A couple weeks ago I started a blog to catch you up on our summer, and had it waiting to add a couple pictures when one of the boys needed the computer for their school work. So I didn't save what I had written and let them work on their stuff when low and behold, they somehow froze the computer:( So as you can guess everything I wrote was lost and now I'm back to square one:/ Since I am not a typist in any sense I begrudgingly will start this again and catch you up on our family's doings these past couple months.

So after looking at the last blog I told you what we were planning to do since that was written before we headed off for the last part of sumer. I think it would be better to break it up into the trips that we took!

Germany Trip July 2010

We headed to Stuttgart Germany after church on the 25th. Christian had to be at his EFY conference Monday morning and we wanted to get a jump on the drive. It was a nice drive to Stuttgart and we stayed at the TLF there. We were abel to be in our rooms by 9 pm so that we could relax the rest of the night. Monday we got up early and headed to where the EFY conference was to be help. It ended up being a little over an hour from where we stayed so the drive there was not rushed at all. Once at the drop off place, we got Christian all settled in and signed up and left him with his group counselor. The kids that attended this camp came from al over the eastern European area's. Some where from Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic...... there was also a few German kids too. This camp was great making sure the kids had translators to help with the language and was small enough that it was more personal than the ones I attended at BYU at his age. We left hoping that he wold have a wonderful time.

After dropping off Chris we headed to Grafenwohr to spend the week with Jon. He has just returned from is TDY to Hawaii....... yea....... I know, rough huh;) Monica and the kids were able to go out and visit with him during his time there:) So we got to Jon's about 4 in the afternoon. We went food shopping, ate dinner at the food court and then went to his place to relax. Now you have to remember that Jon lives in a 400 sq ft apartment with one bathroom and a small kitchen isle. We were able to make the sleeping arrangements work for us tough. Shel, Jori and I slept in the living room on mattresses and the two other boys slept on the floor in Jon's room. We were able to make a walkway in his room so her could walk to the bathroom and not on the boys, and there was a small 10 in gap between Jori and my mattresses that Jon could squeeze through in the morning to get to the front door. It did really work out good for all of us.

During our time there we were able to visit with Jon, go to a neat place called Pottstein and also took a quick run to the city of Prague in the Czech Republic. In Pottstein they had a place where you could ride bobsleds, like the kind you ride for the olympics. Granted, since there was no snow they ran a a metal track, but is was pretty neat. They also had a slide that ran on a track more like one of the rides at Six Flags, and that was fun too. The day we were there they had only the track ride open because it was raining and there would be safety issues with the bobsled track but the boys really enjoyed the ride. After that we headed to a small cave they had in the area and Shel and the boys took a tour on of it. Jori wasn't interested and I knew if there was too much walking up stairs I wouldn't survive the tour. While the men fold went on the tour Jori and I drove to a roadside fruit stand to buy some berries. The berries were so tasty and we loaded up on blueberries, raspberries, cherries and blackberries. Talk about some yummy dessert!

One of the days there we decided to drive to Prague since it was under 2 hrs away from us. We didn't have any problems driving through the two countries, we parked at a monitored parking area next to a mall and train station and once we figured out the rpice for our tickets we headed to the city center. Once we got off the train it took us awhile to find the area we were looking for, but eventually with some other American's that were vacationing there they got us to the square we were looking for. It was so neat to be there. They had this old church that was so cool, and a really neat clock that turned 400 yrs old this year. We were able to hook up with a gyuded tour that showed us all the interesting area's but we had gotten there too late so this tour we couldn't just hop off to se everything. Once there we had realized we made a huge error in only going for the afternoon:( We now are planning to go back and visit another time when we can spend a couple days there and take in some of the cool architecture and other sites. That night before we left we were able to get some really neat pictures of the Tyn Church. DJ kept saying he expected a Dragon to be sitting on one of the spires, it was that creepy looking at night. We got the two boys some neat sweatshirts that had "Czech Me Put" on the front and some other souvenirs then we headed back to Jon's.

On Friday, Jacob finally flew in to be with his Dad. He had landed in Frankfurt around 11 am and then took a shuttle to a neighboring military base. Jon drove there to pick him up. He arrived, super tired, but excited to be there. We all went out to dinner, that ended up being a disaster, but it was fun to spend some time with him before we headed back home.

