Nashville

Man I had so much fun! It was so wonderful to be able to meet these wonderful ladies in person. I think one of the greatest things was being able to just spend time together and have a great time together. We already know so much about each other, so there was none of the awkward "get to know you" kind of stuff that you sometimes go through with new people. It sounds crazy, but some of these women know me better than a lot of other people I know. I had been looking forward to this trip for months, and I was definitely not disappointed. Here are some photos.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. As a Country Music Fan, it was really neat to visit.
The Grand Ole Opry.
I love the movie "Coyote Ugly" and it was pretty cool to be able to visit the actual club.
The four of us at the Coyote Ugly Saloon. We had a blast!

We hope to make this a more frequent thing. We're talking about trying to get together next year.

Tagged

I got tagged by Angie

Five things in my purse
1. My wallet
2. My checkbook
3. Lip gloss
4. Pocket mirror
5. My PDA

Five things in my refrigerator
1. Milk
2. Diet Dr. Pepper
3. Orange Juice
4. Lunch meat
5. Cheese

Five things in my closet
1. Clothes (mine and P.'s)
2. Shoes
3. Boxes we haven't unpacked yet
4. P.'s uniforms
5. Belts

Five things in my car
1. Booster seats
2. CDs
3. Cell phone charger
4. Sunglasses
5. Registration

I tag Christy, C'est la vie, The Monkey House, Aura, The Girl

Great Visit

I was pleasantly surprised with a phone call yesterday. One of my first friends in Germany, who actually relocated to North Carolina several months before we did, called me and paid me a visit yesterday afternoon. She's going to visit a mutual friend this weekend, and I had some things that I should have sent her forever ago, and now I know they'll get there more quickly than if I had mailed them to her. After all, it's taken me forever already.

Anyway, Christy, it was awesome to see you! So many memories came flooding back, and for just a little while, I missed Germany a little bit less. And thank you for understanding about our mess...lol! P. and I will definitely have you and the husband over after we get settled. I'm glad you found my number. :-)

Vacation

I am so excited! I leave tomorrow evening for Nashville. It may seem crazy, but there is a group of ladies that I have been corresponding with primarily through email for almost ten years now. I have met some of them in person, but most of them I haven't had the opportunity. Several months ago we planned a reunion of sorts in Nashville. Unfortunately, our fairly large group for the reunion has dwindled down to four, but I'm just as excited as if it were the large group we had originally. It's amazing the friendships that can develop in sometimes the most unlikely circumstances. I just hope P. gets home from work at a decent hour so I don't get on the road too late...it's at least a nine-hour drive after all.

I'll post pictures after the trip.

Can I Just Say...

This has been the worst move yet. I'm amazed at the things we have found that are broken, and we haven't even scratched the surface yet as far as unpacking goes.

I have a beautiful antique buffet for my dining room. When they took it off the truck, I noticed one of the legs was loose. It's not a huge, major thing, and P. can fix it (and did), but not the point. Also, the movers neglected to lock the doors on the front of the buffet. One of the center front doors broke off. Again, something P. can fix, but again, not the point.

I also have a bar light that I won at a raffle on St. Patrick's Day. It was one of the last events I went to in Vilseck before we moved, and I was so excited when I won it. Well, it's busted. There's no fixing it. I almost cried.

We have found a few glasses that are broken, and one of the doors on our big wall schrank that we got in Germany (also an antique) was beginning to come apart. That was an easy fix. I'm just so frustrated. I certainly didn't expect all of our things to get here unscathed. However, if we've already found this many things that are broken, what else are we going to find?

Well, on a good note, we did finally get the registration done for the Volvo today. We had to get it inspected (VIN and EPA verification), and then were able to go over to the tag agency to get it registered. I'm so glad to have that done. I can't wait to get all this unpacking done so we can get settled finally. I was ready to move, but I hate this part. Also, I miss Germany!

Not a Baby Anymore...

My baby turned 6 on Friday. I can't believe she's getting so big. She really is a big girl...quite a bit taller than most kids her age. Well, that's to be expected though...her daddy is very tall and lanky, and I'm not exactly short.

She got to spend her birthday with P.'s parents. She shares a birthday with her Nana, P.'s mom, so they spent their birthday together. We also got our household goods the day before A.'s birthday (which will be a story all of its own soon), so the time was a blessing for P. and me, too. They spent two nights with P.'s parents, and it was admittedly quite a bit easier to accept delivery of our household goods while they weren't here.

While P.'s parents had them, they took them to Little Washington to visit P.'s brother and sister-in-law. While they were there, they got to go out on the boat again, and they took them tubing. The kids loved that. There's also an Estuarium there that they got to go visit. They planned to go to Hatteras, but time just didn't allow. That's ok, though. I figure we can go spend a weekend there sometime. I've only been once, and I lived in NC most of my life.

