So here's a quick one that i want to put in for the record books.
Knowing that our closest buddies days in germany are numbered, I find myself doing everyday things thinking.... I can do this without all my buddies around. Like today for instance. Shane and I picked up Nick at kindergarden and opted to head to Kelley barracks for a yummy subway sub and to pop a package in the mail. No big schedule, just a few simple errands. I texted Chris in hopes that he had time to meet us. Since I didn't plan ahead, he was leaving Kelley Barracks at the very same instance as we were arriving. We literally passed eachother.
No biggie - the kids will love the sandwhiches and we will enjoy a low key afternoon of walkable errands. We successfully find a parking spot and I grab the dudes for lunch. Nick runs in about a step in front of me and within 2 seconds, the beautiful smiling face of Diane fills the door. She was thrilled to see Nick walk through the door (as were her sweet girls Eve and Anna). I couldn't believe she was there!
My simple boring lunch was just completely enhanced by our closest friends. Nick managed to eat his sandwhich while being entertained by his two best girl pals. I sat at a table with Shane, Merlene, Diane and sweet baby Blake (who even feel asleep on my shoulder, I still have the touch!) enjoying some girl talk.
We were blessed by an afternoon of love from our buddies - as if they knew where to find us. We love you!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Our husbands are AMAZING!
Its Friday morning of Presidents weekend. All our buddies have fun trips planned to Salzburg, Berlin, Austria, you name it. I roll over to Chris and say, “I am so happy to have a lazy weekend at home”.
Chris’s response, “I actually have a surprise for you. I planned a weekend away. I am not telling you where. But I packed for myself and the boys while you were at book club last night. I just need you to pack up for the weekend and take Pauli to her holiday spot – we will leave this afternoon.”
Well, lets get packed. Knowing Farrah is on her way to an amazing weekend in Salzburg, I resist the urge to call her saying – can you believe Chris planned this weekend away? Meanwhile, in a house 20 miles down the street, Farrah is learning her Salzburg trip is being postponed, their babysitter is not coming and Brian is packing his road bike. Eeek…. Somehow she manages not to call me to complain.
The family is happily in the car on headed on our weekend away. I am quite excited about this preplanned trip and am purely enjoying the ride. Until it takes us to France (not my favorite country). …. Chris assures me that all will be o.k. so after another hour of questionable roads and remote country side Center Parks. A new family style resort area.
http://www.centerparcs.com/EN/GB/villages/moselle_domaine_trois_forets
Wow – it looks brand new. Chris and I have talked about trying a weekend at a resort like this. I am so impressed with his planning. We get the information at the gate and roll up to our cottage. As we pull up, I notice that another family has opted to bring their bikes too – guess its got a great road biking area. We unload the car and start walking up to the cottage. Nick shouts, that looks like Tates bike! I check it out and say, hey your right, and that kind of looks like Brian’s bike – just as Brian McCullough opens the door! It takes a few seconds for my brain to process that the McCulloughs are NOT in Salzburg. We are sharing a beautiful cottage with us!! Meanwhile, Farrah (after setting up their three bedrooms for their family is finally relaxing enjoying a glass of wine thinking the folks at the door were delivering their towels, when, the Leadbetters walk in. She was totally shocked!
Let the most memorable weekend begin!! We cannot believe the guys managed to keep it from us for over 2 months!! The entire family is thrilled. How lucky are we all! Yes, the husbands were right, everything will be o.k. – no wait, everything will be PERFECT! They had scheduled play time for the kids, dinner and breakfasts, spa appointments etc!! Not to mention this brand new resort has a HUGE indoor water park! Words cannot capture how wonderful that moment felt! Thank you to Chris and Brian for planning it and thank you McCulloughs for being that family that spending every second with is everything we all want! Now onto the sights.
After recovering from extreme surprise and excitment, we head out exploring. Once the car is unloaded, we park it rather far away, not needing it for the rest of the weekend. The petting zoo is a quick walk from our cottage.
Macy and Shane walk hand in hand while Tate and Nick sprint ahead.