Saturday rolled around and we were off driving back to pick up Christian. We needed to get him by 10:30 that morning and arrived pretty close to that time;) He was pretty happy about this week, and talked about all the people he met. On the drive home we though about going to Ramstein to get a couple things and thought about getting a room there. Of course there were no rooms available so we told everyone to get comfortable and we headed for home. We got in late and decided to sleep in the next day. We were tired and needed to rest up after that day of driving:/ It was a good thing we rested up because, we only had 2 days to prepare for our next adventure......... England!

This is a look of the sleds from the bottom of the hill area. That yellow car has one of my kids in it.

This is the Tyn Church. At nights its pretty creepy looking but it's beautiful when the sun is starting to set!

Here is the Astronomical Clock that turned 400 yr old this year. When the clock strikes the top of the hour, the openings at the top have statues of the Disciples from Christ time rotate through them. It's pretty neat to see.

Tomorrow I'll post about our time in London:)

Well, what can I say?????????????

I'm just no good at this blogging stuff:(

Since the last time I wrote we have been busy. Where to start, where to start?

I got Jori all signed up for her independent class for the summer, she hasn't cracked the book open once. In fact her time here has truly been a waste of time in my book. We could have left her in the states and she could have been working and saving money for school. I had hoped to take some small local trips, but that hasn't panned out like I wanted it too:( We still have a couple more years here so I'm sure we'll get to see everything we want eventually.

In June we inherited some new family members; Two more dogs and a schizophrenic cat;) Out good friends the Thiessen's were in the process of moving to Germany. Jon is already here in Europe, but Monica and the kids were planning on coming out in the middle of June to visit for the summer. Monica was also planning to stay and work for the Army at Graf and they were planning to get a place eventually. Monica had originally planned to bring the animals out with her when she came but the airlines initiated their "pet embargo" 2 weeks early which meant that unless you are on military orders you can't fly your pets until the summer is over:o Well, they sure didn't tell this to Monica when she was making her plans a few weeks before that:/ So the day before Jon was coming back to Germany from his vacation home, they found all this out and they had 24 hours to get everyone ready to fly out with him. Luckily for us his flight was going through Amsterdam so we were able to drive up there and get the animals from him before he headed off back to Germany. Then during that next week Monica was told that she would be put on disability for her medical problems so that stopped the job with the Army:( This is a blessing for her really, but just a hassle when it comes to getting her over here. So they had everything figured out to come and now the Dr's are now doing the ole, "oh hurry up then wait we have to do this now thing" game>:( It looks like it might be drawn out into a long battle for Monica and with Melissa and Jacob going on their missions at the end of the summer, things are really getting down to the wire here:/ They family had talked of going through the temple here in Germany with the kids but as of now they still are not here yet:( Jon had to go to Hawaii for a class so they took a family vaca there, and right before heading off to that Jon got word that they are planning to send him to Afghanistan in January>:( Can you say that this whole thing just inhales rapidly! Also Melissa found a lump on her thyroid and now has a biopsy right after they get back to the states. So, now we sit and wait to hear what is next going to happen. We are doing great with the animals, they have settled in nicely, but I know they miss their a "family" and we will just continue on with our summer plans.

So onto the summer plans..................

Christian has EFY starting on Monday in Germany. It looks like after all the hassle's that we had trying to get him and the Herleen ward kids into an English speaking conference, he was the only one to follow through adn do the paperwork:/ Go figure! So we head out Sunday after church is over and will drive down to stay at Ramstein that evening. The drive from Ramstein should only be a couple hour and he has to be there I think by 12 noon. After we drop him off we will head to Graf and spend the week there visiting with Jon and seeing all the cool things there is to see in that area of Germany. We are even thinking of visiting Prague since we'll be a couple hours away. We pick up Chris on Saturday and head home to a couple days before the next leg of the vacation begins.

Once home we have a couple days to gear up for London:) We are planning to go to England and stay there for about 11-13 days. If all goes well we will stay at a RAF base about 1 1/2 hours outside London. We can take the train into London and go see all the sights there but then also go visit other places in the local area. There are some church history sites and and things like Stonehenge and small villages in the countryside we can visit. We might drive up to Scotland and maybe even take a ferry to Ireland too? Right now we are in the planning stage still but what ever we decide to do we will be having fun! We plan on not getting back home until around the 14 or 15 of August!

