Some Springtime Happiness

Just us living life here in Norfolk:

Easter

A beautiful walk in the neighborhood

Learning to read.

Simon and his friend watching the big sisters' soccer game.

Hannah and her "bock-pock"

Oh heavens.  This guy showed up just outside our back door.  Five foot rat snake with his recent lunch bulging in his belly.  I am so freaked out.

Simon and Daddy named him Ratatouille

Reunion Getaway

Can't believe I never posted this.  It's old news now (November 2012), but very very fond memories for us.

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Maybe one of the best decisions we've made.  As soon as Christopher got home from deployment we hopped in the car for a four day getaway to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  We found the most perfect little set up at the Marriott resort: a little apartment with two bedrooms, kitchen, balcony, etc. plus TONS of daily activities for the family.  Obstacle course for the kids, evening smores, movie night...

Breakfast in our 'room'.

Christopher was the master of 'scavenger hunts'.  He'd give the kids lists of things to find and they'd take off all over the resort to take photos of the found objects.  They loved it!

  

Bowling Night!

Yes, he's bowling with Hannah in his arms!

The view from my run one morning.  Gorgeous.

Where We're At

These days I find myself a jumble of emotions.  The easiest one to label is "freaked out".  Overwhelmed.  At capacity.  We've got a lot happening around here and I wonder if I'll get it all done.  But I also feel conflicted...I've got my head firmly planted in Germany: working logistics, planning the move, panicking about housing and drivers' licenses and passports.  But my heart is right here with this beautiful life we've made with these wonderful friends.  Two years is nothing...it's the blink of an eye.  But once again, I am getting choked up thinking about saying goodbye.  I could live life with these people forever.  I could let them continue to help me raise these kids.  I wonder how I did it before them.

So...logistically...here's where we're at.  Six weeks until pack and load out.  Seven weeks until we're on the plane.  School's winding down and triathlon and field trip season are in full swing.  We thought we had found and nailed down an awesome house for us in a great little village in Germany, but it is not meant to be.  We got an email last week telling us that the current tenants are not leaving this summer (I mean, I can hardly blame them...it's awesome...but still!), so we're back to square one.  Deep breaths, deep deep prayer.  When we land in Germany we'll live in a hotel for many weeks, as long as it takes to find a place to live.  Our household goods will arrive sometime in August (we hope!)  In a few weeks we'll put our van on a boat to Europe, to be seen again in 6-8 weeks (we hope!).  In the midst of it all we are also going to say goodbye to Casey.  Oh God.  She's going to live with my parents in Colorado...her version of heaven on earth.  She's 13 years old now and slowing down a bit.  We fear the ride over plus the upheaval of it all would be too much to ask of such an angel of a dog.  I can't bear it.  I don't know how I will.

So there's a little stream-of-consciousness update for you.  Would love your prayers for God's will for our family.  We certainly have ideas about how we would like it to go, but it only really works if it's His plan.  Let it be so.

Spring Break, Charlottesville Style

These scenes look familiar, huh?  We took the opportunity for one last quick visit to Charlottesville during the kids' spring break.  It did not disappoint.  Well, I'm sure the weather could have been better, but we had a blast anyway.  Some shots from our always-awesome hike on the Rivanna River trail.

Virginia Beach

Sometimes it's good for us to remember that we live at the beach...well, just 20 miles away.  Here are a few shots from a chilly winter morning spent at the ocean.  I will remember how the beach brings out the puppy in Casey.  She loved every minute on the sand.  Such an amazing dog.

Italy pics

It was all it was meant to be.  Met every expectation.  Our little getaway to southern Italy was the perfect reunion after a long separation.  And it was just so, so beautiful


We met up in Naples after a long chaotic day of waiting and waiting for the carrier to anchor and the crew to be shuttled to shore.  What we thought would be a noon reunion turned into a midnight spectacle of high seas and happy reunions.

There's the Enterprise, anchored about two miles off shore.

Ohhh Sorrento!  This is our balcony and the view from our room.  I could not have asked for a more perfect setting.  We were about 1 1/2 miles from downtown Sorrento, which made for a couple of nice runs right along the beautiful Amalfi coast.  We couldn't help thinking how much it reminded us of La Jolla.


On a day trip to Capri, we were 'adopted' by an awesome local lady named Nunzia.  We met on the ferry and she proceeded to take us all over her own little island.  The picture above is of Via Krupp, a winding walkway leading down to a little local beach.  
Here's Nunzia.  She spoke very, very little English.  We had no Italian unless you count frantic hand gestures and the back page vocabulary listing in our guide book.  This was a day we'll never forget.

View of Capri from the very top of Mount Solare (reached via single chair lift).



We woke up the next morning with two cruise ships and a vintage sailing ship docked outside of our hotel balcony.
Positano!

  Shopping the streets of Naples.  I really fell in love with this dirty, complicated little city.
"Best cannoli ever."
  The entire city gathered in the piazzas that night to watch the Napoli v. Juventis soccer match.  Restaurants put up big screens in the squares and glasses of beer flowed.  Totally awesome.
What a trip!

True Love

I can't enough of these two together.  Casey is Hannah's best friend.  She calls her "Dog Dog" and lights up when Casey walks into the room.  They share nearly every snack and meal seem to do more than just mutually tolerate each other.  I'm sure there's some real, true love there.

Snow Day!

First, and so far only, snow of the year.  We quickly bundled up and played in it.  Hannah loved it for thirty seconds.  Refusing mittens has it's price.