Wednesday, April 29

Hello All!!

Hope all is going well out there. We had a "fun" morning of chores and cleaning (I detest all the dog hair here - I have certainly asked myself why did I ever get a Golden Retriever - and then of course see how good he is with Brenna especially when she drags him all over the apartment...). Anyway, at least Brenna enjoys our cleaning - she loves helping with the dusting, sweeping (a.k.a - stealing my broom and taking back to her room), and especially cleaning the windows - that is her favorite. We also managed to get some laundry done (yeah- I'm finally caught up from our trip!)

Since I didn't post over the weekend, I forgot to put up that Dustin completed his first half-marathon over here. He ran the Heidelberg half-marathon on Sunday morning. I know that he was just glad to finish - he was very drained by the time he got home! Brenna and I had worked on laundry and scrapbooking on Sunday morning - it is amazing how far behind I am on that book! Where did my time go! She didn't quiet understand the difference between mommy's stickers and her stickers - who can blaim her (mine are pretty cool, lol)! Anyway, the Heidelberg race has a disclaimer on it that it is not a good race for beginners - the hills are especially brutal, but Dustin said the race was still packed - he had never seen so many runners (and the whole course had spectators).

I always feel bummed when I don't post a picture with my post - we will try to get something for tomorrow. Dustin has Friday off for a holiday - I'm really looking forward to the long weekend and the weather is supposed to be nice too :-) Dustin has to travel to England next week (bummer that he couldn't go after my mom was already here), but hopefully the days won't go to slow waiting for him to come home and my mom to get here.
Take Care!

Tuesday, April 28

Hello All!

Can you believe that there are only 2 more days of April left?? Where did the month go? The weather here has been really nice this month - which we have enjoyed with more walking. I am not enjoying the number of ticks in our area - this area is evidently extremely high with the buggers...How do you effectively check a fur covered dog for these things?? I checked him yesterday after our walk and didn't find any (and I am so paranoid I try to keep him away from all the high grass and bushes on our walks, but to no avail), but he had one today :-( We are really going to have to be diligent to check everyone each time we come in from our walk (something we were not used to in our old neighborhood of few trees and no bushes - what happened to my subburbia??(is that a word)). The birds and water are also sounds that we are getting used to - it almost seems like we are in the country when we are so much closer to the stores here - kind of crazy. We have a deer in our backyard that Brenna calls her Reindeer (can you tell she has been influenced by Dustin's Santa Claus addiction).

It was a rainy day here today - Brenna and I stayed inside and did yoga and just played inside.

Well, that is about it for today!
Take Care!

Flower Pictures

Brenna was a good helper for these flower pictures (sorry they are as usual more about her than the background!). Hope you enjoy them :-) These are at the park which is just a short walk from our house.

Friday, April 24

Finally some pictures...

Brenna wanted to wear her tights and tutu this morning - I had to get the camera out for this one!! The neighbors here thought she was too cute!!! They called her the little ballerina (she thinks she is a princess and the headband is a crown :-) She won't stop picking at her nose during bedtime and naptime...we keep putting salve on it, I can't wait until it finally heals. She knows she shouldn't pick - her saying "I don't pick, that would be ouchy"...

I would like to say the pictures with the "ladybug" (this was part of our chocolate playdough) was Brenna's creation (I made it after our pictures from Venice), but this was the deconstruction pictures - she loved eating the stuff. I have skewed her so much on the fact that she has only ever played with edible playdough with me!!

Hope you enjoy these - no flower pictures yet, maybe we will make it out today - the sun is shining and it is supposed to be a beautiful day!

Take Care!

Thursday, April 23

Hello All!

Hope all is well out there. I looked at the dates and almost couldn't figure out how I missed posting yesterday - I'm sure it assisted in my confusion on which day of the week it was today, lol :-)

Brenna and I worked on housework today (why is it that I dread it and she seems to enjoy it - thanks for the clean-up song, Dora - if you want to hear what I am talking about find the Dora saves the Mermaid DVD, lol). It is not much fun sharing a washer after having your own (and I miss my dryer something terrible...), but some day we will be back to those "luxuries" again... I know that I am bound to miss my air conditioning this summer.

