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Sunday, June 26, 2005

Funny kid 



Quote of the weekend:
"Is Starbucks where Darth Vader lives?"



Jacob has a habit of saying something pretty funny every day. Lately he has, of course, seen the Star Wars hype all over, and Kenny has told him the names of some of the characters. He has a few years before he's actually going to watch it, but he seems to be really impressed by Darth Vader. So yesterday I was updating Kenny that a Starbucks was opening that very day in Clarksville Tenn, and of course Jacob was listening. (He is always listening, even when you think he isn't!) I guess he heard the "Star" part and just figured that might be where he lives. After he thought about it, he remembered that Starbucks was where Mommy went to get coffee, but he was still wondering about running into Darth Vader there!

Jacob has the chickenpox, so we will be hanging around the house for the next week. I was going to post a picture of him and his spots, but decided against it. Needless to say, he's pretty spotted but doing fine. So far not too uncomfortable, and we're hoping it stays that way.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

HOT HOT HOT 

It was so warm yesterday, and today feels even hotter. Oddly enough, the best way to keep our house cool is to open everything up at night, and then around 10 am close it all up. Blinds down and sealed up tight! It's not too bad, I just checked the thermometer in our bedroom, (upstairs so it is one of the hottest areas in the house) and it was 80 degrees. Our thermometer on the back porch shows 90 degrees! I was checking the forecast and it showed a warning for heat in our area, until tomorrow night. I guess it's so people know to be careful if they are out working or playing in the heat. We are planning to head to the schwimmbad to cool off this afternoon...

Sunday, June 19, 2005

another zoo trip 

Last Sunday we woke up to really nice weather and decided to drive about an hour to Wildpark Bad Mergentheim. It is a nice zoo, Jacob and I had been last year around this time. If you haven't noticed, we really enjoy going to the zoo. Seems like all of us always have a good time, so it's the perfect outing. This one has more local animals than exotic, in a very natural setting. Lots of woods and quiet paths, and also lots of play areas. We took our time walking along, seeing all the animals. We saw the end of a show about farm animals, and Jacob really liked this part.

The goats were pulling a wagon with another goat inside it, and Jacob thought it was hysterical. Later on the goat got out and some chickens got in, but for some reason that was not as funny. Just at the end of the zoo there was a pen you could go in to pet and feed some deer. It was really pretty fun, but the deer would practically mug anyone that put money into the feeder machine. Just after I snapped this picture Jacob turned around and was quite surprised. He let out a scream, but then started laughing. If you click on the picture, you can see a short video of Jacob and Kenny trying to get the feed out of the machine. Be sure to have your sound on so you can hear Jacob giggling.


A little while later Jacob rolled off a stump and split his lip, so we got him a popsicle and started back home. He was fine after the ice cream, although he looked a little rough for a few days. Between me with my bandaged hand (I had to get a stitch in my pinkie, a glass measuring cup broke in my hand) and Jacob's split lip, Kenny was worried that the teachers at kindergarten might be a little concerned! But we are all healed up now, this all happened last weekend.

I'm behind in my posting, but trying to catch up. I went with some friends on a quick Poland trip Saturday, and will post a photo of some of my purchases. Hopefully in the next couple days!

Wednesday, June 15, 2005


I finally got around to taking a picture of my window boxes this year, I got them planted a few weeks ago. I was going for a "red white and blue" theme, although it's a bit of a stretch to say that the purple flowers are blue. It was the best blue I could find at the store that day. They really are doing well, and we weighted them down with rocks in the bottom. Last year by the end of summer they were too top heavy and would fall off the windowsill every time there was a strong gust of wind. I like them much better this year as well, just nicer plants. You can refresh your memory of last year's flowers here if you want. Our tomatoes and peppers are coming along, not as great as we would have hoped. But we are holding out hope that they will give us some great tomatoes before winter starts again.

Our weather has really been fluctuating here, some days really warm, then some days are pretty cool. Right now we are in a warm spell, but not real sunny. A week ago we had a few days that were really cool, Jacob is wearing a coat in this picture.

This is the park that is just behind our house, it really needs some upkeep. But it has a swing and a slide, so Jacob still enjoys it. There are some really nice playgrounds on the military base, we often meet friends there to play. In fact, we are probably heading up there a little later today to do that.

Oh, and you can always click on a picture in the post to see it a little bigger, and a little clearer quality. Just in case you needed to know that!

