Way Behind! But here's Spring Break

It's been nearly a month since I've last posted, which isn't my normal. That means life has been rather on the busy side lately! Both of us have had many things going on that by the time we reach our chairs at night, we're plum tuckered!

A recap on the month of March.... nothing too exciting. Jay has been working hard on planning a community celebration for May. It's a huge event that he's had a major hand in. I just finished up third quarter this past week at school. I had my grades in and finalized by Thursday night. Along with school, I'm coaching the high school track team which takes up every afternoon. After that is over, on Wednesdays and Fridays I dart over to the softball field to coach the middle school team! I said all winter that I wasn't going to coach so we would have time to travel! I even turned down both coaching jobs at one point. How I ended up coaching both..... it's because I have a big ol' stamp on my forehead that tells everyone I won't turn them down! But.... I love coaching both of them, so it's really not so bad! Jay took four days to go to Sicily with a friend he works with. I didn't have the days off, so the guys went together. He had nice weather and saw many sites.

Now we are into April. That means the start of nice weather.... at least we hope! It also means SPRING BREAK! Today is actually my first day of spring break! I took Friday off so Jay and I could go on a long weekend for Easter. We left Thursday night and drove down to Nice, France, which is part of the French Riveria. On the way there, we left Germany, passed through Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland (where we slept in our car for the night), Italy, and finally made it into southern France. It was a nice drive, even though it was long. We toured Nice for the rest of the day on Friday. The Nice coastline...

Then on Saturday we took a tour of Eze and Monaco. Monaco is the second smallest country in the world, after the Vatican. It was about a fifteen minute drive from Nice. Monaco is also one of the richest coutries in the world. Every car that we saw was top of the line. Our tour guide told us that a Mercedes is just an every day car around there. Here's one of many that we saw.

Monte Carlo, the main city in Monaco, is the home to the Formula 1 Race. Our tour guide took us along the whole path, but not quite at the same speed. Here is the start and finish lines.

Saturday evening, we got back to Nice and went back downtown. We ate ice cream with a mother and daughter that we met on the tour. Then we went to the casino with them. We looked around for awhile, then decided we better play a little bit.

Jay gave me 20 euro to play at the Black Jack table. It was a little difficult at first because I don't speak any French. I wasn't really sure what people were saying. I figured out what worked best to communicate with the dealer. A tap on the table met hit me and holding my hand up meant to hold. Afer several rounds, I ended up losing all 20 euro. There was a minimum 10 euro bid, so I was lucky to make it more than two rounds. We walked around for a bit more, but then decided to play some more. Jay handed me another 20 euro. I sat back down at the same table, but in a different spot. I was beside an old man who had nearly a thousand dollars worth of chips in front of him and beside a woman probably in her thirties. Neither of them liked me, perhaps because I had a cheering crowd of three behind me. The old man yelled at me several times. I was hitting when he thought I should be standing. The lady beside me said many things in French that we couldn't understand, but she sure didn't like me! I played for quite awhile and was doing pretty well. I kept asking Jay if I should stop since I had made up the 40 euro we spent. He told me to keep playing! By the end, I had 100 euro's worth of chips! I took them straight to the counter and got my money! What a sweet way to end the night!

On Sunday, we toured Cannes, which is where all the movie stars go. Another really rich town! We didn't quite fit in with our jeans and tennis shoes! We couldn't afford the 22 euro hamburger at the restaurants, so ended up at a McDonalds down the street! It was a beautiful city with a georgous beach! A nice way to end our trip in the south.

We started our drive back home. We stopped in Como, Italy for the night! Another georgous location! The town is at the foot of a huge lake, which sits at the bottom of the mountains. The lake is surrounded by houses on all sides! We drove half way around the lake before calling it quits for the night. We slept in a parking lot in town, then finished our drive home this morning.

It was a fantastic and relaxing trip. This area certainly takes your breath away!

Tonight, we are refueling! The washing machine is going. Our bags are repacked. Camera batteries are charging! All to leave again tomorrow! We fly out in the afternoon to head to Latvia. We'll tour Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia for the rest of the week! We'll be back Sunday, just in time for school to start again on Monday!

Love Letters to Girlfriends

It's like it came out of a movie scene.... writing a love note by candle light.

