Birthday Boy CONNOR

My sweet friend made these great cupcakes for Connor's 2nd birthday while he was staying at the Durtschi's house while the rest of us were on a cruise in the Mediterranean with Grandma Hoopes. We had a great time, but we really missed having our little Connor along with us. He had a great time with his friend Julian and I know that Rachelle took great care of our sweet little guy.

OLYMPIA, GREECE

Here is the stadium. I am trying to point to the marble starting line. I think I might be very close to pinching it.

This stop we chose to have a guided tour of the area, followed by shopping nearby. I was very glad to have someone show us around and tell what the buildings were used for anciently. It can be very frustrating walking around ruins and not quite knowing where they went to or what they were for. Interesting to be in such a neat place, but frustrating if you do not know what you are looking at.  Favorite moment of the day: When our tour guide had us all loaded up on the bus, she introduced the driver "Marco" and "My name is Poopee." I could not keep a straight face knowing  that I was following "Poopee" around all day. She was a very nice lady and told us a lot of information about the Olympic games which were held in ancient times.

Neat facts I remembered:

The Olympic games were held every 4 years. At which time there was no wars to be fought 30 days before and after. This allowed participants to make it safely to and from their homes without worry of being hurt. Also, the men couldn't carry weapons into the area. Only men participated and attended, and they were either naked or almost naked. The Temple of Zeus housed the ancient wonder of the world the statue of Zeus that measured 12 meters high and was made of ivory and gold. The wrestlers trained in the gymnasium and put oil over their bodies before starting for the day. When they were finished they threw dirt over their bodies to absorb the oil and then they used a scraping tool to removed the dirt and oil mixture. When excavations were done in the area and they found this special tool next to a persons remains they could know that this person was an Olympic wrestler.

OUR CRUISE BEGINS and BARI, ITALY

We were so glad to finally make it onto the boat and we were starving. When the boat finally started moving and the sun begain setting over Venice we had to take a couple of pictures before going to eat dinner. We had to tell the boys "just wait until we make it pass that really tall tower and then we will go and eat", but the ship was moving slowly and those poor little boys were so hungy they couldn't take the wait any longer. We got a few pictures before making our way to the dinner buffet. I have been amazed with Cael's appetite lately and the amount of food he is able to easily put into his body. I was not surprised when his plate of food quickly disappeared and he was walking back to our table with his dessert selection. That boy is growing bigger and stronger everyday.

My handsome boys ready for dinner as we pull away from Venice.

Gotta love Venice at sunset and the view from a tall cruise ship.
The next morning we woke up in Bari, Italy. This was not a stop I was very interested in exploring too far inland and there wasn't anything too exciting in the little town. Just the usual castle fortress and cathedrals... you know, the usual.

Salzburg, AUSTRIA

This picture cracks me up with Brecon holding his brothers belly. Cael thought it was pretty funny too!

 Before our Mediterranean cruise I knew I needed to show my mom the city and sights of Salzburg. This really is a beautiful city and it is also fun to see the locations from the film "The Sound of Music". However, with the winter season all the beautiful fountains normally on display have been covered up to protect them from the ice and snow. There was not any snow yet, just disappointed visitors :( We still had a great time checking out the city, catching the public transportation into town (the right bus, just going the wrong way!!) and running these boys around whenever we could.

Mother's visit stories

I finally had a visitor make it all the way over to see us and we have been having fun traveling all over Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean and the lucky visitor is: MY MOM!! Our first trip was to Poland where we were able to find some beautiful pieces and return safely without going too crazy with the pottery.

