Micah and Brittany

December

2012-02-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

December came and went. It flew by and I barely remember a thing. School let out for Christmas break and when I woke up the next day it was already January! Okay, it didn't exactly happen that fast, but it sure does feel like it did. To kick of Christmas break Luke attended a Karate Tech seminar to earn his green belt. It was kinda lousy because it landed on the same day as the squadron children's Christmas party. Micah and I split up and he took Luke to the seminar and I took Tucker to the Christmas party.
After the seminar we made cookies. For some reason when I uploaded pictures the website put them in whatever order it wanted to, so I'll do the best I can.
This was actually Thanksgiving day. We always put our tree up on Thanksgiving and to be honest come Christmas day I'm ready for it to come down! Tucker enjoys putting on ornaments.
Tucker surprised me by voluntarily sitting on Santa's lap! He jumped right up and couldn't wait to get his gift from Santa. I'm a bit surprised he didn't recognize the book he got considering he picked it out the day before.
While we were at the Christmas party this was what Luke was doing. Here he is going over his form with the other orange belts while the parents looked on. The seminar lasted 3 hours.
Luke waiting patiently for his next instruction.
And we're jumping back to making cookies.
The week before Christmas break is watch week in karate class. All sports and youth activities take the two weeks off during Christmas break, which is very nice. Luke got to fight twice in class and won both of his matches. He's getting so good.
Professor Jorge didn't order enough belts, well actually there were a few kids who didn't sign up in time that showed up to the seminar, so Luke had to wait until the next class to receive his green belt. He was very proud to get to show it off. Also, you probably can't tell, but Luke is missing a tooth! The Thursday before school let out his class went on a field trip to the PAX terminal and he was given lunch which consisted of really hard bread. It was that morning that he told me his tooth was loose. I thought it would take a good two weeks before that tooth was ready to come out, but after eating hard bread when the kids returned to class that tooth came right out! He received a dollar a was a bit disappointed. How much did he think he would get for that little thing anyways?
A few days before Christmas we open gifts from our family and friends back home. Luke was very patiently waiting to open gifts where Tucker had been asking every day to open them. It was just killing him that they were all there under the tree staring at him and he couldn't do a thing about it.
A gift from Mimi and Papa Pogue.
And we're back to watch week at karate.
A gift from Mimi. Tucker is obsessed with Jaws, well all sharks actually.
Christmas morning. We heard the boys talking in the hall discussing the fact that Santa had come and if they should wake mom and dad up or just go play. A moment later our door opened and two very excited boys came in to tell us how much stuff was under the tree.
Luke had a Star Wars Christmas. EVERYTHING was Star Wars.
Here are all the Lego's that we worked on Christmas day. Those are Star Wars Lego's.
And here is a picture of Tucker opening gifts from Mimi and Papa. Also in the month of December our spouses group fed the squadron, made cookies for the squadron, volunteered at Project Rudolph and helped feed the Fisher House. We also planned our squadron Christmas Party and attended it. It was one busy December!

A Few Recents

2011-12-12T04:36:00.000-08:00

Kinder Spiel

2011-12-12T04:14:00.000-08:00

Luke and Tucker's friend Noah celebrated his 4th birthday party at Kinder Spiel and the boys had the best time! The party was Ratatouille themed after his favorite cartoon. Noah's mom brought aprons for all of the kids to decorate and white chef hats for the kids to wear. After decorating their aprons and putting on their hats they got to decorate cup cakes.
Tucker decorated his apron with stickers and markers.
Luke enjoyed decorating his apron but wasn't very interested in his chef's hat.
I convinced Luke to put on his hat for one picture. After three takes I got a pretty good one.
Here are all the toppings the kids got to choose from to decorate their cupcakes.
Daddy helped Tucker not make too big of a mess on the table.
Luke didn't need help, he knew exactly what he was doing.
We haven't figured out why he can't smile for the camera.
Open wide!

Tucker took one bite and decided it looked better than it actually tasted.
This rat is the mascot of Kinder Spiel, he came around and wished all of the birthday kids a very happy birthday.

Fall Feast

2011-12-12T04:00:00.001-08:00

Luke's class combined with three other classes and celebrated fall feast. It took place at 5:00 pm in the schools cafeteria and it was a potluck provided by parents. Me and Luke made his headband for the program the night before and had the best time doing it. The kids got up and sang songs about turkey's and the different seasons. It was really cute.
Here is Luke with his best buddy Brett.
Tucker obviously had a great time at the program.
Luke and Brett with their super cool head bands.
Here is Luke with his class. Cute right?

Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T07:35:00.001-07:00

This year the 721st AMXS, which is Micah's squadron, had their first Trunk or Treat. It turned out pretty well for the first one. Nine families decorated trunks and tons of candy was donated. There was a decent turn out as far as kids went. We plan on doing this every year and hope that it will continue to grow, it was a great way to start of the day. Trick or Trunk lasted from 2:00 to 4:00 with actual base trick or treating beginning at 5:00. The kids enjoyed a costume contest and a free pumpkin along with getting to hit up every trunk for candy multiple times. I think at last count Tucker went to each trunk 15 times! There was a trunk contest for the families and ours came in Second! We received a 75 dollar gift card for all of our hard work and by our I mean Micah.
Family photo in front of our fabulous trunk!
James, Tucker and Luke. I really wish I had gotten more pics throughout the night of our kiddos.
Micah asked one thing of me all night, NOT to call him Edward.

Our family with our second place trunk.
I couldn't get a picture of Luke, but here is Tuck with his stash. Not too shabby. We will NEVER eat all of this candy!

Birthday Extravaganza!

2011-11-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

The worst part of having birthday is that you do not get to take many pictures because there is so much to do! We had the boys birthdays, Luke 6 and Tucker 4, at Yaba Doo this year. It's a great place for parties and can accommodate a LOT of people. We had 19 kids and almost 2 adults per child.
Here are a few of their friends watching them blow out their cup cakes.
Opening a few gifts. I'm thankful to whom ever took these pics, it was not me.
Here is a smiling Luke with Iron man. Sadly I have zero of Tucker opening gifts. They had a great party and so much fun with their friends. Big thanks to everyone who made their day special!

Prague

2011-11-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

For the boys birthday this year we took them to Prague in the Czech Republic.
Crossing the border!
From the top of the astronomical clock. We got an incredible view of Old Town.
Tucker wanted to climb over the edge and look down. Luke wanted to get back in the elevator and go back down. I think one of our children may be a little scared of heights.
View of Old Town Square.
View of Old Town Square.
Walking down the clock.
The Astronomical clock, I wish I had gotten a picture with better light. The clock was first installed in 1410 and is the 3rd oldest astronomical clock in the world. It is the only one still working.
We stayed in a flat instead of a hotel. The boys really enjoyed their bed and after the 6 hour drive had no interest in site seeing.
Wenceslas Square.
St. Vitus Cathedral.
Micah was trying to get a good picture and Tucker was trying to see the pic as Micah was taking it.
The backside of St. Vitus Cathedral.
One of the altars in the church. It was just a little creepy.
Changing of the guards at Prague Castle.
A marionette store.
While eating at the Hard Rock Cafe our car got booted! I felt like Lightning McQueen. This is what happens when you park in an illegal spot.
Wenceslas Square.
The Charles Bridge. On July 9, 1357 at 5:31 am Charles IV personally laid the first foundation stone for the bridge. This bridge replaced the Judith bridge that was destroyed in a flood. Until 1841 it was the only way to cross the Vltava river to get to Prague Castle from Old Town. I believe it is also the oldest stone bridge in Europe.
View of St. Vitus Cathedral from Old Town.
I have absolutely no idea what this is, but we parked next to it and it looked cool.
One of the bridge towers of the Charles Bridge.
One of the 30 statues on the St. Charles Bridge.
Micah and the boys on the bridge.
Me and Micah.
Micah and the boys.
Bridge Tower.

The Old Jewish Cemetery was the last sight to see before heading home. The boys and Micah sat this one out and I got to walk through it alone. The cemetery lies in the Jewish quarter of Prague. The oldest tombstone dates 1439. There are approximately 12,000 tombstones. The graves are on top of graves and it is estimated that there could be as many as 100,000 burials in all.

Random Recents

2011-11-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

I love these photos. They all make me smile.
Luke made these in class. He refers to them as his spectacles.
Tucker, Joselyn, Lucas and Rylan as super heroes.
They love playing video games.
At one of Luke's soccer games.

Opening Day

2011-11-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

September 11th was the opening day ceremonies of the youth sports.
Luke's team.
My big boy before the last game of the season. I know it says opening ceremonies, but I wanted to use this photo. :)
Here's Luke's team during the parade.
There were quite a few games for the kids to play.
Luke had a ball playing games with Micah. I wasn't feeling well so me and Tucker stayed home.
What opening day ceremony isn't complete without storm troopers?
Here's Luke's first game. They won.
Half time.
Luke performing a goal kick.
Saying good game.
The bouncy castles are always please the crowd.
Isn't he the cutest little thing.

Gartenschau

2011-11-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

Me and the boys went to the Gartenschau today in Kaiserslautern. My friend Keeley was taking her little girl Hailey and asked if we'd like to join them. We hadn't been yet and I really thought the boys would enjoy it, it's a dinosaur park! It was a little special because they had some really cool fairy tail creations made of pumpkins!
Here is the entrance to the park.
Tucker refused to get in the photo.
Cinderella's carriage.
Hansel and Gretal.
I just thought this was amusing.
Our three daredevils.
Another group photo.
One of me and the boys.
Keeley's friend met us there with her two little ones.
So cool.

Luke's an Orange Belt!

2011-11-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Luke got his orange belt! Luke spent the summer in the states so he missed 6 months of classes, but when he came back he was very focused. He started his classes back in August and was ready to test on September 18th.
Here is Luke before we left for the test.
After testing Professor Jorge presented Luke with his new belt.
Bowing to Professor Jorge.
A photo with Professor Jorge.
A photo with Master J. We are so proud of you Luke!! Keep up the great work. Green belt here we come!!