Anyway, since P.'s parents had them for her birthday, we decided to plan a party for Saturday night. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what I could do that she would enjoy. After all, she hasn't really had a chance to make any friends yet because they haven't been in school or anything since we arrived. My mom and her boyfriend, and my sister and her husband wanted to celebrate with her. Then Friday morning it hit me. They've seen commercials for Chuck E. Cheese's and have asked me numerous times if I would take them. I figured that would be perfect. So I called out there and was able to get reservations for Saturday evening. I was really amazed that I was able to get reservations at such late notice, but was so happy. P.'s parents brought the kids home late Friday night.

Saturday the kids and I spent a good part of the day trying to unpack and organize. P. had to go in to work and was there longer than he had hoped. I wanted to surprise A. with where her party was so didn't say anything. After P. got home and we got the stuff in the car and got ready to go, the kids were about to go nuts trying to figure out where we were going. Then when we pulled in to the parking lot, they really went crazy. They were so excited.

We were a bit early, so our party table wasn't ready yet. In the meantime, I took the kids and let them play a bit. As planned, my mom and her boyfriend were there, as well as my sister and her husband. As a last minute surprise (well, my mom told me Friday afternoon), my favorite aunt and her new husband were there too. When it was almost time for the special birthday show to start, I went to get the kids. They came back and enjoyed the show. Then we lit the candles on A.'s cake. We were so mean and used trick candles...you know, the ones that light back up after you blow them out. The look on her face was priceless. I asked her afterward what she thought about the candles. She was laughing at the end and said they were funny, but she wasn't really amused at first. I'll have to get the pictures from my mom, who was at a better angle than I was and got a good picture of her. She was a great sport about it though. Then, of course, we let her open her presents. After the party was over, we let them go spend their tokens in the play area and get prizes for the tickets they won. It was a busy night for all of us, but it was so nice to be able to do something fun for her birthday. We had all their birthdays at the bowling center in Vilseck for the last couple of years, which was fun, but it's nice to do something different. Here are some pictures:

I love this picture of A. and my sister, K. Aunt K. gave her a special present. A. wanted some "sparklies like mommy" so Aunt K. gave her an adorable little ring, and my mom gave her matching earrings and necklace. I gave her a jewelry box so she'd have a safe place to keep them.

Here's a picture of her when she saw what it was. She was looking down, so it was hard for me to get the expression on her face. She loved it though, and wanted to keep it in the box so it didn't get lost at the party. I was really proud of her. Once upon a time she would have insisted on taking it out of the box right away. She really is growing up.

Blowing out her candles...or at least trying to. Gosh we're mean...lol.

Posing with Chuck-E-Cheese. She wouldn't go up without Aunt K. going with her. K. is just out of the picture. I asked A. after this pose if she wanted to give Chuck E a hug, and she said no. My mom asked me since when was A. so bashful. I said she's bashful when it suits her...lol.

Big brother J. enjoying his cake. Can you tell? He gets anything he enjoys all over him.

Finally!

At long last we're getting our household goods. It seems we've been waiting forever. We could have had our things sooner, but we waited until almost the last minute before we had our things shipped from Germany. Our household goods were picked up about 10 days before we left country.

P. told me tonight that he's kind of dreading tomorrow. We have no idea where we're going to put all our things. Our house here really isn't small, but it's a good bit smaller than the house we had in Germany. That house was full! Oh well. We'll probably have them leave a good bit in the garage and we'll bring it in as we unpack.

Although I know chaos is going to reside in my house for the next several days, I can't wait to have my OWN things! Finally, this house is going to seem like my home!

Wedding

My favorite aunt got married yesterday. I found out on the 4th of July, and my mom, my sister, and I decided to go up for the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, and so heartfelt. It was definitely one of the sweetest weddings I've been to, which made it that much more beautiful. The songs chosen (and sung by my aunt) were so appropriate. Aunt M., I don't know how you did it. I would have started crying before the first word...oh wait - I did! Congratulations and I love you. Uncle J., welcome to the family again. Here are a couple of pictures:

I have a couple of pictures of my aunt with her son (my "little" cousin) that I love...this is one of them.

Aunt M. and her new husband J.

A picture of our side of the family. My "baby" sister is on the far left, my Aunt M., my mom, and then the kids and me.

Thanks Angie

Thank you Angie. I decided I wanted to change the look of my blog and remembered you had posted the link to a site a few weeks ago. I found one I really like and have spent a good part of this morning getting it to look the way I want it to. I will probably end up making a few more changes, but I love the look of this new template. Thanks again!

Yummmmmmm

P. and I love Korean food. We haven't had good Korean food since we left Fort Hood at the end of 2000. We never found a place while we were at Fort Bliss. There was a Korean place when we were in Heidelberg that we tried once. We were very disappointed, though, so never went back.

