Sabba and Jack

Family Resemblance?

Old Navy and Young Navy

In Sabba's Office. I love this shot!

At Home

Too Cool!

A is for Aircraft Carrier

Okay, so this is really not about aircraft carriers; it's more pictures of the family, but I couldn't come up with a good A-word, and after all, I have served on three different aircraft carriers (if only for short periods of time).

Yesterday, we saw some pictures of Aidan. Now for more pictures, including Ellie, Ryan, and Jack. The first day I was in town we ate at a wonderful little Korean place. Here are the boys.



Here's Jack watching TV. He has a DVD called Baby Einstein, which I also found captivating. (It's in seven languages, teaches common phrases, alphabets, and simple songs in Hebrew, Italian, Russian, Japanese, French, German, and English).


Here's another view of the little guy watching his DVD (i.e. learning seven languages).



Here are some shots of Aidan and Jack.




Aidan is always talking to his little brother and loves to hold him and play with him.



As Ellie said on her blog, sometimes you take a bunch of pictures, and you just have to post them all. Here's another shot of the boys.



Jack seems to be saying, "Where am I, and what am I doing here?"



Oh, okay, everything's all right now.



Here he is—sleeping sweetly. Frère Jacques; Dormez-vous?


A picture before saying goodbye at the airport.


A family picture.

And a silly version.

Sabba saying goodbye to Jack.

Oh, and about those aircraft carriers. Here they are. I spent a short time on the John F. Kennedy (CV-67) in the North Atlantic and again in the Mediterranean.

I spent a month or so on USS America (CV-66) in the Med.

USS Independence (CV-62) had a long escalator to bring flight crews quickly from below decks. I did a couple of months TAD (Temporary Additional Duty) aboard Indy in the Mediterranean.

Here she is in Yokosuka, Japan, which happens to have been my last duty station.

Orig: 5/20/08

A is for Aidan

I just spent a wonderful four days with Ellie and Ryan. I have a bunch of pictures. I'll start with the ones of Aidan and move on to the rest of the family tomorrow.

In this first one, we see Ellie and Jack with Spiderman, who is a special friend of Aidan.

He can fly, as demonstrated here!

Aidan loves to play with the hose in the backyard. Here he is getting a drink.

Here he is pretending it's raining!

Aidan in his golfing duds (knickers and golf shirt) ready to hit the links!

Aidan demonstrating his golf swing.

Standing on his head.

Aidan and Sabba at the airport.

My first post on this blog was in January of 2007, a picture of Aidan and me, which you can see here.

Orig: 5/19/08

Happy Birthday, Jono!

Six years ago today, we received a phone call from Australia saying that our first grandchild, Jonathan Santiago, was born. Here were two of the first pictures we received through the miracle of the Internet.

And a short time later came a picture of mother and child.

Jonathan comes from a Hebrew name meaning, "The LORD has given," while Santiago is a Spanish name, which in English means "St. James." Ultimately, in a rather obscure way, the name James derives from the Hebrew name Ya'akov (Jacob), who is later renamed Israel. He fathers a nation through whom the world is to be blessed. So we could conceivably interpret Jonathan Santiago as "the LORD has given one through whom the world will be blessed." We pray that Jono may be the fulfillment of his name in the most blessed and complete way.

The picture on the left below shows Sabba (Jono's paternal grandfather) and on the right is Jono at an equivalent age. Is there any resemblance?

And here's the birthday boy in a great picture taken just the other day by his mom and posted on her blog.

We wish you, Jono, a very Happy Birthday! Love, Sabba and Nanny

Ashland, Ohio -- Someplace Special

I am totally ripping off my daughter's blog post (like that lingo? Totally!).

Bonnie took some great pictures of the three grandchildren near my family's home in Mifflin Township and a classic view of the water tower on Clermont Avenue that has been there as long as I can remember but was recently painted with the slogan "Someplace Special."

Ashland, Ohio, really is someplace special, and there are a lot of special people there, who touched my life deeply, not only my family but many friends from my life before the Navy. Although I may never live in this special place again, I'll never forget or regret growing up there.

These are our "something special" grandchildren, Jono and Alia, and Aidan, during their road trip to see Grandma.

Above are Aidan, Alia, and Jono on the road in front of Grandma's house. (When I was growing up, this was a dirt road.)

We end this travel-blog with the grandkids walking hand in hand down a country lane in Mifflin Township, Ashland, Ohio, in the good old USA.

My children never really had a place on earth to look back on as the place they grew up. They grew up in Spain, Italy, Maryland, Canada, and Japan. All of those places hold a few of their childhood memories, but ultimately home was wherever the family was. They tell me that was okay. For me it was the same growing up. My home was always where my family was. It just so happened that my family was always in the same place -- and that was okay, too.

Here's a link to a fascinating site put together by the father of one of my good friends from high school: Click here: Ashland County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society

The Next Generation

Bonnie had to format this for me as a JPG file, and she entitled it Monkey Kids. Here's the next generation of "Monkey Kids" -- Aidan, Alia, and Jono. Of course, this is all in fun, but there is a good message here, i.e. "See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil." Amen!

The Road Trip (April, 2007)

Here's Jimmy relaxing before the Road Trip begins.

Here's the gang getting ready to leave on the Road Trip. From left: Bonnie, Ellie and Alia, Aidan, Jono, Jimmy, and Kathy.

Here's a silly version of the same picture.

Bonnie, Jono and Alia arrive in Denver.

After two long days of travel, crossing the International Date Line, and spending a night at the Narita Hilton outside Tokyo, Bonnie, Jono, and Alia make their long-awaited arrival at Denver's International Airport.

Jono and Alia, shortly after arriving in Denver.

Back at Nanny and Sabba's house with cousin Pam.

In Nanny and Sabba's living room with cousins Pam and Jill.

Checking out Pam's bedroom before retiring for the night.

We are so blessed and happy to have Bonnie and the children here for an extended visit. In a couple of weeks, Ellie and Aidan will arrive, and when Jimmy and Hannah join us, our family will all be together in one place for the first time in five years. We will be thinking of Rory and Ryan, who were unable to make this trip, but will be with us in spirit.

Aidan in Denver with Sabba

Our grandson, Aidan, on a visit to Denver in September 2006.