Military Balls

One of the fun aspects to military life is the occasion to attend balls and get dressed up. We attended two within three weeks of each other. The first one was here in Vicenza and for some reason all the photos that got taken of us are especially retarded. Either way here they are for your amusement.

This one isn't so bad but we have the same exact picture from every ball we go to. The same across the table picture pose.

Here I am on the dance floor.


Group pose, these are all the other company commanders and their wives. Everyone looks nice but Kirby is making a stupid face. He couldn't reconcile the fact that he was shorter than me and standing behind me wasn't a viable option.

Looking silly with Kirby's boss.



The second ball was held in Garmish Germany. There is a military resort up there that is really awesome. Unfortunately the weather was not nice so we weren't able to enjoy any of the trails and such up there. We of course froze in our tank tops and flip flops because we were as always unprepared. We had a great time and ate a lot of great food. At the ball there was a buffet style dinner and to my great delight our table was the first to go through the line. I was the first to get food. I felt bad walking back into the room with a HUGE plate of food while everyone else just sat there waiting, but then I thought screw them I'm pregnant and hungry and I deserve to be the first in line! Someones got to be anyway. My dress that I bought for the ball didn't fit, my rib cage had gotten to big, so I went with my old trusty red one that I've worn to every other ball besides this last one. At least it was stretchy.

Kirby and his 1st Sergeant and one of his platoon Sergeants.



My friend Kerry who is twice as pregnant as me. She's twice as far along and has twice as many babies in her belly.

The drive home was beautiful, its usually rainy through the pass but this time it was sunny and gorgeous. Seriously if you ever get a chance to drive trough the Alps between Italy and Austria it is breathtaking. These pictures don't do it justice.

Sprinkler Fun

Travels and Eating

When Chris and Jerilou were here we went to Cittadella, a city with a 13th century medieval wall still encircling it. Here's a couple pics from that day.






Kirby was gone for training for about a month and when he got back we took a trip to the country of San Marino. A tiny little country on a mountain in Italy. We had a good time but the entire town was hills, it was very disconcerting to never be on flat ground. Oliver was good at going up the hills but he was mad about being in his stroller a lot of the time. It was our first outing with an 18 month old which is a whole new ball game from a 1 year old. He is getting more of a "I want to do what I want to do attitude" but he is still a very good boy and did really well on a whole.











This past weekend we drove up to Germany on a gastronomical adventure. We spent a night in Munich and two nights in Vilseck where we used to live. Munich is such a great city. There is a pedestrian area with a ton of great shopping and breweries and interesting street performers. We saw everything from a string quartet to xylophone players to a group of about 20 singing accapello.
The first stop on our gastronomical adventure was the Hard Rock Cafe. This might seem dull but when you live in Italy and all you eat is pizza after pizza a cheeseburger with fries is heaven. Also the Hard Rock Cafe in Munich is one of the first place Kirby and I ever went on a date so it has sentimental value too.

The next day we did some serious shopping, I got an awesome pair of shoes for the ball that we are going to tomorrow night (pictures to follow) and Kirby finally got his birthday watch. He wanted to pick it out because he's particular. He got a VERY nice one and is very happy with his choice.

We drove up to Vilseck and went directly to the Doner Kebap place. They have sandwiches made of shaved meat that they shave off this hunk of meat on spit. Its really something you have to try to understand. It was Deelish!

Our third stop was to the rye potatoes restaurant. This place has the best bratfartoffeln (pan fried potatoes) you will ever eat. They are sprinkled with what tastes like rye, thus the name rye potatoes. It took me forever to discover that it was actually caraway seeds which are what gives rye bread that distinct taste. They were as delicious as always, and pretty easy to make.

The next day we went to a place falled Frank's Wunderland (or something sort of close to that, we always play it fast and loose with our German words) The park has been there since the 70's and has all kinds of fun things for kids and adults. All the baby rides were there long before safetly became a huge deal and everything kind of seemed on the dangerous side. We thought what the heck and let Oliver go crazy. He had a great time. We ate some bratwurst and saurkraut and called it a day.

