Holiday Inn Waterpark-GF in July

Daddy and the girls.

Mommy and the girls.

Hannah playing in the water.

Alyssa going down the water slide.

Hannah & Daddy in the hot tub.

Alyssa warming up in the hot tub.

Our last day at the Escape Zone-GF

Mommy & her girls

Alyssa decorating a tin.

Hannah on the teeter totter.

Hannah shooting the ball.

Alyssa playing with food.

Playing in the house.

July: The last of the Fertile Fair pictures...

Hanging out in the barn with Marissa.

Hannah petting the calf.

Alyssa's goofy cross-eyed face.

The 4-H Fashion Show.
The girls with Marissa.

Hannah in her pretty dress that Marissa made for her.

July-Rides at the Fertile Fair

Daddy & Hannah on the airplane.

Alyssa, Hannah & Daddy on the dragon.

Alyssa & Hannah's first ride together alone!!!

Daddy, Hannah & Alyssa on the airplane.

This was the first year that the girls went on rides at the fair. They both had a blast!!!

July pictures-University Park

Hannah & Daddy going through the water rainbow.

Alyssa going through the rainbow.

Daddy, Hannah & Alyssa spraying water.

Alyssa's turn.

4th of July pictures...

Uncle Pete and Alyssa

Daddy, Hannah and Auntie

Alyssa's first horse carriage ride with Uncle Pete, Auntie & Grandma.

Hannah petting the pig.

Hannah's first pony ride.

Alyssa going for a pony ride.

Best Sisters!!!

Our Family

The girls playing in the bouncy castle.

Another week: Pictures from June/July

Hannah snoozing in her crib.

Grandma M, Alyssa, Mommy & Hannah all reading a book.

Hannah playing with her best friend, Dakota.

The girls all covered up.

Wednesday: September 10th I am officially 24 weeks along, only about 14 weeks to go before we meet our new addition to the family!!!
Thursday: Hannah had her 18 month well-baby check today. She weighed 25 lbs and measured around 34 inches tall (not positive I can't find the paper it was wrote on). She is a very tall little girl (95th percentile) and average for her weight.
Friday: I got all the boxes unpacked and put away!!! Just the wall hanging stuff yet to unpack. And still no hardware for the bunkbeds and futon. I'm not very happy about that.
Saturday: We spent the whole day in Ramstein shopping. We spent the evening with Bill's old Shop Chief from Grand Forks from four years ago and his family (Jeff, Diana, CJ & Zak). We got to order a snizel (not sure of the spelling) for the first time. It is pork, Bill got a hawaiian for me and got parmesan for himself and a German salami pizza for the girls. It was all very delicious.
Today: We spent the most of the day hanging up pictures on the walls and got through all the boxes and there is still no hardware. I guess we are going to have to try contact the companies that manufactured both the futon and the bunkbed and see if they will send us the hardware we are in need of. We went to Bitburg to go the the Commissary and BX, as the Commissary is closed in Spangdahlem on Sundays. We have had a very productive week. Our things were all delivered last Friday and we are almost all back to normal living. Next we are going to work on painting the walls in most of the rooms in the house.

Update-Things going on in our lives...

