Ciao, la mia famiglia e gli amici,
I don't have much time to write (lots of sleeping, stretching, and growing to do in the next four months), but I just wanted to share something with you...
I am so thankful that my mom is a strategic hoarder.
16 November 2013
Baby Kelly 4 Has the Floor...
Ciao, la mia famiglia e gli amici,
I don't have much time to write (lots of sleeping, stretching, and growing to do in the next four months), but I just wanted to share something with you...
12 November 2013
Deutschland, oh Deutschland!
Before we inundate you with pictures of bella Italia, we thought we'd leave you with some fond memories of Germany. We are happy to be here now, but don't get us wrong -- we really were blessed to have the times we did in Germany. It was a surprisingly comforting, secure, and peaceful place to be while Zeke was deployed, and it felt like home for the time we lived there.
Here are some pictures for you from one of our final vacation spots!
The first treasure was a guesthouse with a restaurant much like the "Steak On A Stone" concepts in the States. Zeke ordered a 26 oz. bone-in ribeye... Liam I and shared a plate of kangaroo, wild boar, wild hare, and crocodile. I'm not joking. The meats came out to us completely rare and sitting on a sizzling hot stone, with herb butter and dipping sauces to use as you please. We cut it ourselves, cooked the meat to our liking, and ate until we had no room left to breathe. AMAZING. And the rooms there for lodging were wonderful! We would have stayed for an entire weekend, but the weather was rough and we rolled out the morning after our gorgefest. We knew we would definitely be back.
The reason for our guaranteed return? There are actually two:
Frankenrodel & Frankenbob (ROLLERCOASTERS!!). This rollercoaster park is so cool! One of the fun things about Germany is that the facilities don't strictly regulate what you can do with your kids. The German places provide safe, fun, crazy environments, and you make the parental decision whether your child is old enough to handle the attraction. I hated the fact that I was never tall enough to ride anything in the U.S. until I was like 20 years old. I mean, come on! Anyhoo, it was a blast. Liam went down it several times, first with this slow-ass gal and then with his way cooler speed demon Daddy. SO FUN! Oh, did I mention the rollercoaster carts are individually operated? As in, the Germans trust people to man their own little carts? WHOA.
And, in true German fashion, the amusement park also had a bouncy house, a creepy bungee-jumping matrix, and ice cream. Oh, Deutschland.
Teufelshöhle (the Devil's Cave). This natural cave is the longest cave in all of Deutschland. It isn't as scary as it sounds. The cave gets its name from the legend that the Devil guarded the cave and lured various livestock and wild animals to come into the cave for an untimely death. Skeletal remains of various animals were found in the cave, including a humongous cave bear skeleton reconstructed and put on display in the cave. The tour was given in both Deutsch and English, but Liam was as good a narrator of the surroundings as any professional cave explorer.
Enjoy the pictures, and get yourselves ready for Italia in the coming posts!
Here are some pictures for you from one of our final vacation spots!
Pottenstein, Bayern, Deutschland.
In this fabulous little village nestled between our Bamberg post and the Grafenwöhr base,
we found so many treasures!
The first treasure was a guesthouse with a restaurant much like the "Steak On A Stone" concepts in the States. Zeke ordered a 26 oz. bone-in ribeye... Liam I and shared a plate of kangaroo, wild boar, wild hare, and crocodile. I'm not joking. The meats came out to us completely rare and sitting on a sizzling hot stone, with herb butter and dipping sauces to use as you please. We cut it ourselves, cooked the meat to our liking, and ate until we had no room left to breathe. AMAZING. And the rooms there for lodging were wonderful! We would have stayed for an entire weekend, but the weather was rough and we rolled out the morning after our gorgefest. We knew we would definitely be back.
The reason for our guaranteed return? There are actually two:
Frankenrodel & Frankenbob (ROLLERCOASTERS!!). This rollercoaster park is so cool! One of the fun things about Germany is that the facilities don't strictly regulate what you can do with your kids. The German places provide safe, fun, crazy environments, and you make the parental decision whether your child is old enough to handle the attraction. I hated the fact that I was never tall enough to ride anything in the U.S. until I was like 20 years old. I mean, come on! Anyhoo, it was a blast. Liam went down it several times, first with this slow-ass gal and then with his way cooler speed demon Daddy. SO FUN! Oh, did I mention the rollercoaster carts are individually operated? As in, the Germans trust people to man their own little carts? WHOA.
