Blog 1

Entries are listed newest to oldest (pictures have been deleted due to needing the space for new pictures)

12/17/05 Well, it has been a while since I have written. We have been really busy. The kids finished their last day of school yesterday and are out for the Christmas holiday's. They are so excited and are counting down the days religiously! We have two different "count down the days" items that we use. One looks like a calender and we move the little German wooden Santa each day. The other is a wooden snowman thing that has beads on it. Each day you move the beads. And the last day is a star.........so on Christmas eve, there will be a star over top of the snowman. It is really cute. So, the kids fight over who gets to move the beads and the little wooden Santa. And Brittney marks the days off of the calender too! I don't think we will have a hard time remembering which day is Christmas.

The other day Brittney and I had a great conversation. You know she is 7 and is just so grown. You just never know what they are going to say! So, we were in the car and I am not sure what brought it up, but I said something about her being young. She then informed me that she wasn't young. I said, "Well, what are you then? You are not old!" She then proceeded to tell me, "No, you are old!" I told her that I wasn't old and she said that I was old to her. Then she went on to say, "Well, your not that old. If you were really old, you would have grey hair and you probably wouldn't wear any makeup." And then she said, "Old people who wear makeup look Hideous!" I just thought that was so funny!

Christian has been doing great! He is getting to be so grown. He loves to read and is on the 6th Harry Potter book! We have had to ban him from taking his book to school because he rushes through his school work so he can read! He is also quite the little dishwasher. He is really enjoying this whole getting an allowance thing. He will do just about anything if you are gonna pay him!

So I have been sick for three weeks. It is a revolving cold/cough type of thing. It has gone from a tickely throat to an upper chest hurtful cough, to a dry cough, to a cough that didn't hurt, to a sore throat with the feeling there was something really big in there along with a stuffed up head......and so on...... So I am starting to feel better but still have some symptoms........and that is at the three week mark! Brittney was out of school this past M-T-W for problems with her Asthma. She is really not doing well with this German climate. Hopefully they have her straightened out now. Then on Thursday, Christian started in with a bad cough and has been pretty pitiful since then. I think though he is feeling better today. He did go to school on Friday because they were going bowling. And I had to sub at the school that day. I taught PE and have had my fill of Doctor Dodgeball for a while!!!! I did get a compliment from the cutest little, and I mean little, 4th grade boy! He said that I was a "great PE coach"! That is pretty good since it was my first day as one!!!

So, the kids are out of school for the holidays and go back on Jan. 3rd. I also will have a 5th grade class that whole week. Ben does get some time off, but unfortunately, it is the first week of January when the rest of us will be at school. Ho Hum......it isn't the best timing, but at least he does get a much needed break from work. Maybe he can go play golf or something!

January will be busy for us too. As of right now, I already have 8½ days that I will be working at the school. Ben and I will also be taking classes at the college. And Ben is the coach for the squadron indoor soccer team!

Last night was Ben's squadron Christmas party. Something happened with our original reservations, so at the last minute, we were able to get reservations at one of the local village's sports halle's. It ended up being nice and the food was great. They had a huge spread of German food, it was awesome! It was really funny, they were giving away tons of prizes and had people dancing and singing silly songs for their gift. They even played a version of "Simon Says" with all of the higher ups...........even the Commander of the Squadron and one of the Colonels that was invited. They had the youngest airmen who was 19 come up and say "airmen says do..............this and that........." it was so funny. He had them saluting him and made them do pushups! It was great seeing how they are the ones that usually give the orders! They had to take it from the youngest, lowest ranking kid there.

The weather has been rainy and icky! It hasn't been as cold lately.....only about 40's or so in the day, sometimes a little lower. But last night the temp must have dropped because we woke up to snow on the ground.

Bella is still doing great! She is just so funny. She still is very quiet and doesn't bark, except for when she is dreaming. Deep down inside, she must be a big bad dog! It is so funny, we will be watching tv and she will be laying on her downstairs bed and all of a sudden, she will bark in her sleep!! She has even woken us up at night with a small bark.......her bedtime bed is right next to ours upstairs.

Well, sorry to bore you if you read this far! Have a great day!!! Christy

12/20/05 So, the kids and I got stopped in the commissary yesterday by a lady that works for DECA (the commissary people). She asked if she could use us as models for a picture. The photo is to illustrate an article on snack goods that will run in a magazine named Exchange and Commissary News. It is an industry publication that goes mainly to companies that support the grocery industry.....it was pretty funny and the kids were all for it.......

Brittney and I also had fun making chocolate covered pretzils when we got home. We made tons!! We didn't have such luck with the white chocolate, for some reason it just didn't want to melt..........

Hard Rock Cafe - Heidleberg, Germany - A FAKE!

We like to collect glasses from everywhere, so when we see a Hard Rock Cafe, we eat there. While in Heidleberg, Germany a few months ago, we saw one and ate there. Anyways, Ben always says that we should get a map of where they all are and try and go visit them all. So, I looked on their website and there is not one listed in Heidleberg, so I wrote them a letter asking them about it. This is the reply I got back.

Hello Christy,

Thank you for contacting Hard Rock Cafe International regarding a cafe in Heidelberg. Unfortunately, our company does not have an official cafe in that city. This is an "infringing" cafe, which means they were doing business under our name without our permission.

We hope that you can visit an official Hard Rock Cafe soon. For a complete list of our cafes, please visit our website at www.hardrock.com.

Thanks again for contacting us.

Love All Serve All!

Customer Care Team

Hard Rock Cafe

Well, we did think it was strange that they didn't have much merchandise to choose from. All we were able to get was a shot glass. Also, the food was not that good and wasn't the same as the other Hard Rock Cafes that we had been too. Now that we look at it, the sign is wrong also. The real sign says, "Save the Planet" and their sign says, "Help the Planet".

