Aachen Karneval

These are all pictures of floats from the Aachen Karneval Parade. There aren't too many because after awhile I got bored taking pictures and decided it would be much more fun to get the candy with everyone else! Plus I was in the back and all of my pictures had heads in them anyways.




Here is a cute picture of Luke and Kriss. They were both so cold! It was a cold day out however. It didn't help that we thought the parade started an hour before it actually did so we were waiting outside for an hour listening to an announcer talking in German. The only word I recognized was "Alaaf" because that is the Karneval saying. Oh ya for my own future reference because I keep forgetting, Karneval is called Fasching in Southern Germany (couldn't remember that for the life of me this weekend).

I have a lot more pictures from Karneval of us in our costumes but they are all turned sideways at the moment and I need to go in and fix them and then i will post them. Hopefully soon!

Langbroich Karneval

We had the big Karneval celebration this year in Langbroich. There was a huge parade and parties all over, it was a blast. The parade route went right down our street so we could watch from our windows if we wanted (which some of us did!) My friend Elizabeth and her two daughters came to our house to watch the parade and we sat outside and I brought Duke out with us. It was fun out and there was lots of music and the girls got a lot of candy and weird stuff like kleenex, dish scrubbers and even a carrot! We didn't get all the way dressed up today we just did crazy hats, tomorrow we are heading to Aachen for a big parade and we are going all out with the costumes. Should be a blast!



Cute picture! I like the black and white.



This was just a really good picture of Duke, he is so photogenic!



This guy was cool he actually posed for a good picture.



My pink hair is so cool! We only wore our hats today but tomorrow we are doing the full outfits.



This picture was too cute, you can tell Duke was enjoying himself at Karneval too! He loved the attention and it was a great socializing outing for him!



These two guys just came over and laid down next to Duke it freaked him out a bit at first, but he soon loved the attention. He was a huge hit all the people in the parade wanted to come over and pet him and play with him. (It probably didn't help that most of them were drunk!)



One of the floats from the parade.

Castle Hoensbroek & Tongeren, Belgium

This is Castle Hoensbroek in the Netherlands. It is only about 30 minutes from our house but Saturday was the first time we had been there! I can't believe how close it was and we never went before. It is a very small castles compared to others that we have seen but the outside was really neat and it is a moated castle which you do not see very often. The inside was a little underwhelming, at least in my opinion, too touristy and more for kids, but it was still interesting to see and it had some information about the history of the castle and the area.



I thought that this was neat. It was in the courtyard of the castle and it has the directions (N,S,E,W) in the stone.



Luke and I at Castle Hoensbroek



Just me messing up people's pictures, I learned everything I know from Kyle! :-P



On Sunday we went to Tongeren, Belgium for their famous antiques market, it is one of the most popular in Europe and the second largest in Europe. We got there late and only really had about 2-3 hours to look around which was not even close to being enough time, most people show up at 7am and shop until 2pm. Well we did have some good finds. Above is our new kitchen hutch, we have been looking for one of these for nearly two years!!! This one isn't an antique...yet, it is only about 60 years old but it is in near perfect condition and beautiful, the picture doesn't do it justice. We were lucky that the guy gave us a really, really good price and then after we decided to take it he knocked another 25 Euro off the already awesome price. So this made my day! We also got a small antique bookcase that is dark oak and over 100 years old, it has some really unique, interesting carvings on the side which i really liked. There was a nice trunk there from 1880 that I may have to go back for in a few weeks :-)



I know this picture is the wrong way!! Eeek! But it shows the carvings on the sides of our bookshelf that I really like.

Well now the weekend is over and back to school, hopefully we will go some more interesting places next weekend if the weather stays nice. And Luke just got back from Toledo, Spain and I will put some pictures up from there soon.

Christmas & New Years

Rudy is hiding like always. Every time the camera comes out he is running under a table or behind something, which is why there are not more pictures of him.



Duke with his favorite toy. He just loves this goose and carries it around with him everywhere.



Duke looked so cute in his reindeer ears, unfortunately he would rather chew on them than wear them, so they didn't last too long.

Yes I am a slacker, i know that. We had a good Christmas here in Germany. We got to sleep in and be lazy. I made a little bit of food, but not too much since it was just Luke and I. For New Years Eve we had a few friends over to hang out. We ate, drank and lit off fireworks, which are legal here. Everyone was setting them off all along our street at midnight it was actually pretty cool.

Ukiah

I headed up to Ukiah about a week after I landed in Vegas so the exact day was like the 17, which was way to soon to be getting back on a plane in my opinion. Luke and Kriss picked me up in Sacramento that evening. The flight was nice and short and I had like mobsters or gangsters sitting on the plane next to me so I felt safe because they were very friendly mobster/gangsters. I had a really nice visit with everyone. Katie, Mona and I went and got our nails done, which was really nice since they don't have any place to do it near base here. We did Christmas for us while we were there and had a nice dinner with everyone. I know Luke was really sad to leave, it is always hard to leave family.



Just hanging out at Tom and Kriss's the night before we left.



Me, Luke, Katie and Blake at our Ukiah Christmas



Me, Luke and our cute little nephew, Darren! It was so nice finally getting to meet the little guy.



All the brothers and Darren.

In the end our trip was great. We both had a great time but like always it was WAY too short. Hopefully we will be back soon, or at least within two years. I know I will be back at the latest May '09 for Kelsey's graduation, but even that seems too far away.

Las Vegas

I arrived in Las Vegas surprisingly in one piece and Luke made it to Tucson! What a hectic flight we had, it is nothing short of miraculous that we made our flights from Denver to Tucson/Las Vegas! My trip to Las Vegas was good. It was great being able to see family again except for the fact that you really realize how much you miss them when you are there with them. I got to eat a lot of great food, well maybe not great food, just plain old fast food, which was great to me since I don't get it anymore in Germany. I think Kyle had thought I went crazy when i kept talking about Del Taco like it was the best thing ever! Well Kyle put up with my craziness rather well even though he doesn't understand what is so fascinating about fast food and my old work and the fact that I am horrible at taking night pictures.
I had a chance to go out to eat with my good friend Pam who i hadn't seen in forever. That was a blast and makes me miss going out for sushi and just having a friend to talk to who knew me before I got married. I got to go and see people from the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society which probably made my whole trip. It was my top thing to do while I was in Las Vegas, although it was probably the worst thing to do because it made me so sad. I think that volunteering with them was one of the best decisions I have made and i miss it and the amazing people so much. What else, what else...I did a lot of shopping. It wasn't so great though because i was Christmas shopping so I had to shop for other people and not myself, even though I did cheat a little and got some clothes.
It was amazing how fast the time flew by, one week felt like just a day when I look back. There was not enough time to do everything but I think i did all i really wanted in Vegas. I did realize that no matter were I am Vegas is home, it is my favorite place to be (even with the heat!).



This is just a picture I took out of the window while we were driving in traffic. Which is another thing i miss, traffic! These were more for the benefit of our German friends who haven't been to Las Vegas. I will post more pictures when my lazy brother decides to email the pictures from his camera!

Winter in Germany

So the weather has been horrible here! We are lucky if we get a day above 45 degrees! Lots of rain and overcast days. We have been busy getting ready to head back to the states. So much to do, so little time. Luke has started his Masters program and is busy busy keeping up with that and working. I am STILL taking classes, I am down to like 40 credits to graduate! The dogs are good, Duke is huge! Luke thinks he weighs between 80-90 pounds, and he is still stupid. He loves nothing more than running through every mud puddle he can find. Rudy is just as dainty as always, hates getting dirty. We haven't been doing much traveling since Italy, just relaxing at home. Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.