Our last stop on the way out of town, was to the Getrankt Markt, the part of the grocery store that sells the beer. We got two cases of Winkler Brau, the beer that is brewed behind the apartment we lived in. We are biased, but it is a really good beer. I got 12 Radlars (half beer half lemonade) and am going to savour them come December. Kirby is already working on his portion of the two cases.

Overall we had a great time and even though we didn't eat all the food we had planned it was worth the beautiful drive.


A moon bounce for grown ups


For a baby who loves balls this was about the happiest moment of his life.

This carousel when WAY too fast





Rye Potatoes

1 Can of sliced new potatoes
Caraway seeds

Get a frying pan hot and add olive oil. Dump in the can of new potatoes (drained) and even them out. Sprinkle on caraway seeds. Once one side gets browned and crispy flip them over. The whole thing takes about ten minutes and they are awesome!

Bag Head

Oliver totally did this on his own, I didn't show him how at all. He is a funny little guy

Oliver's First Chem Light

Egg-stravaganza

We went to the Egg-stravaganza held on post which basically boiled down to a massive candy grab. They threw tons and tons of candy on the ground and then had the kids bum rush it and pick up as much as they could. They were divided into age groups so the littler ones wouldn't get too trampled. Oliver fell into the 0-3 age group although I didn't see many 2 month olds participating. We didn't even think to bring Oliver a basket or bag to store his loot but as it turned out Oliver, being the helpful guy that he is, was just as happy to put candy into others peoples bags. There was also a moon bounce which Oliver enjoyed.

Roma

Day 1
Our trip to Rome started out with a lovely train ride. After a delay on our first train we literally made the second train with seconds to spare. The only way we were able to make it was because the train we were taking was on the same platform as the train we arrived on. We ran to it with our tons of luggage, stroller, and baby just in time. It took us about half an hour to get everyone and everything through the train to our correct car (we got on car 3 and our seats were in car 9) Once we were all settled and situated, someone came up and said we were in their seats. Sure enough, so we hustled around a little more and FINALLY got settled. Oliver was pretty good and finally took a nap about an hour before we arrived. Here he is with Grandpa, notice the bottle of wine on the right, it was eventually spilled on Jerilou's knitting. It was bound to happen to someone.


Once we arrived at the Rome train station, a man came up to us telling us he could take us to our hotel. I was wary, but we followed him out to his "taxi" which was in fact a beat up blue station wagon. I flatly refused to get in, and wanted to go get a legitimate taxi. After a little argument and people getting mad at me (Kirby) we walked the few paces to the dozens of real taxies lined up. We got into a nice big van and Kirby admitted I was right. I was vindicated!! We got to the convent and checked in then we walked down to Vatican City.

We stopped to eat at an outdoor cafe that was way over priced and the food was not that great, but we had a great time anyway!
Now I won't say that Oliver ate that whole pizza by himself but he ate and ate and ate. He likes pizza.









Day 2
We started the day off with a guided tour around the Vatican Museum. It was informative but the place was CROWDED, the baby began melting down and it was kind of a rough time. We made it to the Sistine Chapel which was beautiful but also crowded. The baby became crazy so I took him out. Kirby followed me but Chris and Jerilou took a different door. We ended up getting separated and waiting for the other one for 3 hours at different exits. We should have moved on after twenty minutes but we kept thinking they'd show, they were thinking the same of us.




He finally fell asleep!

Pulling all the toilet paper off in the bathroom. We couldn't keep him out of the bidet either. Luckily he never learned how to turn it on.


Day 3
We walked down to the Pantheon, and had breakfast at one of the outdoor cafes. It was a gorgeous day and awesome to be surrounded by so much history.

After Chris, Jerilou and Kirby attended mass at a big old church we walked to the Trevi Fountain, but not before buying some ridiculous sunglasses from a street vendor.


We then walked to the Spanish Steps but I guess we weren't impressed enough to take any pictures. We then caught a taxi to the Coliseum. We hung out there awhile drinking beers and soaking up the view. We decided to head back home but realized that Oliver had a blow out. One of the things about Italy is their lack of bathrooms and changing baby facilities. We went into hyper diaper ops. Kirby Chris and I all attacked and got it done. Chris said he had seen worse but I wasn't sure, it was quite an experience. We walked back to the convent and passed the glutius maximus, that's what I called it anyway although I guess that isn't technically right.