Cub Scouts

Well... our little Leo is following in his 'Boy Scout' Daddy and 'Girl Scout' Sister's footsteps and has started in with Cub Scouts... He wasn't that keen on having the face paint put on... hence his expression in this picture!

He earned his Bobcat Patch which is the first step...

Visiting the AFN studios was one of the fun things he got to do... Emma got to come along and join in the fun! They even got to sit in for a bit on one of the AFN radio shows and got to say hello to everyone listening in!

The DJ...

Off to the Commissary to pick out pumpkins and a snack!

Emma has proven quite the little helper since she goes with me to all the meetings! She is so good with younger kids! At least she is in a group setting... if I could only get her to not fight with Leo on a normal basis! :-)

The Road to a Half-Marathon...

Well, I thought my long-distance days were over... but alas! My friend Heather asked me to train with her and as a much needed distraction to Russ leaving, I agreed! UGH! Now the farthest I have run was the Army Ten Miler... which I ended up doing with an injured foot and vowed to never run one again after that... but time apparently changes things. SO! Here you go! The first 10 miles I was such the Rock Star!!!! Mile 11 hit and it became apparent how 'MENTAL' running is! The mile markers of the run were way off, so our GPS watches were saying one thing and the physical mile markers were saying something else. Ouch... also, there was a turn-around at one point during the race so we were thinking it was at one place and it ended up being fairly farther along than we thought... that leads to another big mental block. AND THERE WERE NO T-SHIRTS "proving" that we ran a Half Marathon. That in and of itself is a huge motivational thing believe it or not. So the last 3 miles were pretty tough.

I ran it slowly, but we didn't stop the entire time and I can now say I have run a Half Marathon (13.1 miles) ahem... it was actually 13.5 and all the hoopla at the end had packed up and left by the time we finished... but you know what? WHO CARES!!!!! :-)

My running buddy Heather...

This was the beginning of the race... yes, we kept our sense of humor about being at the very tail end the entire time! The Red Cross guys were right behind us most of the time...
Heather's husband had our kids and drove around to different parts of the course so we were able to have our little cheerleaders meet us just when we needed a boost!
Mile 11... at one point, when the kids saw us they were yelling "hey mom, you are in first place!!!!" why? because to their eyes we were in first because they say no one in front of us... of course that was because we were so far behind everyone else... but hey... again, WHO CARES!
We made it!!!!
My own little cheerleaders! They were so supportive and awesome!!!

I can definitely say I have done it though... it took my knees a few days to recover, but recover they did. Not sure if I will do another, but I am glad I did it!

Let's Start the Countdown!

Russ flew out Thursday morning and after all was said and done he didn't crawl into his cot in Qatar until 4:30 in the morning! Long day but he made it safe and sound... he will be in Qatar for a few days awaiting the transition down (up?) to Iraq so he should be there within a week or so! I got to talk to him today and he is doing well! Here are some shots from the Airport...

St Michael is Russ' patron Saint and I know he is standing guard. God is in control and His Grace and Mercy are limitless! Thanks for all the love and support!

The kids and I and are heading to a fest of some sort at a Castle nearby for the weekend. I will post more pictures soon!

love us!

First Day of School!

Well... we now have a first grader and a third grader!

The line up for classes was a little chaotic but we finally found their teachers! Leo Michael is still at the Elementary School with Mrs. Marksberry!

Then we walk across the street to the Intermediate School for Emma! She has Mrs. Shaver and is in the same class as her good friend Hannah!

We were so glad Daddy could be here for their first day!

The kids rode the bus home like champs!

Both of the kids really liked their new teachers and made a few new friends today!

The Vineyard, The Visit, and the Nice Surprise...

Janet's parents came out for a nice visit at the end of August... which corresponds wonderfully with the culmination of Wine season in Germany. We took a day trip out to the Mosul River Valley and spent the day at the Weingut Sebastiani Vineyards. Alfons Sebastiani is the owner of the vineyard and it has been in his family for generations...

You can see miles and miles of vineyards in the background. The vineyards are only planted on the Southern slopes to maximize the sun.

We sat down with the owners and they let us taste a number of the wines and talked to us about the process of making wine and all the little nuances that go into it.

Then we went down in the cellars where they ferment and bottle everything! So cool!

Alfons and Norman

Well, you can take the Texan out of Texas but you can't take it out of this guy! Pop took the smoked salmon at a restaurant and mashed it all up... but he ate it! :-)

The best part was that Russ was able to fly back through Germany on his way to Iraq. We went to Frankfurt to pick him up on Friday... then spent the night because Sandra and Norman were flying out Saturday morning....

Yeah!!!!! Daddy's home for 5 days!!!!!

It was a fantastic visit topped off by a sweet visit from Russ! What a fantastic week!

Prep and Farewell...

We had a little neighborhood farewell at the local 'Burgerhaus' for Russ. It was a great mix of old friends (Candy and Jello Pravecek who we have been friends with since England) and newly met people in our neighborhood!

Russ and Jello
The Santoyos, the Palmas, Jay Winslow and his pole (Cassie was still out of town) and me.

The gals... Candy, Lisa, me Elise and Esther
The guys... Jello (Lawrence is his real name), Russ, Miro, Anthony and Jason

Russ starting to lay out all the stuff he has to pack...

it looks like camouflage threw up all over our living room!

all into 4 tidy little bags! We leave for the airport tomorrow morning. He will be at Fort Dix for a month then (yeah... we just found out...) that he will travel back through Ramstein on his way to Iraq so we will get to see him for a few days at the end of August!

Another Nanny Visit

Deanna came out for a few days to see us and get a little taste of 'little America'...

We went to the new Macaroni Grill that just opened here on the base... Leo had a little fun with straws being everything from a Walrus to Wolverine!

It was a great visit!