Brenden's First Test

Yee Haw!!!!!

Picture of Me

So I was told I never have pictures of me on here, so here you go.

Self portrates. Goofy!!!

Reilly's Pinewood Derby

We had to add some weight at the last minute,

Notice the fishing weights are his rockets.
Do you like Reilly's new haircut, too.
He said his hair was sticking to him.

Bro Olcott, he is the hubby of our Cub master.

Reilly was blessed this year, and was able to do two pinewood derby's. Since it was the first time anyone here had done this. We only did a first place and then everyone got awards. It was really fun and the kids had so much fun.

Brenden's Hair

Sorry's it so dark, can't get flash to work. He has his old hair cut, couldn't stand it anymore.

I think it looks much better short.

Lots of hair

Look its on his neck and touching his ears.
Driving him crazy.

Tuesday

Happy news, Reilly's bike was found by a kid in the complex, the brake wires are broken, but he uses his feet to stop most of the time, so he doesn't care. Not good on his shoes though.
He's just happy!!
His bike was by our back door and he forgot to lock it up, so I think someone just took it for a joy ride.
He is Healthy and Happy now.

Charlee now has the Fever thing that Reilly had.
I told the nurse we are never this sick and she told me this is pretty common for people that move to a new state. New allergies, new viruses, more stress because it is a new environment. She said give it 6 months and they will be fine. Hopefully she is right.

Brenden is doing a night flight tonight. We are so excited for him.

Update on our lives.

Things have been very busy this last couple of weeks.

Charlee has cheer twice a week from right after school, she changes in the vehicle. She is home on Tuesday about 5;30 ish and on Thursday they have tumbling after cheer, so she doesn't get home until almost 7pm. Long days make for a tired girl. After cheer it is then homework and off to bed, even if it is early, usually it's not. She can read and rest.

Between Reilly being sick again one day and well the next, then sick the next. I have been off schedule. Plus we had an emotional morning because his BICYCLE was STOLEN. He went from being devastated to being very angry. It will be a little bit before we can get him a new one. Hope school goes OK today, I did give his teacher a heads up, in case drama started. Poor boy. Another reason he wants to go home. He keeps telling me he wants to go live back in AZ with BJ and Joni, because he hates it here. Another reason is that he misses 'his' riding lawn mower. He loved mowing the lawn. He has to learn to deal and adjust, change is very hard for him. He loves the beach and likes having sidewalks to ride on instead of dirt.

Brenden has been flying almost everyday and then homework and school the rest of the time. Two weeks ago he helped teach a motorcycle class, MTII. Went well, but he was so tired afterwards, I personally don't think it is worth it. But we will see.

On to me, Nicole, I am the one that keeps everyone organized and drives everyone around. also I am assistant cub scout leader and a primary teacher. Love both jobs. I am learning to love the differences between Arizona and Florida. I love the beach and don't really mind the humidity too much. OK I am lying about that, but at least it is not painful for me to go outside now. Only wet. LOL

Goofy Kids

Coconut and Reilly

Reilly has been fascinated with coconuts since you can find then all over the place. We finally allowed him to bring one home. He wanted pictures taken and put on the blog so everyone (especially Coda) could see it.

The back ground in the picture is out our back door.

Brenden first flight - Friday

So after only 5 days of school, Brenden has his first day of flying.

He LOVED it.

He has lots of school work.

This is his instructor pilot and the plane he went up in.

Written by Brenden Riggs
Went for my first flight friday. Pretty uneventful, at least pretty uneventful in my world. I flew mostly in Arizona, smooth air, big runways, no trees, and a VASI. A VASI is a set of light that let you know if you are descending on the proper angle.