Jori will then fly back to the states on the 19th, then the following week we will be heading back to Ramstein for Sheldon's language test. I need to try and get the boys set up for their physicals and med refills too. So the next few weeks will be full of lots of travel! We are grateful we have Renata who will stay here with the animals and take took care of everybody:)

So as you see, maybe there will be some updates and pictures to go along with the updates? We shall see;)

Since it's Monday...............

I thought I would start the week with a post;)

I am thinking I will use Sunday as a weekly post but come here if I think of something, but we shall see. I don't like to come a dribble on about things, but I do want to use this as a family journal and journal our travels so to speak, so alas I already start with the dribbling...........

Yesterday it was ward conference for the Eindhoven ward. I received an email from the RS secretary that we had to be at the church at 9 am. Well, we got there and of course it was false. She has signed us, us being the RS presidency on a website to try and help us be more organized;) Good luck with that.......... anyway I guess it defaults if she doesn't place a time in the heading so we were there bright and early and then had to wait:( The kids of course, now being used to sleeping in a bit more were a little grumpy to say the least, but then again, they need to get back into the idea that church does start earlier in the real world;) For the ward conference they decided to change the meetings to starting with RS/Priesthood first than so forth, well let's just say we have a lot of "acronym" kids in our ward and changing their schedule really makes for a hard day for them. Most did pretty well, but a couple by the time we got to sacrament were done! After church we had soup Sunday. The stake leaders ate in one room and the members in the big church area. I didn't understand the meaning of this because i would think the leaders would like to mingle with the ward members? Oh well, we had our soup, with little pieces of yummy bread and then stayed and mingled for a bit after the fact. We didn't get home until well after 3 pm. Yes it made for a very long day, but it was fun talking with other's.

Sheldon worked on the back yard Saturday and we got my new patio furniture all set up on the little stoned area. I think we will get an umbrella from IKEA that we saw and then we should be done. I also ordered some replacement cushions for the older patio chairs that I had and they should be here in a couple weeks. I will be happy to have all my stuff up and then when we bbq we will have a nice back yard to sit in. Once we find a trampoline and basketball set the yard will be complete in the boys eyes;) We'll have to take the trampoline apart every winter but that's ok. At least they will have it again.

We will be having Nancy and Nathalie over for dinner this week, then the van Emple girls wanted to come for a bbq at the end of the month, we invited Daniel to come too and then the Bishop and his family over in June for Sheldon and Nelly's birthdays. We have a lot to look forward too. Well, it's almost 11 am and I still have some things I want to do before I have to take Jori to the Houssian's for "Jori and Ezra" time;) She's helping the family who's boy has autism with a special program they found and that will help give her something to do during the summer. She also signed up for an independent study class for the summer so today we need to buy the books then she will have that to work on too.

Till later I guess....................

Been too long....

Well, I just realized that it's been long time since I posted last. I guess thats not unusual for me huh;)

April came and went before I really thought about it:/ Not too much really happened that month. Boys had school and Sheldon work. At the end of April Jori was finally able to come for the summer. We were hoping to try and have her take a hop out through the military, but ended up buying her a ticket at the last minute. We were able to get a pretty goo deal with just a couple days notice. She ended up only being in California for less than a week. I know she wanted to spend more time there, but we needed her here so we could head to Germany again.

The conference that Sheldon was scheduled to go to at the beginning of May ended up being canceled because of all the problems with the Iceland volcano and the ash cloud that it was producing. They didn't want to take a chance that people would end up stuck mid travel. We decided that even though the conference was cancelled we still wanted to go down for a few days of R&R. Really I don't know why I call it that because I really don't get much rest and relaxation, but I have to say I love going to Ramstein AB and just soaking in some "American" culture;) We were able to go down for five days and would have loved to stay a couple more, but Christian ended up needing to come home for a couple practices and games this week. We were able to let the boys swim for a couple times while there and see some friend from Cali and as usual pretty much ate ourselves through the food court and restaurants. That's the most fun for me:) We decided to eat at Chili's this time around and it wasn't too bad. We had heard horror stories, but I'm hoping that that is the past. Of course Macaroni Grill was fantastic and we ate there within the first hour we got into the air base.

We were able to get in a little shopping and Christian and I had a couple medical appointments. I unfortunately ended up finding out that I need glasses permanently now:( I guess I should be thankful that I had 48 great years without them. I was able to try some frames and ordered a pair from the optical center at the base mall. This way if I have any problems, when we go to visit I can have them take care of everything. Since we will be back in the end of June, I should have them by then and have them adjusted. I might order me a pair of sunglasses next time so I have a pair for driving.