I have also been told that there is a fake one in Frankfurt too. I wrote them back and asked if they were going to sue because I wanted a cut! Well, this was their response:

Dear Christy,

We have known about this location for many years. However, their cafe was built in Germany before we built one there. According to German law, that gives them te right to be there. There is nothing we can do to make them close.

Please feel free to contact us again if we may be of any help to you in the future.

Love All Serve All!

Customer Care Team

Hard Rock Cafe

Why would I think that I was the first to discover this and that I would actually get some money out of it? Maybe to help pay for college?? I can dream right? Well, all is well here. The kids are doing great and are excited about their new school. We just can't wait to get settled! Hope all is going well for you! Tschuß!

1/28/06 Happy New Year! Boy are we starting the year off busy. We are moving in 2 weeks to a newer house that is closer to the base. We are so excited and just can't wait to be settled in for good (at least for a few years). We have great neighbors and tons of Americans live close by. The kids will have many children to play with. The school bus stop is only 8 houses down on our street; this is much better that a 10 min walk to a really busy street. Our good friends live within walking distance and our house is a perfect setup for having BBQ's. So, we are again, up to our ears in boxes. The kids are moving schools and will start on Feb. 13th. This is better for us in all aspects. Everything we do is at Ramstein AB. Now the kids can legally play sports there and it is only 7 miles away instead of about 20. It will be very convenient. To add to our state of confusion, Ben and I are both taking college classes. Ben is attending the University of Maryland, and takes an American Government class two nights a week. Christy is attending online courses at Kaplan University. She is working towards a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Educational Paraprofessional. This is a fancy way of saying a general degree with lots of child developement and teaching classes. She already has taken classes in these areas before and thought that some of the lessons might just be a good review. She is trying to get a degree out of the way so that one day she can maybe go to nursing school.

3/3/06 It is Saturday and Ben finally got to play in the snow and had some daddy time with Christian. Here are a few pictures of Christian getting the hang of the snowboard. Ben and all the kids (ours and the neighbors) ended up building forts to protect them from the snowball wars!

3/2/06 Snow day again!! No school.....but daddy still has to work!!! Today Christy got up and shoveled all of the driveway, patio, stairs, and sidewalks. She spred salt......all of this is mandatory in Germany! Well, everything stayed clear for about 2 hours...........and then........it started snowing.......AGAIN! And hasn't stopped!!! Now everything is covered.......and did I mention, it is NOT STOPPING!!! So far, we have about a good 4 or 5 inches!!!

Well, we ended up getting about 10 inches that day ....total! Here are some pictures of Ben shoveling snow! We have miles of driveway so it is a big job!!!

3/1/06 Snow day!! No school..... Today we played in our big ski slope of a front yard after shoveling snow on the sidewalks and driveway! Next year we are going to rent skis and snowboards from the base! It would be great to teach the kids how! Ben bought them a plastic snow board and they both did great on it today! They are little dare devils!

Entry 9/24/05 What's for dinner? Well, Friday night we had Marc H. over for dinner. Christy made Chili & Cornbread. And for dessert......Aunt Belinda's Peach Cobbler. I am sure that it wasn't as good as hers, we will have to consult with her on that one. :) We had a great time looking through photo albums and telling great stories! Soccer Update: Today Christian had his third soccer game! They won 2-0!! Christian had an awesome save while he was goalie. They really played great and Ben is real proud of his team. Marc H. came and watched the game too, what a treat! What's for fun? In the afternoon, we went to the village of Hitscherhof for the Hoffest (farm fest). You can visit the website at www.hitscherhof.com There is a selection for English on the first page. There was a corn maze and the kids had fun running through it. There were over 50 vendors there selling their wares. There was also some good smellin food, but we didn't partake. I did try a taste of New wein......it is wine made from grapes that were just recently picked. It is really bubbley and we didn't really like it to much. We did buy some ears of corn, one small "pet pumpkin" (as she called it) for Brittney that she drew faces on, and a small metal milk can that had been painted on. Very pretty!

Entry 9/19/05 In the News: Ben actually wired the commander's new car with strobe lights that are in the headlights, so when the commander needs them (like the police) he just flips a switch! The Commander gave him a coin in appreciation. This was in our base paper this past Friday. Soccer Update: Christian tied his game 1-1 this weekend. They played really well. The other teams goal was thanks to an assist by our team though, so technically they didn't really score. The kid on the other team kicked the ball, and our guy stuck his foot out to try and stop it and it bounced off of his foot and went right pass the goalie. Anyways, it was an exciting game. Kid update: The kids have found friends already. Brittney had a friend that lives in our village sleepover last weekend. They are BFF (best friends forever) I am sure of it........:) Christian spent the night over at a friends house this weekend. His friend is in his class, and they sit right next to each other and everything. They had fun, but Christian informed the mom that we have no rules at our house and that he IS allowed to climb on the furniture. Yah right!

Christy update: I have just been busy scrapbooking and getting the house in order. I actaully just completed our wedding album and it looks awesome! Now I am working on the kids baby books. I also just overhauled my Germany website, that took 2 whole days! Oh, that was painful! 9/5 Today our landlord brought us some honey from his own bee's. He said, "when that jar is empty, bring it to me and I will refill it." They are super!!!! 9/1 I spent about an hour today chatting with our Landlords. They are great people. I found out that Guenther is on the Parliment for the Village. He invited us to the Festival that the village is having this weekend. We went and the kids had a great time. We ate some Bratwurst, yum!!! They had games set up for the kids and they played and played! Who would have thought to set up some tin cans and give them a ball and it would keep them busy for hours???? go back