And, in true German fashion, the amusement park also had a bouncy house, a creepy bungee-jumping matrix, and ice cream. Oh, Deutschland.
Teufelshöhle (the Devil's Cave). This natural cave is the longest cave in all of Deutschland. It isn't as scary as it sounds. The cave gets its name from the legend that the Devil guarded the cave and lured various livestock and wild animals to come into the cave for an untimely death. Skeletal remains of various animals were found in the cave, including a humongous cave bear skeleton reconstructed and put on display in the cave. The tour was given in both Deutsch and English, but Liam was as good a narrator of the surroundings as any professional cave explorer.
Enjoy the pictures, and get yourselves ready for Italia in the coming posts!
01 November 2013
Happy Halloween from Italy!
I bet most of you are feeling bad for us during the holiday season, thinking we don't get to feel as American during our time on foreign soil...
Bad news for ya: we got TWO Halloweens this year! This past weekend, the USO put together a fun outdoor family night at the high school track. Liam was able to rock out in his Cookie Monster gear and go down a huge bouncy slide. And last night for the big Halloween spectacular, some of our battalions in the 173rd organized a wonderful gathering at the base. Only our units, only our kids, only our decorations, only our candy. No tears from anyone that I could see! Just fun, friends, and tons of holiday spirit. There was even a chili cook-off!
Enjoy these pictures -- and try not to laugh too hard at Baby Kelly 4's appearance as Elmo.
Click here for a new photo album on our site! We hope everyone's holiday was a blast!
Bad news for ya: we got TWO Halloweens this year! This past weekend, the USO put together a fun outdoor family night at the high school track. Liam was able to rock out in his Cookie Monster gear and go down a huge bouncy slide. And last night for the big Halloween spectacular, some of our battalions in the 173rd organized a wonderful gathering at the base. Only our units, only our kids, only our decorations, only our candy. No tears from anyone that I could see! Just fun, friends, and tons of holiday spirit. There was even a chili cook-off!
Enjoy these pictures -- and try not to laugh too hard at Baby Kelly 4's appearance as Elmo.
Click here for a new photo album on our site! We hope everyone's holiday was a blast!
It's Still 2013, Right?
So... yeah. A bit of a delay. Maybe it's the 6-hour time difference? Oops.
Some updates for you:
1. We are living in Italy. It is bellissima! One of these days/weeks/months we will post some pics of our new home and some of our adventures celebrating La Dolce Vita.
2. We're adding another gorgeous little munchkin to our family. The due date is 27 March, so Spring will be full of all kinds of new life to celebrate! We don't know what the sex is, and we're not sure if we will have the chance to find out... but at least we're guaranteed to know when the baby is born :)
3. Life is good. Full. Peaceful. At times, stressful. But good. We're under the same roof, strengthening our foundation as a family, and appreciating the gifts God gives us daily. Don't get me wrong -- work is hard on Zeke, Liam is testing his emotional maturity (and our sanity) as he careens through his fourth year of life, and I keep breaking things on our tile floors (with no good excuse). But other than that? La vita è bella.
I will post some fun Halloween pictures to our album in just a bit and will attach a link on here. And I promise "just a bit" means today. :)
Ciao!!
Some updates for you:
1. We are living in Italy. It is bellissima! One of these days/weeks/months we will post some pics of our new home and some of our adventures celebrating La Dolce Vita.
2. We're adding another gorgeous little munchkin to our family. The due date is 27 March, so Spring will be full of all kinds of new life to celebrate! We don't know what the sex is, and we're not sure if we will have the chance to find out... but at least we're guaranteed to know when the baby is born :)
3. Life is good. Full. Peaceful. At times, stressful. But good. We're under the same roof, strengthening our foundation as a family, and appreciating the gifts God gives us daily. Don't get me wrong -- work is hard on Zeke, Liam is testing his emotional maturity (and our sanity) as he careens through his fourth year of life, and I keep breaking things on our tile floors (with no good excuse). But other than that? La vita è bella.
