Our England anniversary

This weekend marks one year of living in England. Hard to believe one year ago today we stepped off the plane in London and into the crazy whirlwind of a year.

I have visited 13 countries: England, Belgium, France, Germany (3 times), Luxemburg, Austria, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia. Tory has been deployed twice, so his country list is slightly different with the addition of Afghanistan and various Mediterranean areas for 3 months each.

There are so many great things about living here: the travel opportunities (obviously), great friends, a good squadron group, extended family nearby, endless cultural and historic events and properties, great schools, a near total absence of mega-stores and drive throughs. But with it are challenges including a general lack of conveniences and a completely different idea of customer service (read as none compared to American standards), and this year lots of deployments. But sorting it all out has been fun and really a learning experience for all of us.

So what does the next year have in store? More visits from family and friends. More traveling (already planned are Scotland later in July; Italy, Greece and Egypt in the fall if world politics permit). Two kids in school full time in September.  And so much more of England to see and explore. It is sure to be another year of changes and challenges and adventures.

So, one year down and two to go on this adventure.

Tulips, wooden shoes, cheese and friends

All the makings of a great Spring Break trip to the Netherlands.  We took the overnight ferry from Harwich straight to Holland so there was not much driving involved (always good when traveling with 4 kids). We did several day trips around the area including Zandvoort, Dordrecht, Volendame, Lisse, Leiden.

We took in Keukenhoff gardens:

 Toured the windmills, a cheese farm and wooden clog making:

And, enjoyed some time at the pool and the sea.

When life gives you lemons...

....make Sangria and Paella!

I headed off for a girls weekend in Madrid, Spain shortly after Tory left. My friend here watched the kids for the weekend and it was a much needed weekend away. Madrid is beautiful, and despite the drama that comes with traveling with a large group of women, we had a really fun time.

March madness

I hate trying to play catch up on the blog. All my good intentions of keeping it up get lost in the shuffle.

We welcomed Tory home from Afghanistan a couple of weeks ago. I love that when he comes back it is just like he never left. The three and a half months went by pretty quickly and it was mostly uneventful. The week that Tory came home was by far the worst -- I lost my wedding ring (now found) and hit a parked car (now fixed, but a totally stupid accident). It doesn't seem possible that he has been gone since before Thanksgiving.

I took a few little trips with the kids to local castles in the last month he was away and we enjoyed our time with friends in the area. School and sports and activities kept us busy and out of trouble.

We all spent a long weekend in Garmisch, Germany on the German/Austrian border where the kids enjoyed a day of ski school and we wandered around Garmisch and Innsbruck. It was cold, but sunny and beautiful. I really love visiting Germany.

There are so many amazing places to see - for the travel and world experiences I am thankful.

The weekend of travel and relaxation abruptly ended with Tory having to fly back early to work. His squadron, along with many others, was being sent out on a short-notice deployment. Less than three weeks from his return he was heading out again. And with that we sent him off today after several days of delays. It just does not seem fair to have to say goodbye again. We are hopeful for a quick turn around, but the state of world politics is just not good.

Interestingly, I received a reminder card today to fill out my Air Force spouse survey... do they really want to know what I think of my Air Force life this week???

Birthday month

Tory and I each celebrated being a year older and wiser this month.  Unfortunately, we did not celebrate together...still deployed.

Tory's celebration:

My celebration:

Who got the better deal?

Germany photo recap

Lots of snow meant not too much sightseeing, but we did make it sledding in the front yard and at a hill on base. We all had a great time - huge smiles from everyone. 

We made it to Christmas markets in Luxembourg and Trier, Germany. I loved walking around the little stalls and looking at the decorations and crafts and sampling some German foods. We had planned to do a few other town markets as well but my flight delay pushed us too close to Christmas to make any others since they stop running on the 23rd of December.

We spent two days at Ramstein AFB and shopped at the BX, ate at the American food restaurants, and swam in the indoor pool complex. It was a nice break and the kids really enjoyed it.  Its like an entire indoor mini-America.

Christmas eve and day was filled with food and presents and the excitement of it all.

And New Year's Eve we watched local fireworks and set off a few in the back yard. The kids had party poppers and everyone made it until midnight.

Happy New Year

Out with 2010 and in with 2011