Here We Go Again!

Syracuse Football is getting so bad that I am getting to the point I won't even I admit I am from Syracuse during football season. It is just down right embarrassing. So it is no surprised that Penn State wiped the field with us yesterday, I mean seriously who didn't see that one coming.

It's not all gloom though. These guys have one HYSTERICAL blog on Syracuse!
http://www.idiotsonsports.com/

I particularly found a lot of humor in this one posting on their blog:

Things to look forward to in 2008:


Don't throw away that "GRob Must Go" banner just yet

Lots of legroom at the Dome

Witnessing Penn State fans turn the Dome into a home field advantage for Joe Pa. Hey, it's not often you get to see Syracuse play on the road in the Carrier Dome

Short concession lines

My odds of winning during the T-Shirt Toss will significantly increase

Another season of Dave Simms and ESPN Plus!!!!!

Return of GRob = Return of the GRob Press Conference

MAC revenge, bring on Akron

Betting on the Subway sub-race to pass the time

Anxiously awaiting the jersey retirement of Chad Elliot

My own personal beer vendor

Thank God I married a GA boy who introduced to me to real footbal! GO DAWGS!

I haven't forgotten!!!

I know I keep promising to post pictures from our trip to Greece and Croatia. I haven't forgotten, I PROMISE! My internet has been slow lately and frankly I don't have the patience nor time to wait for pictures to upload.

I hope to one day post the pictures of our trip because it was amazing. We have booked a cruise for next summer :)

Abandoned Blogged?

I promise I haven't given up on blogging. Things just have been extremely busy here in our household so rest and relaxation is a precious thing these days.

What's keeping us so busy?

The football season has offically kicked off for the "Z" man and soccer for Syd starts Monday. Paul has taken on assistant coaching duties this year for the "Z" man's team and Paul and I are both extremely busy at work right now. My office finally made the move to their new location but now we are extremely short staffed. We have a TON of new medical providers getting ready to come on board so I have been working long hours to keep my head above water. School kicked off this week for the kids and for me as well. I am taking a full course load of four classes this semester but on the bright side it is my last semester and I will graduate in December. I don't think there is a night during the week we don't get home before 7:30pm so trying to make a well balanced meal has been an accomplishment to say the least if it even does happen.

In addition to everything going on we have grown from a family of four to a family of five for the next several weeks. We have a little boy who is staying with us while his Mom is TDY in the states. Needless to say it has kept life interesting. Him and Syd do NOT get along at all so constant refereeing has been a part of my evening life after work.

So NO, I have not given up on blogging I'm just extremely busy these days.

Does Anyone Still Live here?

Barely!!

I have spent the past 7 weeks living out of a suitcase and I am SICK of it!! The good news is it looks like it may come to an end at least until October. Our office is suppose to finally move but it's looking more and more like instead of next week it is going to be the week after next.

This weekend is the first weekend I have been home since June. Usually I am home long enough to grab Paul and a few clean clothes and then we are off to some fun place for the weekend. Here I am home but no Paul :( He is enjoying the sun in Florida right now. Banjo is even gone for the weekend! He got another extended stay at the puppy motel because of traveling with my job. What's the point of picking him up on Friday only to drop him off again Sunday?

What do I plan to do? The kids will be home soon so I need to make their beds, grocery shop so there is some food in the house and maybe even trying cleaning the house.

I can NOT wait to be living back at home again!!!

The Marsh-Mellow Has Arrived!!!

Our dear friend Marsh-Mellow has arrived to spend his R&R leave with us. Marsh-Mellow is a very dear friend of ours from when we were on recruiting duty. We have stayed in touch with him over the years since leaving Knoxville and at one point Paul was even the best man in his wedding. So when he contacted us to see if he could spend his R&R leave with us we were really excited.

The downside is I am stuck back up in Wurzburg again this week for my job so I haven't gotten to see him yet. There seems to be no end in sight for this traveling. The up side is the boys are having a great time bonding. They must be having fun because I was reminded tonight I need to get home to do the dishes (it's an inside joke between us its not meant to be mean).

The Marsh-Mellow will be coming along with us on our weekend down to Garmisch. I will make sure to post pics when we get back.

As for the other pictures. They are coming I promise!!!!

