Guten Tag from Saarbrücken Germany

Hi everyone,  Well we made it to Germany in one piece.  I will have to say that was a very long trip and we were all exhausted.  Ivy did wonderful and we are blessed that she is a great traveler.  We got all our stuff through 2 airplanes and on a train.  Wouldn't you know we left the pack-n -play on the train. Thankfully the hotel had one.  Today the 1st was a holiday so everything was closed.  We hope to hear that they have the pack n play but I am sure that is unlikely.  Which means we have to buy a new one.  Our first night here we were exhausted.  We got to our apartment, then we were off to dinner.  The lady at the front desk told us that we should go to the grocery store since Wednesday was a holiday. So we were thankful and went to dinner then were planning to go to the store.   Dinner was lovely, but Ivy was too tired so we scarfed our food and headed to the store. The lady didn't tell us that the store closed at 8. Seems like everything closes at 8 which is fine.  However, we had no milk for Ivy and nothing was open.  We went to bed and shockingly even Ivy slept until 9:45.  I actually woke her up since we were told continental breakfast was until 10. We got there and they did not have breakfast.  So we decided to walk to the grocery store just to make sure it wasn't open. Thankfully there was a bread shop open next to the grocery store. They gave us milche (milk) and we got some tasty treats.  We went back and slept for 2 more hours then ventured off into the city. We had a great first day even though it was short.   We took Ivy to the park and walk along the river and ate some delicious dumplings for dinner followed by Gelato for dessert. I need to charge my battery on my new camera which I will do in the morning. If I can get my self together I will start posting pics tomorrow or Friday.  I will try to update as much as possible. Its late so I am off to bed. 

Packing Packing and more Packing

Well I can't believe we have less then a week before we move.  We are in really great shape to be honest.  So far we have the guest room empty, our room empty except our bed, the guest bathroom empty, our bathroom 90% empty, our closet is just clothes we need for a month (the rest is being shipped), and some repacking in the front room.  Upstairs should be finished by tomorrow. I am excited about that. We will will do the last minute stuff downstairs tomorrow night and try to finish up Thursday.  Tomorrow they are coming to stretch the carpets.  Friday they are cleaning the carpets.  Sunday the movers come and Monday we fly out of here.  This is a really short non exciting post but since I am on lack of sleep and its 10 I thought I would make it short.  We have been so busy , but I promise once I get to Germany the posts will get more exciting with pics and all.  Good night!!!

out of town

Just wanted to let you know that we are back east and have been since Sunday. I will be back to posting next week. We are having a great time visiting with friends and family. In news we have our flights booked to Germany and are getting closer to our move date. I will update you next week.

Easter

Well this year Easter was much bigger for Ivy then last year.  She still doesn't understand much of it but she had a great weekend.  We started the weekend off with an Easter egg hunt at the community center and she met the Easter bunny on Saturday.  For those of you who know her well, know she loves animals live or stuffed.  She was excited to see the Easter bunny but not so much to sit on his lap.  She was terrified.  I have posted the best pics that we could get under the circumstances.  There was so much going on.  Below are pics of her at her first Easter egg hunt as well as pics of her with the Easter bunny!!!



Ivy finding an Easter egg

 Daddy and Ivy with the Easter bunny                                         The Eggs Ivy found  

 Mommy and Ivy with Easter bunny

After this event we went to the park came home and we stripped Ivy down and put her in a disposable diaper to dye eggs for the first time. It was challenging and fun but I must say she had more dye on her then the eggs I think.

Sunday was her first time in church.  They do a family service and assure the parents squirming noisy children are ok for this service. Ivy enjoyed the music and she loved the children's service.  Here are some pics of her dressed up in her Easter dress. 



It was a very nice day and to end the beautiful Easter Sunday we had grilled steak and artichokes out on the deck.  It was Ivy's first time having artichokes and she loved them here is a video.

It was a great weekend and it was so much fun seeing Ivy enjoying her Easter weekend.  I am sure as the years go on it will even be more enjoyable.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!!

Road Trip

Well as promised I am doing my best to keep up. We have only lived in Colorado for over a decade and haven't haad the chance to some close by sight seeing. Since we are moving it was our goal to start enjoying the closer attractions but we have failed to do so.  Kevin and I have been working hard to get this house packed and ready to rent. So in the midst of it all we decided we needed a much needed break and took Ivy on a road trip to South Dakota and Wyoming.  We left on Sunday March 17th and started North to South Dakota.  Ivy did pretty well to be honest. We decided to head to keystone, the city where Mount Rushmore is and stay there for 2 nights then track to Wyoming to see devil's tower.  Our first stop on the way to Keystone, was the Mammoth site.  It was really interesting.  Its this site in South Dakota where they have so far dug up 60 mammoth fossils.  Apparently there was a sink hole that the Mammoths had gotten trapped and died.  Oddly, there are just male mammoths they have found so far. No female or baby mammoths yet. I guess the females were the smart ones and knew what they were doing and kept the babies away too.  Any way here are just a few of the pics from the site. 

The next day we decided to head to Mt. Rushmore and the wind caves.  We took so many pictures so I will just post a few from each place but I have to say the pics just do not describe the beauty we saw.   

Mount Rushmore

Family Pic

Ivy climbing the stairs of the auditorium at the base of Mt. Rushmore

Wind Cave

 The next stop was the badlands.   I am only showing a few pics but words can not even describe the beauty of this place!! It should be a must on your list of things to see!!!

 The Buffalo were pretty close to the car!!!

 How Ivy road through the badlands.  She had a lot of fun!!!



Finally, our last day we went to devil's tower in Wyoming it was about 1.5 mile hike around devils tower.

Cute pic of Ivy in Our hotel room before heading to Devil's Tower

We had a wonderful trip and wish we had more time to explore before we leave Colorado but we have many new adventures a head of us.  I hope you enjoyed this post!!!!

I am back and Ivy's 1st Bday

I am so sorry that I have not kept up with my blog in such a long time.  My laptop went on the fritz and after Kevin finally fixed it I just never seem to find the time or motivation to write. As most of you know by now, we are moving to Germany at the end of April so I thought it was time I would start my blog back up so you can follow what we are doing and how things are going as we explore a new life in Germany.  Currently, I am on my old computer we are in search of new ones.  So if I have gaps in my posts over the next 3 weeks that is the reason.  I do plan on having a new laptop before I move to Germany.  In my first post I wanted to share some pictures and a video of Ivy on her first birthday.  My next post will be about a road trip we took a little over two weeks ago. I will keep up with this blog it is my promise to my family and friends who want to see what we are doing and the things we are seeing and experiencing in Germany.  Ok enough of that here is Ivy on her 1st birthday!!! I hope you enjoy!! 

She really loved and enjoyed her cake as you can see from her pictures!!!

I am having a problem with the video so I am skipping that. Sorry I hope to figure this out very soon!!!

Ivy Update, its been a while!!!

Hello everyone, I apologize as I have gotten lazy and haven't updated this blog in such a long time. I am not even sure anyone is following this blog anymore.  Any way, instead of posting a whole bunch about what is  going on I figure I will post pictures of Ivy, followed by a video, to get you up to date on her. Then I will keep up with this blog from here on out and tell you more about what is going on in our lives.  The last I posted was April, Ivy was about 3 months old. She is not 8 1/2 months old.  So here are some pictures of her through out the months.  I hope you enjoy, and I will do a better job at keeping you up on what is going on with us and our family. 

4 Months Old

5 Months Old

6 Months Old

7 Months Old

 Current 8 1/2 months Old

Here is what she started doing as of this week.  She is going to be walking on her own before we know it.