We came home Monday evening just in time to celebrate Elder Stringham's birthday here at the house. Renata and her daughter had everything ready and we had about 2o minutes to unload the van before everyone else got here. It was a traditional Dutch bbq, which had different styles of meat and sides. We also had American baked beans which the elder's loved and American chips and soda. After dinner the men went out to throw the aerobe around for a bit then came in for cake and ice cream. We had about 10 other people here so it was a house full. It was a nice evening. Renata decided to stay one more night then on Tuesday early afternoon I dropped her at home. I'm glad that she seems to think that our house is a mini vacation for her. She is so good with the animals and Baxter is starting to come around and not growl as much;/ They are working out their relationship;)

The rest of the week has been a waste pretty much. We've mostly been taking it easy and catching up on some shows and movies. What can I say...... we are a family of slugs:(

Germany Trip March 2010

Somehow the pictures are from topsy turvy. So if you want to get an idea of our little trip to Germany back at the beginning of March 2010 with the Thiessen's then scroll down to the bottom and work your way up. This is just the trip to see Garmish,Salzburg and a some castles. It was fun taking a couple days and having no kids to worry about. Of course they had it rough as they were skiing in the Austrian Alps:0 but oh well, we had some fun too;)

The boys doing what they do best! Defying the law;) In nice weather this path leads to a bridge that you can take some really cool pictures of the castle and surrounding area. Of course, these guys don't follow the rules, they like to make their own! Really, they didn't go up there, this was just for dramatic effects!

Us in front of the Neuschwanstein Castle. This is the castle they copied for the "Cinderella Castle" at Disneyland. We took a carriage ride up but we still had to walk almost straight up the last 10-15 minutes to get there. This is the half way point of where we got dropped off to getting inside the castle. Come ready to walk! Oh, the inside was gorgeous! There's even a "cave room" off the bedroom that you walk through. I never would have thought of having a cave room in my house before, but now I might need to rethink that;)

Picture of the Matterhorn from our balcony. Everything was so pretty the morning after the snow fall. Made the drive to the Castles so much nicer. No Really. The countryside was gorgeous during the drive.

When we got back to our hotel that night this is what we came home too. We took this picture from our room on the balcony. It was just beautiful!! Those are the snow flakes cought in the cameras flash. Pretty neat:)

Here is the outside of the church. You have to walk up a long tiled courtyard then through a gift shop before you can get inside. The lady at the gift shop will ask for donations but it is not madatory. When we left we purchase some bottles of holy water. You never know when you'll need some;)

Here is the inside of the Church that the wedding took place. The chapel was dark and cold, but had a lot of "flair" as catholic churches tend to. There are some really pretty paintings and stain glass windows in this chapel. When we were walking through there was someone playing the organ.

This is the countryside we had to drive through to get to the church that Maria and the Captain were married in. The country was beautiful and we had a great time talking with our guide as we drove to the small town of Mondees. It's on the other side of this lake.

Here is the Gazebo from the movie. THey had to move it from the back of the house from the movie because too many people would sneak in to take pictures. The house is a private residence.

Here is a picture of the back side of the Sound of Music house. This is the bacside that you see in the movie where they tip the canoe and play ball with the Countess.

Paris trip December 2009

Here is a picture of the kids in front of the Louvre and one of the Eiffel Tower from our bus. We Had rain most of the days we were there, but it wasn't so bad. Sheldon and Christian had stayed back at the Arch de Triumph and we didn't catch up to each other until later that evening. Can't wait to go back this summer and hopefully get inside both of these beautiful buildings. Oh I did go under the Louvre! I used the bathroom and we ate at Mc Donalds while we were there. Only would we go all the way to Paris to eat at MC D's;)

It's been a long time

So I have been neglectful on writing:( I guess I just figure I don't have much to write or just feel like it might be a little negative, or just don't feel like doing it!

I guess you can say it's a combination of all three. I should be writing this on the laptop because all of our pictures from our camera have been downloaded on there so I will need to post from that computer. I guess I can write on this one then go to the laptop and add the pictures later if I want? We will see.

So since February what's been going on? We spent almost the whole week down at Ramstein back in February. We came home loaded with exercise equipment and food's galore and really had a nice time. I was able to have my nails done, the boys were able to take in a day of swimming and rock climbing and we spent way too much money. We ate at some wonderful American style food places and just took it easy. We will be heading back down again in May for another week. Sheldon has a conference for work and we will hopefully be able to pick up Jori from their when she takes a hop from Travis. So that is the plan so far.

