HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY

JULY 25, 1978........FLUGPLATZ HAHN, GERMANY........5:30PM


The week before I had spent 24 hours in false labor and been sent home.


July 24th I had an OB appointment. My husband was scheduled to fly with the Wing Commander. Seven year old Lucky woke up that morning with chicken pox!


When you are an Air Force wife the subject of whether or not your husband will be around for the births of your children comes up in conversation a lot. It was well known that a mission would not be cancelled for the birth of a baby, much less because your daughter had broke out in chicken pox the morning of your OB appointment.


I sat Lucky, covered in calamine lotion, on the big expanse of lawn in front of the Base Hospital near a tree with orange juice, donuts and Barbies. I could see her from the waiting room window until I went in for my appointment.


I was weighed, my blood pressure and temperature taken, then left to undress and wait for the doctor. When taking the first step to get onto the exam table a rush of warm green liquid gushed to the floor. My water had broke! I don't recall how long I stood there before someone came in.


All I could think of when I was told I was being admitted was of Lucky sitting under that tree with chicken pox. Someone called Luckyzdads squadron. Luckyzdad was taxiing for takeoff with the Wing Commander when his plane was radioed that I was being admitted and Lucky was sitting in the middle of the lawn at the hospital with chicken pox (he had not known about the chicken pox). If he had been scheduled to fly that day with anyone other than the Wing Commander he would have had to finish the mission. The Wing Commander cancelled the flight.


Lucky was rescued from under the tree and my husband joined me at the hospital.


It was a very long and difficult labor. My labor was finally augmented after more than 24 hours. When I went into the delivery room exhausted, there continued to be problems and a more experienced OB was called in to do a high forceps delivery. It was then discovered, not only that Lucky had a baby brother as she had hoped for (this was before it was possible to know the sex before birth), but that he had a true knot in his umbilical cord (it is usually just a kink).


Luckyzbrother was 8# 8 1/2 0z and 21 inches long with a silky shock of thick dark hair like his Dad. He was given his fathers first name as his middle name and a derivation of my maternal grandfathers middle name for a first.




He has become an amazing, delightful man who I am very proud of.

Boat ride

Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

luckyzmom and luckyzdad

We drove back to Harvey's where we were staying overnight in a lake view room with, as we discovered early, an incredibly comfortable bed. Early (anything before ten is early for us two vampires) the next morning we grazed at Harrah's breakfast buffet, then joined about 16 others on the bus that was taking us to the "Tahoe Star" to tour Emerald Bay.

Entering Emerald Bay


Fannette Island, the only island on the lake.

The "Tea House", perched atop Fannette Island, is a one room stone structure built in 1928 by Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight, the founder of Vikingsholm estate.

Mrs. Knight and her guests occasionally took tea here in the afternoon at a large oak table in the center of a room 16 feet square.

Vikingsholm

Mrs Knight spared no expense to create a replica of an 11th century Viking castle. An army of 200 workers completed the 38 room mansion in just one summer. The grounds are now part of Emerald Bay State Park. Features of the home include delicate paintings on ceilings and walls, six Nordic fireplaces, intricately carved "dragon" beams, Scandinavian antiques and sod roofs seeded with wildflowers. There is a hiking trail off of highway 89, which is one mile in length and drops 500 feet in elevation to the house, which can be toured in the summer.(Restoration was being done in the area of the blue tarp. And many of the antiques had been removed during the recent fire which came within 4 miles of the castle.)



The round library on the Southwest corner of the Vikingsholm, built specifically to hold a round Chinese cashmere rug purchased by MrsKnight for $40,000 in 1928. The rug is still in the castle today.

Back side of Fannette Island

I just love the rocks at Lake Tahoe and paint them often.

Mini Vacation

Tahoe....

One of my favorite places in the world!!!

Tuesday my husband and I joined a group from his work at Zephyr Cove Stables Lake Tahoe for "a guided horseback ride, lasting about one hour, followed by a hearty campsite dinner. "

A vague message greeted us Tuesday upon rising that said something like, "people are canceling like crazy. Call the organizer." No answer at the organizers number.

I should take a moment here to refer you to my May 19 post http://luckyzmom-luckyzmom.blogspot.com/2007/05/graduation-day-gone-wild.html where a highly anticipated event was recently unavoidably missed. Also a few years earlier another highly anticipated group trip was cancelled. So my husband was loosing confidence fast. We had arranged to stay overnight at a South Shore hotel and take a boat ride the next day, so I told him, "It doesn't matter if we don't get to ride horses. We will have a great time anyway." He agreed.

So we packed up our pointy toe cowboy boots, our ten gallon hats, camera, binoculars, waterjug, sunscreen . . . . . (you get the point, we were prepared) and headed off on the scenic route to Lake Tahoe. I started oooooh-ing and aaaaah-ing early with frequent sighs mixed in. It's just me and is endearing to some and irritating to others.

The handout from the organizer read, "We will meet at the stables at 4:00, giving us enough time to saddle up and tame our Mangy Beast." We arrived a few minutes early, expecting that at the very least the organizer would be there. There was no one, but, we were ready to ride all by ourselves. Finally we received a call clarifying what was going on. The ride would still happen, but if there weren't at least ten people we wouldn't get fed. So, that was a horse of a different color which brightened us up considerably because we knew there were a whole lot of great places to eat in the area.

A fun bunch of people joined us talking about the storm clouds and lightening some had experienced on the way up. A few sprinkles fell as we were helped onto our horses. Then, off we went into the forest in groups of four, following a guide up the mountain. The scenery took my breathe away. Staying on the horse was no small challenge for me. This was not a stroll in the park. The trail was, at times, seemingly straight up, straight down, only a foot or two wide, rocky, dusty, and on more than one occassion my horse's hoof would slip and I was sure I was going to go ass over teakettle back where we came from or get crushed by my horse or trampled by my husband's horse behind me. It was a fine adventure!!!! and I loved every minute.

I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I expected because of the degree of attention needed to stay in the saddle and the constant motion. We stopped only briefly when someone got out of line (usually me) or needed to catch up or when one of the horses needed a potty break. (All the horses following behind would step around "it", whether liquid or solid). Therefore, I barely was able to get my camera out of the bag hanging around my neck before we started moving again. The pictures I took were taken, literally point and shoot and a hope you would get something. They turned out to be blurs.

luckyzdad, Jane, Cindy, Dale, Carol, Marcie, Lynda

After we returned to the stables and dismounted (I sorta fell off) we were taken to the campsite on bales of hay for dinner. We had some drinks while we shared andlaughed before digging into the chow that had been cooked on these grills fashioned from huge oil barrels; teriyaki beef, grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, barbecue beans, grilled garlic bread, green salad and sa'mores. Everyone agreed that the food was spectacular. We jawed around the campfire awhile, as some pitched horseshoes. A totally enjoyable experience we agreed as we walked back to our cars, said our thank yous and goodbyes and drove away.

Requesting your thoughts and prayers

Another piece of my heart
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Every day since my last post I have felt guilty because I was receiving so much comfort, entertainment, knowledge, pleasure and stimulation from reading others blogs when I hadn't posted in such a long time. How could I just step in and ask for thoughts and prayers for my dearest friend who has been diagnosed with "invasive lobular carcinoma" in her left breast.

How could I not.

She is scheduled for a mastectomy on July 24th.

I am asking for your loving thoughts and prayers.

Thank you.