Deutschland!

We got to do our first out of country trip back in April!  A couple months ago I found out Nathan would be going to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany for his job so I asked if he could check and see if Miles and I could tag along.  We got the go-ahead and so we found a hotel and packed our bags.  I have been longing to go to Germany since I sat in Herr Jessop's German class back in 1993. 

We were supposed to leave the 25th...but that was changed to the 26th.  So bright and early Thursday morning we headed on in to the Space-A terminal, checked in and hoped we would have a seat on the plane!  There was a bit of a bump...at first it didn't look like all the spouses (five, plus three kids) would be able to come.  Luckily it was resolved and we all got to go.  

Yay...tickets!!

This is how daddy chose to entertain Miles while waiting for the plane. 

This was the first time I've ever entered the plane through the rear-end.  It was interesting...and LOUD!

We also had to ride with all the cargo (which was all the gear/luggage for the band)...the first half of the plane was stripped of seats and the cargo was put there.  Cool...but slightly unsettling.  

Miles did AWESOME on the plane...seriously, he is a born traveler.  

After we landed in Munich we had to stay on the tarmac a while and let the guys unload the plane.  It was LOUD...good thing we had "mickey mouse ears" for Miles! 

The Sound Engineers for the band...and Miles. 

Love this face!

After the plane was unloaded we took a bus to Garmisch, dropped the boys off at the stadium for rehearsal, checked into our hotel, scarfed down a DELICIOUS steak in our hotel's restaurant, and then went to the dress rehearsal for the tattoo - which for the non-band geek is like a large marching band show.  It was so neat...of course I'm a band geek at heart so seeing 400+ musicians marching onto a large stage is total geekdom for me.  At the first of the show, all of the bands marched onstage and then played the national anthem of all the nations represented: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Oman & the United States.  I have to admit that being in that big stadium, hearing the Star Spangled Banner being played by that many people brought tears to my eyes.  Miles did really well through the show...he danced on my lap and clapped and clapped and clapped.

Here are three shots of the stage with all the musicians, dancers, performers, etc.  

Stage right.

Center (the Navy Band is in the middle of this pic)

Stage left

The first full day in Germany...we (Miles, me and my friend Christy) skipped the country and went to Innsbruck, Austria.  First stop was Swarovski Kristal Welten.  It was pretty amazing...and it was probably a good thing to do without the big boys...they would have been bored.  

This is the cool fountain outside the entrance.

Inside Kristal Welten are bunch of rooms with various exhibits made of Swarovski crystals.  Some of them were pretty cool...others were kinda weird.  

This was a crystal wall inside the beginning of the exhibits.  It was something like 30 feet tall and 200+ feel long.  It was so sparkly...I wanted to take it home. 

Why is there a Zebra in the shoe??!

A pyramid made of crystal...the pyramid was cool.  What was inside was just plain odd.

Inside the pyramid was a tiny little screen that played a 10 second video loop.  It was of a mummy attacking a guy...and someone was screaming.  And the mummy's butt was bare.  ?  Odd

Jellyfish made of Swarovski crystals

Purple AND sparkly?!  Um...yes please. 

After Swarovski, we stopped at Basilika Mariae Empfängnis in Innsbruck.  The Virgin Mary statue in this church used to be in another old church.  When the world war affected the area, the soldiers who looked after the church buried the statue under a tree and left for war.  Many years later a local farmer was digging in his field and found the statue.  

Miles and I in front of the church.

View inside the church...the Virgin Mary statue is on the red velvet in the front.

Basilika Mariae Empfängnis in Innsbruck

After the stop at the church we headed into downtown Innsbruck for lunch and shopping.  Christy, Miles and I opted for Greek food (we were ok with pretty much ANYTHING but Italian...because here in Naples there is not much in the way of other kinds of food...it's Italian, Italian...or Italian), followed by a McDonald's ice cream (yay for McDonald's!).  

Don't knock it...American soft serve was SO delicious!!

The Royal Palace in Innsbruck. 

We made it back to Garmisch that night, ate some yummy food and shopped a little in town.  We didn't see the boys until they got home from the tattoo late that night.

Saturday we woke up early and caught the parade for the International Military Music Festival (that's the reason they were having the tattoo).  