We're Back and....

it was AMAZING!!!

I can not stress the amazing part. I can never remember a vacation where I have had so much fun and felt so relaxed afterwards in my life. The cruise was worth every penny.

I am downloading pics as we speak. I took over 800 pictures so it will take me a few days to weed through them all. Keep checking back maybe I will throw a few teaser pics up tonight :)

Venice is the most amazing port to leave out of. As you pull out of port you basically go right through Venice on your way out to sea. It was really amazing. This is the ship that left out just a few minutes before us:


We had so much fun that we are already planning our next cruise. We are hoping on our next cruise to go on one that goes through Egypt.

Keep checking back for pictures!!!

Still Alive!!

We're still alive just very busy these days.

The kids are now gone on their US summer vacation trip. Right now they are having a blast in Florida and are expected to move on to their next stop here shortly.

Our(the grown up's) summer plans went to hell Thursday of last week when I finally received the call that I could start my new job Monday. I was starting to loose hope I was ever going to start this job. No one knew what was going on and what was taking so long but I have since found out there was a hiring freeze for all new employees and it wasn't lifted until last week.

So when I got the call asking if I could start Monday of course I said yes because I had been dying to start my job. It was then after I said yes that the extra little blurb of "well there is a hitch to it" came up. The "hitch" is I will be TDY (away for business) Monday through Friday until further the notice. So the deal is I spend Monday through Friday two hours away from home and get paid a nice little stipend for staying here and on the weekends I get to go home. Sounds great but it really sucks.

The reason for the hitch, my job hasn't moved to our base yet. They are hoping it will be the middle of July but I have been told to settle in until at least August maybe longer everday the timeline changes. I having a feeling it is going to be a while because the building we are suppose to be moving in the old occupants haven't even moved out yet because their building isn't done yet. It is complicated but in simple terms my job falls under the headquarters for this region and the regional office is moving to our base because the base it is currently at is closing. So because they haven't moved yet, neither has my job so therefore here I am bored to tears.

How's the job so far?

I love it!!! I love it!!! I love it!!! I am not happy about the TDY because by the time our office moves the kids will either be on their home or already home so that leaves very little time for Paul and I. Other then that hitch I really enjoy the job. It is interesting and is a fantastic career opportunity for me. The pay is great and it's in the civil service system (or NSPS they call it these days). In the week I have been here I have learned a great deal, it's nice to put my degree to work.

The base I am staying at during the work week use to be quite the envy back in it's glory days but now it's a ghost town and with that brings extreme boredom and I mean EXTREME boredom. I am still in awe of how quiet this base is. It's quite surreal compared to the way it use to be back when we first got to Germany. We use to drive here quiet often because we love the city it is in and it had the best PX around. Well the PX has since closed its doors, the shoppette is bare, and the commissary once robust is down to a lousey 5 aisles with empty shelves everywhere. Sadly, this base I am at during the week will soon be closing the gates for good. It's funny because the base we are stationed at use to be the quiet the little base with nothing and now we are the envy for this area. People drive to our base to the PX and commissary. It's funny how things turn out.

So we are still alive just very busy. Paul is holding down the fort back home trying to get Banjo to come off his hunger strike. The poor dog has no idea what is going on and is freaking out. First the kids and Paul leave. Then Paul comes back without the kids and then I leave. Paul says he sits staring at the front door for hours. I guess I will have to see if I can get a pet room one week and bring him with me.

So nothing new and exciting with us except for the job. We leave for our cruise very very very soon so be on the look out for a blog on that. Other then that it is going to be hard to blog on a regular basis between work and school. Yes, I am still taking college classes. I don't know what I was thinking when I signed up for summer session.

Have a great summer everyone!!

Kabob Night

I went to a social gathering of the wives of the unit a few weeks ago and for dinner it was make your own kabob night. I thought it was such an awesome idea that I decided to give it a try here at home. The kids loved the fact they got to pick what they wanted on their kabobs and top that off with eating out on the patio and it was a complete success.

Neighborhood BBQ

As a neighborhood we are all pretty close. So it has becomne tradition here to have a big neighborhood BBQ once in the spring and once in the fall. This year it was much bigger then last year but you can't tell by the pictures because it was early when I took these. The neighborhood BBQ has become much larger then the neighborhood.