The boys were able to get some meds and the Doctor was great about giving me 6 months worth of meds for them. We will have to refill them in August so that will be right before school starts up. Sheldon had his medical check up that week and they said that he was having an issue with his liver counts. We are waiting to hear from the Doctor about what he should do next. So we will deal with that as it comes.

School has been school! The boys aren't doing too bad, but then again they could be doing better. It's just so different, and with the grading and how they grade. Malachi has one teacher that want's him to be "creative". Well to her she thinks that if the kids don't draw or paint like Picaso then they aren't being creative. In the states they were suppose to draw as well as they could to the example in front of them, here she want's them to look opposite. I just told Malachi to do his best and good luck;)

Christian is still having growing pains with the youth in the ward. He hasn't been to church or any activity for over a month now. It's hard to want to be apart of a group of people who make you feel unwelcome. That even comes from most of the adult leaders in the YM's presidency too. At least Marco goes out of his way to talk with the boys when they are there and gratefully there are some men in the ward who are taking the time to make the boys feel welcome. The good thing is that the kids from school are very accepting and the boys have some good friends from there. Church is only a few hours each week so at least when they go to school they have friends to sit with.

RS is going well. I taught a slow cooker class last week and we had about 12-15 sisters show up. I brought Chili for lunch with things to eat with it and everyone seemed to have a really good time. For the RS birthday dinner we did a taco bar with beans and rice as a side and that went over well too. I am slowly getting to know the sister's but there are so many more I would love to get to know better.

Well, I have so much more to get done today. I really want to work on the house these next few days. Jon Thiessen will be coming next weekend for a few days, and Jori will be here in a month so I really need to get rooms done.

Oh, we spent a few days with the Thiessen's in Germany when the boys were in Austria skiing for a week. We had so much fun playing dominos and visiting some castles in souther Germany. We even skipped over to Austria to take the "Sound of Music Tour" in Salzburg. It was just nice to go and do things with Jon and Monica. Can't wait to vacation with them again. The summers will be hard because I have the boys in School until July, but we are hoping to be able to do some things this summer before Monica heads back to Washington. We are hoping that her house will sell, then she can stay over in Germany for good! So we're keeping our fingers crossed;)

I guess I need to get better............

but haven't felt much like posting. It could be the fact that I'm not really a typist and so doing this can be frustrating at times. Don't get me wrong I "peck away" with the best of them, but what I think in my mind and to try and get it down on paper are two different things.

There hasn't been too much going on really with us as of late. Mostly school stuff and typical family stuff, but there is drama that is happening within the ward.

There had been some things that had happened before we moved here. Not that I want to dredge up the past for some of the families, but there has been a few things over the past few years that have gone on that have really tested the faith of some of the members. It's hard to define now though what the real problem with the ward is. I think they have just decided to allow the contention to just take over.

A couple weeks ago the Bishop finally stood up and told everyone that if it doesn't stop, the area cannot grow and the ward will wither and die. I agreed with everything he talked about. There are too many people allowing their pride and anger to get in the way of forgiving and loving the other members. They expect the church to make everything right for them and want the Bishop to make personal and family decisions. That is not his job! His job is to help them, guide them, but when they stop trying to do the work themselves he cannot save them. There is so much good in this ward! They have a potential of accomplishing great things here. There are some wonderful families and if they could just learn to live together and love each other in spite of their differences and our shortcomings they can become so much more! So we pray for patience and love, and hope that the vision of what can be will come to pass.

This weekend marks the beginning of Carnival. So it looks to be an interesting week:o The members said that carnival is a week long excuse for everyone to drink and act stupid. I guess we shall see. We will be spending most of next week in Germany. Sheldon has his medical for the year and the boys need to have their meds re-evaluated and new prescriptions. It will be nice to eat at some "American" restaurants and do some "American style" shopping. Ramstein has that nice big mall to go shopping in so we are excited about that. We are looking to pick up a trampoline if we can, a treadmill and maybe a home gym. The boys would like the home gym, the treadmill is for me and Sheldon and the trampoline, well I need that so when I send the boys outside they have someplace to play outside if they don't feel like riding their bikes.

Well, I guess I should get some things done before the boys get home. Christian has his friend Robert coming over tonight. He's a great kid. I'm glad that Christian has one friend here that he gets a long with.

