The NFL Europe World Bowl

Braving rain and chilly weather, we went to the NFL Europa World Bowl! It was a lot of fun, and with umbrella in hand and long sleeves/jackets, we stayed relatively dry and warm! :)

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=11pcpqol.3nqq776h&x=0&y=hj7490

Click for pics!

One Year

Yesterday was our ONE YEAR Anniversary. We did several things to celebrate. Saturday we went to the Frankfurt/Hamburg World Bowl. The Sea Devils (H) beat the Galaxy (F), and it was cold and rainy, but we still had a good time. As we were walking to the car we could hear "We are the Champions, my friend..."
Sunday, we had pancakes for brunch and simple dinner (frito pie!) and ice cream for dessert. We drank champagne from our wedding flutes, and enjoyed our special day. Our gifts to one another were our trip to Venice and to the states in July. Sadly, we won't be there very long, so there will be many people and places we won't get to see. :-(

There will be pictures of the game when I get them uploaded. Probably tomorrow.

Legislation for military spouses

http://www.military.com/spouse/fs/0,,fs_BillHelpsSpouses,00.html?ESRC=mscc.nl

I'm pretty sure this won't help overseas, but it's good info for when we return to the states. If this bill passes, employers would get a tax break to hire military spouses. Write your Congressman and/or share as you see fit.

VENICE!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=11pcpqol.7u3rlqv5&x=0&y=g86j6i

Click to view photos!

The trip was a lot of fun, and we learned a little more about what we like and what we don't. We probably will never do another far away USO tour. Not because it was horrible. Just because there are things we like and things we don't and we are a little more familiar with what they are now. One of the main things is our schedule. It's hard to accommodate 46 people at the same time. The USO did a good job of allowing for tour time and on your own time, but there were times that we'd have done things differently and you don't really have that option with a group.

I cannot imagine a better deal. $200 per person for transportation to and from Italy plus water taxi to the island of Venice, an overnight in a hotel, BIG free breakfast two days, and a visit to the market in Camisano. Plus, they work it so that if you have to work Friday and Monday of the 4 day, you still can! If not, you can rest up some before work on Tuesday.

We enjoyed the 1.5-2 hr guided tour by the actual Italian tour guide, and we also were glad to have several hours on our own to take the Gondola ride, have lunch on the Grand Canal, walk all over town (getting a little bit lost!) and having gelato in a small courtyard. We got lucky that the weather could not have been better, and it was fun to just walk the streets and watch the people and the goings on. We didn't go to the museum, mostly I think because the lines were so long and we just kind of wanted to wander the city.

We didn't enjoy the horrific bus ride. Riding back was not so bad, but over night to get there was misery. It isn't as though we weren't warned, but it was uncomfortable and some people on the bus were not terribly considerate of others. (ie talking and laughing really loud when some people were obviously sleeping, bringing salmon pasta dinner on the bus=STINKY!) It was kind of fun eavesdropping on the conversations around us, but really the bus was the very worst part.

The one good thing about on the way back was that the view was truly amazing. We took a couple of pictures out the windows, but we stopped when it was painfully obvious that there was no way to convey that kind of scene that way. The colors were so vivid and it was really cool to look at grape crops for wine in Italy, waterfalls in the mountains in Switzerland and little villages all along the way.

There were 4 kids on the trip. An 8ish yr old girl , a brother and sister about 11 and 9 respectively and another girl about 11. ALL were wonderfully behaved, more so than a few of the adults. We watched Two Weeks Notice and Pirates of the Carribean on the way and Shrek 2 and Monster in Law (questionable for the children) on the way back.

The hotel was really nice. Not fancy, but nice staff, English speaking, wonderful breakfast and comfortable accomodations. Hotel Aries. And we were smart to forgo taking our stuff upstairs when we first returned from Venice (we just got a couple small things...not like the guy that got a chair!) and went straight to the pizzeria by the hotel for dinner. The USO guide mentioned it as pretty much the only option for dinner, so we knew it was going to get crowded. We already had our drinks and orders in when the others started trickling in. *tapping temple in "smart move!" gesture.

Oh, and a little glimpse of home...there was a gas station/restaurant/store in Switzerland where we stopped on the way home. We lollygagged around the store part for a while and happened upon Old ElPaso flour tortillas and "Nachips". :)

I'm tired today. We spent a little time on the bus also deciding some other things we want to be sure to do while we are here. We only have two years left, and a LONG list of things to do!