Luke's First Week of Kindergarten!

2011-09-09T04:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend was so busy with the Bernkastle-Keus wine fest on Saturday and the Fun Forest on Sunday. We looked forward to a relaxing Monday (Labor Day) and an exciting Tuesday. On Monday we took the boys to the B/X for lunch and to see the movie Cars 2...for the 3rd time. It just came out here over the weekend and the kids wanted to see it...again. After our movie we picked up a few last minute things for Luke because he was starting school Tuesday! Monday night the boys got baths, their teeth brushed, and they were in bed around 9. I stayed up to make chicken salad, because that is what Luke wanted for lunch tomorrow. I didn't get much sleep Monday night, I was so excited, like it was MY first day of school. 6:45 came and I got up and made wildberry muffins for Luke. At 7 Micah went in to wake Luke up. Micah had to lay in his bed and scratch his back while he complained at how it was too early to get up.

Luke: I can't get my eyes to stay open dad.
Micah: Keep trying.
Luke: My body is not built for early mornings.
Micah: Hmmm.

After Luke finally got up I gave him his clothes to get dressed and he finally made it to the kitchen for breakfast.
Tucker had no problem getting up and eating muffins.
Luke had already finished off one muffin and was posing with this one for the picture. While Luke ate I fixed his lunch while he gave me specific instructions on what he wanted. Chicken salad, crackers, carrots & grapes, and jello. Oh yeah, and two chocolate chip cookies. After he finished his muffins he set off to the bathroom to brush his teeth while I got Tucker ready and Micah got ready to walk him to school.
Micah wasn't happy that his little boy was off to school.
Here he is ready for his first day.
It wasn't nearly as cold as Tucker made it out to be.
Luke speed walking to get there.
Micah was able to catch up with him and give him some last words of wisdom before his first day.
Luke waiting for the doors to the cafeteria to open. The doors open at 8 am and the kids go to their assigned lunch table, each class has one. At 8:10 the bell rings and the teachers take the kids to their rooms.
Luke got his name tag.
One more hug before we had to say goodbye.
Luke getting instructions before going into the cafeteria.
On the way home Tucker threw himself to the ground and yelled, "I can't take it any more. I can't walk!" Really? Micah volunteered to carry him the rest of the way home. We live 7 minutes from the school.
This is where Micah picked him up. See the second pattio on the right? That is where we live. He just couldn't make it that far.
This is Luke's stairwell. We got there about 15 minutes early so Tucker could play. School gets out at 2:40.
There he is about to come out.

There's my big boy!

Walking home. The only information Luke would give me about his first day of school was that he liked his lunch. So here at Ramstein Elementary all the kids start school a week ago except for the kinder kids. Half of them started on Tuesday, which is when Luke started. The second half started on Wednesday. Luke got Wednesday off. I think that is a little silly, but hey, whatever works. Tuesday night I got a call from my girlfriend Summer who wanted to know if the boys and I would like to do lunch on Wednesday. Sumer has two kids too. Joselyn who is 5 and also started on Tuesday and Rylan who is 3. Of course we wanted to get together for lunch. Sumer and I both had Dr. appointments on Tuesday in the early am, so we planned to meet around 11. She gave me a call before we were supposed to meet to see if we would rather see a movie. She told me that Cars 2 was out and wondered if the boys would like to see it. Really? Again? So we saw Car 2 for the 4th time.
Thursday morning and my little man was ready for day two.
A hug goodbye for dad.
Here he is ready to go. I walked Luke to school alone today. Tucker didn't want to go, so Micah stayed. After I dropped Luke off I was staying for the boo hoo kindergarten breakfast. The principal called it the WOO HOO breakfast. It was really nice of the PTA to put it on so parents could meet.

I came home to see Micah and Tucker back asleep on the couch. I woke them up to get ready because we had another lunch date at 11. My dear friend Brittany Humphry's brother and his girlfriend Mariel had been in Israel on vacation and were also spending a week in Germany before heading home. Since they were only an hour away we decided it would be fun to do lunch. It was so nice seeing them. We had schnitzel at a restaurant called Paradox. Afterward we took them for spaghetti eis at Dolomiti's.

When we were finished it was time to pickup Luke. Luke was much more talkative about his second day of school.

Luke: Some of the kids were mean to me today.
Me: Really?
Luke: Well, not all the kids. Just the girls.
Me: Why?
Luke: Well, not all the girls. Just one.
Me: Why?
Luke: Something about drooling boys and girls rule or something.
Me: sigh. Did she say girls rule and boys drool?
Luke: Yeah. Can I say boys rock and girls suck?
Me: (surprised) No. Actually Luke that's not a very nice work and you really shouldn't say it at school.
Luke: Oh, okay. Can I say boys rule and girls drool?
Me: Yeah, you can say that.

We got home and I told Luke to get changed because he had to go to karate. He gets out of school at 2:40 and karate is at 3:30. He informed me that he wanted me to take him out of karate. I am not taking him out of karate! He didn't want to leave his toys, he just got home! Then I dropped the big bomb on Luke.

Me: Grab a change of clothes, I have football practice after karate. (That's right. I play powder puff for Micah's squadron.)
Luke: NO!!!
Me: Joselyn will be there. (Summer also plays football.)
Luke: She will?! Okay. I'll go.

Does someone have a crush?? We got home around 7, finally. The boys got baths, brushed their teeth, I cleaned their ears, trimmed their nails, read a book, said a prayer, and off to bed they went.

Friday was about the same as far as how the morning went. Micah took Luke and picked him up today. Micah told Luke he couldn't play the Wii until he told us ALL about his day. This is what we learned. He had a fire drill and learned to play hop scotch. He at all his lunch and played on the playground. And, a girl in his class likes him. Apparently every time Luke looks at her she giggles. He knows she likes him. But, it's NOT his girlfriend. Oh how I love Fridays. Here's to the weekend!

Fun Forest

2011-09-09T01:57:00.000-07:00

The Fun Forest has to be one of the coolest places we have been since visiting Germany. We almost didn't make it, we didn't get home and in bed from Bernkastle-Keus until after midnight, and everyone met at the shoppette at 9 am Sunday morning. Well we drug ourselves out of bed and woke our poor children up and made it to the shoppette in time to go. I am so glad we did because we had an amazing time with the same group of people we attended the wine fest with the day before. Micah works in the 721st AMXS and until last month has worked the flightline. The group of people he works with are amazing! They get together a lot outside of work and have all become good friends and like family to us. Rachel Martin, who is leaving Germany next spring, planning this trip to the Fun Forest. The Fun Forest is 8 obstacle courses that are in the trees. You are required to wear a harness, helmet and gloves, take a quick class on safety, and complete a "beginners" course before you are allowed to go to the obstacle course. Once you have done all of this you are on your own. Tucker was too young to do the kids course, which stunk, but Luke was able to. Luke was actually 1 month too young, so we may have told a small fib on his information paperwork so that he could participate.
Here are Rachel and I after getting our harnesses. Although we did take lots of pics not all of them were really good, and my internet is running a little slow. I tried to put the best pics together to try and show how cool these courses were.
This is our group getting some instruction before taking to the "beginners" obstacle course. I did not get pics of this because Micah and I did it together. Luke had to go with Aidan, a friend of ours little boy, to get his instruction on the kids course. The guy talking to us took Tucker over to two trees where he hung a hammock and pushed Tuck in it while Micah and I completed the beginners course.
And, of course, every time I go through pictures on our camera there is a self photo of Micah.
Micah and I had to take turns watching Tuck so the other of us could do some obstacles. Here I am on the number 1 course.
This isn't a great picture, but the course is up there in the trees if you can make it out.
Here is Luke after he got his harness on and was getting ready for his instruction.
This is the kids course.
A friend of ours, Krystal, who is Aidan's mom, is VERY pregnant and was not able to do the obstacles. She was super sweet and kept an eye on Luke while he mastered job of hooking and unhooking and rehooking (I know it's a lot of hooking) his harness straps to the cables. Once he got the hang of it there was NO getting him off the kids obstacle course. We had to bed him to take a break and come eat and get a drink.
This is him going through a net section with Krystal watching.
Here he is going across floating blocks of wood. This was so incredible, if you look closely you can see two red cords hooked above him to the wire. He had to hook himself and rehook himself every time he finished a part of the obstacle course while leaving one hook always attached. It was so impressive to watch him do this every time without ever messing up. It was also incredible to watch him go through these obstacles with such each and balance, I know he has a harness and he can't "really" fall, but his NEVER did! On a side note Tucker got really bored of watching and getting to do nothing. And, if you know Tucker, you know that if you take your eyes off him for 2 seconds he's gone and you can't find him. Well I made that mistake at the tent while eating and by the time I found him he was exactly where Luke is standing doing this obstacle course with NO harness! This may not seem like a big deal, but the area where Luke is in the picture is about 5 feet off the ground and those blocks are just hooked by cords and move every time you move. I could not believe how well Tuck was doing and I really wished he could have done it too.
This is Luke switching the hooks to go on to the next obstacle.
Here Luke is crossing the net section again.
Here is he climbing to the top.
He is going through that tunnel.
And now down the rock wall.
Across the moving platform, which is about 4 inches wide.
About the only thing Tuck could do was grab hold of the zip line, pick his feet up and swing. He thought this was so cool! A few times he let go with one hand to throw "webs" because he thought he was Spiderman.
Here Luke is harnessing himself to the zip line. This was by far his favorite part.
Here he goes!
Here is Tucker playing in the hammock.
Okay, so some of the older, but young kids, quit the obstacle course due to pure exhaustion. when this happened the place was pretty busy and the few workers were forced to pay attention to groups in need of their assistance. Luke begged and begged, so we took one of the younger kids harness and put it on Luke and took him over to the adult side. Now the reason he couldn't do the adult side is not because he was incapable, but because he was too short to reach most of the wires. So, we took him the the "beginners" course, which was NOT difficult, but a very short practice course. The same one me and Micah had to do before we were allowed to do the real thing. Pics to come in a minute.
Here is our family of climbers.
I know I told you there would be pics of Luke, but here are some of Micah. Do you see that platform? The one way up in the trees? That is where Micah is. He is getting ready to do the zip line across the lake. It was so awesome to do!
There he goes!
If you see that little white speck, that is Micah. It was one of the coolest things ever, once you get past the difficulty of jumping off the platform, of course. :)
This was our spread. There were about 25 of us and Rachel and Jhared brought brats and hamburgers and grilled out for everyone. The rest of us brought sides and we had a great lunch.
Tucker really enjoyed hanging out with the guys. Here he is bouncing Dustin on the ropes.
Here Dustin is doing Tucker push-ups.