Another Season of Soccer Come and Gone

Another season of soccer come and gone....

I Might Have A Green Thumb After All

Since the veggies at the commissary are gross and it has gotten too expensive to buy them on the economy I have decided to grow my own. I also have planted a bunch of flowers because I was sick of our house looking so plain. We used to have a garden back in GA and have really missed having one here in Germany. So we bought a bunch of patio pots and are tilling up a small place in the yard for when the seedlings sprout.

So far so good. We have tomatoes, peppers, brocoli, strawberries, cucumbers, corn, and herbs going so far. I also planted some carrots, onion, garlic, raspberry, green beans seedlings in little terrariums.


I am really proud of my flower boxes. They have really done well. One thing I absoultely love in Bavaria is the flower boxes on houses. They are gorgeous so I decided to give a try this summer. What do you think?


Front...

Can You Tell Me Which Way to Flocke?

Today we finally made the trip to see the famous Flocke.


The baby polar bear that was born in captivity at the Nuremberg Zoo in December. You can read more about Flocke here

WIKIPEDIA



I can honestly say going to see Flocke was a LOT smoother and more enjoyable then it was when we saw Knut in Berlin last year. The Nuremberg Zoo definitely had a much better system in place. It was insane the size of this crowd that was there to see this 5 month old Polar Bear. Since it was hot today Flocke didn't play a whole lot but opted instead to sit in the shade and play with her burlap sack and chew on some toliet paper instead. Either way she was well worth the wait! So we got to watch Flocke for about 20 minutes until the zoo staff hearded us all out like caqttle making room for the next batch to come in.

This a glimpse of the crowd waiting for Flocke...


Here comes Flocke!!!



Not to be out done by Flocke this Polar Bear was putting on his own show laying on his back banging on his belly.


After Flocke we spent the day walking around the zoo. Overall it was a nice relaxing day and we all very much enjoyed ourselves. The kids are torn on whether Flocke or the playground at the zoo was their favorite..


The billy goats were a favorite of the day too...


As well as this little fella...






I think the day was a success. What do you think?

A Red Carpet Premier!

The Z man's class just wrapped up a huge movie project called "Attack in Iraq". The screenplay was written by two children in his class. Zac was fortunate to have one of the leads.

To present this great piece of work, the Z man's class had a red carpet premier Hollywood Style!!! The teacher had a red carpet rolled out and even had an autograph session after the movie for those who wanted to get autographs of the stars.

"Attack in Iraq" is a FANTASTIC play and Z was just way too funny in it. There is a blooper reel at the end where you get to see the Z man in quite colorful form.

After the premier and after all autographs were signed we were given a copy of the DVD. We have since burned copies of the DVD to send to all the grandparents.


Do you like how Z got himself dressed....lol


Signing autographs:

We Survived!!

Paul and I survived Syd's slumber party, barely.

From the feedback I have heard her party was a complete success, complete with pillow making, wallet decorating and a whole lot of noise! I finally fell asleep at 1 am and they were still going strong. Paul and I were woken up the next morning by the wonderful sound of Hannah Montanna on the Wii.

Instead of a traditional cake Syd opted to get an ice cream and then to have cupcakes where each girls could decorate their own. That was a HUGE hit and also a HUGE mess.

I took a bunch of pictures but I have choosen not to post them on the blog due to the other children in the pictures, especially in PJ's. Too many sickos out there. I will be sending out pictures privately to the grandparents to see.

Yellow Karate Man!

The Z man earned his yellow belt!!!


Now let's just hope he doesn't use those moves on his sister.


Here he is testing for his belt:

Say a Prayer...

for my neighbor's family. She is originally from Burma also know as Myanmar. She has yet to hear from her parents and she can not return to the country for fear of imprisonment because she married an American. She is my closet and dearest friend here. My heart just breaks for her right now.

Myanmar death toll 'more than 10,000'

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- The death toll from the Myanmar cyclone is more than 10,000 people, Myanmar's Foreign Ministry office said.

Diplomats were summoned to a government briefing Monday as the reclusive southeast Asian country's ruling military junta issued a rare appeal for international assistance in the face of an escalating humanitarian crisis.