Tonight we decided we were in the mood for Korean. It's a wonder it took this long. So I looked in the phone book and there was only one place listed. We went over there, and it was deserted. Well, I have a portable GPS and I remember looking in it a few weeks ago, and there was one listed in there just on the other side of post. So we drove over there, and it was also deserted. As a last resort, I told P. that I remembered seeing one as we've been driving around trying to familiarize ourselves with how much the area has changed. We decided to drive over there to see if it was open. We got there and were relieved to see that it was.

We went in an ordered our typical Bulgogi (is that how you spell it?). They also had a special of Bulgogi and fried rice for the kids. I thought that was a great idea since I didn't figure they'd like Kimchee. We got our dinner, including all the little dishes of Kimchee and were in heaven! P.'s favorite is the cabbage Kimchee, which is what everybody thinks of when they think of Kimchee. Well, we ran out, so he asked the waitress if he could have a big bowl of it. She brought back a to-go container (it was big) and asked if that was big enough. He said yes, and she brought it back a few minutes later wrapped in a plastic bag. He couldn't wait, and had to open it right then and there and eat some of it to finish off his dinner. She came back and told him "You ate too much, let me give you more" and filled the container again. He was so happy! He said we'll have to go once a week. LOL.

The most amazing thing, though, was that the kids were eating Kimchee before we left. They tried almost every kind we had at the table. J. has no tolerance for anything that makes his mouth burn, so I was shocked that he tried it and kept eating it. A. liked it too. I have to say, that's one wonderful thing that has come from living overseas so long. Both of my kids will try just about anything once. I always tell them that if they don't like it, that's fine. At least they can say they tried it. We really enjoyed our dinner, though, and have found a restaurant we will probably visit frequently over the next two years.

Bittersweet

I haven't written about this yet, but being home after all this time is really bittersweet for me. You see, in July 2003 my mom and dad came to Germany to visit us for a couple of weeks. In August, almost exactly three weeks after they returned to the States, my dad passed away suddenly. I was always very close to both of my parents. There were certain things I did with my mom, and other things I did with my dad. It seems so unfair that we finally get an assignment here at home after my dad is gone. He would have loved to have had this time to spend with us and his grandbabies. But I'm sure my sister feels that it's unfair that her baby will never know our dad...and I agree.

Today would have been my mom and dad's 35th wedding anniversary. She called me tonight at about 9:30 and asked if we would be up for a while because she needed to stop by for a few minutes. I didnt' know what was up. When she got here, she handed me a package and a card. She gave me the wedding band my dad gave her for their anniversary one year. I can't remember which one. My baby sister got her wedding band...probably the original one he bought her when he was stationed in Thailand, but I didn't ask.

The anniversary of his death is only a few weeks away. I'm not sure how I'll deal with that.

Independence Day

Today we went to the Fourth of July celebration in my hometown. I went to this celebration every summer when I was a kid. It was so neat to be able to take the kids this year. It was pretty weird being there after all this time too. I saw a few people I knew when I lived here before, and was able to reconnect with some old friends that I haven't seen in forever, but it's amazing to me how much this place has changed. There were so many people that I had never seen before.

We got there at about 10:30 this morning, and walked around some while we waited for the parade to start. It was supposed to start around 11:00 I thought, but I don't think it got started until about 11:30. The kids were getting pretty impatient. I was too, for that matter. Finally, we got to see the parade, which wasn't as big as I remembered. Even my mom said that there didn't seem to be as much as there used to be. Oh well. At least there wasn't a huge crowd, and the live music was actually pretty good.

We decided to leave there close to 2 p.m., because we wanted to take the kids to another parade in the town we live in now, which is just 10 minutes from where I grew up. We found a great place right on Main Street where I was able to park the Volvo and we were able to sit on the back while we watched the parade. The kids went out and stood on the curb so they could catch any candy that was thrown their way. I have to say that the second parade was better than the first we went to today. The kids enjoyed it, although they said there were too many firetrucks...lol.

After the parade we went to have dinner with my mom and her boyfriend. After dinner we just hung out and visited while we waited until it was time to go see the fireworks. We were within walking distance, so we walked over to the area where they were shooting off the fireworks. There was an emergency and an ambulance had to come transport someone (not sure why), so they were kind of late getting started. We all enjoyed the fireworks show, especially the kids.

We had a long, busy day today. I have to say - it was nice being here for Independence Day this year. Yes, we were able to go to Independence Day celebrations while we were in Germany, but it wasn't the same. I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth! My battery died on my camera today, so there were some things I wasn't able to take pictures of. My mom did, though, so I'll have to get copies of them from her. If she got a photo of it, I'll have to put a picture on here of my favorite sign that was on a trailer pulled behind a tractor in both parades. At any rate, here are some photos:

This little chopper was for sale at the first celebration we went to today. J. wanted it so bad. I wasn't able to get it for him today, and my mom had a talk with him about having to learn to listen before he can have something like that anyway. Maybe he'll take that discussion more seriously coming from his grandma.