I must have burnt myself out on the camera after our trip - even I haven't felt like taking any pictures!! Maybe we will get out and get some tomorrow, it is amazing that I miss pictures on the blog when there aren't any...

Well, that is it for today!
Take Care!

Tuesday, April 21

Hello All!!

We had another sun filled day here today (I know for anyone in the rain and cold how jealous you are!!). We took about an hour long walk this afternoon which was great since Dustin worked until after 8 - at least it made the afternoon not seem so long.

We had German class again this morning - it is going to seem weird to not have class on Thursday as usual...We have kinder group tomorrow so that should be fun for Brenna - hopefully I can get myself (and Brenna) moving on time (but not too early either - how do you find just the right balance??)... We went to the store twice today - it was a good time "killer" and being such a short walk - why not (although going when hungry didn't work out so great for my diet - especially since on the first trip we came home with cheese puffs!!).

I feel bad that there aren't any pictures so far this week, but I didn't want to put Brenna into picture overload (o.k., when isn't she on picture overload, but I thought a break might be good for both of us). Maybe tomorrow I will try to get some flower pictures for you all - they have some beautiful ones in the neighborhood right now... I wanted to get a picture of Brenna today in her overalls, but didn't push her on it, sorry (and she looked so cute too!!)

Well, that is it for today!
Take Care!

Monday, April 20

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. It was a quiet day here today, but at least the weather was nice - it is supposed to be sunny here all week :-)

We worked on cleaning this morning and then had German class. Brenna loves helping with the cleaning - hope that keeps up and we can put her to work in the future, lol :-) We have German class again tomorrow, so at least my homework tonight is light. Brenna had lots of fun in the tub today - she loves playing that she is a mermaid and splashing around. We had Brenna's favorite scrambled pancakes tonight - we tried them with applesauce instead of oil - still yummy :-)

We had a nice walk this afternoon - it is amazing to see how green everything is getting here :-)

Well, that is it for today!
Take Care!

Sunday, April 19

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. We had a nice inside day with Brenna's gotcha day yesterday (or as Brenna said - Cake Day)!!! She loved decorating her own cake, but didn't put nearly as much on it as I expected. Although, as expected, she loved the icing on the cake - it was really the only part she ate!! I tried to stay out of her cake pictures yesterday - but you see how well that worked out for me!! It rained all day yesterday, but the sun is shining today which is nice. We tried to get a family picture with the dog - hope you enjoy the "best" two. He was a little hard to control today for this one :-( (Can you see the death grip that Dustin has on him...) As with most picture days - Dustin just wasn't that into it - so of course that never helps for the whole thing...

We all took a walk early today which was nice - the weather here surely seems like spring is here.

Well, that is it for today!

Take Care!!

Friday, April 17

Hello All!!!

Hope everyone is doing great out there. We had a quiet day here today, it was somewhat rainy here today. Brenna and I made some white chocolate playdough this afternoon - she loved it - although very messy (got very sticky quickly when she played with it)!! At least it cleaned up easily.

I worked on uploading our trip pictures to shutterfly today - at least it is something you can start and step away from :-) Dustin said I should comment on the green apple juice in Venice. It was a little scary looking the first time, but it was green Granny Smith apple juice - it tasted pretty good and Brenna did like it. It was also amazing at the rest area in Italy that they had bottles of olive oil (like ketchup bottles in the US) to take to the tables (and they didn't have ketchup bottles!).

Tomorrow we celebrate Brenna's gotcha day... I'm going to let her decorate her own cake - can't wait to see the results on that one :-)

Well, take care!

Thursday, April 16

I loved her face on some of these!!

