Welcome Gunnar Max!

We want to welcome Gunnar Max to the world! Jay and I went to visit Gunnar, Beth, and Kyle tonight at the hospital. Everyone is doing well! Gunnar is a lil guy at only five pounds. Beth didn't have the easiest labor, but it was all worth it. Gunnar came out by a suction cup because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck three times! He was in there pretty tight! We're so thankful that everything worked out alright!

Jay said he's nervous that I'm going to get baby fever now. He said I'll be over it by the time he gets back from the field! With Gunnar around and Dan and Sandra having one in November, I'll just play with all of their babies!!

Spring Family Fun Day

We've been having fun all afternoon as our squadron held a Spring Family Fun Day. It was more like mandatory fun, which we all like to call it. I was in charge of the whole ordeal, so have been running around all day. I was up at 6:00 on the one day I could sleep in making sure I had everything ready to go. Now that it's over, I am satisfied that all went well. Fun was had by all!! The only thing that could have gone better was the rain. It rained all morning, was sunny when people came at 2:00, rained at 4:00, and then cleared up again by 6:00. It chased a few families away, but we still had a good number attend.

We had three big inflateables for the kids to play on. We also had four different stations with different activities... face painting, coloring masks, cake walk, scavenger hunt. There was also a clown walking around making balloon animals for the kids. I had a volleyball tournament organized for the adults. The troops played against each other. It looked like the guys were having a lot of fun. We grilled out for supper and had yummy hot dogs, hamburgers, and brats!! To finish the afternoon, we had a drawing for raffle prizes. The single soldiers had some great gifts, like an ipod, digital camera, external hardrive, etc. The family gifts weren't as great as they were all little kid games and activities.

I'm glad the day is over, but also know that means the guys are now on their way out. Some are already down in Graf and the rest are leaving in the next two days. Jay leaves on Saturday and will be back at the end of the month. I'm sure going to miss him, but will be kept busy all month. I have been hired as a long term sub for a second grade classroom at the elementary school. The teacher is getting her knee replaced, so I'm finishing off the school year for her. I'm so excited about this and hope it will lead to something for next year. We'll wait and see what God has in store.

The Netherlands!

This past weekend, Jay and I took a trip up to the Netherlands to see all of the tulips. We went to the famous Keukenhof Garden. It is a 13 acre park that is LOADED with flowers, mostly tulips. The park had trails everywhere, ponds, playground equipment, mazes out of bushes, and lots of ice cream. There were so many things to do if looking at all of the flowers wasn't enough. I was in paradise seeing everything. I don't think Jay was as excited, but he admits that it was neat to see.

The Tulip Parade!

That evening, we took a train up to Amsterdam to check out the city live. That place sure does have a night life. We quickly saw the Red Light District, which was very hard to miss. People were all over the streets. We were offered drugs only once, so we thought that was pretty good. We quickly realized that this really wasn't a town for us. We took the train back home and got to our hotel a little after 2:00 in the morning. That was enough Amsterdam for us.

Bikes were EVERYWHERE!

This would be Jay inside their version of a male toilet.

The next day, we went to a little village that has been kept looking like the 17th century. There were six working wind mills that still produced things. There was also a cheese factory, clock factory, wooden shoe store, and an old grocery store. This is the Netherlands that we had pictured in our heads. We were glad we took the time to come up to this place and check it out. We also had to buy a pair of clogs. Couldn't be in the Netherlands without getting at least one pair!

These were my favorite pairs out of them all!

Cav Ball

We had our annual Cav Ball last night. I spent all day helping decorate. I got home around 3:30 and had to be back there by 5:00. Yup... I went with a wet head! We had a good turn out and everyone looked very nice. For supper we had a buffet line. Then listened to a speaker and had several toasts. It was very expensive for what was put on. We paid around $120 to go!!!! We did get 6 wine glasses and a glass pitcher out of the deal. Each person was supposed to take home a wine glass as their keepsake, and the female that had been in the Army the longest at the table got the pitcher. At our table, it was only Jeremy, Jay, and I!! So I won by default! We took the glasses from the rest of the table settings right away. Otherwise people were coming around and snatching any extras. Jeremy took two and we took six. Don't know if we'll ever use them, but they are nice and they all match.

Not Good Enough!

The other night, Jay asked if I would cut his hair. I usually do this every two or three weeks. I don't like doing it, but I do because it costs 10 euro to get it done on post. He was ready to go, had the razor out, sat down, then told me.... "Maybe I'll just get it done on post tomorrow so you don't have to worry about" ... True meaning of that sentence... "The ball is in two days and I don't want you to screw up my hair, so I'll get it done professionally". So then he put the towel in his shirt so I wouldn't hurt him!! What a goofball!!

Happy Easter! (a week late)

I know I'm a week late... but last weekend was a bit busy with traveling! Here is our little bush outside that our landlord decorated with eggs. This is a very common thing to do in Germany. Easter is a pretty big holiday for them.

A little boy at heart!

When we were on our spring break trip last week, Jay couldn't resist playing in the park for a few minutes. He saw a couple little boys enjoying a slide, so he had to try it out too. Here he is at the top and the bottom.

Jay's up at the top, ready to slide down.

Weeeeeeeeee!!

That was fun!!!

He also tried out a zip cord. He had to hold himself up with his arms, otherwise he would have been dragging on the ground. He's definitely young at heart! But that's just one more reason why I love him!

Austria... Spring Break Trip

I'm back from Spring break and ready to bring on the beautiful weather. I spent the past 10 days traveling around Austria. We had wonderful sunny days with warm temps. Some of the top things we saw were Bertchesgaden, viewing the snowy Alps while enjoying the warmth down below, Salzburg and their salt mines, several small mountain communities, all of the filming sights to The Sound of Music!!!!!, Mauthausen Concentration Camp, and the last three days were spent exploring Vienna. There was so much to see in the town and we did as much as we could. The only thing that could have made the trip better was having Jay with me. Unfortunately, someone has to work in our family so we can pay bills. He spent the first four days with us, but then had to come back to Germany and spend the rest of the week working. We spent Easter apart, me in Austria and Jay in Luxenburg. Rough life, I know!!! Jay had a four day weekend for Easter, so he hit up three countries in that amount of time. He and a friend saw a lot of WW2 sites.

Overall, a great trip. I can now check Austria off my list!! On to the next country!!

The gazebo from Sound of Music

A church set out in the footsteps of the mountain. We took a boat to go see it.

At the Salzburg Salt Mines, ready to go on our tour. We had to put these outfits on so we didn't get dirty.

At the most photographed church in the world. We are actually standing in the cemetary with the church behind us.

Castle built by Ludwig 2. He lived in it for 10 days and it's never been lived in again.

The Schloss Palace in Vienna

A view of Salzburg from on top of their fortress.

This is a small mountain town with a castle ruin on top of the hill. We hiked up to check it out.

This is just a taste of what an Easter Market looks like. Every egg is real and hand painted.


This is the house used to in the Sound of Music and the pond where they fell out of the boat.