Garmisch (again, finally)

It has been more than 7 years since we've been at Edelweiss (Armed Forces Resort) and it was wonderful to be back again (for the most part).  We have so many memories from being there with my parents, my sister, her husband and Jaden, when he was a baby.

It was awesome to bring our boys to such a beautiful area and to enjoy God's beautiful creation.  Unfortunately, it was not without complications...the day before leaving Gregory developed pink eye and then right before getting in the van to drive Gregory got a very bad bloody nose and he has some horrendous allergies to something outside at this time of year.  In spite of all of this and trying to find the right medicines and such we all had a pretty good time unfortunately we don't have the family pictures we planned on doing because of Gregory being so sick and not feeling up to pictures, maybe next time (as we also missed out on being in the pool too).

On the way I packed a picnic lunch so we stopped at a beautiful lake and enjoyed feeding some ducks, skipping some rocks (or at least trying), watching all of the sailboats, gazing upon the moutains, and a far away view of Neuschwanstein.

We got to visit and went on a tour through Schloss Linderhof (one of King Ludwig's three castles in Germany).  Gregory was incredibly attentive while on the tour and enjoyed it a lot.  The day was beautiful (a tad warm, but the sky was gorgeous) and so we had ice cream multiple times during the day.  Joshua loved watching the hang gliders as we had a beautiful view out of our room at the resort.

And then the day before we left we drove about 2.5 hrs to the Berchtesgaden (Obersalz) area where the Eagle's Nest is.  Our original plans were thwarted due to an oversight on my part...it was Hotel Turks day of rest, so we didn't get to tour the WWII bunkers under it, but we did go in the WWII bunkers that are under a documentation building near the Eagle's Nest.  Due to the crazy bus ride up the mountain to get to the Eagle's Nest we decided to view it from afar and just take in the close by things to see.  Gregory and Joshua loved learning about the WWII bunker and I am sure they will develop a love for all things WWII just like their dad with as much as they get to see and hear about it in our home.  The temperature in the bunker was the big bonus as it was incredibly hot outside (in the 90s)...but very cool inside the bunkers.

The drive back was long, very long.  Staus are not our favorite thing to be stuck in...we like it when traffic keeps moving...so much better than sitting at a standstill on the (oh so fast SOMETIMES) autobahn.  So with the travel we did, we are now trying to think through our next travels to Italy...will we be able to do it (and be happy and feel like enjoying the area when we arrive?)  Stay tuned to find out where we travel to next!

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Father's Day and our First Summer Vacation (for this year)

This past weekend we got to celebrate a few things...Father's Day!  And the start of Summer vacation.  But this post is dedicated to my son's daddy.  As I looked through the pictures from this past weekend I notice a commonality...just about everywhere Tom is, there you will find Gregory and Joshua.  Both of our boys look up to their daddy so much...oh the pressure this brings.  I know there are days when Tom feels the weight of this and then there are other days that he seems to forget about the pressure and just has fun with his boys.  Tom will be the first to admit he's not perfect, but I know he does try so very hard to be a good example to his boys.  He has always been there for his boys and we are so thankful that his military career is nearing an end so we won't have the "fear" of a deployment.  Our boys have only been apart from their dad for at the most a long weekend (with a youth group event)...they have been blessed.  Tom is passing on so many of his traits to his boys (both the good and the not so good).  Thankfully he has an awesome memory which is tested every day by Gregory.  One of Gregory's favorite things to do is to have Tom tell him stories about what it was like when he was a kid (his favorite tv shows, favorite games, favorite wii game..hahaha, etc.)  Joshua's favorite thing to do with Tom is to "play tackle"...yeah that's my Joshua...a future football player.  There are lots of Super Hero games in our house, lots of Transformers to play with, and Legos....my boys love to have their dad involved in their lives and that is what he does...he is involved with his boys and loves them incredibly.  Tom, thanks for being a godly man who has so many wonderful traits (too numerous to list) and you have been giving our boys a godly example to aspire to.  I love you!

Kindergarten completed!

About a week ago Gregory finished his first year of school - Kindergarten.  We were so proud of him and all he did and learned this year.  It was amazing! 

Here are the beginning and the ending photos:

 

Here are some of the highlights of the year:

• Two field trips:  Ropes Course & the Stuttgart Airport (and water play at a park after riding the train and a bus while going to the Airport)
• Having an incubator in his classroom - got to watch eggs hatch and see baby chicks born
• Learning to read and doing so well with it
• Math, Science, Reading, PE, Recess and Lunch were favorites
• He made lots of friends - Austin, Dieter, Levi, Joseph, Gabriel, Gregory Miller, Zachery (notice there are no girls listed!)
• Enjoyed Ms. Beckham for his teacher
• He was in a multi-age class with Kindergarten, 1st Grade and 2nd Grade (He will be in this class the rest of our time here in Stuttgart with the same teacher - as long as she stays here...she's been here over 10 years already)
• Sliding down "the hill" in the winter time
• Had Art, Spanish, Host Nation (German) and Music class as well
• Mrs. Caravona was a great "aide" in the class and always made learning everything fun.  She taught him math mostly (including money)
• Learning about money has been the most difficult for Gregory...you have to think...he's learning about Euros and Dollars
• Gregory got to celebrate his "6th" birthday with his classmates and brought in cupcakes
• His favorite things to do at recess were play foursquare, tag and just play with his friends.
• He learned (and loved) to play baseball and was on the 6 & 7 year old team.
• He had TONS of spelling words and very regularly got 100% on his spelling tests.  We were amazed at the difficulty of words he was given and soon found out that the words he was being given were more advanced as he was learning how to spell very quickly.