The Moments That Make Up Our Journey, Will Lead us to a Beautiful Destination: March 2008

Thursday, March 27, 2008

March 27, 2008

All of Us at Rainforest Cafe
Easter 2008 at Seaworld Orlando

Last weekend we visited Seaworld and Downtown Disney. Our friends Matt and Sara and their kids came, as well as our friend Lisa. We all rented a house (on Sara's suggestion) and it was the best idea. There was a pool and hot tub and it was way better than a hotel room. I don't think I will ever stay in a hotel again if we don't have to. Just to plug it even more, go to www.vrbo.com and check out the houses for rent by the region you are visiting on your next trip.

So minor inconveniences aside, like long cramped car rides and cranky kids, we had a fantastic weekend. Seaworld really is a great place for adults and kids. I would have to say my favorite thing was the free beer at the hospitality house and the beer tasting where we got to try some new beers not yet on the market and some old favorites as well. The roller coaster was a close second. The shows were great, especially if you want to get wet. Those animals are just so beautiful and to see them up close is amazing.

Downtown Disney was a nice end to our trip. We relaxed and walked among the shops and the lego land. In the Disney store they had a beauty boutique. It was a full service salon where little girls can go and get the princess treatment....hair done, crown, glitter, princess dress, the whole shabang. Just out of curiosity I inquired as to the prices. They ran from $40 all the way up to $200 for the works! We bought a stuffed Minnie Mouse baby instead.

The Tyndall Air Show is coming up this weekend and we have VIP passes to the Thunderbirds Tent courtesy of our friends who are visiting from Moody. They are house hunting in Mexico Beach. Unfortunately they get here the same month we leave but it has been great having them here this week. Lots of great food, drink and fun.

Shamu

All Wet

Sea Lions

Walrus

1st Cotton Candy Experience

Climbing Ropes

Playin in Disney

Sea Dragon

Whales

Downtown Disney Pleasure Island

The Missing Girl was Pouting

All of Us

Rhiannon and Hallie

The Girls with the Lego Family

The Two Auroras

Dad and Brad with the Lego Dragon

The Sweetest Man

Brad Mushroom

Rhi Mushroom with her New Minnie

Hallie and Rhi in the Mushrooms

Brad and Chase in the Mushrooms

Monday, March 17, 2008

March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patrick's Day

My Loves

Rhiannon had her first hair cut last week! Brad is ready for another. Wow this hair cutting thing is getting addictive. She was initially unhappy and expressed some fear of the cape, but once she saw that is was jaguar print, she was fine. I didn't have the heart to cut it short, it's barely noticeable but it is definitely more manageable.

We have of course been talking about our upcoming move with Rhiannon. We've told her the countries involved and that we are interested in living in The Netherlands. She was amazed and said "We can't live in the Neverlands. That's where Peter Pan lives."

We had another eye check up today for Brad. Everything looks great and his vision is staying the same. His next check up will be in 6 months so we'll have to find a pediatric opthalmologist in Germany. His current doc. said the Germans are a great country for opthalmologists so that will be good.

Big trip to Sea World this weekend. Should make for a more interesting blog post next week. Til then...

Monday, March 10, 2008

March 10, 2008

Off to Germany!

Class 10

Most of you probably know by now that our new assignment has come in and we got Jim's first choice of Geilenkirchen, Germany. It is the home of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Airborne Early Warning Force Command's E-3A Component. It is situated in the village of Teveren, four kilometers west of Geilenkirchen, Germany, the next largest city, and adjacent to The Netherlands border. Geilenkirchen is 283 miles from Paris, France, 50 miles from Cologne, Germany and 142 miles from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (I totally stole most of that paragraph from the internet!) Jim also received the call sign Steamah, which is kind of a long story but I love it for him. The pictures are from the call sign/assignment night on Friday.

We are so excited and while we've only had the news for 3 days, I have already gleaned a ton of info from the various websites about the base. One of the best things for us is that Rhiannon can start kindergarten. She makes the age cutoff by one week, whereas here in the states she misses the age cutoff by one month. We will have to live out in the local area and that should be interesting because Europeans generally have much smaller homes than we are used to.

The picture of Rhi napping has a story. The stuffed unicorn she is sleeping with was a gift at my baby shower from Jim's aunt Anne. Would you believe that she calls this unicorn Annie and it only just hit me the other day of the coincidence? This weekend she had a tea party on the porch. She has been babbling about a party for weeks and has been making invitations, canceling due to weather, etc. She finally had it Sunday morning. What a trip she is...I don't think Brad liked having to sit in the chair very much.

Rhi and Annie

Rhiannon's Tea Party

Monday, March 3, 2008

March 3, 2008

Danielle & Jim in St. Augustine

We went to Jacksonville and St. Augustine this weekend. We stayed with our neighbor and Jim's classmate Lisa's parents who happen to live there. Jim's high school friend is the drummer for the band Soulswitch and was playing a show there that we went to see. The show was really good. The band was great and the bass player had some wild hair going on. Lisa and I talked the bouncer into letting us take over the VIP Lounge. He was a big time flirt!

Saturday, we spent the day in St. Augustine and had a great day strolling through the shops and eating lunch at the fort. The kids were exhausted! Rhiannon got a little case of "Growing Pains" as a result and was up just about the whole night complaining of aches in her legs. She got a fever and I swore she was coming down with the flu. I had given her some Motrin and she was laying on the floor wrapped in a blanket with Brad running around, over, and on top of her when I said to him to be careful because his sister was sick. She popped up and said, "No I am better now!" And just like that, she was. She is a strange kid. She always seems to have little quickie fevers and then is fine. I'll take that over a week long battle with the flu any day. It was so nice to get out without the kids too. Thank you to Lisa's parents for watching them for us so we could go out and have a good time!