A state of emergency was declared across much of the country following the 10-hour storm that left swathes of destruction in its wake.

The staggering death toll would make the cyclone the deadliest natural disaster to hit Myanmar in recent history, according to figures compiled by a United Nations-funded disaster database.

The government of neighboring Thailand said Myanmar's leaders had already requested food, medical supplies and construction equipment, AP reported. The first plane-load of supplies was due to arrive Tuesday, a Thai spokesman said.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and the destruction suffered by the people of Myanmar" and pledged to mobilize international aid and assistance as needed.

A United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team is on stand-by to assist the government in responding to humanitarian needs if required, the statement said.

Scenes of the destruction showed extensive flooding, boats on their sides in Yangon harbor, roofs ripped off buildings, uprooted trees and downed power lines after cyclone Nargis battered the Irrawaddy delta with 150 mile (241 km) an hour winds throughout Friday night and Saturday morning, dumping 20 inches of rain. Watch how the cyclone crippled Yangon »

"After about noon, the sky cleared and everybody came out and were just stunned," said Shari Villarosa, U.S. Charge D' Affaires in Yangon. "People on my compound who had been there for about 15 years say they had not seen anything like this here, ever."

Residents of Yangon trudged through knee-deep swirling brown waters Monday as the delta city remained mostly without electricity and phone connections. Watch the cyclone hammer Yangon »

The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar has issued a "disaster declaration" in the country and authorized the release of $250,000 for cyclone relief efforts, Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Monday.

A disaster relief team is standing by, Casey said, but the Myanmar government had not given permission for the team to enter the country.

Hakan Tongkul, with the United Nation's World Food Programme, said residents in Yangon needed urgent assistance. "This has pushed people to the edge. All that they have has been blown away."

Michael Annear, regional disaster manger for the Red Cross, said the group was helping provide safe drinking water.

Relief agencies met at the United Nations' Bangkok headquarters Monday to coordinate their response to the disaster. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had released 200,000 Swiss Francs (about $190,000) to help with the aftermath.

A state of emergency was declared Sunday across five regions: the city of Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu and the states of Karen and Mon. All flights to Yangon, the former capital, were canceled.

"Most Burmese with whom we've been in touch report they lost their roofs, although so far everyone we have been able to contact reports that they and their families are safe," said a Yangon-based diplomat who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Most telephone and cell phone service was down in Yangon, a city of about 6.5 million people, according to a CNN correspondent there

Earlier Monday, an editor for an independent Myanmar newspaper based in Thailand told CNN that people in the Southeast Asian nation were angry over the response to the disaster by the ruling military junta.

"People are very angry with the slow response coming from the military government," said Aung Zaw of Irrawaddy news magazine. Listen to Irrawaddy journalist discuss the situation in Myanmar »

Khin Maung Win, a spokesman for the Democratic Voice of Burma -- a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates -- said the whole of the delta region had been affected and entire villages had disappeared.

Pictures from inside the country showed a cyclone-ravaged region with tin huts crushed under trees. Bicyclists navigated around large branches that littered the deserted roads.

A man with his pant legs rolled up waded through knee-deep water and strained to clear massive limbs that were blocking the entrance to a house.

"The cleanup is beginning, but this will take a long time," the diplomat said. "The damage around town is intense." See photos of the destruction »

"Fuel is not easily available. International emergency assistance would be needed within seven days. There is no food for eating," Win said.

Food prices -- already rising steeply -- climbed further. Long lines could be seen at gas stations in Yangon. Many of the stations were operating on generators. At one gas station more than 100 buses lined up to refill.

Despite widespread damage, Myanmar's junta plans to proceed with a referendum on the country's constitution on May 10 -- the fourth step of a "seven-step road map to democracy" -- according to state-run media reports. Learn more about Myanmar »

A critic of Myanmar's government said the referendum most be postponed.


"They would be very stupid to go ahead with it," said Khin Maung Win with Democratic Voice of Burma, a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates. "Thousands of people are dying or missing. It is very difficult to get around or get food and water. How can people vote?"

Myanmar, formerly called Burma, last held multi-party elections in 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy handily won. The military junta ignored the results. Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest, has been in detention without trial for more than 12 of the past 18 years

She Did it AGAIN!!!

