Rob-mania

No, you didn't read that title wrong. A week ago my train and plane ticket might have read I was heading to Romania- but when I got there and was able to see Rob after 2 1/2 months, well... it was more like Robmania. We had a BLAST!
The going and coming wasn't fun (it was 2 trains and 2 planes to get there and then the same to come home)- but well worth it.
We went to some 2000+ year old ruins, drove out to a palace and Bran Castle (aka Dracula's Castle) and learned a little bit of history about Count Dracula the man, went the a quaint restaurant where we had yummy dinner, tried a traditional Romanian dessert and drank a bottle of red wine from a vineyard only 15 miles away (drove to the vineyard but they were closed) saw downtown Constanta and waded in the Black Sea. I also got a limited edition bottle of Dracula red wine, a bag, a hand loomed shawl (that Rob had bought for me even before I got there), and a traditional style blouse.
Oh, and did I mention that I got to see my wonderful husband who had been away from me since mid-July? Yep, that was the BEST part. Only a few more weeks and he'll be home again- where he belongs.
Romania was great, enjoy the pics:

5 Happy Years

This is a month of anniversaries it seems, huh? First there is that whole long post about having reached the big 1-0 in the Army. (Whoo-hoo btw.) Now I think another big Whooo-hooo is in order since today marks 5 years since Rob and I became "husband and wife." I'll need to make this post short, though, since I am on my way to the Oregon Coast with my family (sadly minus the hubby). It seems fitting to celebrate the weekend there since it was there, on the Oregon Coast nearly 7 years ago at sunset, that Rob proposed. Well, I'm so very glad he did!

Women of Faith Event

On Friday and Saturday I went to the Women of Faith Event at the Key Arena in the Seattle Center. It was very awesome. I was able to visit with Rob's Aunt Rita who was going with some ladies from her church.

On Friday there was a concert in the evening and I was able to be only about 30 feet from Steven Curtis Chapman.

Earlier in the day they had open seating and so I decided to sit in the Deaf section so I could watch the interpreter. Well, one of the ladies had an extra ticket- so I was able to sit there for the whole two day event. I also got to see Mandisa and the actress who played Blair on The Facts of Life TV series.

At the end of the first night I found out later that about 30 men decided to go streaking while riding bicycles once the Women of Faith event let out. I happened to go out the other door and missed the streakers. (Though I heard that really- I didn't miss much!)

1/2 Way There

*Sigh*...

10 years ago today my hubby, Rob, enlisted in the Army. It was a month after I had graduated from high school. On the 4th of July in 1999 we were with a group of our friends talking about getting jobs and going to college when I overhear Rob answering the question of what he was going to be doing at the end of summer by saying he was heading off to boot camp in 10 days.

Ummm... EXCUSE ME?!?! My high school boyfriend somehow didn't see the need to tell me he was leaving in less than 2 weeks to join the Army? (Yes, he knows he will never live this down even though he has more than made up for it by so lovingly including me in later decision about re-enlisting and other career moves.)

Oh, and why did he join the military? And why the Army and not some other branch, you ask? Well... it turns out Rob's younger brother, Mike, was planning on joining the Marines once he graduated from high school (which he did until a little over a year ago when he got out and moved to Salt Lake City with his wife and my cute nephew & niece... but I digress....) So, the Marine recruiter called the house to talk to Mike. Rob answers and explains that he is not Mike, but the older brother. Mr. Super Recruiter has the ingenious idea to ask what Rob is doing with his life. Not even making the recruiter work for the sale at all, Rob replys with the most desirable answer a military recruiter could ever hope for "not much of anything". So, in less time than it takes to figure out who the idiot on a road is- Rob had agreed to go down to meet the guy at his office to "chat". The next day Rob went down the area where he thought the Marine recruiting office was- since he had seen other military recruiting offices all in this one complex. And they all were there-- except for the Marines who, for some reason, had their office across town as Rob later learned.

So, Rob looks around lost since he can't see a sign saying "Marines" anywhere and decides he'll go talk to the Air Force while he's there- only they are closed for lunch. And standing outside a few doors down, with a big grin on his face, watching this young man wandering around lost was the Army recruiter who made sure he wasn't closed at such an opportune time as that. Well...all it took was a simply "Hey, I'm open over here... and why don't we go inside and chat" and the rest is history, folks.

Anyhoo-- so he has been a soldier for 10 years as of today. And as many in the military world know we're "half way there, man" - referring to the cool fact that we can start getting retirement pay by staying in the service for at least 20 years. (Though we may stay in for more- only God knows right now.)

These 10 years have included 5 years of living in the barracks before we were married, living both on and off post, 2 re-enlistments, 2 year long tours in Iraq, TDY trips to Israel & Romania, 3 duty stations (2 of which were in Germany), and the chance to travel much of Europe together. I am excited to see what these next 10 years have in store for us.

I had planned to throw a "1/2 Way Party" to celebrate today- but duty called and Rob was not able to be here. My plans for this party? We would go bowling with friends and bowl 5 frames- then switch and bowl another person's last 5 frames. (Playing 1/2 of each game.) We would eat pizza made with 1/2 of one topping and another topping on the other 1/2. I would make jello in clear cups out of 2 different colors or a checkerboard 2 flavored cake. (You get the 1/2 and 1/2 idea I'm going with here.) And of course the party would start at 1/2 past some hour until 10 o' clock (to celebrate the 10 years.)

Well... it would have been fun. I'll just have to plan and execute an even better party plan when we finally do hit that 20 year mark. =)

Another lil' catch up

So, I am behind a bit in the blogging world. This is part lazy and part busy. Last weekend we went camping in Garmisch with some friends for the 4th of July 4 day weekend. While we did have fun- it would have been much better had we had not quite so much rain. Breaking camp in the rain is VERY un-fun, by the way. We had to reset up the tents later to dry out. We did spend a nice 4th going to Fernsteinsee in Austria. It is a cute little lake with an island hiding a castle ruin at its top in the middle. There were fish, swans, ducks, cows and a nice trail going all the way around for us. The rain only started once we reached the cars to head back so it worked out nicely. Here is a pic of our group at the castle ruin on the island: In more recent news-
On Friday we went to the fest that is going on over here and we payed to throw ping pongs at glasses to see if we could win them by getting one to land inside. Well, I am proud to say I won one of those difficult to get steins. Me! Not Rob (he got one last year- only not as nice as mine to tell you the truth.) I won!!
On Saturday we went to K-Town to check out the progress of the new mall they are opening. Not all of it was open- but we were able to have a late lunch at the new Maccaroni Grill (oh, we will definelty be making that a regular bi-weekly date! yum, yum)
Today (Sunday) I saw Rob off for his little work trip. Then I packed myself and saw the fireworks (for the end of the fest) with my friend Angie. Now I have only a few hours before I head to the airport to await my flight to Seattle- for 2 months!! Definetly potential for more exciting posts in the future... stay tuned folks! =)

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!