Romping Around Ramstein

Ronnie's plane headed to Never Never Land left from Ramstein so we decided to head up there a day early to enjoy some shopping and good food.


Lil Miss helped Daddy get his suitcases in to the airport . . .




Our last silly family pic before he had to board the plane. :(

And, Dad, this pic is for you. They have a "Formel 1" track and museum between here and there. I tried to take a good pic but missed the front of it, will have to get a better one soon.


We miss Ronnie so much and are already counting down the days on our paper chain. Won't even begin to tell you how many days left because I still tear up thinking about it. **Sniff** But it is going by fast and I am so thankful we are so busy. Just wish he was here with us!!

A Schwaben Experience

I just keep finding pictures everywhere!!

Before Ronnie left, we found our way to a shopping center we had never visited before.


Except we forgot one thing...it was on Sunday and the place was **ALMOST** closed up tight. The coffee shops were open though.



Yum Yum!!

It was a neat little place.



And, as if they didn't already have coffee cups in hand and junk in their bellies, Neeley and Ronnie wanted to visit another little shop for ice cream and crepes.


Neeley ordered in German from an Italian place. LOVE it!!


And decided on Spaghetti-Eis!!


Which made her do things like this in the car... SUGAR HIGH!! :)

So we had to get outside and do lots of this . . .


Another fun family day written down in the memory books!!

Trampoline Am See Is A Sight To See!

Before Ronnie left, we found our way over to Trampoline Am See (Trampoline Land to us Americans) for a jumpin' good time . . . We had so much fun, as you can see! I have never seen so many trampolines and bouncy games and things in one place in my life! They really know how to have fun here in Germany! And the place was great fun for only a small price. We like that part even better!

Deployments Stink Like Dirty Gym Socks!!

Yes, we have been lucky with the timing and duration of deployments but still . . . they do stink! We have said our goodbyes for this go-'round but not until after we made our paper chain to count down the days.


I feel like such a bad unorganized Mommy . . . I NEVER did anything like this with Neeley for the last deployment, and she was at the age where it probably would have helped tremendously at that time. This time it was kind of like a "yeah, that would be nice to do so maybe I'll go look for some paper and scissors." But we all participated in making it and here it is hanging beautifully on our dining room wall. We've already begun the countdown and removed a few of the links. Now only how many more to go?

Be safe, hon, and we think of you 24/7. Can't wait to see you then!!

Greedy Much?

This is what I saw when I walked in to Neeley's room earlier.


This girl is counting out her money and recording it in one of her journals. I LOVE that she is finally recognizing the value of a dollar, or euro. :) That's my girl! Mom & Dad, kind of reminds me of Ryan! :)

We have worked out an allowance plan with her and it is going amazingly well...much better than I thought it would. She LOVES doing her chores when she knows she can go to the PX and buy something or she can enjoy an extra treat when we go to a new play place.

Don't ya just love it! :)

A Class Of Their Own

Is this not the cutest lil 3rd grade class you've ever seen!?! Neeley is still LOVING 3rd grade. Doesn't she kind of look like her teacher? We noticed that the first day of school, especially since Neeley also wore red glasses at the beginning of the year. I think several were missing this day because there are 23 kiddos in her class.

Can't wait to show you all our new family pics soon!

Go Fly A Kite!

We did just that . . . literally. Easter Sunday was a fun lazy day for us and we had just the right amount of wind. Neeley got a new kite in her basket from the Easter Bunny :) so we decided to make good use of it.






The Easter Bunny visited our house on Sunday and left lots of loot!





And we're off to spend the next few days just hanging out and spending time together . . . just the three of us. In just a few short days, there will only be two of us here in Stuttgart and the very thought has me very anxious! We just want this deployment over with!!

Happy April, y'all!!

Bowden Boggles

The weather here in Stuttgart is crazy! Once again, we tried to get our family pics done this weekend and once again it didn't happen. But that's okay, we have plans to reschedule for some time this week and we'll get it done!

We did have some fun this weekend despite the rain and the clouds and the peep of sun every once in a while. Our kiddos got to participate in an Easter Egg Hunt Saturday morning thanks to our post Chaplain. He and his team planned the event and it really was fun!





We have some new rope swings up here on post thanks to some kind neighbors so we had some fun outside in between egg hunts and birthday parties and everything else we had to accomplish this weekend.

We had to tromp and slosh through the rain, mud and muck to get to a birthday party for one of Neeley's friends. They watched a movie at our post theater which was fun! And then we had dinner at a friend's house Saturday night. Makes for a LONG day!
Sunday morning we enjoyed Easter brunch at our on post Special Events Center. I wish I had taken my camera to show you the feast they put on for us. We didn't walk away hungry, that's for sure!! Wow! The rest of Sunday was very nice! Neeley had a chance to play with some friends and it was a nice break from reality if even for only a few short hours.

Easter And Softball And Such

Guess who is now a softball coach!?! Yep, me!! How crazy is that? Neeley's 9-12 y.o. girls' league needed another coach since they had so many girls signed up - 41 girls, wow!! - and since there was someone else who was also interested in helping to "co-coach" a team, I thought I'd just go ahead and add that to my plate too. It isn't fair for some girls to sign up only to be sitting on a bench for several weeks. Yes, I realize that I have completely lost my mind since we will have 2 practices a week and 2 games a week, but we do it for the kids, right? I LOVE that I am getting to branch out and experience so many new things that I never thought I could or would do before.Our season starts right about the time Ronnie leaves which is coming way too soon, we we're off to enjoy the weekend (one of our lasts together for a while) and have some fun!

Happy Easter, y'all!!

Can't Beat Good Ol' American Food . . . Even In Germany!

Last Saturday required a slight change of plans for us. Neeley was scheduled to spend the weekend with a friend so Ronnie and I had a date night planned for Saturday night. But, things don't always go as planned, and we just learn to roll with it. The friend's entire family of 6 was apparently sick beyond belief so we decided to stay away and take lil miss with us to dinner instead.

Our goal was to venture out to the Block House for dinner.


The restaurant is an American steak house plopped right down here in Stuttgart. And we all agreed that was the best food we had ever eaten. The wait staff all speak English, and very good English I might add. We had our food in maybe 15 minutes tops, and it was so good! What had we been missing? :) This place came highly recommended and it was definitely well worth the trip!

After dinner, we strolled downtown for a bit and took another walk through the hauptbahnhof. There is a coffee shop much like Starbuck's on the top floor so we spent some time up there and then we visited one of the little crepe kiosks outside for some of the best crepes ever. I love those little places! Ronnie and I had ours with butter, cinnamon and sugar, and Neeley had hers with Nutella. So yummy!

After walking around and doing a little window shopping while eating our crepes, we walked back towards the car but we had to go past some really interesting places to get back.


Isn't the theater beautiful?? It was all lit up once it got dark outside and we just couldn't help ourselves with the picture taking. :)




After this, we were too stuffed to stand much else, so we made our way home and vegged on the couch to finish a few more episodes of House. We're trying to get all of our fave shows and movies and fun stuff in before Ronnie leaves. Our time is drawing near...