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.

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.

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!

Free At Last

Thank God Almighty.

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:

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...

Gedenkt Macht Frei

Loosely translated: Remembering frees.

As the prisoners entered the Dachau contraction camp, they were greeted with the words ARBEIT MACHT FREI in wrought-iron letters. The door slammed behind them and they entered a world of forced labor, starvation, medical mistreatment, and intentional mass murder. When the SS told the Holocaust victims that "labor frees" it was a disgusting and horrible mockery of an idea otherwise valid and venerated in society.

What does make those tortured souls free -- what will make us all free -- is remembering. Taking serious note of what happened, sharing with others the truth of the past, and vowing to rise above, appreciate our differences, and find a better way.

Somehow we have managed to reach our picture limit for Google's Blogspot (unless we want to start paying... no thank you). From here on out, we will post thoughts and reflections on here and then provide you with a link to any pictures related to the topic. Videos will still be linked directly on this site.

Please check out Our new picture venue! to see some of the photos from Dachau. Seeing these photographs comes nowhere near providing you with the direct experience every human needs to have at a camp memorial, but it gets you started.