Then before our cruise ship would leave on Saturday, I knew I wanted to show my mom Salzburg and the places filmed in "The Sound of Music"... only this time I would be the tour guide. The city was gorgeous, but unfortunatley the fountains in the city were covered for the winter. It turned out to be a beautiful day, plenty of sunshine and it was easy to get around as long as I had my trusty GPS to show us the way. The most memorable moments happened while taking the public buses into town the first night we arrived. We found the right bus, only it was going the wrong way! A simple 10 minute ride now took 45 minutes! And wouldn't you know the same thing happened to us as we were trying to make our way back to the hotel for the night. This time we REALLY took a detour way out of town, Cael was really concerned we were never going to make it back alive. The bus eventually stopped at the last stop where I inquired of the driver whether we were on the right route or not. He recognized our hotel name (when I showed him a card with the logo on it) and soon we were on our way. We were all very hungry and succumbed to the golden arches to put a smile back on the boys faces.

Then our cruise ship adventure began. However, it did not start off on the right foot. The boarding procedures the day we departed could be described as complete CHAOS. Long, painful lines that merged together in a jumbled mess. Crowds of people jammed together trying to go up a single escalator. More lines, more waiting, hungry children, and stress. I think our boarding took 2 1/2 hours, with most of that time just standing with a mass of people. Apparantly this was not what our friends had experienced, so I am chalking it up to a "bad day" on the boarding dock. Thankfully the rest of the trip was a whole lot better than our first couple of hours. Especially all the food, the whirlwind tours wherever we landed, and we could never forget the race back to the ship because we were running behind schedule. Such an amazing trip I'm sure I will never forget.

We're changing...

....FROM A FAMILY of FIVE to

SIX

Talk about a complete surprise. We are still reeling in from the shock, but at the same time excited for this sweet little addition to join our family.

It is funny the way we found out. Ben had just left for his deployment and I thought that all the emotions I was going through were actually just the body geting ready for mother nature's "gift". Then you just kind of realize that something else is going on. At first there was complete shock, then a realization that while this wasn't part of "my plan" in regards to children and spacing (AND DEPLOYMENT) this really was part of a bigger picture. Really, this sort of thing could have happened at any time-- we really aren't that way with planning our babies-- but THIS TIME we find out during the most interesting YEAR of our lives? That is what makes life so fun, these crazy moments when you aren't sure how you are going to do something that can be really hard, but at the same time knowing that your Heavenly Father really knows how capable we are to make it through whatever lies ahead of us, and  how HE is there to help us along the way.

Did I mention that I am very excited? I go through different emotions everytime I find out I am pregnant. It is usually a cycle and I just slowly move along through them all until after a while of letting it sink in that I really start to feel excited. I am just funny that way. But here I am--- Excited right from the start. When I did go in for the pregnancy test the boys were all tagging along with, it was a fun summer field trip to the clinic and Cael said "I hope it is another brother" and the doctor said "you already have two brothers, this is going to be a sister" and ever since that time Cael really has been cheering for the PINK team. We will just have to see. Two more weeks and my 18 week appointment will can officially fnd out, as long as eveyone cooperates during the ultrasound.

So this baby is going to be born in a German Hospital with a German doctor (who is really great) and we hope that Ben will make it back for the birth the first part of April. He will most likely get his 2 week R&R right around that time, but you never can predict when babies are going to be born... so we will just have to wait and see. Again not something I can control so we are going to let it roll. That also means that Ben is gone duing the ENTIRE pregnancy-- YES you can bet he is going to owe me big time with foot and back rubs for the rest of my life!!

While I am journaling this all down I have to say that I have not been sick, pregnancy sick, thus far. The first trimester was the "shock,sleep, and meat" phase. Realizing that my body was changing a lot quicker than remembered, going to bed right after putting the boys to bed which was sometimes around 8:30 or 9, and also wanting to eat roast beef, chicken, eggs, or anything else that contained plenty of protein. You know as I am writing this down I realize that I pretty much enjoy eating anything right now--- so watch out refrigerator- I am on the prowl!

Well, that is all for now. But wait-- if there is anyone who would love to see Germany and take care of a new mother between April and May just let me know--- Yes I am pretty serious. We will work out the details but as I think about it, the spring really is a lovely time to see this part of the world, BUT MOSTLY to see a new tiny baby :) (hint hint- wink wink)