MOVING and NEW YORK

The military bus picked us up at our hotel at11:30 Monday night. It would stop two more times to bring other families or soldiers to the Patriot Express Flight  that would depart Tuesday morning to Baltimore. The bus was painful, not for kids who slept the whole way, but for someone who is sensitive to where they sleep. Needless to say... I was feeling pretty exhausted by the time our bus stopped at 7 in the morning.

The 9 hour flight was uneventful. Naps, movies, airline food, and trying to keep ourselves entertained. Landed in Baltimore and had a 1 hour connecting flight to New Jersey. Then another hour of driving and we arrived at West Point around 10:30 that night, but our bodies were telling us it was 4 a.m. Germany time. We crashed in our beds exhausted and sweating.

When we woke up at 5:00 a.m. we stayed in our room. We couldn't really tell at night when we arrived but the area is beautiful. So many forests and trees, the Hudson River, and rolling hills. The campus is in a really amazing part of the state. The heat and humidity are *new* The boys look like they are melting and Ben is constantly dripping everywhere.

We signed the lease for "new" house here on the West Point campus. It is actually a historical brick QUINT, so we share the backyard with four other young families (two kids each, 4 yrs and younger). It is quite small for our family, especially since we have more humans than ever before. We are really going to have to figure out how to make every little inch count.  We are through a small forest to the elementary and Middle school and it is just a short walk for Ben up to the hospital and clinic. We met all of our neighbors at an ice cream social in our neighborhood and they were very welcoming and lovely. We are looking forward to getting to know them better and sharing lots of backyard fun.

After a few days driving and getting familiar with the area, we loaded up our bags again to fly west to see our families. We had a little fun in the airport taking pictures with a free email postcard and sent a few of the good ones. An hour and half delay on the runway due to weather put us behind schedule and made the time in the plane even longer. Everyone slept (except THIS lady) because I was rotating children from kicking each other in the face in their sleep.

We were happy to land in Salt Lake City. And excited to see Grandpa Eugene waiting to pick us up. We are sure having a great time visiting family and our hometowns again. Hiking up in the mountains, fishing in Swift creek, and then eating our catch of the day for dinner. OH! YES! WYOMING!!

Brecon's PLAYMOBIL birthday

We asked Brecon what he wanted to do for his birthday. Obviously it needed to be something with low hassle (or EASY as I like to say). I was so happy when he chose to take the family and 1 friend to PLAYMOBIL land for the day. So we packed up the van and everyone for a perfect day at the huge play land.

The boys with the "guys" they personally made piece by piece.

The kids could spend all day in this place. No crazy lines or roller coaster... just imaginative playgrounds and marketing for playmobil toys. I can definitely handle that!

Ben had fun messing with Brielle's hair. She has got this crazy 'mullet' going on and it was emphasized with a little water up-down- and back! Plus her belly rash guard goes pretty great with her crazy hair :)

On the pedal car race track Brecon thought he was pretty great-- LOOK at that birthday boy!

 

Brecon and his friend Dominic

These awesome paddle boats were from kids 4 years and up. Connor was pretty disappointed and we saw some questionable children who were just as small as him get into a boat. They got stranded out in the middle of the lake and were rescued by the workers... I was actually surprised there were restrictions in the first place (that just doesn't happen here in Germany) I mean check out the crazy climbing web below... No warnings or labels there...

AND just because we didn't have a big party, Brecon got to pick out a present from the gift shop they let you walk through on the way out of the park... very convenient... HE really does talk about his birthday all the time. I'm so happy he had a great one! HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY MY BOY!

4th of JULY

I got this wild idea that I wanted to host a neighborhood pancake breakfast. I convinced my neighbor to co-host and then I went on with the invitations. I made a cute little flyer and walked around to every house on our street, knocking on the doors and talking to about 1/2 of the people I really hadn't talked to at all. Most people seemed interested, others were "busy". The night before Ben was really concerned... "How many people are going to be here in the morning?" I actually had no clue. There could potentially be over 200 people. I had invited everyone but I really didn't know if they were going to be there or not. The funny thing was this: we were moving the next week! It was so fun to get everyone out there eating red, white, and blue pancakes, the neighbors brought fruit or breakfast meat... OH the breakfast tacos were so good! The morning was perfect and so nice to get to know some of our neighbors better! ***(better for the next week)***

I also told the kids we would have a bike rodeo and a 3 loop run. They got so excited and raced around the loop as fast as they could go. For the run Connor was out there like a champion- pumping his arms and making it the whole way with cheerleaders (young and old)

 We had everyone lined up and kept telling the kids "This is not a race" and Alejandro said "Pftt.. YEAH RIGHT! This IS a race!!" HE is funny and loud and made the delicious tacos and hot sauce.

It was a great morning and a fun time. WE loved this neighborhood and the safe place for our kids to run with their friends at the playgrounds and riding their bikes around the loop. So happy I have such great co-hosts and fun neighbors. We actually noticed a big difference after this morning. Not that people were rude before, just that we were busy with our lives and talking to the neighbors was few and far between. This morning seemed to "break the ice" and we had so many more chances to talk and share time with our community. These pictures all bring smiles to our faces, full of the memories of that morning. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! We salute you!

Swimmin' and pickin'

We love going to the schwimmbad when the price is 1/2 and there is usually no one there. The kids swim hard and have a great time, and we were the only ones racing up and down the slides and the whole pool was to ourselves. Of course it wouldn't be fun without our great neighbors to tag along with us, the Ellsworths usually are the ones who invite us to go with them. Such a great and perfect evening at the pool.

CONNOR GABBY and JAMES racing down the yellow slide.

CAEL and BILLY (Brielle) in her hand-me-down swim trunks)

Cael liked this picture and how his friend looks like he has a hearing aid.

Just up the hill from the swimming pool is a great sand and water area. The boys dug a pit that was deeper and taller than Connor. Look at those boys work.

Seeing this swimming pool brings so many hot summer days to mind. From the very first time we went as a family ( which was a little "scary") taking the kids by myself when Ben was gone, to the last time we spent the evening all by ourselves. Love this place!

STRAWBERRY PICKING

I must admit this was one of my favorite things to do in the spring/summer. We really were living the dream in this beautiful land, the strawberries were incredibly sweet, and the whole family ate more than they put into their containers. The farmland and fields and forests.... love the landscape.