Wishing we were home!

Andrea, Jacob, Jacquelyn, and Nicole

I am really wishing I could be home right now. My entire family.... and I mean EVERYONE (including my sister and her family from China) was home this past weekend. My sister and her family flew in at the end of last week and will be hanging around for a couple weeks. That means my niece and two nephews are home and I can't even see them. Along with them, my other sister and my brother and his wife are around.

My mom and my youngest nephew, Alex.

Yesterday, there were 15 people at my parents house to celebrate Jacquelyn's fifth birthday. They had a huge feast for dinner and it was one of my favorite meals! Jay and I were wanting to be there so bad! In the middle of their afternoon, our night, I called dad to tell him Happy Father's Day. It happened to be great timing because they were getting ready to have cake and ice cream for Jacquelyn's birthday. Instead of talking on the phone, we hopped on the computer. Jay and I got to be on webcam and join in on the singing of happy birthday and watch Jacquelyn blow her candles out. We also got to see my whole family, grandma and grandpa, my aunt and uncle, and my great aunt. It put me in tears afterward, but I'm sure glad we could be there (kind of).

I can't wait to go home again, but unfortunately I'll be flying solo. Jay will be deployed by then so Christmas will be lonely. It will be so wonderful to have my family around me! I miss them all so much!!!!

A Quiet Weekend

It was a quiet weekend around here. We had plans to go to Madrid for four days, but that didn't work out with Jay's work. So, we hung out in Schweinfurt the whole time. It's been a LONG time since we stayed in town and did nothing. Actually.... I don't know if that's ever happened since we've moved here! There is a festival happening in town, so we went to that on Friday night and Sunday night. We rode a couple of rides, got our stomachs all turned around and then called it quits. That was enough for us! We also had to try out the fair food. I had a ham and cheese pretzel and Jay had a backfish and a chocolate covered banana. Saturday, we picked up a guy from the airport early in the morning. As soon as we got home, we went back to bed and didn't get up until early afternoon. Definitely a lazy day and a lazy weekend!

It was back to work today. Jay went in this morning even though he had the day off. I finished my last paper for my online class today. I'm so glad to be done with it this week! It's taken a lot of time, and sticks me to my computer every day. I also ran around post a bit to get some things accomplished. I finally got $336 back from the squadron that I paid for some inflatables. I learned my lesson... never pay for something out of your own account, because you may never get it back!!! It took them 20 minutes of discussing before they finally agreed to pay me. Sure glad they did!

Rome, Italy

This past weekend, we took four days and headed to Rome. We had beautiful weather to be outside and see everything there was to see. It got rather warm on us as it got into the 90's, but much better than rain. Some of the main things we saw were the Colosseum, Roman Forms, Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Pantheon, the usual. We saw a lot more than this, but these are the big things that people usually think of.

We were lucky that we reserved a hostel that had an air conditioner in it. I didn't even think of it when I was looking at places to stay, but it sure was great to have. We were soaked with sweat when we got back, and it was nice to sleep in the coolness.

Traveling with Jay is quite a workout. He pushes to see as much as he can in a short amount of time. We had four days, but he didn't want to miss a thing. We hit up the Vatican tour and went through all of the museums the first day, walked around the Colosseum, and saw a few other sites. On the second day, we spent most of the day touring the Colosseum and the Roman Forms. We had a tour guide, so learned what all the ruins used to be and who used them. It was all very interesting. It made me wish I paid more attention in social studies class back in the day. I remember learning about so much of it, but couldn't tell you anything about it. On the third day, we went to the Pantheon, several Piazza's (which are open squares in the middle of lots of buildings), several fountains, Spanish steps, and I'm sure more, but can't remember. By our last day there, we had seen it all. There wasn't a single spot that we wanted to go to that we hadn't already seen. So, we slowly moved around the city all day simply wasting time. We were already checked out of our hostel, so couldn't go back to that. By 3:00, we were getting bored. It's sad to say that we were getting bored in Rome.

The food... well.... for us, it didn't hold up to the praise that everyone gives it. We didn't think it was all that great. Jay said I make better spaghetti than they had. Pizza Hut makes better pizzas (in the states, not over here). And the prices... that was enough to starve us. On our first night there, we went to a restaurant (the cheapest on the block) and ended up spending $51 on our meal. Our drinks alone cost over $20, including a $7 can of Coke! Yikes!!!! We tried the wine because eveyone says it's so great, but the two of us had to choke down the one glass that we bought. At least we said we tried it. I guess you have to spend the really big bucks to get a fantastic meal that everyone faves about... and $51 isn't the big bucks! Unfortunately, we did a lot of McDonalds just to get by. Not my favorite meal, but it sometimes has to do.

This was our $51 meal... and the bread was free!!

Nonetheless, we had a fantastic trip. We saw so many things and really enjoyed our time there.

Our way of cooling down on a hot afternoon.