Here are the pics of Luke on the adult practice course. The group behind him is getting instruction on what to do. Doesn't he look like a pro?
He finished the first section and smiled with confidence.
Here is is going across again with Micah in the background following.
Luke was able to stand on strategically placed blocks to hook himself to different cords. I couldn't believe he understood how to do this, the adult hooks were much more complicated and had to be locked and unlocked every time you moved one.
At the end of the practice course there was a zip line. It wasn't as big as the one going over the lake, but it was much larger than the kid one. Another side note, Micah came back across the lake using the zip line. After making it back there is a small obstacle and two other zip lines to get you to the bottom. When he made it to the last zip line the platform was about 10 feet off the ground. Bill Metz, one of the men in our group, lifted Luke up to the platform where Micah was and he got to do a huge zip line. He was so excited. And we are so lucky we did not get caught!

Bernkastel-Keus

2011-09-09T01:04:00.000-07:00

FESTIVALS! One of the best parts of Germany are ALL of the amazing festivals. Festivals begin in the fall and last through Christmas. This past weekend we spent Saturday at the Bernkastel-Keus Mittlemosel Wein Festival and had the best time with friends. People drink in Germany...a lot. They like it so much they have these festivals revolved around drinking! You pay 4 euro for a glass of wine at one of the many booths you come across. Two euro is a down payment for the glass and two euro for the wine. You keep your glass all day and refill it at different booths for around two euro per drink. At the end of the day you can turn your glass in and get two euro back, or you can keep it as a souvenir like we do. :)
This is the Mosel River. The side we are on has the carnival rides and booths selling different random German goods. They sell anything from carnival food (brats, pork steak sandwiches, etc.) to scarfs and lawn ornaments. This is where we watched the firework show that took place at 9 pm. In the distance you see a bridge, on the other side of the bridge is more food and most of the wine booths.
This is the view from the bridge looking over the Mosel.
When I said they sell random goods like yard ornaments this is what I meant. What cracked me up about this particular vendor was that some of his barrels said Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey on them.
Here is our only family photo we got while there and you can see the castle in the background. They shot fireworks from the castle which was really cool. I wish we had had time to tour the castle, but there was too many other things to do.
Here are a few of the guys we went to the festival with. By this time we had lost a few members of our group. From left to right Jhared Hoffman, Micah, (the only person holding a coke and not a beer) Shannon Lambert, Kyle Stryker and Kyle McWilliams.
And a few of the girls. Bre McWilliams holding Aubrey, Katy Stryker holding Lilly, Rachel Martin holding Payton (who belongs to Bre) and Me holding my purse. :)
This is one of the many alleys in the village. This alley opened up into a square where a band was playing.
Luke is in the blue, Luke Stryker in the red and Payton McWilliams in the blue tank. During the last song the band played a Congo line formed and some random old lady grabbed Luke Stryker and made him participate. When the line came around the second time the same old lady got out of line and came over to grab my Luke who ducked behind me and avoided being grabbed. It was hillarious! Luke was not about to do ANY dancing at this party.
Normally I am the one with the camera taking the pics, but here is one of the very few pics I am in.
Tucker didn't miss an opportunity to throw webs on anyone who passed by.
A view of the village from the bridge.
A photo of some of the vendor booths.
Luke and Tuck took a pony ride.
And they rode the Himalaya, which they call the Cheetah, 4 times!

No More Training Wheels

2011-09-06T02:55:00.000-07:00

The boys BOTH got their training wheels off! Luke is 5 and we really should have done this sooner, we just haven't had a place to do it. We are now living on base and have a double basketball court beside us and it was the perfect place to learn how to ride. Luke took to riding with no training wheels pretty quickly. He was a little timid, but after about 30 minutes we were able to talk him into going around the block. On our trip around the block he ran into a dumpster. This made him a little angry, (I don't know why, it's not like it wasn't HUGE and hard not to miss) but he didn't want to get back on the bike. He started walking away and Tucker ran to Luke's bike as fast as he could and tried to get on it! We got Tucker back on his own bike and convinced Luke to try again. Once we got home we put our bikes away and for about 2 hours listened to Tucker tell us that he CAN ride a bike with no training wheels and he'll show me. So Luke didn't want to come back out, but I decided to try with Tucker. Micah took the training wheels off and I took him to the basketball court. Micah tried to convince me I was crazy for trying, but Tucker assured both of us that he could do it. Sure enough he got it on the first try!
This isn't the actual day he learned, but Micah caught this of picture of Tucker riding around on the basketball court. He's such a big boy. He got his training wheels off and learned to swim with no life jacket in the same summer.
Here is Luke cruising around too. Luke has gotten so good he is even going with Micah to the skate park and riding the ramps.
Here is Luke's new school. I know this doesn't really go with this blog, but this is where it's going. :) Ramstein Elementary School. The school is more of a campus in that it has 4 buildings. Luke will be in building 904, stairwell B, room 106. For ever activity, gym, lunch, spanish, art, they go to another building. He even has to take "Host Nation" it's designed to teach the kids about the country they are living in. All the military schools provide this class when stationed outside of the US, I think that is pretty cool. There are about 15 kinder teachers and roughly 20 kids per class. Luke starts September 6th.
Here Luke is at his "meeting with the teacher." Mrs. Cepeda is her name and she is from the Philippines, and she is so sweet. I'm so excited for Luke, he is going to love school.
After orientation we decided to take the boys to see Mr. Popper's Penguins. And, we had the theater all to ourselves!

A Little Longer

2011-08-20T22:40:00.001-07:00

Our "One Last Hoorah" got a little extended. It's always hard when you make the rounds and say goodbye to everyone, pack up your family and leave only to turn around and come right back again. This is exactly what we did. We headed to the airport for an emotional, as always, goodbye. It's always difficult leaving when your kids are having so much fun. There are lots of tears and family to see us off. This year we got to the airport only to realize we had forgotten Luke's backpack, i.e. DVD player, DS, movies, etc. My brother Jackie ran home to get it for us and in record time, although it felt to us like he took forever. We always arrive at the airport with just enough time to check backs and get to the airplane, I hate long goodbyes. This one was the worst! The line was so long to go through security and we had to wait a little longer for that back pack! The batteries on my camera died and this is the only picture I got before we left.
Tucker and Beana. We arrived in Baltimore and hung out at the airport for 5 hours waiting to find out if we could catch a ride on the rotator. It was a no go. We caught a ride to a hotel and stayed the night. There was no plane going out the next day so we had to wait...story of our lives when flying Space A. After not even getting close to getting on the second plane Micah flew to Dover to help. Dover is an hour and a half drive, so the boys and I rented a car and went and got him. We spent one night in Dover and headed back to Baltimore. We didn't get on the plane...again. We decided to try flying out of Dover, afterall there were 7 planes going out and opposed to the one in Baltimore we thought we had a better chance. Well turns out that Baltimore flight we would have gotten on and most of the planes from Dover scratched. The ones that didn't we didn't get on anyways. So here we are driving back and forth from Baltimore to Dover trying to catch a ride home...not a lot of fun. My kids are troopers. They are the BEST travelers I have ever seen. We were able to fill our time with a little fun. My camera with dead batteries managed to catch a few shots of our 2 weeks in Baltimore/Dover.
We took the boys to the Funland at the beach.
They rode lots of rides. We did this twice. Once just me and the boys while we waited on daddy's plane and the second with Micah. They deserved all the fun we could squeeze in.
We hit the watering hole in Dover. I really wish we could have done this more than once, the kids LOVE it.
For mine and Micah's anniversary, 7 years, we took the boys to their first professional baseball game. The Orioles Vs. Reds. Luke loved it and Tucker loved the cotton candy. He like it so much we got it twice. We also made it to the inner harbor in Baltimore and took in the sights to finish off our day. While "stuck" in Baltimore we caught 3 movies at the mall and found other ways to fill our time. Our hotel had a pool so we swam a lot.

After two weeks of not getting home we decided to call it quits. Micah was out of leave and we were tired. Micah came home with us for a day and a half to visit with his family before purchasing a ticket home. It was great he got to see his family and visit with everyone it just wasn't quite long enough. We said our goodbyes to daddy and he was off to the airport without us. The boys and I settled in for the long haul, we had no idea how long it would be until we were going to make it home again.

While I wasn't the happiest at having to go back the boys were thrilled! Something amazing happened when we returned home. TUCKER LEARNED TO SWIM! Tuck wouldn't even jump in the water because he didn't want to get his face wet and he learned to swim! Once he figured out the whole 'holding your breath thing' the miraculous happened. He WANTED to learn to swim.
And there is the proof. The first time he jumped in I had to run and get my dad who had been trying all summer to get him to jump in. I wish I had had a camera to capture the look of astonishment on dads face.
And of course once we figured out the whole 'swimming thing' who could stop us now? That Tuck surprised us all this summer. While I was less than thrilled about not getting to go home this made the trip worth while.
My dear friend Jennifer Metaxas Conway came out quite a few times with her brood and my boys had the best time playing with her kiddos in the pool. We enjoyed the end of the summer swim dates.
Here are Luke and two of her boys Seth and Eli showing how well they swim under water.

I was sitting at my grandparents kitchen table watching my boys play in mamaw's toy drawer when my papaw asked me a question that changed how my summer would end. The very same day I called Baltimore and asked about flights and the gentlemen told me it would most likely be mid September before we could make it home. Of course this means we wait it our or purchase tickets home. Did I mention on August 1st we were moving on base?

