are hunkering down together. Jenna’s official due date is 10/11. Her doctor told her the sharp increase (or is it decrease?)  in barometric pressure accompanying large storms often spur on labor in late term pregnancies. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the little princess doesn’t decide to come during the height of the storm.

In the meantime, 10-12 friends of ours who live in our condo building, decided to ignore the evacuation orders and are riding it out in place. We are beyond worried for them and tried to talk them into leaving. Hoping they all stay safe.

What a great couple of weeks! We accomplished so much, including fitting in a lot of  relaxation. Tyler made his first trip to see the new place last Saturday. Jenna and her husband and some friends were there for a beach day when he arrived. It was so much fun having everyone together at our new little place on the shore. Tyler stayed until Wednesday and although we had high hopes of all kinds of sight-seeing, we only made it over to Tavares and Mount Dora and spent a whole lot of time at the beach. It was really nice! We’ve walked on the beach at least two miles a day, which I know we can’t do in Tucson this time of year. It’s in the 80’s in Daytona and yes, more humid, and my skin has never felt better. At home I’m constantly slathering on creams and lotions-there, not so much. I have to admit, going back to Tucson did not sound great. It was supposed to hit 113 degrees there when we got back-I think it was actually 111, but still. Ugh.