Recovering from the Weekend

This past weekend our friends the Thiessen's came for the 4 day American holiday. They were able to leave Germany early enough that they were here by 9 pm. The boys were so excited about them coming that they wanted to stay up to see them, and by the time they calmed down it was too late for them to go to school the next day. We talked and played cards then went to bed late!

Friday we all went to the Eindhoven city centrum to get a couple things. We stopped off at the Media Mart to get a phone cord for our home phone, Jon and Monica looked around for some phone covers and I was able to price some table grills I've ben wanting to get. We also stopped at T-Mobile to get Christian's phone working again. We also ate at KFC then walked around a little longer.

We pretty much took it easy the whole weekend, playing cards, making crepes and fresh toast for breakfast, chili for dinner and snacking on chips and M & M's. It was a perfect weekend in our books. The older you get, the more you just want to sit around, talk and enjoy the company;)

They left just before noon on Monday so that they could miss driving traffic as they got close to Graf. I'm glad the weather was good so it didn't prolong the drive for them. It takes about 6 hours so it's not too bad, but it makes for a tiring one.

We made another play date for the first week of March. The boys will be going to Austria for their skiing trip so we will go to Graf this time. Jon has a small apartment, so it will be good that the boys aren't there this time. Jon is also going to look for a car around the base for us, then when we go over we will fix what we need too and bring it back. He was able to get a car for $400 this past week and he thinks he can find us something at about the same price too. We are hoping to have another vehicle no later than this summer at the latest.

With another car and Sheldon's motorcycle he will be set for driving to Breda for work. I will then have my car so I can take care of RS business anytime I need too, and go shopping when I need too. It will be nice to not have to worry about catching the bus, which isn't bad, more of a nuisance really.

I can't wait until Monica will finally move here this summer. She is hoping that she will get everything taken care of with her home and surgeries quickly. It will be so much fun to be able to plan vacations with them and visit them when we have time off. Party time in Europe!

So, I should be cleaning my house and getting things put away.......

But I'd rather be writing on my blog instead!

Well, I really do have so much to be doing. We found out our good friends the Thiessens will be coming to visit next weekend so I want to make sure the boys rooms upstairs are clean and not stinky:( With us not sleeping on the same floor, I don't get to daily peruse their rooms as often as I should. I should do a daily check, but alas, I don't. I guess that's something I could work on for 2010.

Yesterday was mine and Sheldon's 21 year wedding anniversary! I look back and think where has the time gone? We decided to have a family dinner of herb grilled chicken, baked potato and salad but our grill decided to go on the fritz. After an hour the chicken was barely turning brown so we had to use the broiler in the oven to finish. It tasted pretty good, but there's nothing like grilled chicken baked on the grill. We realized that we've had that grill for quiet awhile now, so I guess it's time to be looking for another one:( We bought it in Nebraska right after we moved there and we've had to replace the burners. Suffice it to say, we got our moneys worth out of it. So I'll be checking out the grills at the AAFES store and seeing what we can get.

School has been in full swing this week. Jori made it home finally and her luggage only took a couple extra days to follow her home. I have so much I need and want to start with RS, but am feeling overwhelmed at the moment. I know baby steps with everything. I just hope I can get things figured out and going. I ope to be able to spark an excitement with the ladies here too. It's just a bit different with the cultures, and some of the attitudes need to change. unfortunately, the sisters who need it the most are not coming and it's hard to get the word out. I need to take it to the Lord and he will guide me. I just get impatient sometimes:/

I want to get my house in order. I think my goal for the first 6 months will be to get everything a place. I need more shelves, so I am planning on acquiring a new shelf every month until I get it done. Sheldon and I also need dressers, so I need to focus on that too. I don't know if it would be better to pay the Dutch prices, or buy them from the military furniture stores. I have seen advertisements from the base on some stores in the area of Schinnen so maybe I will start there.

OK, the boys will be home any minute and I want to get them done with their chores so I can work on mine too.

2010

So I started a post then had to go back and read the last post I put up. I think my mind is officially gone;( If you ask my kids I'm sure they will tell you that it left a few years ago, but I'm just coming to that realization of it;)

After Christmas we decided to head down to Paris. Talk about waiting until the last day to do everything. Sheldon told me how he wanted to get the play room organized and the garage all cleaned out, but I'm sure I can tell you that never got done. He did get to watch a lot of his tv shows and sleep in. So I guess it all worked out for him in the end.

