VolunteerBashores's Xanga

Halloween

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:40:37 GMT

Sorry it is a bit late on posting Halloween pictures, but we've been sick since then and we've spent a lot of time on the couch. Anyway, we had three Halloween shin-digs between last Friday and Saturday. Fun was had by all and the girls have a ton of candy. I doubt they'll get to it all before it goes stale.

Before the pics, our prayers go out to the victims and families of those injured and killed at Fort Hood yesterday. A tragedy to say the least.

First Up: Office Halloween Party. Needless to say, the girls were very overwhelmed.

Following that party, we went to our church's fall festival. Theme was everyday heroes (not pictured - I "dressed up" as a paramedic which included khakis and a blue Miamisburg FF t-shirt - just chillin' at the station)

Finally, we did Halloween on Halloween night on post. It was in the 30s and I had a fever, but it was still a good time. The girls got a bit cold, and were excited to go home for hot chocolate. Such cuties they are.

Rothenburg

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:45:28 GMT

Thanks to some guy named Columbus, we have a four-day weekend as I type. We thought of going away for the four days, but instead stayed closed to home and saved some dough for the Christmas season. So, on Friday, we went to Rothenburg which is a cool German town on the Romantic Road about 1.5 hours from here. It is a completely walled city, and really neat inside. We look forward to the Christmas market there in December. Here's some pics!

Here we are in the town square with JP having fun while Angela snaps the pic.

A highlight of the trip was the Crime and Punishment museum. We were very bad.

Old School Justice: I guess back in the day, as a prosecutor, I'd be the guy in the middle with the hammer over his head about to whack the accused who has torture devices squishing his calves (the contraptions on the bottom right). Then the judge takes the confession so he can find him guilty. That would really help me reduce my caseload. Nice. (thank God that you are alive in the 21st century)

Chastity Belts: They do exist and look at that serrated edge? I guess this is what the old school guys had to do to keep their women chaste when they left on trips. The back hole on the left belt is in the shape of a heart (with love of course). I wonder if it works like a play-doh shape maker?

Shame Masks: For Saturday fun, people who weren't in with the local leaders got to wear a shame mask (metal contraption secured to their head) while being displayed in the town square. Some had bells so all would hear them walk around and others had whistles that made a noise with every breath. Most on display were oriented towards woman who caused problems with their mouths - this one shows her ears as she hears all rumors and the tongue because she spread gossip. Maybe we should bring this one back...?

Avery's Birthday Party

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:43:09 GMT

A day late, we celebrated Avery's third birthday today. Rachel and her mom did a great job planning out a fun little day for the girls. She opened her present from my folks first - a Cinderella dress. All the kids were dressing up, so Rachel and I did as well. Reagan asked me to wear my "justice clothes" so I could look like a prince. I asked her if I could be a king instead, but she said I didn't have any king clothes. I chose to be a king anyway. When all the girls (and two boys) got here, Rachel introduced each one and gave them a sash that said "Princess _____" and sat them in their seat. They then ate from "jewel" studed plates and cups while Rachel painted their faces and Debbie helped them decorate flip-flops. They then did the pinata thing and Avery opened her gifts. A lot of neat things for her to include games, puzzles, and clothes. It was all topped off with her set of twins (like Reagan has) and a bed for them. She's getting so big

9th Anniversary Ride

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:00:24 GMT

Rachel and I just returned from our "9th Anniversary Motorcycle Ride" through Bavaria, Austria, and the Czech Republic. We spent the last two days covering 485 miles (some intended and some not so intended) of countryside. The leaves (I had to look this up - leaves is plural for leaf; why not leafs?) are just starting to change to a shade of yellow, so it was great to get out before it gets "too" cold. Rachel was a real trooper in riding on the back of the bike for so long, and my bike is no GoldWing dream for the passenger. Other than the occasional freaking-out grab of my sides (I see the semi coming right for us babe, I got it), it all went well. So, I powered up my GPS (below) and we got going. The GPS worked pretty well - it didn't short out during the brief rain that we hit, but it can't really "zoom in" like I'd like either.

We started off on Thursday morning heading for the Bavarian National Forest in SE Germany. We stopped in a little town for a pizza and were possible the only living people there other than the restaurant lady (I have no idea where German people go during the day). We then continued South to Passau. We crossed over the Danube River and headed east while riding along the Danube. It reminded me of the Ohio River as we saw a lot of barges going up and down the river that was lined with wooded hills. Other than the occasional castle (one below) and lack of double wide trailers, not sure what the differences would be. Well, come to think of it, some Ohioans probably think of their trailer as "their castle," so maybe I was in Ohio? Anyway, easily the prettiest part of our route, and I wish we could do it again at a little slower pace (the end of the day causes an urgency to find food/bed/getting butt off motorcycle seat).