One of the Italians gave Brenna some corn so that the birds would land on her hand - she had 3 at one time!! If you have seen Just Married - the birds at San Marco square are a little nuts - they aren't shy at all and don't move when you get close!!

Not sure if she was dancing or playing her air guitar!!

Some of my favorite shots from Venice - gotta love Gondola parking. It was interesting to see them sign them out in the morning as well!

I loved these glass animals - we didn't get one for Brenna, but I think I need to try to recreate these out of fondant or something for one of Brenna's cakes - maybe even for her Gotcha day this weekend.

Hello All!

Hope everyone is doing well out there! Hopefully, you will enjoy some more of our trip pictures today.

So what else to say about our trip... The toilets in Italy really leave something to be desired - all public toilets (everywhere) do not have seats - yuck. We were really proud of Brenna and how she did with that. She did a really good job with the traveling and all the potties on the way :-) It was amazing how expensive the Murano glass was in Venice - good thing we didn't find anything that we had to come home with!!! The shops in Venice got to be a little overwhelming for Dustin. I really enjoyed looking at all the pretty items in the windows (and getting a few where they were affordable). Brenna even got a couple pretty necklaces as well :-) She loves to play princess with her new jewelry!! With Dustin running in Venice, he found a park that Brenna loved playing at. We had lunch afterward at a great little cafe - I loved the sandwich that I had - it was pretty easy to find sandwiches without cheese - the Italians love their olive oil and spices though :-) It was funny that one of the most expensive meals of our trip was at one of the rest areas between Venice and Florence!! We tried to eat at small cafes for our trip and we really enjoyed the casualness of that - especially with Brenna. The Italians (espcially in Venice) loved Brenna - she had lots of fun blowing kisses to the Gondola drivers :-)

Well, I think that covers most of our trip :-)

Take Care!

Lab Techs in Venice and Florence

Our traveling tech updates from our trip. Here we have the techs on the gondola in Venice, in front of a replica David in Florence and in front of the bridge Ponte Vecchio. The same ice cream cone for Brenna made it from the statue to the bridge :-) Sorry no pictures from Pisa - you were there though!!

Wednesday, April 15

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there. We just got back from our tour of Italy (Venice, Florence, and Pisa). It was beautiful and the weather was fantastic. Above our just a few of our thousand pictures!!

Driving through the Alps in Switzerland was amazing - can't believe how many tunnels there are!! We drove through the longest tunnel we have ever been through something around 17 km :-) Brenna started announcing when we were going through each tunnel. I will now think of Switzerland as the land with the Alps and tunnels, lol!! Venice was amazing (this may be my favorite word of the post!) - loved the buildings, water, and shops. The hotel was awesome and they really loved Brenna there. Wish I would have thought about the water and mosquitoes - Brenna and Dustin got eaten up. Brenna has the most awful reaction to the bites - they get puss filled and burst pretty quickly when they are on her face - and she got about 5 (including two on her nose and one on her ear). We rode a gondola - expensive, but once in lifetime experience (too bad Brenna won't remember it!). I'm sure Brenna would have been just as happy riding any boat - she loved the faster taxi to the Murano glass factory. Our hotel was just a short walk from San Marco square - so I got some great sunrise pictures. Dustin was even able to get two runs in on the island. Venice is an easy place to get lost in and we had a great time just wondering along the streets (and eating Gelato for Brenna) :-) After 3 great days in Venice, we drove to Pisa and Florence. We just had a quick stop in Pisa - just enough time to get about 100 pictures (or more) of the leaning tower, lol :-) We had one full day in Florence and we think we did a pretty good job making the most of it. Of course, Brenna enjoyed more Gelato and our hotel was again just a short walk from everything. We went early and saw the Statue of David and one of the churches close by (it had several names - I think Duomo was one). We walked across the famous bridge there (it was neat with all the goldsmith shops) - and then walked to a museum with outside gardens for Brenna. It had amazing views of downtown Florence and was a good energy killer for Brenna. I think Brenna found the only merry-go-around in downtown Florence and of course she really wanted a ride :-) It was some long car rides, but everyone did really well :-) I got great pictures of all of us (today looks like my day with Brenna - I will have to post Dustin and Brenna's great pictures tomorrow).