We went to Paris for 3 days, but it just didn't feel long enough. We weren't able to get into the Louvre or go up the Eiffel Tower because the lies were sooooo long....... but I have decided that I want to go back again. I felt rushed at trying to see everything and I just don't want to do that again. We did ride the tour buses around and talk about a great deal. They were open on the top so as we drove around Paris we were able to so much of the city. Now you have to ride ride the buses at least twice, once during the day and then another time at night. It's like seeing the city all over again. While we were there they had up Christmas lights so it was so pretty and festive. It reminded me of the Vegas Strip. We ate from the local vendors on the side of the street, yummy crepes and the bakeries had fresh bread and yummy tarts. I heard the bells toll at the Notre-Dame Cathedral, stood under the Eiffel Tower, drove around the Arch de Triumph and ate lunch under neath the Louvre. We walked the shopping center at Lafayette Galeries and bought fun stuff at the discount shops all around. We stayed at a hostel so we only had a 10 minute walk from the Notre-Dame. Even with the rain and cold, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Did I mention the tour buses? LOVED THEM!! So worth the money. They were awesome............. we drove by museums and other important buildings as they took us to the main sites. I even saw the Ritz hotel that Princess Diana ate dinner at just before she died:( That was a sad memory.

We returned home on New Years Eve night and everyone proceeded to jump back into life, getting on the computer and catching up with friends, then at midnight, with the beginning of the New Year 2010 we ventured outside to watch the sky light up from all the fireworks that were going off. I guess here in Europe they allow people to buy fireworks and set them off since the city doesn't do it themselves. As we watched the city glow from the fireworks going off it was amazing to know that it was from the local people, their own personal firework's. The fireworks lasted between 20-30 minutes! I hope next year that we will be able to join in the fun because I hope to remember to take my camera and take pictures of the show.

Now today, we patiently wait to see if Jori will be able to get out of Europe to get back to school. She left Saturday morning on the train bound for Amsterdam where her flight ended up cancelled because the plane broke and couldn't be fixed. After standing for hours to catch a flight she was told that she wouldn't be able to get out that evening and that she would have to stay at the hotel at the airport and they would fly her out the next day. On Sunday they got her on a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt Germany where she was to connect to her next flight to SF. Her departure left 2 hours later than they were suppose to but that was ok because she had a 5 hour layover in Frankfurt, but when she got to the United desk in Frankfurt for her connection they told her she was on a stand by status, that she was bumped and that they couldn't help her out. They then told her to find a hotel and come back tomorrow and we will see what we can do for you! WHAT!!!!! I don't think so:( Some poor sole took pity on her and let her use his cell phone, but the battery was dying so we got cut off. So for hours Sheldon called airlines, chewed out airlines and then finally got a living being who was willing to help us. We were able to get her a flight out for Monday morning and had her upgraded to business class for her flight over the pond. When she finally got a hold of us, she said they gave her a voucher for a hotel close to the airport, some money for food but gave her a number to take care of her flight for the next day. We then were able to tell her that we took care of the flight stuff for her and all she had to worry about was getting some rest before heading back to the airport. She then told us her luggage got sent to SF without her, and so she pretty much had nothing with her. Luckily when she flew out she was bumped up to business class and they gave her a kit with a toothbrush and lotion and she had that with her in her backpack. The hotel had shampoo and conditioner so she was good there. I told her to buy herself a t-shirt and deodorant from the airport kiosk so she could at least feel a little better on the flight home. Her dad suggested a t-shirt with a saying along the lines of "I got stranded in Germany and all I got was this lousy shirt";) That seemed to make her smile. I just keep saying she will have plenty of stories to tell once she gets back to school. At least with this experience she knows that she can do just about anything.

The boys are back at school today. The regular driver Mr Ott is on holiday so we have another driver for the time being. I guess she's suppose to be really nice too. Amy Heymann said she drove last year a few times for her kids. They seemed glad to be going back to school, and I am glad to finally have my house back;)

Well, I have a ton to do and have gotten nothing accomplished this fine Monday:( I didn't know that the credit union was closed on Mondays and so I have to wait until tomorrow to get money and banking done. I might do some fancy transferring tonight if Sheldon gets home early enough, but we will see. I was hoping to take the Christmas decorations down and get some cleaning done but I don't see both of those happening today so will pick one and then go with it. I just might take a nap. It's been a stressful couple of days and I'm pooped!