Lets check out the animals. Donkeys, goats, sheep, bunnies, chickens, ponies - you name it!
Here are some of our favorite animals =)
After the petting zoo we venture over to the main building. It has 4 restaraunts, a small grocery store, a bakery, a center playground area and HUGE water park.
The boys are thrilled to run around
This is the main complex during the day
Here is one of the bridges that the boys would pedal over
Saturday morning was our experiement. The boys were signed up for play time at the Kids Club. The theme was 'Cowboys and Indians' and we were told they would 'perform' during the final 1/2 hour of play time if we want to come watch! of course. Well, we showed up and 2 boys opted out of dressing up.... hmmmm. Guess Nick and Tate can understand English and German, but weren't interested in French. The counselor told us they didn't participate at all. We had a bit of a discussion and attitude adjustment as we draged them out of there not stopping at the playground or petting zoo as punishment. (Punishment for the parents too!)
Sunday is a new day and new attitudes! Archery started at 11:30 and the boys were already practicing.
On a side note - during one of our walks, Shane took a face first dive onto the asphalt. Guess I should say nose first. What a bruser.
The second Kids club was a HUGE success. The boys dressed up as a lion and tiger and performed AWESOMELY. Check out our video.
Monday morning was filled with another treat. Warm hugs and beautiful snow!
This is the view from our family room. Beautiful glass windows where we enjoyed the snow. EVERYONE wished we would get snowed in.....FOR WEEKS!. Sadly, we only got a dusting, so we packed up and headed for our final day at the pool
Saying goodbye to the animals
The adventure course - maybe next time!
Onto the water park. This place was AMAZING.
This was the slide for Shane and Macy (Nick and Tate would 'warm up' on it)
This was Nick and Tate's water slide. They did it about 1,000,000 times
Check out this video too
Love the water babies =)
We had a wonderful weekend. We stayed up nights chatting and playing games. We opted to not order WIFI which was rather refreshing (no emails, no connectivity) the only frustration was when we tried to look up movies that Bette Midler starred in..... but we are SO fortunate to have such a wonderful family in our lives. Thank you, thank you, for the wonderful weekend. We all went home exhausted!
Monday, February 7, 2011
A Beautiful day in Neuhausen
It was a BEAUTIFUL sunny Sunday in Neuhausen so we enjoyed a lunch at the outdoor cafe. At first we were one of two tables, but by the time we left everyone was soaking up the sun. What a great day to be outside! Shane was so hot he wanted to pull up his pant leg =)
Shane LOVEs his dog....
We think this is the Fasching Maypole - Neuhausen is FAMOUS for their fasching celebration and parade. They take partying VERY serious out here!
As we were sitting at the cafe we realized Shane is 16 months, seriously? how did that happen so quickly. He is a bit more stubborn than Nick was. I have found he squaks like a parrot when he doesn't get what he wants. He knows a few signs like Milk and More and is starting to say bigger words like Banana (or nana). He can operate a spoon as long as what is on the other end is appealing...
He is one determinded little bugger.
He LOVES ice cream, surprised?
Heck, the whole crew does!
Nick got to chose the ice cream for the family. Judging by his rapid fire spoon shoveling he chose well!
Later Sunday night (or really Monday morning) was the superbowl!! Of course its an American holiday and practically UNAmerican if you don't tune in for it. Its just tough inhaling all the superbowl obligitory snacks. The McCulloughs came over around 8 so the kids could have some play time. Once we put them to bed we started to food. From Sushi, to Nachos, to Guagamole, to Wings we ate everything in site to stay awake!! It worked for 3 out of 4 of us=)
The kids woke up at 7 and the ladies corraled them (the mcculloughs sneaking home) the men got an extra hour of sleep. They surely have a long day ahead of them today so lets hope that helped!! IT does feel like an American holiday. Loved those commercials!! Honestly, my favorite is a toss up between the "Lassey chevy truck' and the Darth Vader (only because I can see Chris doing that to Nick one day!) Hope you guys enjoyed your weekend!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
My Special Boys
You just never know what the kids are going to love......