Oh, back to my grandparents kitchen table. My papaw asked me if I had the money would I fly home or stay the rest of the summer and fly by military rotator? I assured him if I had the money I would ABSOLUTELY fly home. I missed Micah and my own bed. The kids missed their toys. I missed spaghetti eis! Papaw said to me, "Well, go home and buy your tickets. I've got the money in my pocket, you just tell me how much you need." I could not believe it. My grandfather has always had a huge heart and been very generous. It didn't matter what you needed if you asked him he would give it to you. My dad had told me this years ago. And I had watched my grandfather give everything he had to anyone who was willing to ask for help. But this, this was crazy. My grandparents were offering to buy my tickets. I didn't know what to say, I wanted to cry. I had just researched tickets that morning and knew there was no way I could afford them.

I gave him the biggest hug and grabbed my kids and ran home (across the street) to ask my dad if it was okay to take the money. He assured me that if he offered it was okay to take it. I found tickets on the internet and I was going home! I only had one more week!

June 29th finally arrived and me and the boys had to be at the airport at 6 am. Our itinerary: Fly from Kentucky to Michigan. 1 and 1/2 hour layover. Fly from Michigan to NY. 5 hour layover. Fly from NY to Berlin. 1 and 1/2 hour layover. Fly from Berlin to Frankfurt. 1 hour drive home. Did you catch all that? 3 states and 2 countries equaling a total of 4 flights. With two kids. Whew. (A little side note, I get a little aggravated when people complain about not wanting to drive a few hours for family functions and what not because it's too difficult with two kids or they complain about how difficult a 2 hour flight is.)

We arrived in Michigan got to our gate as quickly as you can with two kids, backpacks and carry-ons. It was delayed an hour. No big deal there was a delay after our next flight as well and this would just give us more time to charge our DVD player batteries. Every time we travel the minute we get settled we call home to let our families know we have made it safely. It was the crack of dawn and the only person that would be awake was my dad because he would be working. He answered his phone and I proceeded to tell him that I only had 2 minutes to talk and that we had made it and that our flight was delayed. "Your papaw died this morning," was his response. Of course this makes me silent as I whispered the word "what?" Dad said that it happened this morning, probably while I was at the airport or had just boarded the plane, that there was nothing I could do and that I should go home. I was in shock and wanted to catch the next flight home to see my family.

I did as dad suggested I went home. Papaw had bought our tickets and dad and I agreed he wouldn't have wanted me to make a fuss. He would have wanted me and the boys to go home. So I did. I hate that I didn't get to say goodbye. I will NEVER forget the last kind thing he did for me. He reunited my family. I miss him a lot and imagine when I go home next it will be very difficult, because to be honest it doesn't seem real that he won't be there. I hate it that he's gone. I know he had been having a difficult time for years and was probably ready to go "home." I just wish I had been there to say farewell. I imagine that closing your eyes here and waking up on the far side of the sky is amazing. The people he has had to say goodbye to over the years he finally gets to hug again. Dad, me, my boys and papaw spent a week at the lake together this summer. Papaw took me into town to get some allergy medicine, again another kind thing he did for me while I was home. I'm so thankful for that time alone with him. He told me stories about his childhood and what it was like. He told me of how and when he met my grandmother. He also told me what amazing parents he had and how much he missed them every day. I imagine he is happier now than he has been in years. We miss you so much papaw and hope your happy and healthy. I know it will be a few more years until we meet again, but until then I'll share stories with my boys about you and never let them forget all the wonderful things you have done for us. Love you always.

One Last Hoorah

2011-06-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

This pic got deleted by accident and when uploading it it went here. I really don't feel like doing all this again, so it's going to have to stay here. Luke was very proud of his first bass. I really wanted to keep it and mount it, but dad said we'd get into a little trouble if we did. So, back into the lake it went.

Me, dad, Lucas and Tucker always spend a week at the lake during our trips to Kentucky. My kids love swimming and fishing!
Before every fishing trip we all take a dip.
Dad taught us how to set the hook. What you don't see in this picture is that dad missed the fish.
Ty loves fishing. More specifically he loves bass fishing. I've never seen a dog get so excited when the bass jumps.
Here is Luke with our first bass of the trip.
My boys favorite part of the fishing trip is the candy dock. We love going to Wax Marina and seeing Kim and Ron Wheeler.
They always give us bread to feed the fish.
And there are a lot of fish to feed.
Tuck with a bass.
You can see how excited he was that I wanted to take another picture.
Here are the boys with a few of dads catches.
Our proud fisherman.
Luke made the cast, set the hook and got the fish in the boat all by himself!

This is as close as tuck got to "the catch of the day."
Luke holding "the catch of the day." Dad caught it with Lucky (a one legged blue chunk. :)
Dad with his huge fish. 4 pounds 11 oz to be exact.
A few of our bluegill fishies.
Luke with a bluegill.
Tuck with a bluegill.
Luke's first ever catfish.
Tuck with the ugly little thing.
And Luke, he was so excited.
The boys having a conversation. I would love to know what Luke was saying to make Tucker make that funny face.
Luke and Beana on Big Bertha.
Climbing the rock.
Jumping off the rock.
Tuck hanging out with pap.
Coming back down the rock.
Me and Tuck on the tube.

Kentucky Fun

2011-06-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

Visiting Kentucky is always fun for my boys. Here are a few highlights so far from our trip.
Playing with underwear on our heads.
Visiting the Louisville zoo.
Look! I'm almost as big as a gorilla!
Look! I think I am a gorilla!
Look! I AM a gorilla!
Tucker at the petting zoo.
Luke at the petting zoo.
Lizards, alligators and snakes...oh my.
Goodbye zoo.
Nolin Lake is a favorite for my boys and fishing is something they find a lot of fun. Luke and a big catch. (It wasn't his big catch.)
You can see how far the water had been up.
Going to the ramp, we couldn't get to our dock without swimming, to take a dip.
Come on in the water's nice!
Cruising on the pontoon.
When the fisherman came back they had a ton of bass for the boys to check out.

Venice

2011-05-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

Venice!! I absolutely loved Venice! I love water and boats and Venice has it all! There are no cars in Venice only water transportation, it's was awesome! Venice has been known as the "city of masks", the "floating city" and the "city of bridges". Of course you can see why.
Here is a street of Venice and you can see how tiny the walkway is. Water taxi's and gondola's are the best way to travel.
This is one of the many bridges that connects the two sides of the Grand Canal. There are small bridges that go over the lagoons, but I don't think I got a picture of those.
Here Micah is waiting on the public transportation boat, it was the cheapest way to travel, on 6.50 euro a person.
These gondola's were right outside of the Hard Rock Cafe. This was one of the many lagoons. We really wanted to take a ride on one of the Viking looking boats, but it was 80 euro for 30 minutes! Maybe next time.
The Rialto Bridge. This was the first dry crossing built over the Grand Canal in 1181, it was a pontoon bridge. Due to the traffic going over the bridge it was reconstructed in 1255 with wood. In 1310 the bridge was partially burnt during a revolt. In 1444 it collapsed under the weight of a crowd watching a boat parade and it collapsed again in 1524. In 1503 it was first proposed to build the bridge of stone. The stone bridge was finally complete in 1591. It is supposed to look almost identical the the wooden bridge that proceeded it. It's absolutely beautiful.
The view from the top of the Rialto Bridge.
A picture of Micah and I on the Rialto Bridge. Gotta have proof you were there!
I love Venetian masks! They are so expensive on base. My brother bought one on base while visiting us in Ramstein for 45 euro. At these kiosks they were only 10 euro! I picked up about 13 for gifts while we were there.
Piazza San Marco square. Just so happened the Pope was in town the same time we were. At 7:00 pm the pope was speaking in this very square. That explained all the rope, officers, the podium being constructed and why they were checking everyone's belongings as they entered the square.
St. Marks Basilica. Due to time restrictions we didn't have enough time to take a tour of the basilica. There was a very long line!
My final picture was supposed to be one of the bridge we were walking over along the Grand Canal. I wanted to capture the many tourists, all the white tents to the right that sell masks and other souvenir goods, the Grand Canal to the right, and the police to the right setting up blocks to protect the pope. All I seem to have gotten was a really terrible picture of the lady in front of me! It didn't turn out as good as I would have liked, but you get the picture, right?

Day 6: Kotor & Perast, Montenegro

2011-05-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

The last stop on our cruise was Kotor and Perast, Montenegro. The excursions for this port were cave tours. I thought that sounded like a blast, but Micah didn't agree with me. (He had new shoes and didn't want to get them dirty.) So we decided to take the tour that went over the origins of Montenegro. The strait here is the only way in and only way out. On the mountains there you can't see in this picture, but there are small towers. We were told that chains were stretched across the entrance to keep vikings and other unwanted boats from getting through. A group of vikings were able to a flag used by the people who lived on the island and make their way through the strait and once they came ashore they murdered everyone.
A view of the strait.
Kotor.
The pictures are a little out of order, but this alter is built on the original rock that the island was built from. This alter is inside Our Lady of the Rock church.
Montenegro means black mountain. We were turning around and I just loved how the water looked with the black mountain in the background.
Near Perast are two small islands: this one is Our Lady of the Rock. The island began as a small rock and is man made. Boats were filled with rocks and sank to build the foundation of this church. Every sailor who crossed the water and endured a hardship (storms and such) bring gifts and put them in the church. The most popular gift is silver. The oldest gifts date back to 1452 and the most recent 3 months ago. The picture of the alter is from inside this church.
This island is the St. George Island. We didn't get to go onto this island, but we were told it is a catholic monastery. We were also told that the island was the original cemetery of Perast. I asked the tour guide what happened to the bodies when they built the monastery and she said they are still buried there. It kinda reminds me of Poltergeist.
Here we are on the boat departing the lovely Montenegro.
Our last dinner on the ship.