Tuesday: I went to the OB orientation that I was suppose to go to before my first doctor's visit. I got to learn about all the German hospitals. They don't supply you with pillows, blankets, sheets, robes, towels, and anything that an American hospital would supply you with. I also found out that our son will not be circumcised until he is about two weeks old and that will be done on base. As German hospitals do not believe in circumcising until they are two or three and can be put under for the procedure. All the differences between Americans and Germans.
Thursday: Bill had to return our rental car, so we are back to sharing one vehicle until we find one to purchase. We are hoping to make a trip to Ramstein to check out the cars there that people are selling, there just isn't really a selection here as the base is a lot smaller.
Friday: We got our shipment delivered!!! The girls spent the day with a child care provider in Binsfield, just a couple miles from us. We got the toy room set up and started on the kitchen. There was only one thing that has broke so far, but a lot of items that are scuffed up. Our little freezer got pretty banged up and dented, not to happy about that one. We are missing hardware for our futon and the girls bunkbeds, so we are hoping it just got put in a box we have not opened yet. Most of the hardware was taped to everything, so who knows, I just hope we find it and it didn't get thrown away.
Saturday & Sunday: We spent unpacking boxes and setting up rooms. We also went to the Catholic mass in Spangdahlem on Sunday for the first time. We are thinking about going to Protestant every other week and Catholic the other weeks. Oh, since I unpacked the potty chair on Saturday Hannah has been wanting to use it, so everytime I change her diaper I let her sit on it if she is interested. Just last night before her bath she came running into the bathroom holding herself saying, "Daddy, Daddy". Bill took off her diaper and she sat right down and peed in the potty chair and said, "All done" and slammed the lid down. We were all very excited for her and made a big deal about it. I am just going to continue to let her sit on it if she is interested, we are not going to push her into it . Who knows maybe she will be potty trained before her little brother comes in December.
Today: Hannah got two more teeth!!! She is just missing her fourth K9 tooth on the bottem now. We ate at our first resturant off base tonight in Speicher, it was a Pizza place and we just had to go to the ice cream shop just down the road afterwards.
So, that is the update on us for this past week. I know I need to post some pictures, I will have to get on that here soon.

Historical Castle Festival in Manderscheid

The girls first time on a shuttle bus.

Manderscheid Castle

Looking out the window.

Alyssa climbing up the stairs.

Taking a short break on the way up.

We made it to the top!!!
In the background is another castle in a different town.

Another break on the way down.

8/31/08
Back on the ground after a long climb.
This was officially our first day trip to a festival and it was only about a half and hour away. We all really enjoyed ourselves.

Our first bike ride on the trails...

Bill and the Girls

The view from one of the trails.

The Girls having a snack.
We believe this is an old bomb shelter, there was a sign in German.

Hot air balloons everywhere...

Last night when I went upstairs to close all the shades I noticed all of these hot air balloons just outside our bedroom window. We still do not know what was going on, but there were probably 50 or more of them all over.

How easy is it to remember this...

So this is our license plate in Germany and it is not specially made.
BIT stands for Bitburg
GF stands for Grand Forks
701 is the area code in ND
I thought it was pretty neat and I just had to get a picture to share with all of you.

Recent pictures...

Here we are by our street sign just down the street from our house.

The front of our house.

Hannah, Alyssa & Daddy looking at a slug they found in the grass.

The back of our house, it also shows the lower level apartment under us. We have the top two floors, which were originally two apartments now made into one.

This weeks update:
Monday: Bill pretty much just started back to work since we got here, now that we now have a house, life is a lot easier.
Tuesday: Alyssa had her first doctor's appointment in Bitburg, as that is where all the children are seen.
Wednesday: I finally got to take my driver's test and passed with a 94%, I was just hoping for an 85%, which is passing. Once Bill got home from work we all headed to Speicher and went to a German store and Grocery store for the first time ever. That was very interesting. I have to tell you they had a box of Pop Tarts for 6.50 euros, which is about $9.00 for one box. I thought that was just crazy. We ended up purchasing 2 different chocolate bars at the grocery store. At the other store the girls each got a baby doll, a package of bath toys and a 5 pack of doorstops, which cost about 6 euro. I just had to tell you all about our very first experience in a German store/grocery store.
Thursday: The girls and I ventured out by ourselves for the first time. We went to the base and ran a bunch of errands. I have to take advantage of that while I can as we will only have one vehicle as of next Thursday when we return our rental car.
Today: We met Bill at the PowerZone on base then all went to the grocery store. After supper we went for a long walk in the town we live in. We found the soccer field we were told about and a easier way to the walking paths from our house. Tomorrow we are planning a bike ride on the walking paths.
I will update with older pictures from the last two months as the days go on. Oh and we have a very active little boy, he is kicking and wiggling every chance he gets. Neither one of the girls were ever this active and I am only five months along. One last thing before I forget our shipment should be here on Tuesday and we will be able to schedule for everything to be delivered hopefully sometime next week!!!