Jay has a girlfriend he writes back and forth to. She used to live with her family in Schweinfurt, but has since moved back to the states. She is a sweet seven year old. It's been fun to stay in touch with her and her family. Jay loves reading his letters from her to hear about all the fun she has. In tonight's letter, Jay told her how he used to be in gymnastics, just like she is. I love reading his letter before he sends them. I learn some new things about his childhood each time!

Fruit & Flowers for Four Years

I married my best friend four years ago. It was a great day with many great memories. I think back to our wedding day and it makes me smile!

Jay and I decided to do the traditional anniversary gifts each year. They have been so much fun to think of! The first year gift was paper. Jay was heading out to the field the week before our anniversary. He left me a note on a piece of scratch paper to tell me how much he loved me. The second year gift was cotton. Jay was deployed in Afghanistan, so I sent him some cotton underwear! I'm sure it was just what he wanted! The third year was leather! I got Jay a leather baseball glove and Jay got me a leather bound scrapbook.

This year, year four, was fruit and flowers. This was the hardest one to be creative for. This is what we both ended up with.

 

 A basket full of fruit and my favorite flowers!

Jay got a bunch of fruit related treats!

We aren't doing anything special tonight, but hope to this weekend. We have learned not to take our anniversaries for granted since we've missed spending half of them together. We are perfectly content sitting in our chairs next to each other for the night!

Four years..... who would have guessed that we would have accomplished so much and have been to so many places! On our wedding day, I could never have told you where we would be right now! Both of us have worked some great jobs! We have been to some amazing places! We have grown so close, learning lots about each other. Even though it's been hard to be away from our family, spending these four years alone has forced us to create our own foundation. When something challenges us, we have to rely on each other and God to get through it. This has been a great way to start our life together.

Four more years from now.... who knows where we'll be or what we'll be doing. That's the fun part of the Army. You go with the flow and you love it! I can't wait to see what God has in store for Jay and me.

Bringing a piece of Germany home

This weekend Jay and I ventured out to a flea market. We debated about going because that just means we will spend money! There was a hutch there that we saw on the internet and both really liked. We debated about if we really needed it or not. We definitely don't need it over here as our house is too small. We have no room for it. But.... in just five short months we'll be moving out and heading back to the states. It would look great in a house somewhere! We decided to go check it out. We both still liked it once we saw it face to face. The hard part was deciding if it was worth that much money. So many questions went through our minds. Could we find a cheaper one? Should we just wait until we get back home? Would Slumberland be able to sell us something similar? We couldn't decide, so we ended up going for a walk in the small little village. We couldn't wait too long otherwise it would be gone. This stuff sells fast! After several blocks, we decided to go for it! Even if this piece cost us a bit more, it has character and a story behind it! I think we're really going to like it! From now until July, it may be sitting in the middle of the dining room, but someday it will have a good home!

It's My Sister's Birthday

Today my "little" sister turns 32 years old!

Wish I was around to join in on all the celebrating! Sounds like she's making a whole weekend of it! Nicole, hope you have a great time with your friends! Eat some cake for me please!

Hidden Profession

On Friday night, my middle school held a Valentine's dance for the kids. Those in charge asked me about a month ago if I knew of anyone who would be willing to dj. I told them I would check and get back to them. Well, a couple days later I found two great guys that were willing (and even exited)!

Jay and John (youth ministries guru) decided this would be a fun gig for them. They had way too much fun all evening. John was on the mic keeping the kids excited. Jay was on the dance floor half the time keeping them all moving. He even did the dance contest with them and lasted nearly to the end! They dressed up for their job and pulled out the headphones (even though they weren't plugged in to anything) so they looked 'cool'!

These guys definitely have a heart for dealing with teens! It was exciting to watch!

Ironing for the Lt. Gen.

It's not every day that you 'get' to iron for the Lt. Gen. of the Army in Europe! He's coming to Schweinfurt today to have a community forum. Jay and his guys have been prepping all week for his arrival. He has his own flag, which hasn't been used for awhile, so it needed some attention. I spent a lot of time working on three flags, ironing out all the creases. I will suggest when they are done with them this time that they aren't thrown into a ball until the next time!!

We thought the purpose of the visit may be to tell us if our post will be closing soon or not. Unforunately, Lt. Gen. Hertling said that won't be the topic of his visit. He simply wants a question and answer session with the community. Hope he's ready for a lot of questions about the closure!! I'll be interested to hear how it all goes at the end of the day!