Day 5: Argostoli & 2nd Gala

2011-05-11T02:17:00.001-07:00

I have to admit I had never heard of Argostoli when we signed up for our cruise. All I really know now is that it's a place in Greece. The tours/excursions were cave tours. I really wanted to take a cave tour, but Micah had new tennis shoes and didn't want to get them dirty. :( So here's what we did.
This AMAZING couples massage took place when we got back from Athens yesterday. I forgot to include it. I hate to leave it out, it was so much fun. This was our second couples massage, our first was on Sunday day 2 of our cruise.
Micah and I in front of the ship.
Here we are on a tiny train ride around the village with Dave & Kathy Burden. We met them on the cruise and they are also military currently living in Aviano, Italy. They were so much fun and had the most precious two children.
A view of the coast.
Micah trying authentic Greek coffee. It was terrible! Apparently you are supposed to let your cup sit and settle. After the coffee has settled you drink it and the residue at the bottom of the cup will tell your future. You turn your cup upside down and the pattern the residue makes can be read as your future. We didn't realize we were supposed to let it settle and stirred our cups...big mistake. It tasted like drinking sand. There was also no fortune teller on site to give us a glimpse into our future.
After we got back from our touring we got showered and dressed for our second Gala night. This, for me, was the highlight of the day. The Gala's were so much fun! The food was great, we normally ate at the second seating, but our dear friends asked us to join them since their kids were going to be in kid care. We had an amazing time.
Our dear friends.
After dinner we went to the show. Shows were held every night. Here I am with the entertainment team.
Micah with the rest of the entertainment team.

Day 4: Piraeus & Athens

2011-05-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

Visiting Athens was by far the most amazing day of our cruise. I love history and this was the highlight of our trip for me, and the reason we chose this particular cruise. There were other cruises that visited Greece, but only this one stopped in Athens. We ported in Piraeus which has been inhabited since the 26th century B.C. Piraeus roughly means "the place over the passage." With three ports existing in Piraeus, it was the home of the Athenian fleet.
The first stop of our excursion was to The Panathinaiko or Panathenaic Stadium. This stadium was originally built of wood and in 329 B.C was remade of marble. In 1895 the remains of the stadium were refurbished for the 1896 Olympic games. This site was the home of the first international Olympic games. It seemed only fitting to host it here since this was the origins of the Olympic games. This venue is now used for concerts.
Our next stop was the Acropolis Museum. What you see here is an excavation taking place directly under the museum. We are standing on the ramp you walk up to get into the museum. Once in the museum there are glass floors you can look through and see the excavation taking place. Once inside the museum we were not allowed to take photos, but we did see some amazing artifacts from all over ancient Greece and the Acropolis.
We made a pit stop in the museum cafe and got lattes. This would have been such a good picture had that plate not been in the way.
Next stop the Acropolis. It was a very long and uphill walk. What you see to the right is the temple of Athena Nike. Nike means "victory" in Greek.
The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is a theatre structure made of stone which can be found on the south slope of the Acropolis of Athens. Herodes Atticus built it in 161 AD in memory of his wife, Aspasia Annia Regilla.
The Propylaea is the entrance to the Acropolis.
The Parthenon. You can see scaffolding and construction going on all around. The Restoration Project began in 1975. The aim of the restoration was to reverse the decay of centuries of attrition, pollution, destruction by acts of war, and misguided past restorations. The work they have done is amazing and I would love to see the Parthenon rebuilt, using original materials (they are off to the side and labeled) to its original state.
Here is a view of Athens.
The Dionysus Amphitheatre. I wrote a paper on this theater for a class I took this spring. It was amazing to see it in person.
Temple of Olympian Zeus.
Back of the Parthenon.
The side of the Parthenon.
The Erechtheum. Built between 421 and 406 B.C.
They have some reconstruction going on. The man standing on scaffolding has a sort of sander he is using to clean the marble. You can see the difference in the areas that have been cleaned and those that have not.
Here is a better picture of the difference the cleaning makes. I'd loved to go back once the "remodeling" is complete and see how different it looks.
The Erechtheum. The Porch of the Caryatids or "Porch of the Maidens."
How was I to know I wasn't supposed to touch it?
Micah and I sitting in the Dionysus Amphitheatre.

Day 3: Santorini

2011-05-10T02:38:00.000-07:00

Santorini was absolutely INCREDIBLE! We disembarked the boat at 3:30 and began our first actual excursion. We began our day with a bus ride up the very steep side of Santorini to the top to enjoy a wine tasting. Santos wines is the winery we stopped at and got to enjoy three different wines. Santos is believed to be the oldest winery in the world! We purchased two bottles of wine to put in our collection of wines that will be opened at a later day. We are currently up to two bottles. :) I really wish I had gotten some pictures of the winery, but is was very hectic and we were only there for 45 minutes which isn't a lot of time for tasting and purchasing.

We left the winery and made our way to Oia Village (pronounced via). It was as picture perfect as the pictures you see on television. The island of Santorini is built on what is left of an ancient volcano. This volcano is also believed to be what caused Atlantis to disappear. When the settlers inhabited the island they were very poor and could not afford building materials for their homes, therefore most of the homes were built into the sides of the actual volcano. Now, of course, Santorini is a thriving tourist attraction and the home to some of the most beautiful sunsets the world has ever seen.
Most everything in Oia Village is white. You need a very good pair of sunglasses to keep from being blinded when the sun hits the village. Every building with a blue dome is a church. This tiny island is the home to 400 churches. This church is the most important church on the island. Not all the churches are used every Sunday, there aren't enough inhabitants on the island, or priests for that matter, to need to use all the churches every week. Instead, like we would celebrate a birthday, once a year the church is celebrated on the day of its founding.
Micah and I with a view of the ocean from the top of the island.
It's truly incredible that the villages are build on the side of the mountain. There are cable cars to take you to the top or you can ride a donkey. Micah and I really wanted to ride the donkeys down the mountain, but when the sun set it got really cold.
Another view of Oia Village. You can see one blue dome church and how steep the mountain is.
Here is the other side of the mountain and if you look close beneath the white village is the remains of what looked like an old fort.
There were some incredible views.
I mentioned earlier that the island was home to beautiful sunsets. I tried to capture one, but as you can see the cloud cover wasn't allowing that to happen.
The cable cars we rode down.
And here is Micah at the bottom of the island while we waited for our tender to pick us up and take us to the boat.

Day 2: Corfu, Greece

2011-05-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

Day 2 was the Greek island of Corfu. Again we chose not to take an excursion, but there was a bus that picked people up from the port and took them to the city center.
Here we are before disembarking the boat.
We had to cross this bridge to get to the old fort.
I really should have found the name of this before blogging, but I wasn't that prepared. :) I was a bit disappointed that it was closed, I would have loved to have gone in.
Here we are at Old Fort.
This is the view from the fort. It was very beautiful.
This is a photo of Old Fort from the ship as we were living. Corfu was beautiful and we were very excited about our next stop...Santorini.

First Gala

2011-05-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

So the Gala didn't really need it's own blog, but here I am posting a blog with nothing but pictures of me and Micah all dressed up.
My super handsome husband.
I had so much fun getting dressed up....to eat. We booked our cruise in Germany which ended with us sitting at a table with German couples. It made for really difficult conversations. Luckily there was one lady at our table who did speak English and she translated a bit for us.
Cocktails lasted for an hour before dinner in the theater. Cocktails started at 6.25 and all you can drink for one hour for free was awesome! The pink martini was terrible! The ladies with trays (full of drinks) carried two different flavored martini's, two different kinds of champagne and and a flute of what looked like wine. I didn't care for the martini's or the champagne so I tried the flute of wine. After downing, very quickly, three I told Micah how surprised I was that one: I could drink it (I really don't care for drinking) and two: I wasn't feeling anything. Micah asked the waitress what I was drinking and she told us it was fruit punch. Huh. That explained why I enjoyed drinking it.
The captain and his officers.
One final picture of Micah and I after dinner.

Mediterranean Cruise Day 1

2011-05-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! May 29th, the day of our cruise! We headed to Venice on the 28th and stayed at a hotel by the airport. It was very difficult to wait until 11:00 to check out and head to the port. We were so anxious we were up at 8 am, but of course we couldn't board the boat until 12. It was the longest couple of hours of my life! Once we boarded the boat didn't leave the port until 7:00 pm. It was a long time to wait, but we found plenty to do on the boat.
Here is our boat, the MSC Armonia.
The pool. We didn't put our swimsuits on once!
Our room. One of the things we found to do was unpack and get settled in.
Since drinks are not included we had to buy drink packages. I got a water package and Micah chose a cocktail package. (He got water too.) Micah thought it would be fun to lay out by the pool with umbrella drinks. This is the first day on the boat and the only time he drank a fruity drink by the pool. He got some very funny looks in the lounges while drinking umbrella drinks. Most of the other men had more masculine drinks. He really enjoyed trying every cocktail on the menu.
This was taken after the muster drill we had before the boat left the port.
Our first stop was Ancona, Italy. We didn't take an excursion, but chose to walk ourselves. We made it to the town center and took this pic of an arch along the main road.
Photo from the boat. It was my least favorite of the stops, probably because we didn't really know what to do. I was really excited to get back on the boat and start getting ready for our first Gala!

Bonjour! Paris Day 1

2011-04-05T05:40:00.001-07:00

What do you do when you have no kids? You go to Paris! Micah and I spent our first free weekend (he was off from work!) in Paris. Our GPS got stolen out of our car about a month ago, so we had to borrow one from a friend. About 2 minutes into the trip we realized either it didn't work or we were challenged, so we used our trusty ole i phone for directions. Once you get into France, which takes about 45 minutes (it's a 4 hour drive) our phones have to be put on airplane mode. So, as we are getting ready to cross into France I am writing directions onto the closest piece of paper I can, and as fast as I can write. The directions were barely legible. We finally made it into Paris, and after spending a whole hour lost trying to find our hotel I jumped out of the car and yelled at Micah to follow me. I hopped into a taxi and tried to explain to the cab drive that my husband was going to follow us and we needed to get to the Comfort Hotel Paris Nation. He got it, and off we went. We finally made it! Our room had 2 twin beds, European twin beds are smaller than American, if Micah laid on his back both shoulders touched the edges. Oh, and they were hard as rocks! That will teach us to get the cheapest hotel possible.