We then hit Linz (where Hitler considered his home town), Austria, which is Austria's third largest town. I tell you what, if you've never toured the "industrial district" of your nearest large town during rush hour, I highly encourage it. Now since America actually uses a lot of street signs, act like those aren't there, and try to find one specific road. It's awesome fun. That adventure put us on the Austrian autobahn, but that allowed us to figure out where we were and where we needed to go. So, we headed north towards the Czech Republic and we finally found a hotel (below). It is in the second to last town in Austria, so we were willing to take about anything (I'm no longer allowed to plan trips that have a "we'll just find a place" plan for lodging). The downstairs and restaurant were really nice so we expected that of the room. Well, let's just say the last renovation the room had was circa 1960. But what can you expect from a 250 year old hotel (older than America)? We had a good dinner, walked around the town for a bit, headed back to the room and I think we were asleep before we hit the bed.

What did we wake up to? Bells. The bells in this church matter of fact (below). Turns out that the bells don't stop ringing at night. One bell at :15, two at :30, three at :45 and four at :60 followed by a different bell tone corresponding with the time of day/night. So, we woke up pretty much every hour all night. Sometime shortly after going to bed, we opened the windows, but a group of old men were having a good time below our window. We thought about me reenacting Charles Ingles (you had to be a "Little House" fan to get this) rant at the people in the saloon when he couldn't sleep in his new place in Mankato (or was it Sleepy Eye? sp? = either way Charles, what do you expect sleeping near a saloon?). We passed and since we fell asleep so quick anyway, it didn't matter.

This morning we got on the road after washing down a traditional German/Austrian breakfast of kaiser roll and lunch meat (breakfast meat I guess but I couldn't tell you the difference). We headed for the boarder and entering Czech was like entering a different world - from sunny to cloudy and gray and from everything being nice and maintained to a much poorer people. While you could stop off at many places and buy the latest knock off shirts, bags and watches, the buildings and people suffered under the rule of the Soviets and they are still trying to recover. Part of that is not having dang street signs. I'd like to donate to that fund. They don't see the need to tell you more than once what route the road is. That caused for a slight wrong turn which added a bit to our trek as we rode through the Czech side of the Bavarian National Forest - called the Sumava National Park. I did enjoy this part of the ride and the people/buildings were almost as interesting to see as the landscape. In Europe, the churches are very well maintained and the source of a town's pride; not so in Czech. We did see this neat "castle" - not really sure what it's purpose is. Rachel stayed on the bike in case we needed to make a quick get away.

After about an hour in Czech, we hit some heavy fog (at noon mind you) and the temperature got a bit cold. Even after layering up some more, Rachel couldn't shake the chill. We cut our Czech adventure a bit short and took an early pass over the mountains back into Germany, and, just as we left it, the sun was shining on the German side. We stopped shortly thereafter for lunch at a Chinese place, and the Won Ton soup really warmed us up. As you see, Rachel really needed it.

Anyway, great ride in beautiful country. Thanks to Rachel's folks for watching the girls. It is always great to get time alone with the love of my life, and riding is what we love to do together. A few close calls maybe, but never in serious danger and we've now ridden the motorcycle on both the German and Austrian autobahn!

Future 2022 Grad!

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:04:58 GMT

Reagan is officially a student! Class of 2022?! Who would have even thought of that? I hadn't and don't particularly care to. Anyway, Reagan's first day at the American school here was a great success. She attends the Netzaberg Kindergarten school which has only been open a year. That means she has a pretty nice facility to get all of her learning done. They even have "spirit Fridays" where she gets to wear "Little Dragons" atire. Her teacher seems nice and she's already making friends. I got a play-by-play this evening of all their activities to include lunch a nap time. No half-days here. She gets the whole 0755-1435. Long day for a little tyke but she seemed to have a great time. Here are a few pics from her first morning.

0700 and Ready to Go!

And Little Sis is Pretty Excited To!

Ready to Start Learning

Reagan Get's Her Nametag from Her New Teacher

Done With Day 1 - Only 2,000+ To Go!

Weekend Near Salzburg

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:02:12 GMT

Hey y'all. We just returned from a weekend in and around Salzburg, Austria. Rachel's folks are here and we started off with a boat ride to the island that holds the palace Herrenchiemsee. We then hit Salzburg for a day with Rachel's folks and the girls doing the "original" Sound of Music tour while Rachel and I spent the four hours circling Salzburg on foot with the dog. Yesterday we spent the day around Berchtesgaden to include Lyle and me taking the "original" Eagle's Nest tour to include the bunker complex under the hills beneath the Eagle's Nest. Lyle took most of the pictures which I will try to get in the next day or so to incude those with the girls. We are now preparing for Reagan's first day of school tomorrow :( Here are two pics of the Eagle's Nest. Absolutely awesome place to visit. I wish I could have stayed longer and ate some schnitzel up there (it is now a restaurant).

