Bastogne, Belgium

 

First I have to say I updated to a new picassa and I am not happy with it! So that is one reason why I have not finished the Paris trip and another reason why I am behind on posting. I finally got a collage to work for our day trip to Bastogne on Saturday. Orginally when we planned this trip we were going to do a 6K walk and all, but Cody's program was Friday night so we were not able to drive up and stay overnight like planned. I am kind of glad becuase it was freezing, Tyler ended up leaving his coat at home and Ryan seemed to never have gloves or a hat that he brought, but kept leaving in the van!

I guess I should give you background as to how we decided to go to Bastogne in the middle of winter! This past weekend was the 64th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. For those that are not history know it alls (that would be Zach's department) you can go to http://www.army.mil/botb/overview.html to read about the battle. My version, that is not near as detailed or good as the internet and books, is that the city of Bastogne became surrounded by Hitler's armies as they pushed their way through Luxembourg, Belgium and France. The American troops were cut off with all roads into the city being blocked. The Germans sent an ultimatum to surrender and Gen. McCauliffe replied with one word.....NUTS! They held the city until Patton's troops broke through and relieved them. The museum there had a great movie that I wish I could get a copy of that summed up the whole battle. It had all the footage from the time and maps, and the kids really enjoyed it.

Anyway along with seeing all the battle memorials and such we ate waffles that were so tasty and even bought some Belgian chocolate! It was a cold day,but we had fun!

Tyler's birthday party

Tyler chose to have a party at the bowling alley this year which was fine with me considering the busy busy week leading up to it! He invited 8 friends and almost all made it. Our camera has been acting up a lot lately and we know we need a new one, but are waiting till after we move so we have more options than what the crappy BX has here. So I didn't get too many pictures and Tyler is a pain, hates pictures so conveniently disapears or covers himself when the camera comes out. The kids had fun bowling even though the one lane broke and they had to move them to another lane. In the process of doing that the lady accidentally cancelled another family's game and put us on their lane. Ooops! A few of the boys are really good at bowling, but I have no idea what any of the final scores were. We just tried to keep it as fun as possible.

I am so excited!!!!

I have been on a bit of a break from school since the class I needed this last term was not able to be offered. There has to be at least 8 enroll and for this class you have to be 90% of the way finished to take it. Unfortunately they couldn't round up 8 people, only 4. So I was very disappointed and afriad I would get to one class left and not graduate. I welcomed the break since I have been going to school almost full time for two years now, balanced kids activiities, Zach being gone and all. But at the same time the break meant stress and uneasiness of not knowing if this class would be offered in time. Well today I got an email letting me know what was being offered and it is on the list. I also need one other class being offered as well, but this is the class I have been waiting for! It's 240 lab hours, so lots of work, lots of fun! I am hoping my friends will help me out by loaning kids to me so I can get all my ages covered and maybe even write me some nice blurbs to go in my portfolio. And the most exciting part is I will for sure be graduating in May!!!! I am so excited! Now keep your fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong now so I can accomplish my goal to graduate before we move!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Ten years ago today Tyler was born! I can't find the picture of me the day before I had him so put the two on we had from the hospital and our first family photo taken when he was 5 weeks old. Tyler had to keep things interesting by first trying to come too early which resulted in the most miserable bed rest of my life! I was on medications that made me throw up, shake and had to get steroid shots once a week. It was a long 6 weeks! As I got closer to my due date they pulled me off medications, but continued the shots thinking I would go into labor within days. The doctors weren't taking any chances that his lungs would be underdeveloped! Tyler ended up coming a day late past my due date. He conveniently waited for every bit of family to leave town and then decided to come hours later!

Being my first baby I wasn't sure what to expect. Earlier that week we had started moving our of our apartment to prepare for Zach going to basic training. The day before with all the family there for my sister's wedding I really just wanted left alone. I went to bed that night not feeling very well and after a restless night decided at 5am maybe I should go to the hospital. I wasn't too far along, but enough that they decided to keep me. I started throwing up and the nurse got all excited! I was not really thinking it was that funny, but they checked me and I had progressed very fast which was maing me throw up! So they started setting up, called the doctor to let her know she needed to come in and told us it would be a short time now. They kept asking if I wanted any pain meds and I kept refusing. I had had my fill of needles, shots and other torture so was not about to purposely let them poke and prod me more! The nurse in training was shocked and I really didn't feel the need to explain. I told her all I needed was Zach beside me and I would be fine. I delivered Tyler at 11:01 am and he weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces.

