Yellow Belt

Nicky recently tested for his yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do.

He did a great job, and we do have this video below, but the phone messed up the video of the most exciting part! In this video he is breaking the red styro boards. After this, Master Seo brought out real plywood, and Nicky tried once, then twice and and on the third kick he broke the board!  He had never tried with real wood, and everyone clapped and cheered, it was so exciting. I am so bummed we lost the video, sometimes trusting your Iphone is just not the way to go!!!

We were so proud of him (and some of us were crying when he broke the plywood), my heart was breaking for him because he was soooooo nervous, he had messed up a couple of things prior to this and he knew it.

While the other girl who was doing her test, I saw Nicky put his hands together,  pray and bless himself. He proceeded to get up and do his final "Number 1" which is a combination of all the moves, and he did great!

He made his yellow belt and we are so proud of him. Master Seo had some really nice things to say about Nic's dedication, that even though he is so tall and long he still holds his form, and overall how happy he was that Nicky tested out.

They were judged by a SERIOUS black belt from Frankfurt, who spoke no English, but was very nice. Nic received an official passport with his certification and two certificates, plus the board he broke. It was a great lesson for him in dedication, moving past your fears and most importantly, GIVING IT TO GOD.  I have never been so proud when I saw him pray, and it really brought me to tears.

Congrats Nicky!

Last day of School

We have reached the last day of school, hooray!

We also reached a milestone in our family, no more elementary students.

Avery is moving into Middle school, Nick will be a Freshman in High school and Zachary will be a Senior.

No pics were going to be taken of the High schoolers, that is so uncool!  But sweet cheeks doesn't mind at all.

Goodbyes were hard for Avery, she has already said goodbye to her two best friends, one who moved to Mississippi and one who moved to North Carolina. Her other two friends just got here this year, and it was hard to say good bye, but luckily these ladies are communicating via email and games each day.

Everyone is so glad the school year is over and look forward to moving home soon.  Right after the pictures were taken we went to the after school party  sponsored by the USO and had ice cream and cookies, and we won 2 tickets to Legoland.

Guess where we are going next week?

We gave it you God......

For those of you close to our hearts, you know what this means!!

Happy Memorial Day

We had a wonderful time in St. Avold, France at the Lorraine American Cemetery. It was very special to take part in honoring our veterans! This cemetery holds more than 10,000 American men who died during WWII. It is sobering to stand there, listen to the birds chirping and just "be" part of the peacefulness here.

General Patton is buried up the road in Luxembourg.  His Granddaughter, Helen Patton was the key note speaker at Lorraine and it was a very heartfelt tribute to all of the men who gave their lives.

Memorial Day often gets lost in barbecues and lake seasons starting. I truly feel that if we do not teach our children what these men, and fellow Veterans after them have went thru, it will soon be lost.  I was so glad to share this with our children, and I know that they will always know what our Military has done for this country, to include their own Father.

Zachary's First Prom

This year has been full of so many changes....It reminds me of the Stevie Nicks song Landslide.

Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I'm getting older too


So many life events starting to happen for the kids. Zachary is 17, going to his Junior prom, and in one month will be a Senior graduating with the class of 2015.  Even children get older......

Zachary went with a group of friends, five of them met at a Trattoria in Bierstadt, right by our house. I have been so busy this week, trying to find him a "slim" suit, making over 1000 prom desserts since Wed and Eric taking Zachary to HM to find the perfect tie.

I remember dressing him in this little vest suit, I just loved this picture of us.

And here he is for his Junior Prom.  Same little boy to me....

I hope tonight was everything you wanted it to be. You were so excited!!

And you can always count on your Dad....and now Nelson to photo bomb you!!!

Marksburg Castle

Today the family had a fun time visiting a local castle along the Rhine.

As the kids get older, it gets easier taking them on short trips where history is involved and they actually enjoy the fact telling.  The facts given at the Castle were really interesting and we had a nice spring day.

Bonus, Eric was able to knock out his next Quick trips as well, so this will be featured in next weeks paper!

Marksburg Castle (Marksbur am Rhein)

Exterior wall walking up to the Castle, this castle is the "only" castle along the Rhine that bears no damage and stands as it was built

Beautiful view of the Rhine river, this region is very popular for the Castles and rows of vineyards

Kids thought this mini window was humerous

Nelson came along too, and was very behaved walking thru the castle, he got a little jumpy in the cellar, not sure why!

Germans love to add a little "bier garten" to any site.

Exterior entrance

Nic listening to the guide explain the family crests on the wall

Outside the castle was lined with medicinal gardens, and this was the end of one of them

Watch tower

Unbelievable that Nic is almost as tall as Zachary these days

One view of the medicinal garden

This was all the way around the castle and overlooked the Rhine river, breathtaking views!

This was their Master bedroom toilet, yep, it just dumped out the hole into the gardens

Always interested in kitchens, and this was actually considered a "grand" kitchen in those times

Considered "grand" mostly due to this old age refridgerator, that was kept cool by ice blocks preserved in caves from the Rhine river in the winter

Dish sink that drained right outside

We are substantially taller these days, this was a "normal" doorway

So unique

This is that "Master Bath" that dumped in the gardens below

A picture of the common area

Avery's favorite, a gigantic loom

Once the story is published in next weeks edition, I will put Eric's article here so you can read about a few more interesting tidbits.

Nelson, 8mths

Nelson is getting pretty big these days, and by "big" I mean looking more and more like a hot dog!

His new favorite thing is to lay by our window, watching and observing, which is great for his socialization skills. In Germany, the Germans are very particular about how dogs should act. It is not uncommon to see dogs in stores, restaurants and walking next to their owners without a leash, and never ever bark at people in those surroundings.  This is our goal, to have him socialized, but still able to use those Dotsie protective instincts.

Nelson is learning pretty well, and compared to just four months ago, rarely will bark at by passers. We had neighbors move in upstairs and he barked at the sounds in the ceilings for about three days, and now he is over it, thank goodness.  He clearly understands the word "cookie" aka dog biscuit. And as he gets older, we can pretty much get him to follow any command, with the teaser word "cookie'.

Eric is his all time favorite guy, and when Eric leaves in the morning to drop the kids at school, Nelson sits by the window and waits until he pulls in, he recognizes the van and goes to the door.  Aww, true puppy love. Its pretty cute.  Avery and I attempted to shave him, but he really wasn't having it. He did let Eric shave him though, and we left his little curly tufts on his legs, head and the trademark wire-haired dotsie beard.

Something else that Nelson doesn't seem to be growing out of is the "pure" excitement of seeing each and everyone of us in the morning.  It is sort of like ground hog day every day, each morning as each of us wake up and walks (or stumbles to the coffee machine), he gets so excited that he literally becomes airborne twisting and doing little circle jumps mid air.  As he gets bigger, these "bounces" are getting higher and higher, almost like he has springs on his feet.  Nic is often the one saying "I know Nelson, we haven't seen each other in.....hours".

He gets neutered next month, and I wonder if this will last, or if he will outgrow the puppy love of "his" family?

BIRD Alert

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