Miles was WAY too distracted by all the drums to look at Christy for the picture.

Nathan marching in the parade. 

Miles playing in the fountain in Garmisch

Mmmmmm....German food.  Mmmmmmm

After lunch, we used the bit of a break to check out the hotel's swimming pool.  I had brought a swimsuit for Miles but because he's so short it was more like swim pants...and was WAY TOO loose.  So I stopped in H&M and grabbed him these swim bottoms.  He's European!   He LOVED the pool...seriously loved it.  As in, cried when we took him out loved it.  That kid is a fish!

Miles in the hotel's swimming pool

Sunday we got up, checked out of our hotel and waited for the bus.  Once we got on, we got word from Nathan's boss that we would not be leaving that day as planned.  Our plane had an unfortunate bird incident and was not flyable.  The band was staying 20 minutes away in NATO barracks in Oberammergau, and luckily the boss arranged for us to stay with them.  The bad news was there was NO internet so we had no way of telling our families that we were not coming home.  My mom got quite worried when multiple means of communication were not answered and I think had just about given herself a stroke by the time I was finally able to get in touch with her on Tuesday.

The plan was they were fixing the plane...or sending a replacement and we would likely be leaving on Monday.  Our German host...Ingo, from the German Air Force, was very good at helping us with things to do.  He first took us to the store so we could buy food and clothes (and diapers and formula for us), then we had the evening free to check out Oberammergau.  I didn't take very many pictures...but I got the important one...our dinner:  

Nathan's pork knuckle and potato dumpling

My steak with grilled onions...and bacon wrapped green beans.

One shot of downtown Oberammergau

Staying in the barracks was...um...interesting.  It was like a dorm (I guess...I never lived in one), with a community shower.  The beds were wicked hard and uncomfortable...and twin sized.  So Nathan took one and I took the other and we rotated sleeping with Miles.  And wow...I thought I was a crazy sleeper!  Miles is a mover and shaker in his sleep...Holy Moses!  

Sweet huh?  <3

Monday we went to Ettal and saw the Monastery and then went to the Palace at Linderhoff...one of the palaces built by Ludwigg II (guy who built Neuschwanstein Castle)

In front of the Ettal Monastery

Schloss Linderhoff

Daddy helping Miles play in the fountain at Linderhoff

All wet.  I love his toes in this pi!

Monday evening we got word that the plane was not going to be fixed and the replacement plane was now broken.  (it was ALMOST comical at this point...almost) The plan was to take a tour bus the 16+ hours back to Naples.  I wasn't too thrilled with this plan, but figured I'd deal with it.   Right before bed we heard that the spouses and children were not going to be able to go on the bus...we'd have to find our own way home.  Which would have been ok, but we didn't have internet to look up plane or train schedules.  Needless to say I did NOT sleep well that night.  

Tuesday we woke up and heard that the bus would NOT be taking people home, but that one of the planes was fixed and would be picking everyone up the following day.  I was glad I wasn't going to have to wing a trip home...and also grateful for one more day in Germany.  We spent the morning lazing around Oberammergau (it was a German holiday so a lot was closed), then rode the Laberbahnhoff (a cable car) to the top of the Alps.

Miles loved his view from the cable car

Us with our friends Christy and Taylor in the tops of the Alps.

Family of three in the Alps.

Wednesday we packed up our suitcases, headed back to Munich and were turned lose in the city and were told to be back at the bus at 4:30.  I had a whole, jam-packed day planned for us, I was so excited!  Marienplatz, St Peter's Church, lunch, Dachau, the BMW museum...I was ready to go!  But we needed to eat first, so we rode the subway (SO clean...and SO on time...completely opposite of Chicago's L...but it made me miss it just the same) into town and quickly saw Marienplatz with it's famous Glockenspiel, then headed to Hoffbrau Haus to eat.

Marienplatz, Munich, Germany

Miles and his HUGE mug of frothy apple juice.

We asked someone to snap a pic of the whole group...this is us...minus the four people they didn't get in the shot. 

No sooner than we sat down were we alerted that the plane was there and waiting for us...with a "distinguished visitor" (which to my understanding is usually an admiral).  So we no longer had until 4:30...we had to go NOW.  We scarfed down our food and hustled back.  We rushed through customs and got to the plane to find out that the distinguished visitor was the part for the plane that was broken by the bird.  Seriously.  Ah well...such is life in the Navy.