I will post some fun Halloween pictures to our album in just a bit and will attach a link on here. And I promise "just a bit" means today. :)
Ciao!!
16 July 2013
Auf Wiedersehen, Bamberg...
and buon giorno, mia bella Vicenza! It's about that time, folks. We are trekking down to Italy in a matter of days.
We have a new mailing address --
CMR 427 Box 3804
APO, AE 09630
And a few fun pictures of the bouts of relaxation we have had over the past month. Click right here! As you'll see, we relax by doing various exercises, and we tend to enjoy both day and night in jammie gear. With no A/C to speak of in this country, there is little motivation to get dolled up unless we have a valid reason.
Speaking of -- we are getting dolled up tonight for dinner with the Ecklors, some dear friends we have made here in Bamberg. We will miss them, even though we are excited about our next adventure.
Enjoy the pictures!
We have a new mailing address --
CMR 427 Box 3804
APO, AE 09630
And a few fun pictures of the bouts of relaxation we have had over the past month. Click right here! As you'll see, we relax by doing various exercises, and we tend to enjoy both day and night in jammie gear. With no A/C to speak of in this country, there is little motivation to get dolled up unless we have a valid reason.
Speaking of -- we are getting dolled up tonight for dinner with the Ecklors, some dear friends we have made here in Bamberg. We will miss them, even though we are excited about our next adventure.
Enjoy the pictures!
10 July 2013
Independence Day, Bamberg Style
And this time, we had Daddy and the boys home to help us celebrate one of the greatest holidays ever established.
We managed to take a few shots while we enjoyed the gorgeous weather, fun events, and fabulous company. You can check them out here!
This year serves as the last one in which Bamberg will celebrate America's independence. Although the post will still technically be open next July, there will be only a few soldiers and families around -- not enough to support the financing and efforts needed to conduct the day's events. We are thankful that we had a celebration at all; many American bases overseas were not given the funding to celebrate the holiday this year. #EFFTHEFURLOUGH (disclaimer: not really a hashtag link. Just a link to a related article. This revelation should not surprise anyone reading this blog... but we don't follow the hashtag craze. It is funny though.) What's not funny is that we have soldiers stationed around the world that can't even throw down on our nation's birthday. The men and women sacrificing everything to give us cause to celebrate are stuck watching the NYC fireworks on July 5th on their TV screens. It's not the same, and it doesn't seem right at all.
However, Bamberg did a nice job of giving us all that patriotic feeling, with hamburger, hot dogs, brats, drinks, bouncy houses, dance floors, and live music. After the sun went down, the fireworks went up -- a show lasting around 10+ minutes. As you'll see in the video below, the fireworks were beautiful! And yours truly (Jess here, not Zeke... sorry to disappoint) hopped up on stage and sang our nation's hymn to complete the event. (And Pappy, notice I threw in a verse of "O, America!" at the end -- enjoy!)
Happy Berfday, 'Merica. We miss you dearly.
We managed to take a few shots while we enjoyed the gorgeous weather, fun events, and fabulous company. You can check them out here!
This year serves as the last one in which Bamberg will celebrate America's independence. Although the post will still technically be open next July, there will be only a few soldiers and families around -- not enough to support the financing and efforts needed to conduct the day's events. We are thankful that we had a celebration at all; many American bases overseas were not given the funding to celebrate the holiday this year. #EFFTHEFURLOUGH (disclaimer: not really a hashtag link. Just a link to a related article. This revelation should not surprise anyone reading this blog... but we don't follow the hashtag craze. It is funny though.) What's not funny is that we have soldiers stationed around the world that can't even throw down on our nation's birthday. The men and women sacrificing everything to give us cause to celebrate are stuck watching the NYC fireworks on July 5th on their TV screens. It's not the same, and it doesn't seem right at all.