When we woke up we headed to the metro and made our way to the Louvre. It was a 3 hour wait! We decided to come back and headed to the Eiffel Tower. Up, up and away we went. It took two cars to make it to the top. When we made it half way I looked out and decided that we had gone far enough and could stop here. Micah insisted we should go the rest of the way, I looked up to see how much farther we had and tried my best to convince him we were far enough. He won and we made it the rest of the way up. It took me a second to compose myself to walk away from the wall that I had a death grab on to get a better view. Impressive? Amazing? Intimidating? It was SCARY! This crazy lady was letting her kid, who was maybe 14 months old hang on to the gate and shake! That gate was the only thing keeping him from falling! I actually asked her to please not let him do that because it was scaring me to death. They were from Australia, she smiled, and told me that it was okay, he wasn't scared. At this point I had to walk away because it took everything I had not to pick him up and hug him and explain to him how very dangerous that was.

After the Eiffel we grabbed a hop on hop off bus and went back to the Louvre where we waited for 45 minutes and got it. It was impressive to say the least. I actually found it quite overwhelming. We saw most of it, I think. There were so many turns and so many levels to go up and down and it was just huge! On a side note, I didn't know the Louvre used to be a palace. Napoleon III apartments were inside and still in tact. In the late 1800's the Louvre was opened up to the public, obviously it was no longer a residence. It was absolutely amazing.

After spending a few hours in the Louvre, allowing ourselves to get lost in art, we made it back to the hop on hop off and our next stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral. Actually, we were both starving and some friends of ours told us of a little cafe across the river called Cafe Panis, so we took their advice and had an early dinner. The food was great and the resting was even better. Did I mention earlier that we walked from the Louvre to the Eiffel? It took about an hour.

After lunch we headed back over the water to Notre Dame. We went inside, only to realize, they were having mass! There were probably 200 people walking around inside during the service taking pictures. We felt a little rude. We took zero pictures while inside because it didn't seem right and after about 5 minutes of watching the service decided to leave. I was astounded by the people taking pictures of the service. They offer tours of the cathedral and we would have loved to have done that, but it wasn't in the cards for us. Taking pictures from the top would have been incredible, but since we left the next day we will have a reason to return.

After touring the cathedral we decided to ride the hop on hop off and see the rest of Paris. It quits running at 7:00 pm. When we got off we made our way back to the metro and to our hotel. It was a very amazing, very LONG day. It didn't matter how hard that bed was I couldn't wait to get in it.
Here I am holding my (Tucker's) Spiderman umbrella, did I mention it drizzled the whole time? I was so glad it was in the car!
Standing on one of the many bridges throughout Paris.
I forget what the bridge is called, but all along this railing are locks. While taking pictures another American couple began talking to us and explained that these are locks of love. You're supposed to kiss and put your locks on the fence. So we kissed, but had no lock to donate, maybe next time.
The Louvre from across the water. This was after we decided not to wait for 3 hours and headed to the Eiffel. Looks like a palace right?
There it is. In all its impressive glory. Who wants to go up? I wouldn't blame you if you said no.
This is the view from half way up! Micah had to lean back to get this photo. You know how when you are climbing up high everyone says not to look down? Not only should you not look down, but I don't recommend looking up either. Just close your eyes until you make it to the top!
The view from half the way up.
Okay, take it from the top. Yes this is the top. NO, I did not look down at this angle. I had a hard enough time getting close to the edge for a photo.
Micah didn't find it difficult at all to hang out by the ledge. Remember the kid I was talking about earlier? The one who was shaking the fence and trying to climb up it? There is the fence, you see the view, am I crazy for wanting him to stop?
The Arc de Triomphe. This is a zoomed photo, it was pretty far away. Napoleon had it built and along the shields that are around the top of it are the names of the battles he won. He had it made to resemble to triumphant arches in ancient Rome, he loved Roman architecture. We were in Rome in October and those arches, that are over 2,000 years old, are incredible and look a lot like this one. I actually upon first seeing it expected it to be much older than it was. The arch dates to early 19th century.
Just another view from the Eiffel. This one is from half way up and shame on me because I have already forgotten what the picture is of.
Me and Micah from the top. Actually I had no problem here. You can see there is a window behind us, from the top you go through a door and down about 10 steps and you are in an enclosed area. There was a cafe for lunch, a gift shop, and restrooms. Who knew? And up those ten steps to the top was a small "apartment." Not a place to sleep, but an enclosed area where Mr. Eiffel entertained guests, where he took meetings. Really. There were fake people in there! One was Mr. Eiffel, one was Thomas Edison and third was the daughter of Mr. Eiffel watching them talk. This scene apparently took place before the worlds fair. All in all going to the top of the Eiffel is a MUST DO if you go to Paris.
This is inside the square, I guess is what you'd call it, while waiting in the line to enter the Louvre. Do you like the Cars umbrella? It's Luke's.
The first time we arrived the line went from where we are standing, around to the right, around to the wall you see there, out that entrance and wrapped around the outside. To the left that you don't see is the entrance to another courtyard.
This is inside the second courtyard, the nicest couple from South Africa took this picture for us. I was unaware of this, but the pyramid behind us...it's the entrance to the Louvre.
Here is The Winged Victory of Samothrace. It was amazing! I wish I could have gotten a better picture. There were so many people.
And there she is. Mona Lisa. She has a piece of glass covering her, a rope keeping you from getting too close, guards keeping you from crossing that rope, and about 100 people trying to take her picture all at once. I wish I could have stood directly in front of her and gotten a picture, and believe me I tried, but it was about impossible. Every time I took her photo someone bumped me! This is the best I could get.
Aphrodite, known as the "Venus de Milo." Again, amazing!
A mini Sphinx. I forgot exactly what this was, I think it was a sarcophagus.
Micah with a statue on the wall.
One of Napoleon III apartments.
The cafe we ate at.
Notre Dame Cathedral. It's impossible to get the whole thing in one pic. It is absolutely massive from the side. I got a post card of a shot from the air.
Here we are again.
And finally the Arc de Triomphe. This photo was taken from the hop on hop off bus. The bus, is, by far the best way to see Paris.

France Day 2

2011-04-05T04:54:00.000-07:00

Micah and I spent our second day in France a little more relaxed. We started off our day by taking the metro back to the Louvre to do a little souvenir shopping. We got a few postcards, sweatshirts and a t-shirt for the quilt we want to make of all our travels. When we were finished shopping we caught a taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe Paris. Exciting right? We have also decided, since every major city has a Hard Rock to grab a t-shirt from there as well and make a quilt and title it, "Rockin' Around the World." Catchy right?

Once we were finished we grabbed the metro and headed back to our hotel to get our car and head to Versailles to see the Palace. The concierge at our hotel gave us a map and highlighted the route and off we went. We only got lost like 3 times! As we're heading down this road, that looks like we're going nowhere, I asked Micah if we should ask for directions or if he thought we were going the right way. He answered, "I don't know, but there's something big right ahead." WOW! we made it and it was impressive!

We parked and strolled up to the Chateau de Versailles, as it's referred to in France, only to learn that it was closed! UGH! It wasn't too bad though, we did get to tour the grounds, we just couldn't go inside. I would have loved to have gotten to see the inside, but we'll save that for another day. The grounds were amazing, the gardens, the ponds (if that's what you want to call them), the perfectly manicured lines of trees, and of course the massive size of the castle itself. There were quite a few men and women dressed in Victorian clothing. I attempted to find out what was going on, there English wasn't great, and neither is my French, but they were either shooting a movie inside or watching a movie. Either way it was pretty cool.

After getting lost for about an hour trying to find our way back to the Peripherique (Autobahn) we finally got there. This time with no map or directions we simply followed the signs to Disney. I couldn't help myself but want to go. Do I feel guilty going with no kids? Absolutely. Guilty enough not to take a peek? Absolutely NOT. I just kept telling myself we needed to see if it was worth taking our kids to this summer for a few days. We have heard mixed feelings towards Euro Disney and wanted to "check" it out. It wasn't as massive as the one in Florida, but it was still Disney. They closed at 8:00 and we got there at 6:00 so we didn't bother paying FULLPRICE for tickets for only 2 hours, so we walked around the boardwalk, at dinner, bought a key chain (Mickey leaning against the Eiffel Tower), grabbed an ice cream cone, and headed back on our way. We finally made it home around 11:00 and I was so glad to finally sleep in my own bed!

Here is a photo inside the Hard Rock Cafe. I probably should have grabbed a photo of the outside, but oops I forgot.

This is a picture of the Chateau de Versailles from the parking area. Pretty impressive right?
You probably don't know this, but the very first picture I have of me and Micah is one he took of the two of us, a little like this one. Now, everywhere we go, Micah or myself takes a picture of us. We have a lot of very close up pictures. We are standing in front of the Palace. You can see over Micah's left shoulder the gold colored gates that are the entrance to the front of the castle. They were closed of course and we had to walk around the side.
Me in front of the gate. Notice the rope that is supposed to keep visitors back in front of me.
Here are two of the actors I mentioned earlier headed around to the back of the palace. I wish I had gotten some better photos of them.
This view is from the back of the castle of the water fountain and then walk way to the water. It was truly amazing. I can't imagine a view like this out my window every morning when I woke up.
And another self portrait. :)
The back of the castle. It really was ginormous, and I really would have loved to have gone inside.
View from the fountain. Yes, we walked all the way to the water. I would love to be here in the summer. The fountains are always on and in the evenings they do fireworks.
These statues decorate the outer path all the way to the water. I especially loved this one of a mother holding her baby. Most of them have plaques in front of them telling who made them and what year. Most of them are made between the 1600 to the 1700's, while there are a few that are ancient Greek or Roman dating around 2,000 years old!
We're about have way to the water at this point and we used our zoom lense for this photo. You can see the statues on both side, fountain and just an amazing view of the back of the castle.
This is as far as we made it. We didn't walk to the end of the water, we sat right here. Along both sides was concrete, for sitting I guess, and on the top of the water wood planks, I suppose to rest your feet and not get your shoes wet. There were little cafe's on the side, closed of course, but it would have been an ideal place for a picnic. This Swan came over as if she wanted to be photographed, so we made her happy and took her picture.
This is how far we walked, we chose not to walk to the very end, mainly because it was a long walk back...slightly uphill. Our feet were pretty tired by this point.