We just last week our ski helmets arrived in the mail. Nick and Shane could not get enough of them. They literally fought over wearing the new white one.
Shane even got up early from his afternoon nap to sneak in 10 minutes of helmet wearing before Nick woke up.
So when they climb on top of the table with theire helmet on, I don't need to be as concerned right?
We cleaned up that night and i finally got a few photos of my boys and their matching towels from Lisa Rainey - She has a great knack for making these and sells them on her sprinkles and frosting website (http://www.sprinkles-n-frosting.com/) - check it out if you want to cuddle with your munchkins after bath time =)
Make me want to kiss those cheeks! both sets!
Girls need a weekend away
What girl doesn't need a weekend away?!?! Well we enjoyed every second of a ladies weekend in Garmisch. it was so simple packing just for yourself, no diapers, no naps (unless we wanted them....) no real schedules.... Looking forward to this weekend made my life as a SAHM worth it!! Also knowing that Chris had life totally under control for the weekend felt great too - but really, was I doing to mind if my kids ran around in their PJs al weekend while I wasn't there - nope....
Those with munkins dropped them off at 8:45 sharp and gathered in cars for a quick stop at a crystal outlet. Imagine a crystal outlet with kids - we didn't have too!!
We got to the hotel, opened a bottle of wine and enjoyed the scenery (view from our room), girl chatter and some tunes on Natalies Iphone. Since there wasn't a big schedule, we decided to head out shopping (at the PX) Its amazing the things that fall into your basket after a glass of wine or two...
Now, lets get ready and head downstairs for dinner! Its the traditional American steak, fish, salad dinner. Water is on the table and the waitress tells us she is there to make our night wonderful =) Now that is a treat (since we all know German customer service often leave a little to be desired)
The next morning we hit the shops again....
Or should I say schnapps.....
Now the above photo is funny because this cute store was FULL of these little schnapps bins. Farrah and I didn't hestitate to want this photo and quickly got in position (you would think everyone would want this photo in a schnapps store right?) WRONG! The store owner was mortified and asked us to leave imediately! Thankfully Lindsey's quick fingers captured this photo. I do feel bad for the older man - not only for being 'uptight' but for the sale he missed out on.... bummer sir!
Later that evening we hit Happy hour downstairs - Cheers ladies
Nice cocktails
For those of you reading this that know me too well, know my extreme love of wings and the proper way to inhale them... Well, they had wings on the apps menu (of course, its an American place) so I ordered some and almost bit off Lundy's finger as she lunged for another carrot or wing!! Guess her 'eating wings with Sara' learning curve got pretty steep =)
With full bellies we boarded the bus for a Gorge tour. It was the perfect chilly night with a beautiful layer of snow on the ground. We were the rouady bunch, so we managed to lay claim to the back of the bus. The 24 year old tour guides thought we were pretty enertaining too - so they joined us for the dinner portion!
Before we set out on our walk, we stopped at the ski jump sight for the 1936 Olymipcs. With a fascinating history lesson under our belts (with regards to Hitler and how he forced Garmisch-Partenkirchen to join together to host - they weren't thrilled, but who questioned Hitler than?)
The carriers of the light
Bundle up its chilly out there
This is Lundy doing her best Ansel Adams in the Gorge
Swimming anyone?
A little break for some warm tea
Sunday morning we woke up to some wonderful spa treatments and than packed our bags for home. Its so hard to have a fun trip like this in the rear view mirror. But we will always remember feeling like adults - at least for a weekend.
By the time we made it home, the guys had already departed for a Soccer game (babysitters were filling in the 'between' time) So we had to hit the ground running. Shane came running to me with tears of excitement in his eyes. Of course I had my hands full wanting just 20 more minutes to put away clothes and start dinner. Shane did not understand this request... Such is life right? Guess we were missed.
Thanks ladies for a wonderful weekend. Angela we are lucky you put this together! Love ya,
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