Trier

On Friday we headed to Trier. Trier is one of the oldest, if not the oldest cities in Germany. It is built on the ruins of what the Roman's built. The original gate, called the Porta Nigra is still there. It is called the Porta Nigra (or the black gate) because as time passed the stones turned black (even before there was smog-imagine!) There are also ruins of an Imperial Bath house, and amphitheater. Then, there are the palaces-such as the Electoral Palace, and the churches that the Germans built. It was a nice place to visit. It is laid out so that everything is walking distance-however, the amphitheater is a LONG walk from the hauptmarkt-just in case you were wondering. The kids' favorite part of the day was playing at the bath house. The tunnels are still there, so they ran around in the tunnels, pretending to be adventurers. It's also a neat place to hide and scare the people you are with...not that Jamie and I did that to the kids...or the kids to us.

The pictures: upper left, the Porta Nigra. The kids at the bath house, the kids and I in front of St. Peter's Fountain, Jamie and the kids in front of part of the original wall the Romans built. A.J. is sitting up in a window of the wall.

The Easter Market

Today we headed downtown to check out the Easter Market (or Ostermarkt) I had so many people tell me last year about the Easter Market. They raved about the shopping-especially the hand painted eggs. Unfortunately, last year by the time I found out about them, they were all over. We found out yesterday that the markets for our town (and pretty much our entire area) were this weekend, with today being the last day. We headed down, and it was amazing! There were all kinds of little booths set up-there was a whole side of the market devoted to fabric. Then, the next section was cars. Jamie took the time to sit in a brand new BMW (as opposed to his 20 year old one) that is worth close to $100,000! I can't imagine spending that much on a car! By the way, he said it was INCREDIBLY comfortable. Then, we headed to the part I liked...all the little vendor shops. It was crazy busy, as you'll be able to see in the pictures. There was also a marching band that just randomly marched around playing. I also was able to find some of the beautiful eggs. Check them out!

The Wedding

I know, I know. I'm late on this. But, here are some pictures of Krista's wedding. We were able to go back to the States for almost two weeks, and had a wonderful time while we were there!

We might not...

On Thursday Jamie and I took A.J. and my niece Alandria to lunch. We were sitting at Carlos O'Kelly's and one of them (I can't remember which one) said, "We might not always be family" and the other one said, "Yeah, we might not always be family" then the first one said, "But we'll always be friends" and the second one agreed. They have been so cute, playing together since we arrived, and so funny!

Fasching!

Fasching is celebrated in Germany, starting Nov. 11. The celebration is suspended during the Christmas season, but it begins again after the New Year. The major part of "carnival" begins the week before Lent. It is a time of celebrating, before the fasting for Lent begins. Most towns and villages have parades and parties. Today we went to the parade in Mainz Kastel-it is one of the milder parades (we were told it would be rated PG compared to many of the other parades) The participants of the parade call out "Helau!" and the children call it back to have candy and toys thrown at them. The Army also has a float in this parade-you will see it in the pictures. Enjoy the pictures!

Happy Birthday Jamie!

Happy Birthday Jamie! Today was a training holiday, so Jamie even had the day off to relax. We went to dinner, and then to the Valentine Dance at Kaitlin's school. Although, we think that it should have been called the Valentine's Track Meet, with the way the kids were running around. Afterwards, we came home and enjoyed some cake and ice cream. I made him a Valentine's Funfetti cake. I used my Pampered Chef rice cooker that I make the molten chocolate cake in. It turned out cute...but just a little bit of advice. We ate it hot, and the candles MELTED in it. (Yes, Jamie you were partially right) It was pretty funny, Jamie came out and wanted to know what was up with the candles, because they were falling over. I pulled them out, and there was wax in the cake, and the wicks were about all that were left, lol. We put the long side of the wicks up, and I wondered if the cake was going to catch fire. I had only put four on, because I was afraid if I put as many as his age it would take the whole house up:)

Happy Birthday Baby-I LOVE YOU!

Just The Two of Us

There isn't much to say about this photo. We had a Military Police Dining Out to go to. It was a formal event-an excuse to get all dressed up:) It was more of a celebration than anything, that our MP's returned from Iraq without any casualties. And that is a HUGE thing to celebrate. I just wanted to share a picture of us--and Jamie in his mess dress uniform. We also received the monogrammed wine glasses that are given at every MP event. The monogramming is the same picture as the one on the program. Underneath the picture it says OIF 07-09, Iron MP.