Euro Disney!! It looks like Disney right? We thought so too.

Go Lakers!

2011-02-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

So it's Luke's first basketball season! We were really excited for him to play after having such a great soccer season. Luke loves being out on the court and running with his friends. Here he is walking away from the ball. I don't think he even knows where the ball is. He must have known I was taking a picture.

Action shot.
Where's the ball?
Another action shot.
Here's the team getting a little pep talk from coach Shannon. Luke is number 3, you can see how small he is. When the kids get the ball no one wants to pass, they all want to shoot of course! You hear all the parents and coaches yell pass to Luke he's open, or which ever kid is standing there not hiking his pants up to his chest. (We also have a kid who pulls his jersey over his head and plays looking through the mesh of the jersey, it's pretty funny.) Of course they don't pass they get as close to the basket as they can and shoot. When Luke gets the ball, which isn't often, the minute someone yells pass the ball...he does. I have to admit he makes some pretty good passes, but I'd still like to see him score too. After 4 games he has taken a total of 3 shots. And, hasn't made any of them, not totally his fault though the other kids tower over him. After his last game I asked him why he doesn't take any shots. His reply was, "Mommy, I don't want to be the guy who shoots the ball. I want to be the guy that passes the ball." I'm very proud of his selflessness, but I can't help but think he gets a little embarrassed when he misses. Whatever his motivation at least he's having fun!

Karate Tech Tournament

2011-02-13T14:44:00.000-08:00

This was the 11th annual Karate Tournament here at Ramstein, Germany. If you place first, second or third you get to go on to the big tournament in Texas! Sadly Luke didn't do well. He participated in the 5/6 year old yellow belt group. There were 29 kids in his division and over 200 in the competition! The Karate Tech group from Italy even showed up! Luke was a young competitor and a new yellow belt. It didn't matter how proud I was of Luke the tears still came falling down.
Luke was deep in concentration.
Like many of the other competitors Luke practiced his form before the competition started, and believe it or not that kid was watching Luke for what to do!
This is the Karate Tech Ramstein group. Master Jorge teaches at 3 different bases here.
Here's Luke with a group of kids from his division as they all wait to do their forms for the judges panel.
Luke began his form and froze! I mean it, he forgot everything! He looked like a deer in headlights, and he knows this and can do it in his sleep! After the competition Master Jorge asked me what trophy Luke got in forms. When I told him he didn't place he gave me a very curious look. I told him how Luke froze. He couldn't believe it either.
Here's Luke after getting all his gear on. He thought the mouthpiece was pretty cool.
This is the bow after the match. Luke did win his first match, but sadly lost his second. To make everything better after the loss we headed over to Popeyes for some chicken.

Christmas

2010-12-31T03:28:00.001-08:00

I asked my mom years ago why there are no picture of me and my brothers for about a 3 year span, not that I'm complaining I was going through the "awkward" years and don't really want to relive them, but I was still curious. She smiled and told me that when she got her video camera she didn't take pictures. I figured out how hard it is to take picture and video tape this year. I have NO picture of the boys opening their gifts Christmas day and very few of Christmas Eve. This is what I managed to get.
The boys waiting patiently for us to tell them they can open their presents.

And here they go. It's a shame you can't tell how much fun they're having in this picture.
Luke loves Guess Who. He was very excited.
Tucker actually loved his train he's holding and was a little aggravated to have to stop and say cheese.
This was Tucker's favorite gift. Nothing says Christmas like a Batman costume.
Our Christmas Eve tradition is making sugar cookies.
This is how I spent the day after Christmas. I probably assembled over 1000 Lego's that day.
This is Tucker's town. They had the best time with their Lego's.
Tucker couldn't make it any longer.

Karate Tech

2010-12-19T01:56:00.000-08:00

This summer we put Luke in Karate at the youth center on base. He LOVES it! If you have the opportunity to put your kids in a form of martial arts I recommend it, it's a lot of fun. Of course I had no idea how karate works and am just going along with it and learning as Luke does. After 4 months of studying, spending 1 of those 4 months in Kentucky, Luke's instructors held a tournament. The tournament was for 3 to 5 year olds and they wore lots of padding. None of the kids really knew what they were doing, but we had a lot of fun anyways. Micah didn't get to attend so I had to video tape which is why I have no pics of the tournament, sorry.This is Luke with Master Jorge, one of his instructors. Luke placed second at the tournament in his group and received the trophy he is holding. All of the kids who participated also received a medal. Luke has it around his neck although it is difficult to see in this picture. You will also notice the white belt around his waist and all the colorful stripes on it. When you begin karate you are a white belt. As you improve Master Jorge or Master J give you a on the right side of your belt. As you get closet to testing for your next belt you get black stripes on the left side of your belt. It's very exciting when master Jorge gives out stripes.
December 18th was testing day. Luke waited patiently with the rest of the kids for their turn. 12 white belts tested, they were so cute.
Part of testing is performing the Kata 1 in front of the instructors and parents. Did I mention Master Jorge is 3rd in the world? He is also friends with Chuck Norris! I thought that was kinda cool. He is currently world champion at sparring, he is going to Texas in the spring to compete in forms. He's awesome!
The second part of the testing is sparring. Luke had to fight that nice TALL girl you see there. Luke was so timid and would NOT hit her back. He kept looking over at us like he would get into trouble for fighting. I really felt sorry for him getting his butt kicked by a girl.
After every child completes their Kata and spars Master Jorge walks around to every child and takes off their white belt and puts on their yellow. One of the other instructors presents the parent with the child's white belt.
After the testing the instructors pose for pics with the students. On the left is Master Jorge and on the right is his son Master J. Did I mention Master J is the currently world champion in forms? Forms is the Kata you saw them performing although the one he does is much more complicated. Master J is also going to Texas to compete in the championships, he is also competing in the European championship coming up. Luke is so lucky to have such amazing and patient instructors.

2010-12-06T02:58:00.000-08:00

What a year it has been!

So I am a total slacker when it comes to blogging! (Actually I can't remember my passwords :)) I have a new computer and the only pics I have are the ones that just happened to be on my camera when I got my computer.

Our year has been crazy! We moved to Germany one year ago in October and it has been the most amazing year ever! I won't explain everything that has happened since October, I'll just go over what I have pics of.

We went to the states in May and got the chance to go to Disney World. It was an amazing vacation that we got to spend with my mom and dad. We took this picture when I was in grade school with my cousins Tiffany and Shannon and it was fun to remake our photo with my kids.

We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort (Which I would highly recommend) and this picture was taken at the bus stop.

No trip to Disney is complete with out a visit to see the ultimate Disney superstars! Hello Mickey and Minnie.
Tucker is a huge fan of Buzz Light Year, but who isn't right? He had no trouble picking out his ears.
I'm pretty sure this was the highlight of our trip. We rode the Buzz Light Year ride as well and I have to say it is a really cool ride.
You'll notice my kiddos aren't smiling. They were so tired of taking pictures by this point we had to bribe them with ice cream to get them to stop complaining!
On our way back to Germany we stopped in Dover. This is at Rehoboth Beach at Fun Land. Luke and Sophie are the best of friends.
We spent the morning at the swimming pool on base, our kiddos love the water.
This is in front of Sophie's house before we said goodbye.
After returning to Germany we took a day trip to Heidelberg, Germany. They have some of the coolest castle ruins I have ever seen.
We made a trip to Legoland. I was very impressed at the things you can make out of Lego's!
We went back to the states in September and got to celebrate early birthday's with our families.
I threw this one in because it is cute!
We carved our first pumpkins with the kids. It is one messy job.
When we returned home Tucker got his birthday present from Papaw Wilson. He loves his truck!
Luke played his first season of soccer, he even scored 1 goal! Luke had a wonderful time playing soccer and I am glad to say I wasn't one of those crazy parents who yelled the whole game!
We celebrated birthdays in Germany with our friends.
It was obviously a costume party. Do you recognize this costume? Tucker also wore it in KY.
We actually spent Luke's 5th birthday in Roma, Italia. If you ever get the chance Rome is amazing!! I can't wait to go back.
We trick-or-treated on base. Aren't those two of the coolest turtles you've ever seen?
And that brings us to the end. I told you it's been a crazy few months!

Conversations

2010-09-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the big community yard sale in my parents neighborhood and we spent most of the weekend on the golf cart trying to find treasures. After a nice long golf cart ride we took the long way to Dairy Delight to enjoy an ice cream cone. We came down a side street and went along Preston Hwy. and cut thru Arch L. Heady and sons. The conversation that followed was priceless.

Mom: When my dad died this is where he was.

Dad: When my Grandma Flossie and Uncle Mark died this is where they were.

Luke: (He makes a confused face and points to the funeral home) Sooooo that's Heaven?

Dad: What a smart question, but no it's not Heaven.

Luke: (Another confused face and points t the sky) Good, cause I thought Heaven was up there.