Outside Our Guesthouse

In the Gardens in Salzburg - Buckeye Colors

The Eagle's Nest

July 2009

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:49:40 GMT

OK, it has been awhile since the last post, but we've been having some major computer problems that are yet to be fixed. I've also been pretty busy at work. Put two guys in jail last week after completing their courts-martial, and I have a really big one next week (prayers appreciated). So, working from most recent:

Last weekend we went canoeing. It was the first time for all three girls. While I think Rachel was skeptical, she had a good time. She was afraid I'd tip the canoe on purpose, but we did have a two year old aboard. Reagan couldn't wait to get out of the boat. Even though the water was pretty cold, she kept getting out and hanging off the side. Avery wanted to as well, but would normally start screaming to get back in as soon as I put her out (while still holding her of course). So, we spent about four hours on the river Vils. We started just south of Amberg and headed south. The canoes were brought by a friend of ours, so we had to do all the heavy lifting and shuttling of vehicles. Our pastor and his family came as well. Nice river, but a little slow moving = more rowing. We saw about 15 swans along the way. I don't remember ever seeing those on the Little Miami River. A few old churches and church bells ringing was also not a Little Miami norm. We had some dams every once in awhile that we had to walk the canoes around. Fun times really, and I hope to go again next summer in Ohio where the water is a bit warmer!

Two weekends ago we spent the weekend in Grafenwohr from the German-American Volksfest. A pretty good time for the girls and there were a ton of people. This fest is much more akin to a carnival than the normal German fest of beer and brauts. The girls had fun and even got to get their faces painted.

Last pic is almost from the archives. Three or four weeks ago we went to Amberg where a friend of ours had befriended a local restauranteer. He has his own old-fashioned truck that he takes to fests and such to sell flammkuchen - http://www.dietopfgucker.de/web/ueberunsgb.html. It is a French pizza like food with a very thin crust and a cream type sauce as a base. Then he added ham and vegetables. He just kept pushing it out until we were all stuffed. Pretty good really. Anyway, I took some pics while we were waiting on food, so here is one.

Happy Birthday America

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:28:54 GMT

We had a great 4th of July weekend here. We started out by going to the pool on Friday with our pastor/wife/kids. The girls are getting better at swimming with floaties. On Saturday, we hit a church picnic first. We then went our friends house where they had some family in from the Netherlands. Kind of fun talking with the Dutch for the day. They really liked my orange jacket since orange is like their national color = the Dutch must be cool. The only color that Avery is identifying with any consistency is orange - teaching her young. We took this picture behind my friend's house between rain showers. We then all loaded up and went to post for 10 minutes of fireworks. Not a bad display, just kind of short. 1030 kickoff time with the super late sunset. On Sunday, we had a long bar-b-que with some of our American and German neighbors. They start off with coffee and cake at 2, real food at 5ish, and then just hanging out until whenever. Not sure when they ended it, but we left at 9. A few of them spoke English so that was pretty enjoyable. Today? We've done a whole lot of nothing. Just sitting around.

Another busy week for me. I've transitioned to become the Senior Prosecutor for 6 bases over here. They've got me swamped helping the junior attorneys and my boss is about to go on leave b/c of a newborn yet to arrive. Anyway, a great 4th and I hope you all are doing well.

Fun times in Croatia!

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:43:38 GMT

We are back from a wonderful vacation in Croatia. It's been an eventful week. Two days before our trip, they cancelled our hotel reservations, so with a 6 hour frantic search on the internet, we were able to find a beautiful place inside the town of Vrsar. We headed out on Friday, July 19th and arrived in Croatia on Saturday July 20th. The first full day included sunshine and hours spent at the pool and the pebble beach. The next day we woke up to cloudy skies. The forecast for the rest of the week was more clouds and rain. After two days of clouds, Reagan and I prayed for a change of heart (to be thankful for what God has given us) and if it be his will to give us sunshine. The next morning we woke up to a beautiful sun shiny day!!! This past week we enjoyed trips to Pula to see the Ampitheater and to Rovinj (one of my top favorite cities). Below you will see pics of our fun times in Croatia!

P.S. Thank you Jake for a wonderful week. It was hard to let you go back to work today. We love you and are so blessed to have such a fantastic husband and father. I hope this trip was just as memorable for you as it was for us. You're the best, baby!!!

Our new baby...Daisy!!

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:55:54 GMT