Going for a walk...

Even though it's winter, we try to go for a family walk whenever we have a day off so we can get outdoors and see what's around our house.  Here's a few pictures of our last 3.

I know we didn't get as much snow as those of you that live in New England, but we had a pretty cool ice effect where we woke up and everything had ice crystals on it, shaped like little leaves.  It was nice looking and everything was covered in white.  The only thing was that it flaked right off like soft snow if you touched it...it was pretty cool...not hard like the iced-over branches I always knew in Massachusetts.

Collin and I...leaving our street in Obereichenbach.

Gorgeous trees...

This one makes a cool desktop background...

Collin had a "moment" and had some big elephant tears.  He actually got so bad that we had to go home and let him take a nap which he doesn't usually do these days.  No clue what was wrong with that boy.

After his nap, we tried going for a walk again....it was much better this time and he had a blast.  I told him he could lick the snow off the plants, so he did...and I think he licked EVERY plant in the field until we told him we needed to pick up the pace a bit. 

There was a cool treestand built along the edge of the field and the woods.  I assume it was to shoot deer during hunting season...but not sure.  It seems like there's one of these along every field.

Our next walk was halfway between here and the town that we lived in temporarily, Bruckberg.  There's a cute little village up on a hill, so we parked and walked up there.  I forget the name of it, but I think it's Reckersdorf or something like that...it's only got about 12 houses in it and reminds me of a medieval town. 

My girl Gunner Mae, still as beautiful as ever

Collin was proud he climbed his little hill

On New Years Eve, we went for a walk down by a lake towards Munich.  We were on our way to an early dinner so we were dressed up and decided to try to take a family picture (minus Gunner). 

This one had a questionable background...

Collin....cute no matter what.

Collin and Mommy

Finally...one that we think came out pretty good. 

Thanks for reading and happy New Year!

Christmas 2007 in Germany

We arrived back in Germany and I started to get settled in to my normal work routine at the clinic.  It's basically an 8-4 job, but I end up staying late every night to catch up on my charts and do extra stuff for the unit that I don't have time to do during the day.  Overall, it's pretty enjoyable though and it's good to be back into day-to-day medicine.
 
We did a little bit of shopping for the house when we got back, trying to get ready for Christmas.  One place we went to was IKEA, the Swedish furniture place which is only like 20 minutes away in Nuremberg.  We stopped in a little town just outside of Nuremberg for lunch on our way and they had this nice little nativity themed windmill thing.

Collin and Mommy after lunch...

The IKEA in Nuremberg is enormous.  It takes a couple hours to walk through the whole store which is like a maze leading you from section to section.  There's a cafeteria halfway through the store and a coffee shop at the beginning and end.  Collin seems to like going there though...they have hopscotch painted on the floors scattered throughout and of course, he likes to touch everything.

I started taking the guitar more seriously and I'm beginning to take lessons after the holidays.  Here's Collin and I unwinding after work one evening.

We had a Christmas party for the clinic and did the secret Santa thing and brought a present for Santa to hand out to the kids too.  Collin was really cute and brought a hat for Santa.  He was the first kid to walk up to him and talked his ear off, he was really surprised to find out that Santa knew he wanted airplanes. 

Even I got to sit on Santa's lap..

We spent Christmas Eve with our neighbors Luis and Gloriana and their daughter Sofia.  Here's Collin and Sofia.  Collin had Fifth Disease (Erythema Infectiosum, a parvovirus B19 infection) which presented the "slapped-cheek" appearance on the 23rd and he had a rash all over his body on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  He was fine...just looked a little funny with the bright red cheeks.

We were playing a card game called Dos Trios, it's pretty fun.  I don't know if it was beginner's luck..but I emerged the champion.  I also did some damage to a bottle of vodka and made some delicious martinis.

Here's Collin coming downstairs on Christmas morning.  He found a few gifts that Santa must have left by his bed, as you can tell by the lollipop in his mouth first thing in the morning.

The approach to the living room in anticipation....

And.....the tree...Santa came...

Collin helped hand out presents...he was struggling with Gunner's bone though...

Here he is opening a few gifts...oddly, he kept asking for a vacuum cleaner for Christmas, oh, and "toy beer".  We found the vacuum cleaner, but didn't get him any beer.

Mimi and Poppa got him a Dora the Explorer world globe that lets him learn about different countries.  He really liked it..

