A Weekend Away...

We traveled to Ramstein Air Base for a long weekend.  R had an appointment for his foot, so we decided to take the whole family and make a weekend of it.  They have a huge PX there, which is the military's version of a department store.  We are able to stay at Ramstein in a 4 BR/2 BA apartment for $52 a night, so it's a cheap vacation! : )

There is a big playground right behind the apartment building, so we spent the morning out there while R went to his appointment.  The kids loved it!

Swingin'

"Say Cheese"

The next day we drove to Kaiserslautern to the Dinosaur Park (Thanks Christa Dossett for the info)!  The park was full of playgrounds, and over 80 lifesize dinosaur statues.  Little R was in heaven!!!  At least 10 times that evening after we left, he said "I had so much fun today".

Sittin' on the Throne of Stone!!

This is the view from the Throne!

Daddy & R gobbled up by T-Rex!  R was "pulling T-Rex's teeth out"!

Chapel built out of live willow branches, which will continue to grow and make this place even more awesome!  They were setting up for a wedding while we were there...it was really cool.

I never grow tired of this smile!!

Ouch...he bit me!!

All 3 of the kiddoes!

T & A...fountain at the entrance to the park

Gobbled up by T-Rex...again!!

"Onward Ho"...

This park had some crazy fast slides...we all enjoyed them!!

This was little R's first attempt at the big slides...the worried look says it all!!  R and I were doubled over laughing...little R doesn't get scared or worried about much of anything...so this expression was priceless!!  But, after the first attempt he was good to go!  He braved ALL of the slides...numerous times! 

This was a big wicker swing...enclosed completely...you had to crawl up in it through a hole in the bottom.  I thought it was a little freaky, but the kids loved it!  Little R called it "the strawberry"...not sure why??

All of the playgrounds here in Germany seem to have these swings.  My kids absolutely LOVE them...not sure why...maybe because it's something different than what we have back home...

My explorers!

T and her new buddy!

No words for this one!! : )

Every good explorer needs a good stick!  It helps in the "exploring" process!

All in all it was a great weekend!  We ate to our hearts' content...Cinnabon, Baskin Robbins, Chili's, Macaroni Grill...all these great places that we don't have here where we live!  We enjoyed our time as a family, and had absolutely beautiful weather!  What more could you ask for??

Good Grades!!

The girls have both done great in school the last 9 weeks.  A has had all A's except for one pesky B in Math all year long.  She finally got it up to an A this 9 weeks, which placed her on the Principal's Honor Roll with all A's.  She was very excited!!

T, as you may remember, has been having a bit of a struggle this year.  She made her first ever C, and we were worried.  But she has managed to pull it up to a good solid B and has kept it there.  So she finished out the 9 weeks with all A's and B's, and we are very proud of her!

These girls have had to adapt to A LOT this school year.  We have moved them all over the United States their entire lives, but this move has definitely been the hardest transition for the entire family!  But they have managed to find their niche, and they are actually doing pretty well overall.  Of course, they would both go home to the States tomorrow if they could, but since that isn't an option they are hanging in there!!

A's honor roll assembly...

A with one of her best friends here...she's a WEE bit taller than all of her friends!

T didn't have an assembly or anything, and getting a picture of her is almost impossible!  I have lots of pictures of her hand in front of her face, saying "NO", but nothing good to post on here....so only pics of A...she, unlike her sister, LOVES the camera! : )

Making it our own...

A couple of weekends ago, on our first really warm, really sunny weekend so far, R and I decided to do a little landscaping project.  Our house is around 30 years old, and most of the outside areas have been neglected for a lot of that time it seems.  We had some shrubs lining the edge of our yard that hadn't been trimmed in a LONG time.  When we started trying to trim them, we saw just how out of control they were.  So we decided to get rid of a few, and add some personal touches of our own.  It was an entire weekend of HARD work!!  And while it isn't perfect, it is a big improvement...and several of our German neighbors were happy to see us making improvements!!  On a side note, we got the red mulch on post at the PX...our German neighbors were amazed by it...said they had never seen such a thing!! : )

I forgot to take any "before" pictures, but I took this pic after R mowed the yard for the first time, and you can see the crowded, overgrown bushes along the fence line.

"After"...no more overgrown bushes up against the fence.  The tiny bushes we planted will get quite large...but we bought them small because they were much cheaper that way! : )

LOTS of hard work and digging for R!!

Little R helped me pick out the flowers for this pot...we had to have gelb blumen...some of his new words from school that week!!  (yellow flowers)

And to top off our project...we now have fresh cilantro, basil, rosemary and oregano to use whenever we need it!  We have already used the cilantro and basil, and will use more basil tonight for pizza night!  We had fresh cilantro in homemade pico de gallo the other night...I LOVE this part of the project!