Annweiler am Trifels--Town of Half-Timber Houses

My Mom and I went to Annweiler am Trifels, Brenne included, to see the beautiful half-timbered houses in the town. The Burg Trifels castle is currently closed for the season, but we drove up to the castle to capture a picture. Actually, most of the other tourist sites were closed for the season, and the half-timbered houses were just on one road basically, but it was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed walking around the town. There wasn't much open for grabbing a bit to eat, so we headed back to Ramstein. My GPS took us back another route and we ended taking a very curvy, winding road. Our appetites were thus minimized but we stopped at a local German restaurant and Brenne loved the bread, as well as gave me some cute poses.

Grammy is here!

My mom, Teresa Hocking, aka 'Grammy' to the kids is here for most of the month of November. We are all very excited to spend some quality time and just have fun together. Layne and Liam were very excited about her arrival. They even made a cute little video the morning of her arrival. Brenne has warmed up nicely to Grammy and enjoys playing with her.

We went to the indoor park, Yabadoo and Grammy really enjoyed playing with the kids and watching them have fun. She has also walked around the neighborhood with them and took them to the local park. She has also walked down to the bus stop with Layne every morning and a few times brought back yummy baked goods from the local bakery. Layne, Liam, and Brenne are just glad that Grammy is here to play games or do their favorite activities. Mark and I are glad to be able to have 'adult' time and conversations with her.

Happy Halloween

Layne learned all about Bats in her class during October. She was really fascinated by them and learning that they are mammals like us. Her class had a bat party on Thursday, Oct. 30 and the kids were asked to dress up as bats. I made the wings from a black t-shirt and sewed them on to a black sweater and made bat ears on a headband. She was excited about wearing the costume.


The kids had a good time going out dressed up in costume for safe 'trick-or-treating' on the very crowded Ramstein base. Most people commented on how cute Liam was with his Superman curl. I decided not to dress up Brenne this year, so we will look to do so next year.


Superman Liam and Angel Layne

New home in Steinbach am Glan, Germany

Well, we have been living in our new home for almost a month now. It feels good to be getting settled in and organized. There is still some work to be done, but this week is 'finalizing week' as my Mom will be coming to visit us for the month of November. The home is much easier to maintain and it fits our needs much better than the house before.

There is a local park that is within walking distance and the kids rode their bike/scooter, while I strolled Brenne and we played for a little while. There isn't much to the park, but the kids enjoyed it.

Our commute is a little bit longer and with the current construction that is happening in the town before us, Henschtal, we have a longer, but beautiful drive to get to autobahn. The following picture is the view of Leibstal and Quirnbach.

Liam's New Beginnings

Liam started pre-kindergarten at an American Montessori school called the C&K Children's House on September 29th. He was very excited to be there and going to 'school'. His neighbor friend (and son of one of Mark's co-workers), Sammy, also attends the school. This is a new beginning for Liam as he turned 4 years old on October 5th and welcomes his new age with enthusiasm and a strong desire for learning.

He spent his birthday celebration at the on-base bowling alley with friends who work with Mark. He was glad to have a 'real' party with friends. He is very happy to be a big 4 year old boy.

(He is wearing the same outfit in both pictures, but they were taken on different days).

Brenne's first word is....

"Bah-Bah" comes from the lips of Brenne after bye-bye was said to her when Layne and Liam were in bed saying good-night. She didn't say it until she was in her room as I was about to read to her. I immediately took her back to their room and she said 'bah-bah' after Liam said it and Layne said it. It was a great milestone to witness and it occurred on Wednesday October 8, just two days before turning 10 months. She hasn't said 'bah-bah' much since then, but we continue to encourage her.

Brenne is also keeping her balance longer, about 5 seconds and I bet will be taking her first steps this month.

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.