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Part 2 of Holland Trip 

We woke up Sunday morning to another beautiful day, the sun was shining but it wasn't too hot. Our plans that day were to go to the zoo in Emmen, Dierenpark Emmen, which was just a short car ride away. We ate some breakfast and then headed for the zoo, it was really easy to find. Along the way we saw plenty of sheep, horses and cows in the fields. Jacob was getting really good at spotting them and telling us which side they were on, right or left. The zoo is divided into two areas, one is in the middle of the town, and the newer section is about a 10 minute walk on an elevated walkway. We went to the newer section first, which isn't really that big yet. There was a great exhibit of penguins, set up like their natural habitat in Peru. They were right next to us, and some even escaped! Jacob was able to catch up to one of the escapees and touch it, while another little girl picked one of them up. Jacob wanted to pick one up and take it with him, but we told him it probably wasn't a good idea. I had no idea penguins could be so tame!

There was also a huge exhibit about water and the earth, which was really well done. There were a few smaller exhibits, and then we walked on over to the original section of the zoo. The walk takes you through a shopping mall, with indoor and outdoor areas. And then there is the zoo, in the middle of it all. It was pretty large, and so nice. One of the nicest zoos we have seen, everything looked so great. There was a butterfly house that was really pretty, and an aviary. Jacob was very interested in the porcupine, it was one of his favorites that day.

We had a snack at one of the restaurants, and Jacob enjoyed all the playgrounds there. Finally we had seen everything and we headed back to Centerparcs. Jacob napped and then it was time for dinner. We tried the "Mexican night" at one of the restaurants in the park, it was okay. A little expensive, but good service and an area for Jacob to play in while we waiting for our food. Then we hurried back to the bungalow, changed into our swimsuits and went for another swim before bed.

The next morning we packed up, returned our bikes and our keys and headed back to Germany. We took our time, and drove through some of the Dutch countryside, admiring the homes. There are some pictures of one of our favorites over on the photo site. It took a long time coming home, there was more traffic and also some rain. But we made it, and although we were tired we really had a nice time. It was nicer than staying at a hotel I think, more to do and more relaxing. I hope we have a chance to go try another one, but there are so many things we want to do!

Monday, June 06, 2005

Zur Erinnerung an den besuch der Mäusegruppe beim Bürgermeister 


A souvenir of the Mouse group's (Jacob's class) visit with the Mayor of Wolframs-Eschenbach. How many 3 year olds can say they've met the Bürgermeister? (Probably quite a few in Germany!) They sang some songs for him, and Jacob said he clapped and smiled for them :) Jacob is on the far left, second row, the Mayor is the man on the left. The women on the right are the two teachers.

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Pictures from Holland 

Even though I still haven't finished my post about our trip, I did get the pictures from our trip up on the photosite... take a look!

Friday, June 03, 2005

Back from Holland 

We made it back from our weekend trip, arriving home Monday evening. It was a wonderful weekend, the weather was beautiful. We really enjoyed the bungalow park, there was so much to do there. Since we've been home there has been lots to do around the house and yard, so I haven't had much time to sit in front of the computer.

We left Friday at lunch, and made the drive up to Dalen, in the Netherlands. We arrived and picked up the keys to the bungalow, it is a huge place. On a couple lakes, with lots of trees to make it feel more natural. We were in number 227, they ranged from 100's to 900's! We unloaded and got settled in, it was pretty roomy. We had two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen/dining area, and a living room. Also a patio, overlooking an inlet of the lake. Complete with a bird family living in the eave over the patio. Here is one of the parents, we couldn't see the babies, but we could hear them.

The neighbor from the next bungalow was out fishing, so Kenny found out about fishing while we were there. He was able to use his German fishing license to fish anywhere in the park, so that was fun for him. Jacob also fed the ducks before bed, the first of many times feeding the ducks.

We finally all settled in and went to bed, and Jacob was up bright and early the next morning. After breakfast he went out back and was trying to feed the ducks some grass, and fell right in the lake. It was pretty bad, he was covered from head to toe in stinky mud. So he started the day with a shower to try and get him all cleaned up again. We went and picked up our bikes from the "cycle center" and looked around a little. They have a raccoon refuge there, so we went to see them. They are raccoons that used to be house pets, but then people didn't want them anymore. (My aunt found this out for us, we knew they were not native to Holland.) A little while later my aunt and uncle arrived for a visit. We had a nice time, and enjoyed lunch together. Jacob showed off his trike riding skills for them, and all of his toys he brought. He went to take a nap, and they left to go back home to Enschede, about an hour from where we were. After his nap, we went for a bike ride around the complex, it is really fun to ride bikes there. The bikes are really tall, I felt like I had to leap off when I was stopping. I noticed all the bikes here are like that, where I can't touch the ground when I am sitting. But those were especially tall, so it was always fun to stop the bike. I enjoyed the fact that they only had one gear, and coaster brakes. But that's all you need, it's so flat.

Then we ate some dinner, and went to the indoor pool. It really is more like a small water park, it has a few different pools and some slides also. Jacob had a great time swimming, we all did. Since it was evening it wasn't very crowded, and we tried out almost everything they had at the pools. Then we went back and went to bed, we were all really tired from our busy day.

I will post the rest of the trip later... just had to at least get it started!

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