Wipes

2009-08-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Tucker has developed an infatuation that is similar to one Lucas had at his age. He LOVES wipes! Every time he gets a diaper change he says, "I need a wipe." Why does he need a wipe? After receiving his wipe he wipes his hands, face, and every toy he can get ahold of. When Luke was his age he LOVED cleaning all his toys with wipes! Tucker's new addiction to wipes reminded me of something Luke did that I would love to share. Right after Tucker was born Luke was going thru his "wipie" stage. (We went thru a lot of wipes during this time) I laid Tucker down and went into the kitchen to get a diaper, the wipes were on the couch and Luke was next to Tuck on the floor. I changed Tucker's diaper and gave the old diaper to Luke and asked him to please put the diaper in the garbage. He was a great helper and agreed to do that for me. When Luke walked back into the living room he had his wipe and he proceeded to wipe my arm, Tuck's face and clean his own face. I thought nothing of it because he was sitting right next to the wipe box when I walked into the kitchen. I picked Tucker up and walked into the kitchen for whatever reason and noticed that the diaper I gave Luke to throw out had been opened and the wipe was missing from it! I have to admit, while I was a little grossed out at the idea of being wiped with a "used" wipie I did find it a bit funny. I did however learn my lesson the first time around. I do NOT ask Tucker to throw away diapers.

Dover Days

2009-07-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

Our days in Dover are passing quickly and soon we'll have to say goodbye. I have to admit while Dover wouldn't have been my first choice of places to be stationed it has been a lot of fun. Before coming home on vacation, where Luke would stay with my parents and not come back to Dover, he had many last play dates. His last trip to the pool, last Sunday at church, and last play date with Sophia. I know he's young and probably won't remember any of this, but I do hope he can keep some of these memories. They were good ones. When Kent came to visit we got some good pics of the boys before church. Isn't he handsome!!

Tucker doesn't enjoy dressing up as much, but he is precious.

The boys really enjoy water balloon fights. Who would imagine you can spend .50 cents and have so much fun? The balloons look like hand grenades. Tucker dropped his first balloon and when I bent down to look under the care to see where it went he busted one right on my head! Little booger.

One of their current favorite past times is playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Luke is actually pretty good, he places higher then 12th now! Poor Tucker has no idea what's going on.

Here is Tucker playing with a remote control care before church, he loves his U of L hat.

Micah and the boys before church.

Me and the boys before church.

Luke's last day at the pool. He's gotten to be a good little swimmer, he doesn't require water wings anymore! Not because he can swim, but because he can touch!

They had so much fun with daddy.

Tuck enjoys floating around in his tube.

Update

2009-07-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

Our family has had an exciting year and I thought now would be a good time to give an update. For those of you who didn't know Micah went to Kandahar, Afghanistan earlier this spring. He left on Easter Sunday and got back the Friday before Mother's Day. While he was there the boys and I came home to spend Easter in Kentucky. They had a great time with all of their family, and looked so cute in their Easter outfits! Tucker is a hard booger to get a picture of!

This was Tucker's idea of hunting eggs...too bad it wouldn't fit in his basket.

Of course no trip to Kentucky is complete without a trip to the lake.

Is anyone surprised that we went fishing? I didn't think so.

Each of the boys got their very own super hero fishing poles! Mom ended up using Tucker's, he had a difficult time casting! Luke caught on pretty quick and really enjoyed fishing, this of course made dad very proud. He's taking credit for his love and devotion to bluegill fishing.

When Micah got back to Dover from his excursion to Afghanistan he learned he had received orders to Ramstein, Germany. Our report no later than date is October 30, 2009. It's been very hectic getting passports and hard orders so me and the boys get to go too. We have decided to take a vacation to Kentucky before he leaves for Travis for en route school. I think that's how it's spelled. We will be headed home on July 14th. The boys are very excited to visit their grandparents and of course go fishing! It's a little sad actually, when we leave here the boys will be staying in Kentucky while Micah and I come back to see our stuff get packed up and moved. I wonder if the boys will miss their home here? So anyways, just a few more days and we'll be saying goodbye Dover!

It's Been a While

2009-03-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

I started blogging because I enjoy reading blogs and thought it would be fun to let everyone have a glimpse into our life here in Dover. I didn't realize that people are actually reading mine and that they wondered why I don't leave posts more often. Well I don't really feel like our life here is all that interesting, or at least interesting enough to write about and it's not that I don't have the time but I don't make the time to blog. I was reading blogs tonight and got inspired...so here it is.

Luke and Tucker enjoy riding around on this Mater truck provided by their Grandpa Wilson. I know it doesn't seem right with Luke riding and Tucker pushing, but they actually prefer it this way. We had beautiful weather for a day or two that finally allowed us to play outside! The kids loved it and really needed to get out of the house...they are going stir crazy. Luke took puppy for a ride on the four wheeler.

And Tucker chose to spend his time on the playground. He loves sliding boards and doesn't even mind getting shocked EVERY time he goes down.

Two days later we received this beautiful blanket of snow. Sorry kiddo's.

We decided to venture out into the snow and Tucker, poor Tucker, looked like the kid from a Christmas Story. Believe it or not the only reason he was crying was because he hated the gloves!

Micah and Luke made an igloo and enjoyed playing in it. I think Micah had more fun in the snow than either of the boys did!

Two days after receiving ten inches of snow we headed to Macon to 70 degree weather. It's a wonder we weren't not all sick as dogs!

Tattoos

2009-01-11T17:22:00.001-08:00

Luke, like many 3 year olds loves tattoos. His first was from Capri Sun package and it was of a guitar, now he thinks all tattoos are called guitars. I realize only parents find that kind of mistake cute but it's even cuter because he mispronounces it. He says contar instead of guitar. The second thing I find adorable and annoying at the same time is that he constantly asks, "where that come from mommy?" He was sitting beside Micah on the couch and asked Micah where his contar come from. Micah told him where he got it and he tried to wipe it off his arm. When it didn't come off he got a little upset and tried to scratch it off! It was priceless.

I'm also happy to report that everyone in our family is finally better. Last Sunday we got plagued with the flu. Tucker was hit first and the hardest, but by Wednesday he was much better. Luke got the bug on Thursday and me on Friday! Ugh! Micah had to work all week so you can imagine how much fun it's been around here. Micah never got the bug, he got his flu shot this year, lucky dog. As of today all appetites are back to normal and I lost 6 pounds! Now if I can just avoid eating I won't gain it back!

Christmas Round II

2009-01-07T09:15:00.001-08:00

Micah's mom, dad and sister arrived in Dover New years eve and the boys got to have Christmas...again. They really enjoyed seeing their grandparents and of course getting more toys! Luke loved his over sized Lego's, so you can imagine his excitement to receive not one, but two boxes of Lincoln Logs!

Here's Tucker opening a four wheeler with a little help from papa Wilson.

Micah helped Luke use both boxes of Lincoln logs to build a log town. It was very cool but only lasted about ten minutes. Luke went thru it like Godzilla stomping and kicking until the whole town was destroyed!

Flag Football

2009-01-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

Just another day at the Wilson house. Micah's flagfootball team won first place! Yeah! Football and softball in the same year, way to go guys!

Here's Luke telling daddy good job!

Christmas

2009-01-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

This is what the boys woke up to Christmas morning, it really looked like Santa got the boys a ton! After all the presents were out of their boxes it didn't seem like much at all. : ( Luke was so overwhelmed he couldn't figure out what to open first. Tucker went straight for the plate of half eaten cookies! Luke loved his guitar and insisted on playing up a Christmas song...he needs lessons. Tuck was worn out after a morning of candy.

Here's Luke with his light bright. He also loved his Bumble Bee and Starscream transformers and his skateboard. Transformers seems to have replaced the movie Cars as his favorite, I never thught I'd see the day.

Luke also received a cowboy hat and a horse that he rides around the house as fast as the horse will take him! He tries to get Tucker to ride on the back but that horse is a little wild for Tuck.

This is how Tucker spent the majority of Christmas day. I can't figure out why we even bothered to buy Tuck toys, he would have been perfectly happy with his stocking full of candy. This picture was hillarious, he just walked into the kitchen with peeps. We have no idea how he got the package open or why he pulled out a whole row of peeps, but he was enjoying himself.

Santa's Cookies

2009-01-06T17:45:00.000-08:00

Luke thoroughly enjoys helping me in the kitchen, so you can imagine his excitement when it came time to bake cookies for Santa. Luke cut out candy canes, snowmen, gingerbread men and Christmas trees.

After cooking our beautifully cut out cookies we got to show off our creative side in decorating. Luke spread the sprinkles with care in hopes that st. Nick would enjoy.

Here's Luke putting some finishing touches on a few cookies.

Ornament Painting

2009-01-06T17:27:00.000-08:00

This year we thought it would be fun to let Luke paint ornaments for everyone. While he had a great time doing it we realized he may have no future as a painter. He had a great time painting the ornaments and it's been fun watching the expressions on our family's faces to his masterpieces. We will definately do this again next year.

Trip to Santa

2008-12-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

I was very excited when Luke told me he was excited to go see Santa since last year Micah and I had to sit on his lap because he couldn't decide if he was one of the good guys. This year Luke hopped right up on Santa's lap and began telling him his list which went like this. "I want a cowboy hat, shooting gun, a dinosaur, a skateboard, a helicopter, another helicopter and another helicopter." Santa then asked him what his brother wanted and Luke replied, "Uhhh diapers." Santa gave a little giggle. The whole time Luke is in Santa's lap Tucker is squawking and reaching for Santa and trying his best to get out of Micah's arms. This is what happened when we sat him in Santa's lap. Poor little Tucker! It did make for a good Christmas card though.

Oh Christmas Tree

2008-12-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

In our years of marriage Micah and I have never had a tree over two foot tall. The past two years we didn't have a tree at all! It seemed silly to put up a tree when we came home to Kentucky on December 10th and didn't return to Delaware until after New Years. This year we have decided to have our first Christmas in our own home. I realize you're not supposed to decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but Micah got a little excited this year and we were all decorated a week before Thanksgiving! First were the lights on our house and little trees in our garden trimmed with lighted candy canes. Next was picking out the perfect tree! Our tree is beautiful. It's 7 1/2 foot tall prelit tree with 1,000 LED lights. We put our tree up while the boys were sleeping and we were so excited for them to wake up and see it. Luke loved the tree he was so excited and can't wait for Santa to come see him. Tucker on the other hand was scared to death of our tree. He points at it and screams at it never getting too close. He has since warmed up to the tree and all our ornaments have been moved half way up the tree and he enjoys pulling the tinsel off, it's gotten so bad I can't wait to take it down.