Man's Best Friend Is Never Too Far Away

No one can take a bath in this house without this other lil mama standing guard. Mostly, I think she just likes to eat the bubbles. But throw a towel down on the floor and she's all over it...literally! :)

Sleepovers Are Always Fun

Neeley has a friend sleeping over tonight. Thank goodness for a 3 day weekend! :) These girls crack me up. They are playing dress up and doing all kinds of fun things inside since our rain is back today.

Aren't they cute??

Yippee & A Lot Like Taffy

I have to have a Mommy brag moment. I am so proud of how well Neeley has adjusted here. She is having a blast playing softball, has just bridged from Brownie Girl Scouts to a Junior, has made some really wonderful friends, is planning a joint bday party (more on that soon!) this year with a very good friend, has had to say goodbye to some good friends this past week due to PCS moves, and is just really in a good place right now.

I really worried how she would adjust to her school and to a totally different curriculum and I struggled with what to do and how to help her if the schooling proved to be way too different. She has thrived! And it was proven to me today when I picked up her Terra Nova test scores. Now, for our non military friends, let me tell ya...these tests are way scarier than any ol' test ever given to the kiddos in the states. Now those are pretty serious business, but the Terra Nova is only **whispered** when it is even mentioned and it has all the kids scared to death. It is just a very different way of thinking, and it is like that for a reason. They really make the kids think outside of the box.

Anyway, back to my proud moment. I picked up Neeley's scores today and her Total Score was a 99.99 percent!! Wow! I was afraid to even open the envelope. I have heard from some other mothers that their kids-who are very smart kids too-did not do so well on it, so I really didn't even want to see them. But I just had to do it, and it was a pleasant surprise.

Now on to the taffy part......yeah, well, I will keep you in suspense on that a lil longer. It's now almost 10:30 pm and I'm pooped and a bedtime is nowhere in sight for this gal.

More to come soon!!

Strasbourg, France is THE place to be!

Neeley and I were very fortunate to tag along on a USO trip this week. On Wednesday, we loaded up the bus and headed over to......

Strasbourg, France!!

I am really trying to take advantage of these opportunities with the USO while Ronnie is gone. It's much easier to travel in a group and with someone else driving, and the trips are usually fairly inexpensive which is even better.

We had the best time! Enjoy these pictures from our trip. It was an exhausting day trip but so well worth it!

We met the bus around 6:45 that morning...


And we got all settled in to our seats...


German bus drivers are required to take a break every so often so, even though Strasbourg is only about 2 hours from here, we stopped in Baden Baden for breakfast... Here is Neeley showing off the toy she got in her Kinder Egg. Yes, I let my child have chocolate for breakfast that day and don't you ever forget it! :)


Next to our eating spot was this neat pyramid church and some neat statues...



We boarded the bus again and headed on in to Strasbourg. Beautiful is all I could say!



Yes, even in May, it was FREEZING there and we had to carry our heavy coats once again.


There were lots of places with good yummies to choose from.


We got to see lots of the half timbered houses from the good ol' days.


This is the oldest cafe there...


This is still a hotel even today.


Beautiful waterways! See that spaceship looking thing? Yep, that's a boat and we rode on one of those. More to come on that story later...



The 2nd through 4th houses in this picture are now one big historical museum of the area.

And Ta-Da! We came upon the Strasbourg Cathedral, a Notre Dame Cathedral.



This is the entrance to the cathedral.

Inside the cathedral...



Funny story about this little guy. This cute little puppy was on the pulpit in the cathedral. The story goes that if you see him, you have to rub his cute little head for good luck.


BREATHTAKING!!


The clock that we loved.

But we didn't love having to wait for the darn thing to chime.


After viewing the inside, we made our way around the back of the cathedral...




Nearby was the past residence of the archbishop.


And right next to that is what was once a royal palace. These next two pictures are inside the courtyard area of the palace.



Here is our group looking like typical Americans walking down the streets with our cameras in hand and our goodies in tow.


This neat little place had the most delicious looking desserts and things, almost too pretty to eat. We were stuffed after lunch or we would have had a kugel or two.


More half timbered housing. LOVE these!


This is actually the oldest half timbered house there...


All the buildings in the middle of town have these signs on them stating what they were when they were originally built. This was originally a "new fish market"...



Cafe Rohan had the best 1/2 Cockerel & Pommes... 1/2 rotisserie chicken and french fries



Neeley amongst the grapes. Here is the decorative barrel that is usually the scene of the wine festivals they have during the summer there in Strasbourg.



Soon to be some yummy grapes...


Not sure I would want to ever eat at a restaurant called The Pigeon, but apparently they have the world's best sakerkraut...



This is a neat university right in the downtown area...


And alas...we came upon the channel...




We decided to take a little ride on one of the fun spaceship looking boats...


We got to learn a GREAT history lesson and actually heard it in English...



We had a boat full...


On the boat tour, we got to see some of the fortifications used during the days of war...


And this is the French version of their Justice Department...


Next to it was another cathedral...


During the ride, we passed by some of the more modernized housing...


And we also got to see the headquarters of Arte, a French & German news station. Guess they've learned to work together after all. :)


Next to it is the offices of the European Council


And this lovely little lady was there to take your picture as you got off the boat if you wanted. Actually, apparently she studied you really well before you ever got on the boat because when we got off, she had these hand painted caricature type pictures painted of everyone.


And this was our last view as we headed back across the border on the bus...



We enjoyed the bus ride back home too. Well, we only stayed awake for maybe the first 5 minutes. I have never heard so much snoring in my life. There were 50 of us on the bus and I think we all slept on the way home. People.......get some Breathe Right strips!!



What a fabulous day! We are so appreciative of our USO. I hear they have some exciting upcoming summer trips to our local theme parks planned.