Army Birthday, 232 years Army Strong!

There was a big birthday party for the Army today! Cake and punch and even singing Happy Birthday! SB leaned over and said

"und Heather" when they said "dear Arrrr-myyyy".

Since today was my birthday, too, I decided that was MY party! :)

It was a great day. We started it with presents! New camera for the computer, new headphones and a thumbdrive. All things I have asked for!



Then, General Via changed command with the incoming commander, General Lawrence. She seems very nice.

After the Change of Command I went with Marisa to my favorite Wingers for lunch!

After that was the Army Birthday party, and then we came home! woohoo! I did do a little work, collecting some things for the welcoming of the spouses to the battalion, and buying a book for my office "Never A Dull Moment" about the ins and outs of Germany.


SB grilled up some dinner for us, and it was a GREAT DAY!

Thanks to all the well wishers!! And there won't be anymore posts until we return from Venice Monday!

HUGS~us

We have a winner!

Technically, I think I still lost...I don't know if poking people to say something is in the rules. I really thought someone would just say, "oh my GOSH! That guy looks like Kevin Costner! Because that is exactly what I did!

I think I just lost $100

Please scroll down and look at the picture of SB and LTC Astin. Let me know if anything strikes you about him. Not SB, Astin.

Stephen thinks I need help.

This is my favorite restaurant. No one seems to get how great it is. I really, really, really like it, and look for any excuse to go!

http://www.wingers.info/

Regarding Sonic

I posted the Come Back to Texas video here and also a link on my Fantasy Football site. Everyone either commented about Blue Bell or Sonic or both. That is too funny to me.
Here is the Wilkopedia information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Drive-In
a very interesting read.

and it started in Oklahoma! How about that?! Maybe Oklahoma doesn't suck as bad as I thought. I only know of 2 good things that came out of OK. Sonic, and Michael L! :)

What is your favorite thing about Sonic? I'm going to tell you a few of mine:
School Burritos. They don't have them anymore, but they use to have those wonderful deep fried burritos, and they'd put chili and cheese and onions as you wished.

Tater Tots and chocolate frosty. GROSS! Stacey use to eat this all the time. One time I specifically remember, we (CGB, Tres, Mandy, Space and me) were going to Green Tea to look at Christmas lights and went to Sonic first. She got these and dipped the tots in the frozen chocolate ice cream!

Also Stacey, being off from Weiners Friday nights and coming in anyway to visit us. With a Sonic cup of liquor! She had a "tower of Sonic cups" in her bedroom that reached almost to the ceiling!

KC and I were on a "boy trouble"(I think) binge, and we drove around getting our favorites: Taco Bell Nacho Bell Grande (no tomatoes on mine, but put them on hers and don't charge anyone 60 cents extra!!) Chocolate milk from the 7-11 and Sonic Onion Rings! Man, we were sick that night! I LOVE THOSE ORs!

My brother worked there in high school.

585-8245. We called in the order many, many times, and it was about 2 minutes driveway to drive in!

Cherry Limeades! yum!

and something I had forgotten and read about on the Wilkopedia, remember those little plastic animals they use to have on the drinks?!

OH I LOVE ME SOME SONIC!!!

One more thing...

I came across this when I was looking for some music to go on my Fantasy Football League site. If you've been reading this a while, you know I love this song. This little video is great!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45DFVyriVI0

Sunday visitor

While I was posting about the Farewell, Stephen said, hey...we have a butterfly! and I grabbed the camera and snuck up on it...

This picture doesn't really show how beautiful it was. Those little spots look like sunsets.

See you around...

Farewells are not always goodbyes. This is LTC Astin standing w/ SB. He was Stephen's Company Commander in Korea in 1996. Then, he was his Battalion XO (like my MAJ W) in Korea again (different post) in 2002, and now he is the Garrison Commander (like LTC Fletcher in Mannheim) in Darmstadt (just down the road)! He was at the Farewell Dinner!

Goodbye Via

Friday night was the Farewell Dinner for General Via and his wife Linda and his two boys. It was a great night, a lot of presentations, well wishes, hugs, words of wisdom, laughter and tears. After a great dinner, there were two videos of photographs, one to Maria Carey's Hero, can't remember the other. They were both SO good and took you through his personal and military lives. Everyone was tearing up. Then they had a video of goodbye messages and they were little skits put on by different sections of the staff of 5th Signal Command. It was hilarious, so that lightened the mood for the presentations. Both the General and his wife spoke at the end, and again, more tears. They will be truly missed throughout the community.