The only ones that knew we were at the hospital was my mom and brother. I guess we forgot to turn off our alarm and my brother went to complain to my mom who then reminded him that it was very likely we were at the hospital. They didn't bother me, just rounded up some help to finish clearing us out of our apartment. I was very grateful since I was not sure how we were going to finish all of that mess with a brand new baby! Zach was very overwhelmed and forgot to take any pictures so the few we have his mom took for us. Zach wouldn't let Tyler out of his sight. It was very hard for him especially since he was leaving for basic in just a few short months.

Tyler has always been our very repsonsible, mature and helpful child. It has changed a bit with his age and attitude, but I can say that it is because of him I have survived the last few deployments. He seems to know just when I need a break, help or to just be left alone. He has always been great with Cody, does his homework without any fighting, cleans his room, and I am just very grateful to have him in our family. Happy birthday, Tyler! I can't believe ten years has passed, but at the same time I am so excited to see what you become in ten more years!

Oh my second favorite part of day 1!

I have to say my second favorite part since just being on a trip and enjoying time with Zach is my first favorite! Second is the ferris wheel! The firt time I went to Paris I wanted to ride it, but didn't have time. The second time I went to Paris that was the story again so this time I decided there was no way I was leaving until I had gone on the giant ferris wheel! So after the Arc de Triomphe we headed down the street. And let me say riding it at night was way more fun than I had imagined. Our friends David and Melissa are pictured. We me them in Alaska. Zach and David worked together and we then discovered we lived down the street from one another and had boys almost the same age. So it all worked out great! David is here in Germany TDY so Melissa came for a visit. She couldn't bring the boys because of school. Anyway I loved the ferris wheel so had to post about it.

Paris day 1

Our trip to Paris started off by a rather nice train ride on the ICE train. From Ktown you can get to Paris in 2 and a half hours! We got off the train and then the fun began........navigating the metro of Paris! I actually got it down pretty quickly and it wasn't as hard as I thought. We bought passes for 19 euros each so we had unlimited access to the metro and busses for the three days. We got to our hotel that had a view of the Eiffel tower (our room didn't, but our friends upgraded theirs to have one) and got settled in. We then set off to conquer the city!

The Eiffel tower is lit up at night so that was really fun! Zach had heard there was a statue of liberty just down from the Eiffel tower so we set out to find it. It was quite a lengthy walk! We walked around some more then eventually took some trains and ended up at the Arc de Triomphe. There was a military ceremony going on which was cool to watch and then we went to the top! We made it to the top feeling the burn! I like to think I am in decent shape since I run and all, but that was a but tough! The view was beautiful! At the top Zach gave me a surprise birthday present as we enjoyed the view. The trip was my present, but he wanted to get me something anyway.

We ended up accomplishing quite a bit and were more than ready for a good nights sleep after all the walking and climbing stairs! We had a nice dinner and decided on 8am for meeting the next day.

We made it back from Paris!

I will post more later when I have reovered from our three day trip to Paris. Zach and I are pretty tired at this point! We took the ICE train to and from which added some memories to the trip. Coming home the train completely broke down! So at 9:30 at night we were told to get off the train, wait in the freezing cold in the middle of no where France! Oh and for safety please stay together. So comforting! It was freezing, but the train was blocking the wind.........for a while. Not too long after we got out there the broken train left! Now how can it move without us on it, but not with us? Hmmm. It was funny though, people were taking pictures and laughing and having a good old time! When they would make announcements in german and french we would ask for people to translate and I think the people around us found us to be quite the entertainment! Nothing like 4 Americans tired after a trip to Paris now standing in the dark, cold, middle of no where France! Another train came and they informed us it was only a two hour delay and they were sorry. We laughed and siad "Oh only two hours, we are fine then!" They then made an annoucement that said Kaiserslautern was closed and we about died! We were not paying a taxi to drive us an hour back to Kaiserslautern! Well I was sure they met the connections from Kaiserslautern which is what our nice interpreters told us so we were relieved. Today I can go to the train station show my tickets and get money back so I guess the entire event was not for nothing! I'll update you on that later! For now I have to figure how to function today on less than 4 hours of sleep!