Kid moments

We are just getting into our little routines and enjoying simple moments right now. Layne just loves to ride her 'borrowed' bike after school and Liam really loves to color in his coloring book. Brenne is just happy to be crawling around and pulling herself up where she can. She did climb a flight of stairs recently and loved it. Check out new pictures at our web album site.

Some new milestones

Well summer is over and new milestones are to be reported. Brenne is successfully pulling herself up into a standing position and will make this happen wherever possible. She also loves to roam around outside, of course trying out grass and dirt if she can.

Liam still enjoys all his moments inside, outside and will now be focusing on his writing skills and other pre-school basics. He is spelling his name out loud. His favorite word and color is R E D.

Layne is now a 1st grader and happy to be moving up into more learning skills. She is also excited about learning more german and already likes her new teacher Frau Trefftzs.

Singing to Brenne before born

Here is a video of Liam singing with me to Brenne just days before she is born. I thought it was too cute and I was able to download it for viewing. It is amazing that it has been eight months since Brenne was delivered to our family and how much Liam has changed in less than a year.

Happy Viewing!!

England Adventrue

What an exciting week we had in England. It was a treasure to be able to vacation with our friends and see some beautiful and fascinating sights of England. We stayed at a timeshare villa in Barham, just outside of Dover. The kids had a wonderful time playing with the many other kids that were staying that week in the enclosed courtyard. One hilarious happening was the daily visits from the door-to-door ducks looking to be fed. The kids loved providing the ducks with bread. They also enjoyed swimming and playing some tennis there as well.

The beautiful courtyard

Woods family feeds the ducks

In Canterbury, we walked through a charming little village park on our way to see the Cantebury Cathedral. We did enjoy seeing the "busyness" of the town. We did miss out on seeing the Cantebury Tales sights, but loved visiting the town.

The kids at the Canterbury Cathedral

In Dover, we first saw the White Cliffs of Dover, which were breathtaking to see, as well as walk along the paths. Brenne was exhausted and wanted to exercise her crawling skills, so Mommy didn't get to walk the cliffs. I did sit on a nice spot where I had a beautiful view of the cliffs and channel. Later in the week, we went to the Dover Castle, home of Henry VIII and the WWII secret wartime tunnels. The amount of history we discovered in our tours was very educational.

Layne and Liam at the White Cliffs of Dover

Our family at the Dover Castle

In London, we of course thoroughly enjoyed all the popular sites we could see in two days. We really enjoyed taking the Original Bus Tour so that we could see the heart of London. It was great to view the culture and experience the London Eye, see Big Ben, the London Bridge, Tower of London (which we didn't go inside), Westminister Abby, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the Guards. We even took the underground subway a couple of times. All adventures were enjoyed by all and the kids were great on the times when we had to walk long distances.

The popular red telephone booth

The Woods family (Andy, Kim, Gabe, and Gavin) were a great family to have along with us on our England adventure. This vacation will definitely be one we will cherish and we look forward to exploring more of England at another time.

Many more photos are available to be seen at our Web Album

Brussels with Paul Scherbel

Mark discovered that his high school friend, Paul Scherbel, currently resides in Brussels, Belgium. Paul is about to go stateside, so we made a short weekend trip up to Belgium to see him and explore a little of the area. We went downtown to the popular La Grande Place and saw the famous buildings in the square, along with the famous Manneken-Pis statue not too far away. We enjoyed some fried food, a belgian waffle, and got ourselves a box of Belgian chocolates at the Chocopolis. After a short little nap for some of us, and a few rain showers, the sun came out and we headed to a local park near his house in Overjise. Layne loved the fast zip-line and was on that whenever there wasn't a line. Liam loved being everywhere else and really enjoyed the large and fast slide. We then went to the pond and fed the ducks; but only had a few pieces of bread and by the time the flock came along, the bread was gone. Mark and Paul had a great time catching up on high school memories and viewing the high school year book. It was a great 'get away' visit to Belgium.

Dinosaur Park Fun Day

It took two days to enjoy this park, but we did have a great time at the Dinosaur Park in downtown Kaiserslautern at the well known Gartenschau, japanese garden park. It rained the first time we went, but we did get some mini golf in before it rained. At the next trip, it was a hot and sunny day, where the kids got to explore the bigger playground attractions. Brenne and I sat in the nice shade, so I didn't get as many pictures of Layne and Liam. We, of course, enjoyed our time with close friends and look forward to another warm day when we can explore it again.

Brenne-7 months

Brenne is getting around and enjoying playtime much more. She is now able to get herself into a sitting position when she is on her tummy. She also is scooting along on her tummy more and will most definitely be crawling around by months end. Brenne also has cut her left bottom tooth and her right tooth is coming in as well. She has discovered some food options and enjoys eating a variety of vegetables and fruits, as well as the bitter biscuits and juice.