If you want to see more pictures, go to my picasa site. I have a lot on there! (and you can see Jay in a tight purple tank top that I wasn't allowed to put on here!!!)

End of Year Teacher Party

Last night, Jay and I went to the end of year party for the all teachers and staff. We spent the entire day at a softball tournament in Ansbach for the girls I have been coaching all season. We got poured on all day and it was freezing, but we were still out there playing. We ended up loosing both games. I love softball, but I'm sure glad this season is over. Too many moody fifth grade girls!!

Back to the party, we had dinner once we got there. We were over an hour late, so missed the social hour, which wasn't a big disappointment. Jay ordered a schnitzel and spargel. Spargel is the german word for asparagus. It's huge over here, both green and white. To make it white, they have the fields covered with tarps so that it doesn't get sun. I had pancake soup, which is little strips of pancake in a chicken broth. Both meals were great!

After dinner, they had a drawing for the table decorations. Jay and I both won potted plants!!! Jay gave his to another teacher since we didn't need to bring two home. Now the trick will be to keep it alive. I won the orange daisies and Jay won the purple flowers.

Wives, you should be jealous!

We all think we have the most amazing guy in the world... but tonight, I'm pretty sure mine topped the list. It's 9:00 on a Sunday evening and Jay is in the kitchen doing the dishes. I'm on my computer working on homework, not paying attention to him. Once I finish up and go into the kitchen, I realize he is scrubbing the kitchen floor. He moved everything out into the hallway, moved the fridge out, swept out from behind it, and scrumbed it all. Then he countinued into both of the bathrooms, scrubbing the floors and stool. He was even in the shower scrubbing down all the walls and the floor. My house now smells wonderfully clean and is all spick and span! Seriously!!! All without even being asked and for no reason at all! God definitely has blessed me with my husband!

(I snuck these pictures in when he wasn't looking.)

Scrubbing the drain of the shower.

Fish Eyes!

Last weekend when we were in Barcelona, I wanted to have a true Spain meal.... which doesn't mean spicy food which we tend to think. In Barcelona, that means sea food, straight from the Mediterranean Sea. We picked a restaurant off the main strip that we could actually afford, but still wasn't cheap. After looking at the menu, I decided to go with the deep fat fried small fish. I figured I could handle that, considering I'm not a sea food kind of girl. I can handle breaded fish and that's about it. When I got my plate, I was quite nervous to even try one.

They didn't taste horrible, but they weren't the best tasting fish I've ever had. The worst part about them, I could still see their tales, eyes, and scales. These little dudes had no chance to live. The only way I could get myself to eat them is if I didn't look at them. Usually people plug their nose, but I had to close my eyes. The whole eye ball thing was freaking me out!!

I had to prepare myself before eating each one.

Then I would close my eyes and get it down fast!

Then I chased it down with my Coke. When my Coke was gone, I was done with those little fishies!

While I was covering my eyes to eat the fish, Jay thought he would disect one to see what was inside. He ended up popping the eyeball out of it. They all still had their eyes!!!!!!!!!! YUCK!!! Thankfully he didn't tell me this until after we were out of the restaurant and walking down the street. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten any more down.

Jay decided to be safe and go with the chicken. This is what his turned out like. It was in a tomato based rice, with mixed veggies in it. This too was a pretty typical Spanish meal.

We definitely stopped for ice cream on the way back to the hostel that night. I needed something to keep those fish from swimming in my stomach!

Barcelona, Spain

We are home from Barcelona!! We had an AWESOME trip and loved every minute of it!! We made it there by Friday afternoon and found our hostel. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Olympic park and seeing all of the different fields, pools, etc.

Things were very well kept up there. We also walked around the town and saw some of the big sites to see. In the evening, we spent our time on La Rambla (the night life street). It was full of people just walking around. In the middle of the street were lots of people sellings things... face painters, caricature artists, spray paint artists, dancers, musicians, and people dressed up as random things to make money.
This guy was one of the best. He was a frozen statue that stood perfectly still like this. When someone put money in the jar, he would change his position.

On Saturday, we visited all the big touristy places. We saw lots of neat buildings and went to a few parts. This is an apartment complex designed and build by a guy names Guadi. He is very popular in the city. He build a lot of buildings, has a bunch of benches made out of glass pieces, and started a church. In this apartment, there is not a single straight wall or 90 degree angle.

We went to a park that had a view of the whole city. We went at night and during the day. It was beautiful!

On Sunday we spent the afternoon at the beach. The place was packed, but we found a couple of lounge chairs to spend a few hours in. We both got in the water, but not for long. It was really cold. We enjoyed the sun nonetheless!

This has been one of my favorite trips. The weather was perfect and we saw a lot of neat things! Besides getting food poisoning on Saturday and eating that fish on Sunday, all was great! And it's hard to beat a beach like this! I have more pictures posted on my Picasa site if you are interested in seeing more!