Germany

We're home! It was a whirlwind two weeks and I have 600 photos to go through to figure out which ones are the best to post here. It was a great trip, we had so much fun over there. I'm going try to go in order of our trip and right now I am only going to post the first few days.

Here is a castle called Vianden. It's emmense!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't it beautiful? It's so bizarre how you drive around the countryside in Germany looking for these huge castles, you can be so close to them and they are hidden so well. Unexpectedly, you turn a corner and bam..there it is!

Ian and I are getting ready to tour Berg Eltz. I enjoyed the times that Ian wanted on my back. This was the first castle that we were able to take a tour of and go inside. This castle is still owned by the original family and the family still lives in part of it. Can you even imagine that? I think this castle is my favorite. It looks like a fairy tale.

Here is a portion of a cute little town called Bernkastel-Kues. I loved this town. It was surrounded by vineyards and a lot of the houses had grape vines growing over their front doors. I can not tell you how tempted I was to just wander over to someones house and pull off a cluster of grapes. The town had this beautiful scent to it and we believe that it actually smells like freshly made grape juice. During our visit there a German band marched through town. This was definately my favorite town.

Notice the grapes! Looks tempting huh?

Here are some castle ruins above the town. It's called Castle Landshut. There is actually a restaurant inside this castle.

The view of the town Bernkastle from the castle.

I was going to go in order of our trip but this happened on the last night and I thought I would share. Yes, we met one of the Vergori's "little" friends. You can't really tell, but this one is 3 inches. There was a lot of screaming happening that night. Oh, and yes..that is a Tim Vergori hand. He came home the last day of our trip and we go to experience the homecoming. But, that's for another post! :)

My next post will be Rome! Stay tuned.

Finally...A Post

Wow! It's been a whirlwind of activity over here and today we have decided to have a down day.

The trip has been great. We arrived in Germany the morning of the 14th. The trip was surprisingly uneventful. I don't know what I was expecting - at least to be questioned by customs or something, but that didn't even happen. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get into the country.

The first day was just a matter of trying to stay awake. I fell asleep at 6 pm at the dinner table. Thankfully, Reese had not put dinner on yet. At that point I had been awake for 30 hours and it was time for bed. The first several days were difficult to get used to the time change as we are 9 hours ahead over here but I have gotten used to it and am finally sleeping well.

We have had a blast and have seen so many sights. We have gone to several castles, including whole castles and castle ruins. We have been to so many little German communities. The Germans (around here anyway) have beautiful homes with flowers decorating the outside of their homes and yards. It is so pretty here. They live in the middle of rolling green hillside, some of the country seems straight out of a fairy tale. Yesterday I rode a ski lift straight up the mountain next to a castle.

Holly & I left for Rome on Wednesday. Talk about culture shock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were times that I really hated Rome. But, now that I am done with it, I am thankful to have had the opportunity to be there. I learned and experienced ALOT! We even got "hit on" by several different Italian guys. I don't think they have any boundaries there..sometimes it was a little scary, but I get a good laugh thinking about it now :)

When we arrived on Wednesday we were very overwhelmed. But, we were able to find our hotel, drop off our stuff and then we saw the town on a double decker bus. That was really neat and helped us get our barrings. Thursday we walked for 10 hours. We saw so many things, including the Colosseum, Pantheon, Roman Forum, Palentine Hill, Trevia Fountain and Spanish Steps. We saw sculptures by Michael Angelo and paintings by Leonardo De Vinci. Friday we mastered the metro and headed for the Vatican. We went through the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel and then headed over to St. Peter's Cathedral and even saw where Pope John Paul is buried. I am not a history buff so a lot of Rome was confusing to me. We had two different tour guides for the Colosseum and the Roman Forum so that was helpful. I am determined when I get home to read up on some of the things that I saw so that my trip to Rome is more meaningful.

I am so thankful to be back in Germany. When in Rome I was homesick and missing Oregon but here I feel "at home". I am having a blast with the Vergori's and being with them is being with family.

That's my trip in a nutshell so far. Sorry I don't have any pictures to show you. That will have to wait for when I get home. You can go here for some pictures though.

And, for those of you wondering about Reese's "little friends"...no, thankfully, I have not seen any!!!!

