Photos from Europe

Here are a few photos that highlight our experience in Europe over Christmas and New Years. 

Star Wars pancakes for breakfast. 

Putting the Angel on top of the tree. 

Christkindlemarkt

Hohenschwangau Castle, Fussen, Bavaria.

Picturesque view - with a church in the very center.

Dave and I in front of Neuschwanstein Castle. 

Courtyard of Neuschwanstein.

John and I stringing popcorn.

Night sledding.

The Eiffel Tower at night in the fog.

Creme brulee!

Dave and I in front of Notre Dame, Paris. 

Interior of Notre Dame.

Dave in front of the Louvre pyramid. 

My two Thinkers.

In front of the gates of the Sun King's palace - Versailles.

Lunch - baguette, salami, cheese. We brought our own supplies.

Dave, at the Cluny Museum (Medieval Museum)
amongst the original heads of the 28 Kings of Judah from Notre Dame. 

Illuminated Songs.

The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestry.

Medieval Fighting guide. 

Dave and I in the elevator of our hotel going out for New Year's Eve.

Rue Cler post-festivities. 

My Backyard

Our freshly mulched backyard, with labor provided by the Hamiltons and Dave, I supervised.

Guesses as to the fruit? Plum?

I think this one is a peach!

Pomegranates in the making.

Pomegranate Pollination Station.

The first Bonnie Grape tomatoes are coming in!

Greedy little birds already drained my bird feeder. I half-filled it on Friday,

 and one week later, crumbs are left.

Maternity Photos

Tada! While Diane was here - in the 45 minutes we had before we had to load everyone in the car to go to the airport - we did a mini-photo shoot of Noah and I. These are some of my favorites.

(Click on any of the photos to make them fullscreen large.)

The photo shoot wasn't hard until later - we were so busy getting everyone out the door, and then driving, and then driving again. But yesterday it was a little hard. I mean, I love the photos, but it's still difficult knowing that we won't have more photos of Noah. Regardless, the photos are a tribute to Diane's photography abilities - since the only light we used was the natural light from our bedroom window.  

So.

So. Dave's been gone for almost two weeks, boo, in Panama City, Florida. He comes home on Thursday, yay! Since he's been gone I've attempted to keep busy. I attended a surprise birthday party for a friend from church, attended a birthday soiree for a friend/Katie's neighbor, and saw a local production of Butterflies Are Free preformed by the King's Players. I met the director at Jo's soiree so it was fun to chat theater for a while. Our church was scheduled to have a church picnic on Sunday at a local ancient park with big trees, but due to high winds (25mph) we had to stay at the church (not nearly as fun). I also pet-sit Topher last weekend. Slider enjoyed having some company and playmate, but I think he was worried Topher would be a permanent addition - he just wasn't himself all weekend. This week I've been preparing for the Hamilton Invasion, who also arrive on Thursday. I'm driving to LA to pick them up, and we're banking on their "packing light" abilities so that' we'll all (7 of us) fit in our Highlander - with 3rd row. So I've been busy making nest-beds for the youngest boys, including a "clubhouse" in the walk-in closet in the guest room. I decorated it with Dragon and Navy paraphernalia and put a touch light and night-time reading books in there. It's pretty cool. It's like Nathan and John's own room, and I think Connor's going to be bitterly jealous. Ohwell.

Noah and I are off to our regular doctor's appointment with Dr. Shipper, Katie is accompanying.

PARIS.

Since we stayed up until 1am playing dress up and finishing packing, our 6am departure time did not occur. We were finally piled in to the car and on the road by 1030. The kids were very good on the 7 hour car ride, entertained either by Sponge Bob, Looney Tunes, or their respective books. We pulled into Paris proper, bypassing EuroDisney, around 5pm and drove right past Notre Dame on our way to the hotel, Hotel du Champ de Mars. This hotel, recommended by Rick Steve, was ideally situated. We dumped out stuff, and found some place to feed us quickly, as we were trying to get to the Arc de Trioumphe. I'd only been on the streets of Paris 10 minutes before I was grabbed and kissed on both cheeks by a drunk man in the take-out restaurant. Ooh la France...We did make it to the Arc, but not up it. John almost ran into the flame in remembrance of the tomb of the unknown soldiers at the base of the monument. With bedtime fully expired, we made it back to the hotel and promptly put everyone to bed and departed to the restaurant next door, leaving Tristan in charge, to reward Scott for his day of safe driving. That glass of wine was probably one of the best I've had, either because I earned it or because it was really that good.