The highlight of my evening was going to tell Mrs. Via goodbye and how much she has inspired me to be involved and a part of my community and to help those around me as she and others have helped me. She called me by name, and that's kind of a big thing to me because she literally meets hundreds of people. She told me that she had enjoyed working with me, and when I told her I would do my best to help take care of the families of Mannheim, she looked me dead in the eye and said, "You two (me and SB) take care of each other first and above all. That is what matters most. The rest just falls into place."

This is a photo I found online because I didn't get any Friday night. We will see them once more at the Change of Command ceremony, June 14.

Certified Instructor

This week, I have been in training to become an Army Family Team Building instructor. AFTB is a course (Levels I, II and III) for Soldiers and Family members to learn more about the military and to build leadership, communication and conflict resolution skills. I started taking the classes to learn the material, and just kept going until I got through the instructor class. There were seven of us in the class, and we are all looking forward to teaching this summer/fall.

Hope you are having a great week! :)

Filipino Singing Group

Saturday evening, before the city festival, a Filipino Chior came to the chapel on post for a concert. They were AMAZING. Singing a cappella, they performed The Lord's Prayer, Tonight, I Celebrate My Love For You, La Cocaracha, a Russian tongue twister song, a Filipino song, and a few more I can't remember. They ended with Circle of Life from the Lion King, and then encored with Let it Be. They were INCREDIBLE. We were a little disappointed in the turnout. This is because just about every day we hear someone say that there is nothing to do on post or in Mannheim or in Germany. Then, something like this comes along, and they either don't get the information or don't care to venture out to see what it's all about. It was only about an hour and like I said, REALLY incredible.

Bürstädter Stadtfest

The Burstadt City Festival! It went Friday through Sunday. We went Saturday night, and here is what we saw:

The ATEAM-band playing at Asterix, the stage closest to our house. It was literally at the corner of our street. They played some German, and some American music. The pamphlet said "Rock-und Pop Cover". We heard "Two Princes (I know what a prince and lover ought to be...)", "I'm Walking on Sunshine", and kicked it off at the beginning with "Proud Mary".

Roomservice-band playing furthest from our house (about 2 blocks) who played "oldies/rock n roll/blues/rock" Near the Roomservice stage were several food booths, beer tents and a place to sit down at tables under a big tent. We had a pizza and listened to a few songs ie "Wanderer", "I Will Survive", "One Moment In Time", which a young girl probably 15 knew every word to and was just singing away to her friends at their table.

Malibu (where we celebrated New Years) had a dj directly behind the ATEAM stage, only a pizza stand and gunslinger ride to separate them. That's where all the "kids" were hanging out pretending they were "clubbin"! There was another stage we didn't see anyone play on because we reached it between bands. Turns out we had JUST missed "Bootylicious."

Unofficial events we noticed: There was a bachelorette party going on. All the ladies had black shirts with the bride's picture on the back, and she was wearing a yellow one with the groom's picture on the back. It said something on the front and yesterday's date, and on the back the picture and 07.07.07. So I guess they are getting married July 7, 2007. Pretty cool.

LOTS of children drinking and smoking. And by children I mean ages 13 and up. There are a couple of pics, but we didn't take a lot because no one else had cameras out, and you don't want to really cross a drunk German person, you just never know what might happen. Anyway, here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure...














That child (14ish) is pulling beer bottles from his bag to give to his friends.




















Here we are with the beer tent behind us.


This is our favorite 13 year old person. He is buying a beer AND smoking.





Stephen with "Superfan of the Fest" in the background

Waiting semi-patiently

I am waiting on the dryer-fix-it man. He should be here between 8am-1pm. It is 8:14. I'm all ready for work because as soon as he leaves I need to bolt out of here in hopes of getting to work before 1pm when I am suppose to brief the new commander on the Family Readiness Program. So, I'm trying to make good use of my waiting time. As soon as I finish this I'm going to pick up around the house so that it looks decent for the weekend.
Mid post I went to change the parking thing on the car. Our entire street is blocked off again because of a weekend festival. I just hope dryer-fix-it man drives around to get here!!
OK...I have "fooled around long enough."

ps-new blog on the list. "Noah's Ark". This is an adoption journey by the Chaplain of our battalion and his wonderful wife, Jill. Hi Jill! :)