Latest happenings of B

We had a guest speaker come to talk to us. She wrote the book Heroes at Home. It was good and fun to be with friends- where we are all dealing with the same stuff. The first two pics are of that night.

The las pic makes me giggle. We went out to coffee after the main body (roughly 400 soldiers) deployed in Nov. We have a favorite coffee shop in town that reminds us of a Starbucks in America (except the food and coffee are totally different and no one speaks English really). The 4 of us were sitting here like typical Americans all playing on our Iphones. Hooking to Yahoo messenger, so we could be available if our men came on line! It is these moments that make life bearable during hard times like deployments and girls like this that get you through!

Lee's Company Patch

Here is the holiday version of the company patch for Lee's unit. We found an awesome person to alter the Joker hat for us and add the snowflakes- awesome right?

Lee's Happenings~

Well here is an update on our man! He spent Thanksgiving in Kuwait with the rest of the Jokers (no- really that is their company name). Seeing the pic above made me SO happy to see him looking like his normal self...

He arrived in Balad Iraq (about an hour north of Baghdad) on Saturday. He is doing well and says that the post is kind of overwhelming, there is definitely a lot for them to do. He has been flying a lot and at least that helps time pass-

Full on Craziness

So... just when I got settled that we were doing a Germany Christmas, things have changed! Hai and I are heading back to California for 22 days! We are flying out on the 8th of December (moms birthday) and will return on the morning of the 31st. It was a last minute decision and a long story... but needless to say I am excited!

Things are crazy though because in the 12 days between booking tickets and leaving, I have things planned everyday except 1! I have FRG meetings, Spouses Club meetings, Dr. Appt for Hais, Dr Appt for me, a trip to the Czech Republic for shopping, Hais birthday party, the Dinkelsbuhl Christmas Market, Vet appt for Bane and lunches! Crazy right? Somewhere in there I have to pack!

Hais turned 7 on this past Saturday. Cannot believe my little girl is that old already. I am reminded of how big she is daily though. She is reading like a superstar. She is a math wizard! It is nice now that I can call her from my cell phone downstairs while I am walking Bane to go to the window and unlock the car door cause I need something out of it. It is hard enough these days to go up and down 3 flights of stairs several times a day- so it is so funny to be able to have a kiddo old enough to help a worn out momma!! lol

On her birthday we went to the Mannheim Christmas Market... pictures are at top of the blog. We had a good time. It was a lot of fun. It was also interesting for the 4 of us women (and 6 kiddos ranging in age from 3-14) to drive the 1 1/2 hr to Mannheim and find our way into the city to find the market. Really it was simple but still quite an adventure needless to say!!!

Oh my goodness- an update<3

Well after a conversation with Holls, I decided it was time to pick back up with my blogging. For the last year I have wanted to get back into it. It just feels like there is so much to add and it is overwhelming. I feel like I need to go back and add all that stuff before getting to the new stuff.
Well I decided that I would start here at the present time and if I get chances give some mini blogs as I can about stuff that happened in the "gap."

So... a lot to update today.

*Biggest news right now--- we are 19 weeks pregnant. Yeah! Hai will finally be a big sister! We are due the beginning of April.

*Lee is deployed again:( We dropped him off this past Sunday night and he is currently in Kuwait. He is on his way to Iraq. The start of another year.

*Hai is turning 7 in 2 weeks. What a big big girl she has become. I want to do a whole seperate posting on her cause there is just so much to say about our princess!

That is it for now. I will elaborate on it all later. It is another gloomy day in Katterbach and I am going to take advantage of the opportunity to stay inside all day and work on some homework and enjoy the time with my kiddo.

Here's to a new beginning~

Austria 1/30/09

We went into Innsbruck Austria the end of January and I am just catching up on getting stuff on here~

We stopped at the Swavorski Crystal Factory. While they just may be colored glass, it is still simply gorgeous!

This was the entrance to the shopping area, it was really neat, especially seeing that the waterfall coming out of the mouth was completely frozen!

Munich and the famous HofBrau House- 1/31/09

Me and my Indian friend. We went into Munich the end of January and just am finally getting these pics up!

Lee and Rita with a little bit of beer

For being a crazy chaotic place, it is really pretty!

On the U-Bahn from our hotel to downtown Munchen (Munich)

Trip to Nurenburg 2/21/09

Hais and Phoebe on the train

The girls in their helicopter

Their helicopter in from of the Cathedral

A really cool drum band

Hai loved it!

A farmers market in the square

Kim and Phoebe at dinner

One of the platters

Lee with the other platter

A shot for my mom- a German starbucks!

So, yesterday we decided to go into Nurenburg for dinner. We have gone to Nurenburg a lot, it is only 40 minutes away and it is where the IKEA is, where Hitlers stadium is and also a cool downtown section to walk in. This time we took the train. It is the first time I have taken a train since moving here in Oct.
So, we followed Kim, Jay and the kids down to the station and got our tickets. It cost us 28 Euro ($35) for all 8 of us to get on the train. Buying the ticket was super easy and reading the schedule was also. We got on the 3:50 train. It took roughly 40 minutes to get there and it was so nice to go through all the little towns that were along the way. It was Wickelsgrueth, Rostal, Sachsan etc.
The best part, where we got off the train was directly downtown in the walled city where you want to be at! So we walked across the street and into town. This week is Fasching, which is Germanys Halloween. So there were some little rides in town that we took the girls on. They all rode on a little helicopter and had a blast. There was even this awesome drum band that was all dressed up for Fasching out in the square. It was so fun to watch and the kids were mesmerized!
Then we walked a little further and found a great place to eat. It was great prices and really really good food! After dinner we went through town. Kim and I got some great scarves for less than 4 Euro. Then we grabbed some Starbucks on our way back to the station. I have not had Starbucks since I left the U.S. So it was fabulous to have some! We got on the 7:50 train back to Ansbach. That was pretty interesting as the 8 of us scurried through the station and made it on the train with 2 minutes to spare. No easy feat with 2 six year olds and a 3 year old. After a short 40 minute ride home, it was a quick 2 minute drive to our apartment! We were in our house by 9 pm- great night!

Horrible blogger!

So I have been a horrible blogger! There is so much to fill you in on...
~Christmas~
~New Years~
~Girl Scouts~
~Cheerleading~
~Health~
~Cousin visiting~
~New school semester~
~Trip to Graf~
~Upcoming trips planned- Normandy and England!!~

Now I just need to find the time~
I promise I am working on it and maybe this list will be the reminder I need to do these blogs!