The next morning did not make for an early departure. By 1030 we were out roaming the streets trying to find a certain crepe vendor. After locating the vendor, understanding that he didn't open for another 15 minutes, we found a baguette or two to feed hungry boys, and then waited for the shop to open. It was definitely worth the wait. The boys all got hot chocolate - which was marvelous - and our cafe au laits were superb. The actual crepe maker didn't speak English, but one of his wait staff did, which was helpful. I had an egg and cheese crepe, and the boys all enjoyed banana-chocolate, or strawberry-chocolate. Delish! After brunch, we ditched Scott with the kids at the hotel while Diane and I made a run to the Carrefor, the local grocery store. We picked up wine and cheese - choosing whatever was almost gone deciding that that must be what people like - and other preserves like meat, bread, and Bon Maman snacks. (Bon Maman's chocolate mousse is aaaahmazing.) After packign backpacks, we took the metro over to the Musee de l'Orangerie, famous for Money's lily panels. The panels were very breathtakine to see. Under new renovation, they were able to be viewed with almost natural light and photographing was completely ok. After the museum, we had a brief snack outside - for the kids baguette, salami, and cheese; for the adults - baguette, salami, cheese and wine. Yum! How very Parisian of us... After l'Orangerie, we treked over towards the Hotel de Ville to find the Modern Art Museum, in hopes of entertaining the kids somewhat. After a fun photoshoot in front of the Hotel de Ville and a 6level escalade ride to the top of the Modern Art Museum, we thoroughly scarred the kids. Modern art, I find, is one of two things: stupid or graphic, but many times both. Fake flowers pinned to a wall, I call stupid. A close up of... intercourse, I call graphic. A video of a naked women hula-hooping with barbed-wire is stupid and graphic. We then made a hasty exit.

Arriving back at the hotel, we fed the kids a dinner of baguette, salami, and cheese, put them to sleep, left Tristan in charge, and dashed out to our grown-up Night Out. Diane and I wore black dresses and Scott wore a tie - we all looked nice. Unfortunately, our choice of restaurant, another Rick Steve recommendation, didn't met our expectations...over-priced and not delicious. Not bad, but not quintessential Parisian oolala. We then strutted around the Eiffel Tour for a mini photoshoot, stopped by the hotel to make sure everyone was ok (which they were, Connor sleeping on the bed, and Tristan on the floor next to him - apparently in refusal to share a bed...?), and then found an Irish bar within which to satisfy Scott's need for his favorite beer, Kilkenny Red Creme Ale. Very difficult to find, I challenge you.

Our last day in Paris, we marched passed Napoleon's tomb/shrine on our way to Musee de Rodin, where were walked around the garden looking at the THINKER and GATES OF HELL. We had our traditional lunch while the boys played Indiana Jones. We then had our own death march to the Musee d'Orsay...with John/Napoleon crying "CARRRYYY MEEE" the entire way, and Nathan and Connor kicking leaves the whole march. We made it to the Orsay with 20 minutes left before closing. After a breif tour of the first floor, including Scott's favorite painting, and my favorite Monet, we were hastily shooed out. As I spent some time in the gift shop, the boys hung out in the lobby. By the time i emerged, John was a sleep. I bought a small book called "The Designs of William Morris" and "The Best Places to Kiss in Paris." The second is incentive for Dave.

The next morning was a departure from Paris. It was sad. The drive home seemed to take twice as long.

The Curse of the Flat Cookies is Broken!

Yes! The Curse of the Flat Cookies is broken! Mary and I have made flat cookies our entire lives. Whereas Diane makes full-bodied cookies.Tonight, in preparation for Dave's return, I made cookies. Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. And after everything was stirred in, i sat and ate some of it. This is Diane's hypothesis: you have to eat the dough, or it won't rise. (The science behind this being that it allows the active ingredients to mix well.)

And Voila! non-flat cookies!

So, it's been a while!

So It's been a long while since my last post. Lots has happened.

I flew to Hong Kong to meet Dave. We had 5 days together in a nice hotel and near lots of restuarants. Laura and Tyler's friend lives in Hong Kong, so Barry became tour guide and restaurant connoisseur. In truth, I didn't particularly like Hong Kong; it smelled bad and I always felt like i was about to get cheated (either by a cabbie or a vendor). I didn't buy any novelty items because I knew they would just break. The restaurants were great and about everyone spoke English. It was more like being in a Chinatown of some large city than in a large city of China. Also, I think Chinese sounds funny. My Japanese students were very excited when I told them I prefer Japan to Hong Kong, China. We had a little role reversal as Dave dropped me off at the airport to say goodbye. I'll admit, it was very nice to be the one leaving instead of being the one left!

