Playing in the rain...

Oh what fun to play in the rain!!! We love rainy days! Casey and I just set up shop in the garage and get some towels and let Taylor have his fun! It isn't cold and he loves the water! I may or may not do some gardening in the rain, why not?! We practically live in the garage/driveway, heck, I'm known to even fry a whole slab of bacon in the garage and let Taylor play while I am at it! I have seen other neighbors hang out in their garages too with coolers and lawn chairs just talking while I run in the mornings! Wherever you can find shade I guess! Hope you like the pictures!

More pictures of Germany...

If you look closely at this picture you will see that there is an elevator inside the enclosed aquarium. It was really neat! The people inside had a 360 view of the fish!

Just beautiful!

This is Check Point Charlie, he couldn't come here without getting his picture snapped!

Right on a sign here it reads: You are leaving the American Sector. It is written in several languages and amazingly it still remains after the wall has collapsed!

The night view of the square in Munich, Germany! Breathtaking!

Casey competes in Germany!

He is victorious! He and the other guys celebrate his 6.55 meter jump. Oh, it was first place!

Shaking hands with 2nd and 3rd place victors!

And the Mascot!

Before the jump, in the middle of the square.

Isn't is so pretty! Great weather and the crowd hasn't begun to form yet.

It is so amazing that between the move and all of the training that Case has had to put in for the military that he would still be able to find time to train and pull off this amazing hurdle! He competed and won the long jump only half expecting that he might not do so well! Well, we are so proud that he did his best and beat the other competitors! Congrats to Casey! Yeah!

What we've been up to

Hi everyone,

These last few weeks, I have been getting out to run about 4 days a week. I think that it is good to get out and run since I was pretty much a slacker when I was moving! I relaxed a little too much and I got soft!!! Anyway, the neighborhood is hilly and so it has been good strength workouts for me. I haven't really seen many moms out with their kiddos which has been quite sad! I have joined a running website with a local group though called SeeMommyRun. Apparently it is not the thing to do, I mean run or be outside here. The mother that coordinates the runs says that she owned a Baby Bootcamp franchise out here and it went kaput since most of the families around here join the Y. I looked into the Y and am anxious to also join. I would love to take the cycle spin class and the step classes. They watch the kids for 2 hours for free. They also provide swim lesson classes and other classes designed for just kids. Plus, one of the Y's has a water park set up for the kids. I don't know how crowded it is but I am sure I will find out in due time! Yesterday we toured the location closest to us and Taylor wanted to stay in the class where the kids were reading and playing. Great! Looks like he would enjoy himself there! They were blown away that he told me he had to go "pee-pee" and said that because he was out of diapers he would be in the other class closer to the potty. That meant he would be with the older kids! WOW! He loved that! The older kids had a playhouse and a kitchen and tables and chairs... That other stuff is for babies you know like the exer-saucer... Anyway, Case is in Germany right now and should be competing any time now. We are so lucky to have a way to communicate on the computer! I love it! I have to say that it has been quite fun with all of you video chatting on the web! My grandma at home loves to do it and if she can do it there is hardly an excuse! It isn't that hard! Anyway, let's see I still love my home and love being out in the yard! Taylor still loves helping me in the flower beds. I hope to put a feeder out for all of the beautiful cardinals! They are just fun to watch! We have doves and Robin's and some small finches and so we get quite a variety. We still haven't got our furniture in our house (Living Room, I mean) and well, we don't have a dining room set either, haha! I think we should be getting the Living Room set this week. If not it will just be a BUMMER! I still have to paint the kitchen and maybe the living room but I am going to wait for Case to come home for that. Well, I have so much to keep me busy that it is just fantastic! We certainly are not bored! I also have been reading a lot so that is good too! We love our life but we do miss our friends! If any of you would like to move out here to be with us we would love it! Sorry there are no pictures this time around, Casey has the camera with him in Germany. I hope he gets lots of good pictures to share with you! I want to give a shout out to Bonnie Tibbs who has a birthday this week! We miss you Bonnie and hope your studies are going well right now in China!

Random Thoughts

I just thought that I would share some random thoughts aside from all of the blog entries related to our family life or Taylor growing up! Silly I know but every bit a necessity for me when I am without friends here! Don't get weepy on me! I am OKAY! I love life and love to talk so this is my outlet.

RANDOM THOUGHT: I have become so completely and utterly annoyed at ELMO. Unfortunately, as there is such a hype about him and we do somehow have a stuffed Elmo in the house, I am feeling a strong urge to get rid of the doll (Taylor won't miss it) and avoid him at all costs. Writing this I am seeing that I am acting a little too seriously about the whole thing but that is also my personality, I over-react! Thankfully, I am all too aware of my faults!

Taylor helping in the garden.

He loves to be outside! Thought you would all enjoy these! We do!

Updates for all my faithful blog friends!

I should be updating more often, but I have not become used to any routine here yet. Casey is still home and we have been settling in for quite a while! We try to tackle one or two things a day. It is nice to finally have our furniture but we are repairing what has been damaged instead of waiting for the military to settle any claims. Casey, is happy to do all of this since he hasn't yet checked into the command. He won't check in until absolutely necessary. He plans to go to Germany for the long jump that he competes in every year there. That is the 9th of July and he will be gone maybe 5 days. After that is when we suspect he will check in and do that sort of time consuming check-list of meet and greet and such. That is when he means to check us into the command and update our insurance info and address and everything so at that time (and we are fine with it,) we will start finding doctors and clinics for everyone. Let's see, I am looking for a mother's day out program or preschool for Taylor and until he is 2 most programs arrange for minimal care. I still plan to start school but am waiting for a place to accept Taylor first. I have to be prepared in case Casey isn't around. Luckily, he said that the shortest trips could only be about 3 weeks and that is not bad! We don't really know what to expect with his job because I don't really think he will have to work at all if he isn't flying. What he kind-of told me was that he would have to take care of dental and medical and any other issues during his home stents and always be ready to fly. So if he doesn't have anything on the agenda, then he is free. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I am not sure yet. I did want to tell you all that we love our house. We still don't have a lot of furniture but we have ordered some and keep checking to see when it will be delivered. It has been taking a long time and we still don't have a date for it's arrival. Sigh! In the meantime, we are using what we had at the SD house. It was a good thing we didn't sell it prior to coming! We are missing things from the move and I called to report it and was told it could be anywhere. I would be called if they found it. That was over a week ago and I have not received any call! That isn't to say that they didn't call though, since my cell hardly works and we don't have an answering machine yet. haha! We have a computer though that works great and we just LOVE to i-chat with EVERYONE! Thank you to all you family and friends for linking on with us! Taylor asks about you all when he doesn't see you for a while! No pressure for the rest of you... hint hint! Before I sign off, I did want to share some pictures of Taylor. Actually, the pictures are from when daddy came home from Florida. He was issued a flight jacket (so cool!) Taylor wanted to try it on, and so we did a little dress up. The other picture is of Casey on the web cam showing us his new jacket and we loved it! Anyway, to my many friends and family, we miss all of you dearly! Take care.