Syd did it again!! A-B Honor Roll!!!

This quarter she is shooting for the A honor roll!!!


Can you see her excitement that I was there with my camera :)

Happy May Day!!

It's May Day here in Germany!!

May Day is HUGE here in Bavaria. Yesterday, our neighborhood had a nice little Strasse Fest (street fest) where all the men of the neighborhood dressed up in their traditional Bavarian wear, got drunk, and tried to put up a giant May Pole. It was very entertaining as always. When I took Banjo for a walk earlier today a few of the locals were guarding the May Pole because it is tradition for the neighboring town to try to steal it. If the May Pole gets stolen, which I can not imagine the logistics of that since it is 20 feet tall, then the town has to give some sort of ransom to the other town in order to receive it back.

You can read more about May Day HERE

I will try to post some pictures of area May Poles later in the week.

On a different note, the "Z" man will be testing for his yellow belt in karate this weekend. I will make sure to post an update with pictures of that. Soccer season has also kicked off for Syd and Paul is back in exercise mode so that leaves me pulling my hair out trying to get the kids to every place they need to be.

Perfect Semester!

I am finished with school this semester and grades are posted. I got a 4.0 for the semester!! This semester was a tough one and I am so GLAD it is FINALLY over. I took a very heavy course load in addition to some pretty difficult classes so by last week I was ready to pull my hair out. I am off this week but next week it's back to school, maybe I can actually get some things done around the house this week since I don't have school.

On a different note, no word yet back on the first interview I went on. I went a on second interview Friday for a different position at the clinic. I am not crazy about this job but it pays great and it's at the health clinic either way it will put my degree to some good use.

Almost Done!!

It's final exam week for school and it can't end soon enough. My brain feels like total mush after this semester (5 classes). As of now it looks like I may pull another 4.0 this semester. I have two more finals to take and one last paper to write and I am DONE!!!

I was going to take the summer off but UCF is offering a class I really need and it's only 6 weeks long so as soon as I finish this week I go straight into this six week session. I can NOT wait to be done.

One a different note, I had an interview for a job this week at the local health clinic. It is in my career field and would be an excellent career opportunity. I thought the interview went really well so keep your fingers crossed. The down side is if I get the job it will more then likley cause us to cancel our summer plans.

I guess there is always next summer :)

FreeRice.com

Give free rice to hungry people by playing a simple word game.

I saw this on NBC news this morning and thought it was worth passing on:

FREE RICE

The Netherlands

You have seen the pictures from the Keukenhof now here are the rest. It was pretty busy weekend with several stops.


Our first stop was to the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margarten, NL. We try to stop at as many American cemeteries overseas as we can. Our philosophy is if we don't stop and pay pour respects who will?


The Netherlands Cemetery has 8,301 brave men buried there and another 1,722 names of the missing inscribed on a tablet that runs along the reflection pool. The weather was horrible that day it was cold, windy and damp so a lot of the pictures are dark.


Next stop was Kinderdijk and this was my favorite stop of the weekend. It is a small town with 19 operational windmills that date back almost 300 years. These windmills were used to drain water from the land and to help prevent flooding. We are able to tour a windmill and see how it operates and exactly how it works. I learned quite a bit from this for example I did not know the top of windmills could be turned so that the sails could catch the optimal wind to ensure efficiency in the way they work. It was very interesting. The downer part was we got caught in a nasty storm while out walking through the field of windmills. It hailed on us!!!



To top off this section of our trip we stopped in a little cafe which had am amazing view of the windmills fields. We were able to warm up with probably the best cup of hot cocoa I think I have EVER had.




This is what the back of a windmill looks like. You turn that wheel and it causes the entire top of the windmill to move so that is can catch optimal wind.


After the storm passed we were able to catch a glimpse of a rainbow:


After a long day of sightseeing we topped off our day with a trip to the beach. This was the kids and Paul's favorite part of the trip. Scheveningen is a beach resort town located in the Hague part of the Netherlands.


The kids really enjoyed walking the beach looking for shells and chasing the seagulls.




A view of the boardwalk:



A picture of the kiddos on the pier. Can you tell it was windy and cold? They normally wouldn't be caught dead standing this close to each other.