Tristyn Goes To School

Tristyn started school on Thursday. My baby is in kindergarten. Can someone tell me how that happened?

Here she is walking up the hill to her school. It was a very emotional day for both of us. She thought she was excited until the teacher blew her whistle for the kids to line up. Then she realized that I would soon be leaving and that was it for her. There were a lot of tears and I had to really hold it in check so I didn't bawl along with her. It doesn't help to know that I leave on Thursday and can't make sure she is okay every day.























This was the last picture I got before the tears fell. I knew in this instant that things were not going to go well. But, she does love her teacher and her class..she just doesn't love leaving her mommy!

How We Spent Our Evening

Tristyn's new thing is to lay down under Dan's desk. Whenever she gets tired, she goes there for a little quiet time. When Dan & I were gone for the weekend she went there and slept. For some reason it seems to be her safe place. She spent a lot of time there this evening. I think this week is going to wear the poor girl out.























Landon spent the evening doing homework..a lot of homework. He had to: read for 30 minutes, do 100 math problems and write the names of every student in his class 3 times. He probably worked for about 2 hours. I think he's going to have a great year and his teacher is wonderful, but the homework might kill us :)

He was rewarded with about 30 minutes of the Crocodile Hunter and then off to bed.

Leaving For School

Here they are. Before they headed off to school. Kyleigh is going into 7th, Landon into 4th and Tristyn is off to kindergarten. I think this is going to be a great year for all of them. Tristyn only went to school for about 45 minutes today - just long enough to fall in love with it and never want to leave.

I just have one question...where did the summer go???

One Year Anniversary

For some reason my post below did not include my comments. But, today is the one year anniversary of the death of Steve Irwin. Hard to believe it's been one year. Anyway, I thought I would post the video below because you will get a good laugh. I think most people have seen this..but, it's worth watching again!

Our thoughts and prayers are with Terry, Bindi, Bob and the Australia Zoo family today.

STEVE IRWIN Meets ROSS the Intern

Fish Guts And Good Friends

Last weekend Kyleigh and I went to stay at my friend Heather's house. I watched her son Andrew when he was three until he was five and then they moved away. Andrew & Kyleigh were Jr. Zookeepers at the zoo on Saturday morning so we had to get up at 5:30 to have the kids to the zoo by 7:00. We don't get to see each other very often but when we do we just pick up where we left off and have an awesome time! Most of the pictures of Andrew look like this:
















Before class:















After class: You can't see it but they have fish guts all over them. When we asked Andrew how he got fish guts on himself he only had one word to say "Kyleigh". Kyleigh's answer "I thought Andrew would want to eat fish, so I tried feeding him". You can't tell they've been together since they were three :) More like siblings - LOL!
















We had so much fun with them..and, can't wait to get together again! We miss you guys!

Getting Ready for School

BEFORE........

AFTER.......

I can see my kids' faces again!

Can you believe it!!??!! How did the summer go by so fast??? I am not at all ready for school to start. Tristyn will be starting kindergarten this year. How did that happen??!!??

Daddy & His Little Girl

I love this picture. Tristyn adores her daddy and, the feeling is mutual. These are two of the most intense people I know...they feel their emotions with their whole heart and soul. There is no middle ground with either of them. It can be intense around our house, but what a blessing they both are!

Landon's Swimming Lessons

Landon's favorite sport in the summer is swimming. One of my mom's friends has teaches private swimming lessons. Landon has taken lessons since he was 4 and he begs every year for lessons. He just finished his two weeks.

Here's Tristyn watching Landon's last lesson.
Landon doing one of his "moves".

Landon and Jeanine. Can you tell she enjoys him? She is a total blast and he loves every second of swimming with her.

This wetsuit was a pain to get off. It was too funny!

Camp Jonah

Back in June Kyleigh went to a music and drama camp in Washington. This was her 2nd year and she just loves it. It's a day camp and they go Monday-Friday and then on Friday the parents all come up and the kids put on their play and have a big BBQ. Unfortunaly, my camera was not working well that night and none of the pictures of Kyleigh during the play turned out. Every year Kyleigh learns more about the Lord, meets new fun people and has an awesome time.

Here she is after the play:

Look at the view from Camp Jonah's backyard.
I love this picture. Landon was running from the camera all night and decided to hide behind Julie. Julie is too smart for that. She lifted her fingers to me: 1...2...3 and she jumped away right when I snapped the picture. Gotcha Landon!