We took off, flew around did a few maneuvers and then Mike (my instructor) and I headed back to the airport to practise some landings. I was told to descend to 1000 ft above the ground. HOLY COW, who let the bucking bronco out, we were bouncing all over the place, I think I lost a contact lens which is horrible because I don't wear any. Then as we get closer to the runway I asked Mike where the VASI lights were whereupon I was informed this particular runway doesn't have any, but aim for the four digit number numbers at the end. I must have been seeing double because runways only have two digit numbers. I stuffed my eyeballs back into my head, don't really recall if they bounced out or if I opened them too wide, that isn't important. So I aim for this black strip of pavement that is moving all over the place, the lower I get the rougher the flight. We get closer to the runway and had a great landing. Let me define landings: A good landing is anything you walk away from, a great landing is one where you can use the plane again. I had sixteen touchdowns in that one landing, but my instructor said I couldn't count them as individual landings. Darn, i would have had enough landings on that one flight to get my license. Then Mike has the audacity to say, "lets do it again!" Glad he is braver than I am. So off we go to attempt another landing. Still bumpy, we circle around and come back for another landing. This time I am ready, coming in at proper speed, and altitude, raise the nose just before my wheels contact the ground, suddenly I am 30 feet back into the air. Stall warning blaring. A stall is pretty much falling out of the sky, bad things happen if you stall very close to the ground. I jam the throttle to full, lower the nose to get airspeed. We recover just fine, Mike looks over at me and says, "that will cover your missed approach lesson for today". We circle around, get clearance for the main runway, yeehaw VASI, there I make a beautiful landing. Taxi back to the parking spot, open the doors so all the water (Mike said sweat, but I don't believe him, it is humid here in Florida) could pour out. I can't wait for Monday to do it all again.

I Pod Humor

Brenden is now using my I POD Touch,

(Look out world, he is in the modern age)

and I was showing him how to use it.

I told him to just start playing with it and before I knew it he was laughing his head off, uncontrollably.

He said the I Pod bounced when it came to the top or bottom of the information. If you have a I Pod touch or something like it you know what I mean. He just thought it was so funny that it actually bounced.

He laughed so hard, it was contagious!!

Brenden's first day of school

Brenden is starting school today. He is going to Aviator College in Fort Pierce, Fl.

He was really cute today, (oh wait men aren't cute, manly is a better word). He was nervous and excited. I know he will do a great job!!! I am very proud of him.

He looked so handsome in his tan pants and white shirt.

He even had a hair cut, so he would look nice.

March 2010 Our first trip to beach

It was cold out so we didn't think anyone would want to get wet
Boy were we wrong!!!

Charlee getting hit by a wave

playing in the waves

We were all soaked by the time we went home.

The water is awesome and the sand is soft.

Our Home in Florida

Our apartment complex

'The Palms At Vero Beach'

Our front door


The cute sign from Joni - so people can find our door.

When you walk into the house, the first thing you see is stairs

Then to the left is the living room , is bigger than our old living room,

Reilly is lounging and Brenden's motorcycle cover is 'all over the place'

part of the living room and onto the kitchen

kitchen from the bar area

other side of the kitchen & the bar

office (big isn't it) and laundry behind those doors

The dining room

and the craft and food storage area

It is all bigger than it looks.

our back porch

we have a huge play area and basketball area out our back door!!

Upstairs has 3 bedrooms and 2 big bathrooms.

we have a storage outside and a storage area under the stairs.

We are in Florida!!

Okay, since I can't seem to keep up on the pictures and stuff, I am going to just right down little notes, on a daily or weekly basis.

So since March 17, 2010 Brenden retired from the Air Force with 20 years. We have moved to Florida so that he could go to school, and Aviator College is covered 100% by his GI bill. Yeah!!
We are loving Florida!! Nice beaches, the weather is lovely.

Today, since I am in scouts, the assistant cub scout leader, we had a meeting. Doing scouts tomorrow by myself. Then onto exercising, 2 miles and a dirt track, my foot is feeling okay.

Kids have speeches tomorrow and were practicing tonight, tons of homework. Feels like from Monday through Thursday all we do from 4:30 to 7 is homework. Irritating!! What are we going to do when they have other activities??

Family Pictures march 2010

Charlee, Nicole and Reilly
Reilly Talon Riggs

Charlee Christina Riggs

Nicole and Brenden Riggs

Charlee, Brenden and Reilly Riggs

Nicole, Brenden, Reilly and Charlee Riggs

The Ben and Anona Riggs Family