The next night, the neighbors came over our place for dinner and round two of Dos Trios.  We didn't finish the game, largely due to disinterest after I took a commanding lead early on, but I did manage to introduce them to Guitar Hero, haha...

Here's Collin and Sofia, chillaxing in Collin's room.

 

Gloriana trying her hand at becoming a Goddess of Rock

And lastly, Luis and I getting ready to play as a team.  It was our first Christmas as a family in Germany and we really had a nice one.  We missed our families, but hopefully they can come visit us here.  The Christmas Markets in Germany are really beautiful (I have pictures, I just forgot to put them up and I'm being lazy right now). 

Virginia Beach & Massachusetts

This is a little late in coming, but I've been a little myspace phobic lately and busy with the holidays and new work schedule at the clinic. 

After I graduated from the Flight Surgeon course in Alabama, we (Malisa, Collin and I in one vehicle and Mom-mom, Chris, Tab and Lucas in their car) drove back up to Virginia Beach.  It was about a 14-15 hour drive and pretty boring as far as road trips go.  We did the usual routine of stopping at Cracker Barrel and renting the audio CD's to listen to enroute, so we got a couple of good "reads" in. 

We arrived at the Marriott in Virginia Beach and as we pulled into the parking garage, we could see the 2 grammies waiting for us in the lobby...who knows how long they were just sitting there waiting, haha.  Probably hours. 

I guess Pam and Debbie (my mom and Malisa's mom) went down to the beach before we arrived...here are a couple shots of them enjoying VA Beach after their own long drive down from Mass. 

We were pretty tired and just crashed out for the night after getting there.  Collin spent the night with his Mimi and Grammy Pammy whom he had missed so much.  The next morning we ate breakfast down in the lobby and then headed over to my brother's house. 
Here's Collin and I at breakfast in the lobby...

When we arrived at my brother's place, we could hear the LOUDEST music ever as we opened the car door.  I thought there was a concert going on..and it turns out there was...in my brothers backyard where he was playing the drums and accompanied by his IPod that was hooked up to a huge amp.  He sounded good though! 
Collin and Lucas were all too eager to pound out some percussion themselves....

 

They took a break and did some mini 4-wheeling around the yard.

Meanwhile, Christopher and I sang a little Green Day while Tabitha played the drums.

After hanging out with family all day, we headed to our favorite restaurant in Virginia Beach, Harpoon Larry's for some Oysters and Crab legs.
Mom and Mom Little at Harpoon Larry's...

 

Debbie likes Larry's so much that my mom bought her a shirt for her birthday which she proudly modeled!

3 photos demonstrating the silliness of seafood...

We had fun and mom and Collin danced their little hearts out, oblivious to all around (haha).  The next morning, Malisa and I got up early and went for a run on the boardwalk and then did some lunges while Collin hung out with the Grammies.

We headed back over to Mom-mom's where Dad really enjoyed spending time with his 2 grandsons.

 

Candy and dirt...a boy's dream...here's messy-faced Lucas

Funny picture of dad...

 

    We headed back to the hotel in the afternoon.  Collin got to go play on the beach and later some people came over and we rocked out to Guitar Hero!

Chris and Jess...Guitar gods..

The next day we left Virginia and headed up to Massachusetts to visit everybody else.  Here I am with Mom and Dad, saying goodbye...

It was good to visit with everybody when we got back to Mass.

Here's Todd and Collin (or CJ, as only Todd is allowed to call him)..

Collin demonstrating proper thumb-sucking to his cousin Josiah..

Malisa's birthday is November 13th and mine is Nov 14th, so we stayed at one of the cottages at the Hotel Northampton and went out for dinner and drinks in NoHo.  We were supposed to meet a friend but due to some miscommunication we didn't...maybe next time?  Anyway, we ended up having an amazing time, it's really beautiful there. 

I was spreading Guitar Hero addiction like crack.  Here I am at my sister's house getting James involved in the spirit of ROCK. 

One of the last things we did on our trip before heading back to Germany was play golf with Malisa's brothers Tim and Todd.

As we left the golf course, there was a styrofoam skull leftover from Halloween and the guy working there asked if I still wanted it for my son (we had gone golfing with Collin a few days before and he said Collin could have it but we forgot to take it).  So, I said sure...and took it home...wearing it on my head to try to spook Collin.  As you can see...it didn't bother him in the least. 

 

It was a good visit and we're back in Germany now, about to enjoy the new year!