Sunday, August 9

Hello All!!!!

Hope all is well out there. Sorry there has been a lack of posts and photos lately as we have been enjoying our time with our families. Brenna is loving all her grandparent time - she sure is attached to her grandmothers - they are a definite favorite :-) (o.k. - who can blame her - oh to be young and spoiled by fabulous grandmothers - Brenna has the best ones (and Papa's too!!)).

Our time here in the US is going very quickly - I can't believe Brenna and my stay is half over - where did the time go!!! I am missing Justice and so is Brenna. She was really missing Daddy - she finally got to see him today :-) So glad to have the whole family back together (minus one 4 legged companion - don't worry Justice - we will be back for you soon!).

Well, I'm keeping this short to go enjoy some more family time - sorry you will all have to wait for pictures until we are back in Germany!!

Take Care!

Saturday, August 1

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! We have been busy visiting all the grandparents and family here in Ohio :-) I'm really glad that our parents live close enough that we can enjoy visiting with everyone during the time we are back in the US.

Brenna had a chance to go to the park yesterday and today. She loves pretending to be a SuperReader - her new phrase is "to the rescue"... She had to play that she was saving Papa and Uncle Steven today (somehow, Mommy isn't fun to save...).

Sorry, my post is going to be really short today - I need to try to get Brenna down for her nap and I just got off of skype with Dustin! Only a few more days for him before he gets on the plane to join us over here :-)

Take Care!

Tuesday, July 28

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. Brenna and I are working on slowly getting adjusted to our new time in Ohio. We continue to wake up early (but at least it isn't 4:30 anymore!). Brenna has been taking long naps in the afternoon - I'm sure her little body is trying to adjust as best as possible.

We went to the zoo on Saturday - Brenna really enjoyed that although I think her time spent with her cousin Mikayla was her favorite :-) The girls played well together - I think they were both exhausted by the end of the night. We had a quiet day on Sunday - just doing some gardening and stuff around my parent's house. We went to the park yesterday morning - they have a children's garden there - Brenna loved that and the slides and jungle gym that was close by.

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

Paris Tour De France

Hello Everybody, Amanda and Brenna are in the US at the moment, so it is kind of slow here. Definately missing them, plus had lots of work to do. I was able to go to the Tour de France finale in Paris yesterday. I took the train over in the Morning and back in the evening. It was a long day, but lots accomplished. I went over there with another American colleague and a German friend as well, so there was 3 of us. We started by climbing the stairs to the 2nd floor of the Eifel Tower. Then went over to the Tour and found a spot on the Champs de Elyses. I was second row to the race. At the finale, there are 7 laps and after 2 of them the person in front me left, so I got to be in the front for the last 5. It was great. Afterward, we went to the Cathedral Notre Dame and looked around. That was the completion of the day, when we arrived back in Strasbourg my friends car had a flat so we had to change a flat in the parking garage at midnight. Kind of funny. I have attached pictures of my day below.

Wish everybody well and miss all of you. See you soon.

View from the 2nd Floor of the Eifel Tower

Here is Contador in the Yellow Jersey

Just wanted to give an idea the magnitude of the Pelaton cycling through, very impressive.

The riders were extremely fast during the end thus the blurr above. The person in the middle with the blue and yellow jersey with black helmet is Lance Armstong (He placed 3rd, Awesome)

Craft pictures that I haven't shared yet

Here are the two craft pictures I didn't share before we left as they were for gifts for Mikayla and Renee. I think the projects turned out really cute! Renee - I'm so sorry that it took me so long to do these towels - hopefully they were worth the wait!

Friday, July 24

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there. Brenna and I are slowly adjusting to our new time over here. We went shopping in the morning/afternoon yesterday - Brenna was a tired toddler - not so much fun in the store... She was ready to run around and get all her pent-up energy out so we after shopping and nap time yesterday we ran around my parents yard. Brenna loved the freedom of running in the yard and was very excited that mommy and gammy joined in :-)

We slept a little later this morning - we almost made it to 6 before waking up! Brenna has discovered pop-tarts and McDonald's here in the States already and loving them :-) Brenna isn't much of a breakfast eater normally, so for her to eat a whole pop-tart first thing is a big thing for her!! We did some more running in the yard this morning - we chased one of her small tennis balls around for a while until we lost it for the 3rd time in the bushes! Brenna and my mom picked flowers and did some other cleaning today - she is such a good helper (I'm sure our families won't want to give her back when it is time to leave!).

Well, that is it for today! Take Care!

Thursday, July 23

Hello All!!

Just thought I would let everyone that Brenna and I made it to the US yesterday with no issues. She was an angel on the plane for me (just normal impatience on the long flight - who could blame her!). We landed about 30 minutes early which I was very thankful for - I was getting more antsy than she was by that point! Our plane was an older one so it didn't have the individual headsets on the seats (so that you can pick your own movies) - thank goodness we brought the itouch - what a great little device!!! The only downside to it was we couldn't hear with just the speakers on it - the plane was really loud where we sat (we were the 3rd row from the back - but it made it easy to get Brenna in and out of the bathroom). After about an hour of use, the itouch gave us a battery warning (only 20% left...) - not sure why that happened as we had made sure it was fully charged before leaving. Thank goodness we bought the additional battery back-up :-) Brenna enjoyed her coloring books (especially all her new crayons and colored pencils), putting on her stickers, and changing activities frequently. I think we were well prepared - she fell asleep for about 1 1/2 hours on my lap so that helped take up some additional time. Her only "crying" was more of a whimper (thank goodness) - and that was just on waking up and on landing (and on landing only because she could hear someone's baby crying). I think all the kids did well on the plane - I only heard any crying about 30 minutes before landing for anyone - so other than the massive amount of turbulence we had in the air (some people even clapped when we finally landed - so happy to be on the ground) it was a very quiet flight. Brenna only managed to hit the call button for the flight attendant once and that was when we were getting situated in our seats.

We landed about 30 minutes early and it was the same time as a flight that came in from Paris so Customs was packed. Brenna did well waiting in line - she was tired and shy with anyone who talked to her, but she couldn't wait to get out of the airport and find Gammy and Papa. We had another mother and her son in line behind us (he was 5 and he kept us entertained and talking) who were also living in Germany (although for much longer - they have been there for 2 1/2 years). The downsides to Cincinnati airport was that you have to go through two baggage claims when you fly international (you have to claim before going through customs and then you have to send it on the "local" conveyor to claim again in Terminal 3) and you have to go through security again so that you can leave the airport (crazy - Brenna didn't have to take her shoes off in Frankfurt (where I was more prepared for that possibility) but she did in Cincinnati to just leave the airport!!). Brenna did great helping me pull the suitcases where I needed to and she loved riding on the escalators and moving sidewalks - we really moved through that airport to leave!!

Brenna also did great with the bathrooms all day yesterday. Her only complaint with the airplane was that the flushing was too loud on the toilet (it was pretty loud), but luckily there was a delay so we could just flush when we were leaving the bathroom. My parents got to experience her frequent stopping for the bathroom on the way to there house (we think she stopped to go 4 times, but she did go each time!). She likes to stop even more when she is tired (and who can blame her for wanting to get out of the car so she doesn't fall asleep). About 1 1/2 from my parent's house she fell asleep which is really good considering the amount of nap time she had (I think I was dragging more than she was - and I think she was in a more chipper mood too!). We woke up around 4:30 this morning, so adjusting to Ohio time will take some time, but I'm sure she will need a nap today.

Well, I think that about covers our journey yesterday! Take Care!