Sneaky little guy. Not the best picture but it's the best expression on his face! He wasn't expecting Julie to jump away :) ha!

MasterCard

I loved this commercial and laughed out loud when I saw it. This is what want for my kids - "being with people who understand you...priceless". There's nothing better then a good friend who understands you!

Our Newest Addition

Introducing...Thumper...finally! He's been in our family since the end of June and I have never written about him. Kyleigh's been on me for a month to tell you about him. She got him when he was only 2 weeks old and has been taking wonderful care of him. He loves to be held and cuddled and he even licks your face like a little kitty. He's a total blast and we are thankful for this little addition to our family.

A Contest

Hey everyone. If you have a blog, click on Heather's site to enter an awesome contest. If you are picked, she will either design a blog header for your site..or, paint a painting for you of whatever you choose.

Good Luck!

I Did The Unforgiveable...

I took the kids camping without the camera. A few minutes out of town Holly asks "You remembered the camera..right?". Aaahh, the moment of knowing you forgot something so important. Oh well, at that point, it's too late.

We had an awesome time. Holly & I try and take the kids camping every year. Every year we get people who say "You two, are going alone, with the kids...no men?". As if we can't handle it on our own! LOL! We did it..and, had fun!

We build fires, cook over open flames, make smores, built a dam in the river, climbed over rocks, survived bumps, bruises, sunburns and Tristyn learning that it's not okay to throw sand in the air, especially when the wind is blowing and you are in the line of fire. And, the most impressive thing we did was we were able to put Holly's brand new tent back into the bag it came in!

A great weekend with the kids...just no pictures to show you :(

Happy Birthday Kevin!!!!!

Saturday was a ton of fun! It was Kevin's birthday party. We had a blast at his house. I don't have any pictures of him..I've got to be careful about taking pictures of him - he has too many to blackmail me with! :)

He set up a slip-n-slide in the backyard and let the kids go for it!

Kyleigh chillin in the hammock!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN!

Thanks for the friend you are...I don't know what I'd do without you!

Up The Mountain

Last Saturday my friend Holly and I decided to load the kids up and head for the zoo. When we go there it was so packed out that they were putting people into shuttle buses to get up there. We decided that despite the drive, it just wasn't worth it.

So, we decided to head home over the mountain

Our Destination: Mt. Hood We are going to take the kids camping this summer so we stopped at every campsite along the way. It ended up taking us 5 hours to get home. We found lots of AWESOME campsites though and had a blast.
Tristyn looking adorable..she loves the camera.
The silly boys.

The view from Trillium Lake. Isn't that amazing? I am so blessed to live where we do..with this right in our backyard.

The mountain close up.

Kyleigh just hanging around.

And after a long day nothing is better then a quick nap in the car.

Happy Fourth of July

Okay..so, I am a day late.

We spent the evening at my friend (boss) Kevin's house. I didn't have my camera for the first half of the evening but Dan ran and got it for me after the BBQ.

We had an AWESOME time! Kevin put on a great BBQ, had Kyleigh's favorite tunes playing in the background and a sprinkler for the kids to play in.

Here they are lounging in the hammack.

Here is how Ken spent the majority of his evening..talking to his honey on the phone..I hear she's the most beautiful woman in the world...his cell phone says so!! LOL!!!

The girls cuddling and watching the fireworks

Watching the show...there's Kevin. It's the only one I got of him. I have to be careful..he has great blackmail to use against me so I'm going to be very kind!

Dan thinking he is the Statute of Liberty.

We had such a great evening. It's not often that Dan has a holiday off. In fact in the last six months he has worked Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Easter and most every other holiday so last night was a blessing.

Thanks for a great evening Kevin!!!!!

Yard Sale

My friend, Holly, and I had a yard sale this weekend (we are trying to get money together for something very special). I wish I would have had my camera there because Tristyn was running around with a sticker on her back.

I guess Landon has really had enough. I let it stay on there all day because it was just too funny. Nobody offered to take her! :)

At the end of the day, I'd have to say that Tristyn looks EXACTLY how I feel!

It was definately an overwhelming weekend and the week looks to be just as overwhelming so no rest for me :(