However, Bamberg did a nice job of giving us all that patriotic feeling, with hamburger, hot dogs, brats, drinks, bouncy houses, dance floors, and live music. After the sun went down, the fireworks went up -- a show lasting around 10+ minutes. As you'll see in the video below, the fireworks were beautiful! And yours truly (Jess here, not Zeke... sorry to disappoint) hopped up on stage and sang our nation's hymn to complete the event. (And Pappy, notice I threw in a verse of "O, America!" at the end -- enjoy!)
Happy Berfday, 'Merica. We miss you dearly.
20 June 2013
Six Hours Ahead
And yet months behind on this blog. But that's a good thing -- life moves at its swiftest when you enjoy it.
Instead of trying to apologize through pictures of memories long since created, I'll throw some cute Liam videos at you to catch you up... and hopefully appease you.
03 May 2013
Cruises Are LAME.
JUST KIDDING!
To celebrate Zeke's homecoming and get away from it all, we chose to hop on a plane to Florida and roll out on a Disney cruise ship. Bound for 8 days in the Caribbean. Now THAT is how you celebrate! Or at least how we celebrate. A cruise has managed to be a bookend to every one of our deployments!
Unlike last year's cruise, which was chock-full of beautiful scenery, history, culture, and information, this cruise was full of everything we needed now: sunshine, relaxation, sunshine, beaches, awesome family time, and sunshine. And sunshine. And some more sunshine.
So no history lessons or long-winded diatribes this round -- just some amazing pics ahead. For now, we will hook you up with the shots the Disney pros took of us on the cruise. Await more albums and maybe even a video or two in the coming days!
17 March 2013
28 February 2013
Next Stop: Harvard
This morning while we were having breakfast, I asked Liam if he could trace the letters on one of his little dry erase workbooks. He hasn't even looked at these books since this past summer.
He looks at the letters, goes, "Trace? Oh, okay!" and came up with this masterpiece:
24 February 2013
Buon Compleanno, Liam!!*
Our little man is three years old today. I posted pictures so you can see what a fun day we have been having!
So far, Liam has eaten 3 cupcakes. I'm sure at least 3 more will "go past the uvula" before the day's end. (Seriously, Liam's words exactly. He is fascinated with the uvula.)
We were hoping to visit with some friends for a dinner out tonight, but we got hit with almost 6" of snow this weekend. Lots of shoveling, zero driving. It is times like these that I am thankful Liam takes after his parents: somewhat anti-social, a bit of a homebody, and much more interested in relaxing on the couch with a glass of Jameson than partying it up downtown. Okay, well maybe that last part is "a glass of bubble water" for Liam, but you get the idea. No matter how many times or in what ways I asked him, Liam did not want a birthday party. He just wanted a cupcake.
So I made him 24.
And I don't know if we will have any left to share with friends by tomorrow.
Happy birthday, our sweet Liam. We are so proud of the bright, witty, charismatic, inquisitive, handsome young man you are turning out to be. We love you!
* This title is in Italian because Vicenza, Italy looks to be our next duty station... we are a lucky bunch! More to come...
So far, Liam has eaten 3 cupcakes. I'm sure at least 3 more will "go past the uvula" before the day's end. (Seriously, Liam's words exactly. He is fascinated with the uvula.)
We were hoping to visit with some friends for a dinner out tonight, but we got hit with almost 6" of snow this weekend. Lots of shoveling, zero driving. It is times like these that I am thankful Liam takes after his parents: somewhat anti-social, a bit of a homebody, and much more interested in relaxing on the couch with a glass of Jameson than partying it up downtown. Okay, well maybe that last part is "a glass of bubble water" for Liam, but you get the idea. No matter how many times or in what ways I asked him, Liam did not want a birthday party. He just wanted a cupcake.
So I made him 24.
And I don't know if we will have any left to share with friends by tomorrow.
Happy birthday, our sweet Liam. We are so proud of the bright, witty, charismatic, inquisitive, handsome young man you are turning out to be. We love you!
* This title is in Italian because Vicenza, Italy looks to be our next duty station... we are a lucky bunch! More to come...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)