Daddy Day

So, obviously, today is Father's Day- only I don't really have a "father" I have me a Dad, or better put a Daddy... and I'm not afraid to call him as such out in public where the whole world can see me using a term most people stop using by the time their age gets into double digits.

And that is simply because I have the best darn Daddy in the world. I get to see him in less than a month when I go back to Seattle for a bit- but here are some pics of him from our most recent trip through "It-lee" (that's dad talk for Italy).

Giving the ol' one-eye!(hehe)
On top of the Leaning Tower in Pisa. See how great he is at point out all the sights for me?

HAPPY DADDY'S DAY!!!

Loco for Legos!

This most recent 4 day weekend Rob and I pulled out the Legos. I began work on my summer castle Friday and finished by that Monday (I did take a day off for a trip to Mainau Island.)
Well, here it is:
In this shot you can see my pink bed with the remote to my swivel flat screen TV (so I can watch from bed or my bath (part of it is visible to the left of the yellow swivel chair). Also, there is part of my bathroom- complete with water in the sink and paper towel holder next to the toilet.) There is a spiral staircase leading down to the main floor and then to a ladder leading to the cellar.
This is the pool house that Rob, my handyman, stays in. There is a satellite dish so he has TV and internet (his one demand). To the left of it is his outhouse with a barrel he can fill from the water spigot (on the right of the house) to wash up. That is Rob there BBQing some hamburger patties on the grill to go with the 2 pizzas on the table.

Here is another shot of my bedroom- showing more of the bathroom, the staircase, and my TV.

This is the garage, stables, dog house (and dog dish), and the koi fish pond in the back with the red shade umbrella.

The garage has a opening roof and here you can see the car and the work table with an instruction manual for my handyman. The 2 purple tourist buses (for those that want to tour my estate) are parked in the back. You can also see the bench and tiki light next to the koi pond. The rock area on the right lead up to the main arched entrance where my white horse is waiting to take me for a ride.

Here you can see my on my balcony overlooking the pool and playground. If you look you can see I have a side door from the castle with steps leading down to the area, as well.

Here is the yard- the pool (yes, a ghost is on the diving board though no one is on duty in the lifeguard chair!), the playground with coverable sand box, sit-n-spin, and mini slide.

Ok, I know I went a little Lego Loco- but I had fun. We are thinking of ordering some more legos so I can better build the things I want next time (Rob has specialty sets for space and castle stuff- but not too much else.)

If you love legos too you might enjoy these Lego themed cakes here.

Mainau Island

On Saturday we returned to Konstanz (we were there back in April for the end of our big Italy trip). In April we had stayed at the Peterhof Hotel (I highly recommend it!) and had the best dinner at their restaurant and the included breakfast the next morning was nothing less than awesome. Last time we were not able to make it to Mainau Island on the Bodensee (the big, big lake down where Germany meets Switzerland). This time we went straight there and opted not to stay overnight but make it simply a day trip.
Well, Mainau Island is basically one big garden/park. You leave your car in the parking lot on the mainland and walk across a bridge to the wonderful land of flowers, a castle, flowers, play areas, wonderful views and even more flowers. It was sunny and simply gorgeous. We even saw a very fancy, formal wedding party that were on their way to the chapel (and after the church bells rang for a while we saw them all outside taking pictures in their elegant wear-- I would have been so uncomfortable in formal wear in that heat, but oh well.)
We took a lot of pics, but not any of the wedding party (sorry)... and here are some of the shots we took for you to enjoy:

The Sound of...

Music! (of course, what other sound were you thinking it was going to be?)

Last night we went to see "The Sound of Music" at the Roadside Theater in Heidelberg.

Before hand we thought we would try the little restaurant just off post (which was very yummy, by the way) and saw our friend Yvonne, who is starring as Maria (and was Belle a couple of yeas ago in "Beauty & the Beast"), at the bar (don't worry we didn't have a tipsy Maria, she was drinking water with some friends before the show.)

Anyhoo... the play went great. It is the last weekend (they have a matinee today and they are done.) I looking forward to seeing what shows they decide to do for next year.

Row, Row, Row your Raft....

So, on Saturday we went with some others from Rob's work to go rafting down the Nahe river (it is a tributary of the Rhine River here in Germany.) We woke up fairly early for a Saturday and Rob drove the bus. Here we are unloading, blowing up the rafts, and getting all the gear figured out:
Here is the one and only self pic so you can see Rob and I were actually in the raft. We got quite a bit of sun and are red faced now. One of the other rafts that we passed. (We were near the front most of the way.) At the end we arrived in Bad Munster where they had a fest going on. This worked out great since we were all pretty hungry by this point.

Here is a group shot of those of us who went rafting. This included getting soaked, having to get out and walk the rafts over 3 rock dams, splitting the bottom of one raft and popping 1/2 of another raft less than 3 minutes into the trip down the river. We saw swans, baby ducks and even a bridal party walking in a park along the way. All in all, it was a great day!