Well, that is it for today - hope you enjoy just a few of our pictures :-)

Take Care!

Thursday, April 9

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there. We are very excited that we leave tomorrow for a tour of Italy :-) We are going to Venice, Florence, and Pisa. Hopefully, the drive will be very nice - I'm sure it will take longer than we expect it to with bathroom breaks and traffic. Sorry no posts until we get back, but hopefully we will have some great new pictures and stories to share :-)

Brenna and I made some sock puppets today. She loved playing with my stash of animal eyes and then decorative buttons. The puppets were very hungry for all of the buttons - especially the ice cream float ones (who wouldn't be)!

Hope you enjoy Brenna's sunglass pictures today - the weather here has been really beautiful. I don't feel like I have been taking as much advantage of it as I should, but we did take a nice walk with Justice today.

Take Care!

Wednesday, April 8

Hello All!!!

Hope everyone out there had a great day today. Brenna and I had some fun with a lunch picnic in her room (she loved this and wanted to do supper there as well) and also colored some Easter eggs. Brenna thought the eggs were much too hot, so it wasn't as interesting to her as the set up, but oh well.

We leave for Venice on Friday (our trip will include Venice, Florence, and Pisa) - hopefully we will have a great time. They are calling for rain most of the days we are traveling, but what can you do. Hopefully, it won't be constant. At least I have most of the memory sticks for the cameras cleaned off. Just have one stick to do tomorrow and the packing...

Well, I am off to relax for the evening. Dustin is out playing volleyball with our landlord.
Take Care!

Tuesday, April 7

Hello All!!!

It was another really nice day here in Germany today. We managed to take the dog out for a nice long walk this afternoon. Brenna didn't sleep well last night so we didn't have much of a morning - we were both too tired to do much, lol.

Happy birthday to my niece Alexis today - hope you have a great day (and hopefully you got our birthday wish song!)

Take Care!

Monday, April 6

Hello All!!

Hope everyone out there had a great day. The weather continues to be beautiful here - Brenna loves just hanging out on the balcony :-) Brenna took a run with Dustin today in her stroller.

Not too much else going on - just enjoying the nice weather. I found that I could walk to the local store today and get my needed groceries and get back to the apartment in about 8 minutes today. I ran out while Dustin was playing with Brenna and the pizza was in the oven. I made it back in plenty of time to take the pizza out of the oven, lol!

Happy birthday wishes go out to my Grandma Heath today - hope you had a great day!

Take Care!

Sunday, April 5

Hello All!!

Hope everyone is doing well out there today. We had a quiet cleaning day today. I took Justice for a nice long walk this morning and Dustin was able to get out on his bike today as well :-)

With not much else going on today I thought I would share some more pictures from the zoo yesterday - hope you enjoy them.

Take Care!

Saturday, April 4

Take a picture of the animals, dad!

Hello All!!!

We had an enjoyable day at the zoo today. It seems that we have been enjoying the zoos over here more than in the US - not sure if it is Brenna's joy or the beautiful gardens that accompany the zoos we have been to :-) The weather was absolutely beautiful - perfect day for the zoo and the animals were all easy to find and see (great for Brenna). She loved the petting zoo part - she got to pet two miniature horses, but didn't get to feed them as the machine just took our money, but didn't give us any food... The flowers at the zoo were really pretty and we had to hold Brenna back from picking them all, lol. Brenna did not want her picture taken today - can you tell from all the side shots??? The pelicans were right on the walking path today - Brenna wanted to go right up to them and pet them. We weren't as sure about them - but our picture looks like we got plenty close :-)

Well, that is it for today :-)

Take Care!