We got home and Winston was VERY excited to see us...he meowed at us for almost an hour.  Germany was amazing.  Aside from FINALLY being able to use my German, the air was clean, people were polite, and there was NO trash anywhere!  It was like the Disney World of Europe.  I can't wait to go back!

Miles: Year One

**DISCLAIMER**You may need tissues.  Especially if your name is Faye.  Or Verla.  Or Kim. Or Donna.  
So get them now.  You've been warned.  

Seussy Birthday Party

Last Saturday we celebrated Miles' birthday in Seussy fashion!  I have always been a fan of Dr Seuss, and Miles seems to like the sing-songy feel of his books so it was a no brainer when I was trying to decide on a theme for his party.  I created invitations, food tags, planned a menu and made lots and lots of to do lists.  It all went off without a hitch!  We held it at the Rec Center in the crater of an extinct volcano - seriously...how cool is Italy?!

Here is the invite.  I used an old graphic I found YEARS ago (and saved...thank you hoarding gene) and added some clip-art.  I read a bunch of Seuss invitations online, borrowed bit and pieces, used a few lines from some of Dr Seuss' books, made up a bunch of my own and tada...Miles' invitation:

Here is his cake...we had Cakes by Mel make it for us.  Her husband works with Nathan...and we knew them from back in Chicago.  She made the cake and I ordered the finger puppets from Amazon to put on the cake for decoration.  The cake turned out amazing and was WICKED yummy to boot!  I was glad to have a little leftover!

 

I scoured Pinterest for months trying to find all the cute Seussy food I could...and I used some of it and came up with some on my own.  I made all the tags for the food...I think they turned out pretty good!  We had two food tables.  

Table 1: 

Truffula trees (cotton candy...which I have no pics of because it kept disappearing...*ahem* Nathan...)

Hop on Pop-corn

Pink Ink Yink Drink

Bottles of water

Snow from Mt Crumpit (snow cones)

I found these popcorn boxes on Amazon and the free printables HERE. 
I happened to have a paper punch the EXACT size to cut these out for the boxes...how lucky was that?!

Pink Ink Yink Drink.  This was DELICIOUS!! 
Pink lemonade, gingerale, white cranberry strawberry juice and ice.  Yum, yummy!!

Water & Snow from Mt Crumpit. 

Food table 2:

Green Eggs & Ham Sliders

Lorax Mustaches (white chocolate)

Yertle the Turtles

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Goldfish

Poodle Noodles

Green Eggs & Ham Sliders
The sliders were just deli rolls with a slice of ham and a slice of swiss.  Super easy.

I found this graphic HERE...I thought it was perfect to stick in the green eggs.
The eggs were delish!!  Yolks, garlic, Miracle Whip, mustard, celery salt and a pinch of rooster sauce.  And green food coloring of course.   

Lorax Mustaches.
These were orange flavored white chocolate piped into mustache molds I found on Amazon. 

Yertle the Turtles...also known as CRACK.  Seriously.  And super easy too.  Pretzels topped with mini rolos, melt in oven for a few minutes, gently smash a pecan half ontop...how easy is that?!?

Goldfish...simple.  They were supposed to be accompanied by some gummy fish...but they didn't get here in time.  :( The ONE time Amazon fails me...

Poodle Noodles.
Normal pasta salad...I just cooked the pasta in two batches and dyed them orange and pink by adding a few drops of food coloring to the water as it boiled. 

This is the banner I made to hang up:

Miles didn't really want anything to do with opening presents...even the crinkly paper.  Well...until he 'opened' the present we gave him (a mini piano) and saw the keyboard printed on the box and started banging his hands on it.  I think he misses our piano...so do I. :(

After presents came cake...I was really hoping he'd like it better than he did at his photo shoot earlier in the week.  No such luck.  He REALLY does NOT like stuff on his hands.  

Blowing out the candle!

The Cat in the Hat's hat from the top of his cake was the smash cake.

Daddy had to help him smash it...and Miles wasn't so excited about that. 