I loved this guy in the second parade we went to. He had a little monkey on the front of his chair. It wasn't real, but would wave. The kids thought it was really neat.

My precious babies. Isn't J. a little cheeser? He always has been. This is one of the times I've been able to get A. to stand still long enough to get a good picture of her face. She's always so busy.

Lookie What I Did!

OK, so I have a black thumb. It's a well-known fact in my family, and something P. loves to tease me about incessantly. He's the one who takes care of any plants or flowers we may have. We had this house plant when we were in Germany that was fortunately very hardy. I'm terrible about taking care of plants, and would completely forget to water it when he was in Iraq. I'd walk by it and it would look kind of wilted, and that is when I'd remember to give it some water. I think kids are easier than plants. At least they tell me when they're hungry or thirsty...and won't let me forget...lol.

Well, although I'm extremely challenged when it comes to plants, there are things I miss about Europe. One of those things is the produce. I love English cucumbers. They're huge and sweet. They don't have to be peeled and don't get bitter like cucumbers over here tend to do. So I found a website where I could buy the cucumber seeds online. Well, this wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that P. was in South Carolina for three weeks, so couldn't be here to be sure they got planted and lived. I was scared to death to mess with them...you know, the black thumb and everything. Well I decided to try my hand at it so I didn't have to wait for him to get home. We were already late planting them.

So one day this past week I decided to plant them. We had gotten some potting soil from his parents, as well as a couple of pots. Well, I felt like the pots were too big to start these seeds in. But I didn't really have anything else. Then I remembered the ice trays that had been in the freezer here in the house. We don't need them because our freezer has an icemaker (imagine that!) so I had taken them out of the freezer a couple of weeks ago. Hey...they'd be the perfect size to start seeds in...but what about the water drainage issue? Well, kids do school projects all the time where they plant seeds in styrofoam cups and they don't poke holes to drain the water out of them, right? Besides, they're only going to be there till they get big enough to transplant. Once they get big enough I can move them to a larger pot or tub. I have to have a container garden here because our yard really isn't big enough, plus we're renting. So I planted them Tuesday. Thursday I saw a little bit of green sticking up out of one of them. Friday, that one had leaves. Saturday, I had another one with a couple of leaves. Then today I had two more. I planted five seeds total. I have four plants popping up so far. I'm hoping the other one will come up within the next couple of days, but if not, that's ok. I have four out of five. That's not bad. Here's what they look like tonight:

Aren't they cute? I'm so proud of myself and have been careful about checking them daily. I can't wait till they're big enough and I can have those yummy cucumbers that I remember from Europe. I'll try to document how they do as they grow.

The Beach

There's a small beach town in North Carolina where my family used to spend a week every summer when I was a kid. I can't remember when we started going, but my parents used to rent a cottage for a week in August every year. The last time they went was one summer a year or two after P. and I got married, and we went and spent the week with them. I have great memories of those summers. It is an easy hour-and-a-half drive from where we live to get to the beach. It's a small family beach that doesn't get overly crowded during the summer. Nothing like Myrtle Beach or other beaches in North Carolina that I've been to. It's nice because you can let your kids play in the water and they don't get lost in the crowd.

Last Saturday we went with my sister and her husband, and my mom and her boyfriend, and spent the day there. My kids haven't really had the opportunity to play at the beach since before we went to Germany. We all got a bit too much sun (the kids much less than the rest of us), but we all had a great time. It was great watching the kids playing on the same beach I played on as a child, and my mom laughed at me as I yelled at them about the same things she yelled at me when I was their age - mostly about paying attention to where they were in reference to where we were when they rode in on a wave. Here are some photos:


We bought each of the kids a boogie board when we got to the beach that day. Most of you who knew us in Germany may be surprised to know that P. was (and is) a surfer. The only reason he didn't have his surfboard that day was because it was at his parents' house and we didn't have a chance to go get it. Here P. is starting to teach the kids about their boogie boards.

Little Man J. needed a break from boogie boarding to play in the sand for a while. I hate the sand, and it drove me crazy that he didn't hate having it all over him...lol.

Princess A. needed a break too. She always seems to be looking away from me when I try to take her picture. My mom even asked me once if she was bashful...not even close!

My sister bought this neat toy for the kids to play with on the beach. I thought it was like those velcro things we played with as kids...you know the ones. The ball had stiff velcro strips on it and the paddles had the softer part of velcro on them so you could catch the ball. Well, when I got a closer look, the ball was plastic and the paddles had little suction cups all over it. J. got really good at catching the ball and A. started to figure it out. They had a really good time. I can't wait to take them back. Maybe next time we'll try Magic Mountain - the big water slide!