I made it to Germany (from Hong Kong) without any trouble - I took a Tylenol PM and slept 9 out of 11 hours of my flight. It was an over night flight (departing at 1150pm and arriving at 0530am) so when I arrived I did feel rather refreshed. After being interigated by immigration (I made the mistake of saying I'd been to germany several times, while my new passport only shows one visit ... "Quick, investigate!") , I hopped on the train and made it to Ansbach at 11am. Scott met me at the train station, dropped me off at a quiet house, and went back to work. All the kids were at school and Diane had a meeting in Nurenberg. That evening, Scott, the kids, and I met Diane at Illeshime where she was photographing families in front of an Apache Helicopter. That's one intimidating aircraft! It also made me appreciate the fact that my husband's aircraft has an ejection seat.

The next day, little time was wasted, and Diane and I jumped into a 3 day photo shoot. We got set up in the Brigade Headquarters building to shoot family photos for Christmas cards. The event was a fundraiser for the FRG and 10% went back to them. Some of the wives even recognized me from my help at last year's Brigade Ball, fun times! It was a long few days, photos, edition, talking to families, me entertaining the children while Diane photographed Mom and Dad, planning for Paris, and planning Connor's sleep-over birthday.

Connor turned TEN on Nov. 2, and his birthday party was on Nov. 5 - a slumber party. I hand-stamped invitations for him to take to school and give to all his friends. We didn't get many RSVP's, but come 5pm on Friday, 7 or 8 of his friends showed up, sleeping bags in hand. Scott was able to greet everyone, and Tristan had instructions to make queso dip. Diane and I got home around 630, just in time for pizza! We made the Wrigley recipe, and Connor helped me make the sauce. He really enjoyed creating the sauce... some more of this, some more of that... Scott managed to get the dough rolled out, sauced, cheesed, and served by the time Diane and I got home, Kudos, Scott! This kids ran around crazy all night, with Nathan and John never far behind. I managed to throw together a scavenger hunt as an evening activity, which went over really well.

Saturday consisted of one last photo shoot - a family came dressed up in full Bavarian costume, leiderhosen, dirndl, two blonde-blue-eyed kids, and a dog. Saturday evening was spent preparing everyone for Paris. After the kid's bags were packed, and said children were in bed, Diane and I had a fashion-show to decide what to bring to Paris. We can't just wear anything to Paris, they might tell us to go home the minute we step out of the car! (And with my dealings with the hotel owner over the phone, this was not an entirely crazy thought.) So we had to find just the right shoes and just the right accessories, and ignore the fact it was going to be very very cold.

An Update

1. On Sunday Dave left for Fall cruise, aka Part 2 of the 2009 deployment schedule. It's not as long this time, but is never fun.

2. We are in TCORR 2 - extreme wind is expected within the next 12 hours due to Typhoon Melor. Although it will probably end up being another blustery Winnie-the-Pooh type day, all base activities will be closed tomorrow, school is cancelled, and it will be rainy and windy.

3. I now have a pretty full teaching schedule and will have to give it up in 3 weeks. Awesome. I've got at least one class every day - except Friday. Unfortunately, we're scheduled to be leaving soon, so I'm already looking for someone to take over the classes. Lame.

4. Still no letter telling us we can move. Quadruple Lame.

5. On Sunday I ordered eight Jane-Austen films. I could really use them tonight and tomorrow since I can't do anything tomorrow!

6. I've bought a plane ticket to visit my sister in Germany! Exciting! I'll be there November 3-18. While it will be fun sharing Scott's birthday, it will be sad that I'm missing Dave's birthday and our wedding anniversary. I'm beginning to think it was quite amazing that Dave made it to our wedding in the first place.... Dave and Scott share the same birthday, though different years.

7. It's officially fall. I wore my first fall sweater today.

8. Today I received "gomensai" money. Last week I went to meet my conversation student, as scheduled. Except he didn't show. I called him at 12:15 - 15 minutes after our scheduled meeting time - and he was sleeping and very confused. So this week he kept apologizing and saying how ashamed he was. At the end of our lesson he insisted on paying me for last week. I let him pay me for last week in the hopes that I won't have to keep hearing about how sorry he is! (Gomenasai means Sorry.)

9. I disliked the movie "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past."

10. I accidently saw Glen Beck's "interview" with Michael Moore today and it made my brain hurt.

Not Flat Cookies!!!

I have a "telent." It might be hereditary, on my mom's side, because my younger sister also has this talent. Our cookies - 90% of the time - come out flat. My nephews won't eat cookies I bake because they're flat. My older sister claims it's because i bake the dough right away, insisting i should leave it out for tasting, which in turn allows the baking soda etc to mix together. Well, Diane, you may be on to something....After NOT baking the dough right away, my cookies came out like this:



Cakey. Not perfect, but not flat.