Summer in Seattle

Okay, my mom rocks. No,...wait... I can do better than that. My mom ROCKS! She's naturally pretty cool but she out did herself yesterday by buying some mileage points and trading them in so that my round trip airfare from Frankfurt to Seattle only cost... (wait for it) ... $268! And this is summer travel mind you. Didn't I tell you she ROCKS??
Anyhoo.. I am going back to Seattle for part of this summer (the 2nd half to be more specific). I went last summer for a 5 week visit. During that time we went to Oregon (no sales tax!), shopped at the mall grand re-opening, went to one wedding, and saw two of my friends that each had a baby (one a boy and one a girl). Just like last year I will be spending my wedding anniversary away from my loving husband. But, unlike last year where the actual day of my anniversary was spent doing yard work and going to the city dump (not that that wasn't "special"), I'm glad we will be heading down to the Oregon Coast (where Rob actually proposed) for my 5th anniversary . I also will be there for my 10 year high school reunion and my brother's 31st birthday (I left before his big 3-0 last year.)
I should be an exciting summer- with camping down in Garmisch for the 4th of July weekend before the trip back to Washington. I'll be sure to blog about it better than I did last year.

Finishing out the week

Yesterday, Glory & Grace went back home. I was thinking of telling their dad that I was going to keep them and they would stay with me- but apparently there is some law against that... so off they went home and I'll see them again soon. We did have fun though and I took quite a few pics of all that we did, but I decided to share just a handful with you so that this post wasn't too, too long.We went to the Chinese Tea House in Luisen Park on Friday.

And played on the many playgrounds.

We slurped jello through straws. My granny taught me how to this at those all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants in the States. My mom never let me do it at home though since it does make the most disgusting noise (but, kids love it- so go make some jello and give it a try!)I love the expression on Grace's face here.

We played Disney Scene-It before bed...

... while Rob played on his computer.

Here is one where they knew the answer:

And one where they didn't:

Later, when bedtime came, I noticed I hadn't heard Rob reading the bedtime story for a bit. I went to investigate only to see that they had fallen asleep.

*Excuse my silly, giddy self but I was just excited to see them both sleeping- head to foot on the same side of the bed. So, ignore me (I'm the one acting like a big goof ball) and enjoy the short video.

Double the Fun

I simply LOVE having Glory & Grace over visiting for the week! We are having a lot of fun (and I can't wait until I have my own kiddos someday). Here is some of the things we have been up to this week...

We made cookies.

Glory made sure they tasted right.

Grace got a little too excited with mixing.

We put on sunblock to go outside on the playground. Where the girls got a little silly...
and convinced me to join in!

We painted our nails (pink and blue and *s*p*a*r*k*l*y*) before bed then let them dry while Rob read another chapter of the bedtime story. And then it was off to sleep and get ready for a another fun filled day in the morning. Thanks for checking in with us!

ATC & Mom Practice

This weekend I went with to the other new board ladies from PWOC (Women's Group at the Chapel) to our Annual Training Conference (ATC).

We attended classes for our different board positions. (I'm doing Participation again this upcoming year because I simply enjoyed it this past year.) And we bonded. I can't wait to serve God and the ladies of Mannheim alongside these new friends. So many of my friends are PCSing (military moves) this summer- and without a so much as a blink I see God taking care of my social and spiritual need of fellowship and has provided new friends (not that they replace the old ones- but simply add even more joy to my day, and facebooking).

So I was gone Friday through Sunday afternoon and had a BBQ to go to about 3 minutes after I walked in the door with my suitcase. I had left my loving husband a page and a half letter on Word on his computer (where there is no way he could miss it) with requests for laundry to be done, the dishwasher to be unloaded, a detailed shopping list,etc. He had all weekend- and all he was able to do was pay the phone bill. (*Sigh*- I do love him, I just wish he didn't feel the need to show me just how much he loves and needs me...)

Anyhoo... we have a friend who has twin 7 year old girls and he is on a trip for work this week so... GUESS...WHAT????!!!

I get to practice my mom skills for the whole week ! (Okay, all you moms out there, this is a new experience for me so it is still a big novelty and fun, fun, fun.) And yes, I already have plans for baking cookies, a pizza night, crafts, we started "The Tale of Despereaux" as the bedtime story last night, and time at the park is scheduled. (Can you tell I am just eating this all up?) Speaking of eating- I probably should go to the commissary since we have no food (remember that ignored Honey-Do list I left Rob?) and I have hungry little girls staying here now.

I'm sure there will be plenty of more blog entries and pictures as the week progresses- but let me share one of Glory & Grace displaying their artwork before we headed off to school this morning.

3 German Years and My Mommies

This is my 3rd German Birthday- 3 years since we moved here. We were originally only suppose to be here for 3 year and so I should be surrounded with boxes and movers right about now, but instead we were able to extend our time here. The Army has us down on their paperwork for staying in Mannheim for another year- but only God knows if that time will actually become shorter or longer.

*Sigh* So in these 3 years:

We have traveled to over 20 new countries, made many new friends, had 4 visitors from the States, grown in our marriage (almost 5 years!), made the decision to make the Army a career, and started a blog to tell my public about it all. (hehe...yeah, like I have "public" just dying for juicy tidbits of my life to be revealed in my next post.)

I wonder where we will be heading a year from now...

Also, since today is Mom's day I wanted to give a shout out to all my moms. From my mom, PJ, to Rob's moms, to those nurturing "aunts" we all have in our lives who step in and mothered me when I needed it. I love you all!

Here is a recent pic of my mom and me when she (and Dad) came to visit last month.