It was a fantastic day spent with wonderful friends...and Miles was spoiled with hugs, kisses and gifts.  Yay for Miles and yay for birthday parties!!

Photoshoot!

Miles had his pictures taken yesterday.  Cute little stud muffin...I could just eat him.

Happy Birthday Miles!

Dear Miles,

I know it's cliche to say...but honestly when have I ever shied away from cliches, so I'm just going to say it...I can't believe it's been a year since you joined our family!  You are my little sunshine smiley bug.  I look forward to every morning because I know you'll greet me with a big cheesy grin as soon as I open your bedroom door.  That is a pretty major accomplishment...I hate mornings...just ask daddy.  You are such a joy to be around, and you have such a bright, cheerful disposition that everyone notices as soon as they meet you.  I hope you always keep this friendly attitude.  You are very curious and you like to watch mommy and daddy do everything, I hope I can do everything  possible to feed your hunger for knowledge.  You are such a kind little brother to Winston, he really likes you much better now that you don't try and poke him in the eyes.  :) 

Life is so much sweeter with you in it, I feel so very blessed to call you my son. 

Love you lots,

Mommy

I am a mother

I went to church today.  On Mother's Day.  For the first time in SEVEN years.  I sat in my seat and hugged my wiggly little man, whispering prayers of gratitude and fighting back happy tears.  I got to thinking about last year on Mother's Day, how we thought we'd once again been passed-over for another family.  The pain of Georgia still fresh on our hearts, I sat on my couch in my pajamas, snuggled to Winston and ate my weight in chocolate...furnished by my wonderful parents and my sweet hubby.  There were many tears shed.  There was also THIS post.  

Eight days later I became a mother.

This past year has been nothing short of everything I'd hoped for in being a mother.  Of course there are rough days...where I get spit-up on and peed on and pooped on and food thrown at me...and the cranky days and sleepless nights and sticky everything and toys everywhere.  But I can honestly say that I have LOVED every minute of it.  Even today, as I held my sweet little guy who is teething, who went through FOUR diapers during church, who peed all over his pants (and the wall and me and the changing station) on change number three...even today I was grateful.  As I held him and stared at those little naked chubby legs with the upside down heart birthmark just near his knee...I was overcome with gratitude for the blessing of being a mother.  I hope I NEVER take it for granted. 

To you, my dear friends who ache for this blessing.  I love you.  My heart aches for you.  I know today is not the easiest day.  I sincerely HOPE with all the hope I can muster that soon you'll be able to hold the child for which your arms ache.  Keep your chin up and remember it is always darkest before the dawn. 

Birthmother's Day

The Saturday before Mother's Day in the adoption community is celebrated as Birthmother's Day.  This isn't the first year we've thought about it, but it will be the first year we've had reason to celebrate it in our lives.  

Last year I asked you to say prayers for our birthmother, wherever she was and whomever she was...I no idea that we'd meet her so soon after that post and that she'd need those prayers so quickly.  Less than two weeks later we were placed with our sweet little Miles. 

We love Miles' birthmom.  We have a picture of Nathan, me, her and Miles that we took in the hospital after placement.  It is framed in Miles' room and we point it out to him frequently.  This wonderful woman is the reason why this year I'm able to call myself mother.  She is the reason why this year I won't be hiding in my room, crying my way through the day.  She is the reason my arms are no longer empty.  

I always thought about our future birthmother.  I wondered what she'd look like and how old she would be and where she would be from and what she'd be like.  I knew that the greatest day for us would be the worst for her.  I always knew that there had to be a tremendous amount of love that went into placing a child for adoption, but seeing that love first hand was something I will never forget.  

We KNOW that she loves Miles.  Miles knows that we love her, and that she loves him.  That is something I would hope no one will ever doubt...the love a birthmother has for their child.  

This past week I saw a video posted on FB by one of my adoption friends.  I LOVED it...it made me cry.  It was so wonderful to hear in their own words why birthmother's chose adoption, their child, and how they feel about adoptive couples. It is about five and a half minutes and I promise it is worth it  

If you have a few extra prayers today, will you spare some on behalf of all the birthmothers out there?  Especially our dear, sweet T?  They are strong women who made tough choices, all out of love.   That's what adoption is all about...love.