Happy Birthday Luke!

Happy 3rd birthday to our little guy! He is the sweetest and cutest little boy ever. A few weeks ago when I asked when what he wanted for his birthday he said, "I want you to hold me forever and ever." It doesn't get much better than that! Here he is the morning of his birthday enjoying his favorite breakfast of pancakes. He is old enough for the birthday interview so below are his answers.

1. Favorite color: Orange

2. Favorite toy: Superhero dolls

3. Favorite fruit: Berries and watermelon

4. Favorite TV show: Jake and the Neverland Pirates

5. Favorite thing to eat for lunch: Watermelon and applesauce

6. Favorite thing to wear: My baseball shirt

7. Favorite game: My new memory game

8. Favorite snack: gummies

9. Favorite animal: Reindeer and crocodile

10. Favorite song: Jake and the Neverland Pirates Song

11. Favorite book: The Gruffalo

12. Who is your best friend? Malaky

13. Favorite cereal: Rice krispies

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside: Play baseball

15. Favorite drink: Milk and water

16. Favorite holiday: Scrubbing day (this cracked me up. The kids have a Pippi Longstocking movie and in it she cleans the floors with her shoes and sings a song that goes, "scrubbing day is a holiday")

17. What do you like to sleep with at night? Bubba and superheroes

18. Favorite thing to eat for breakfast: Pancakes

19. Favorite dinner: Honey chicken and something else chicken

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Bigger than daddy

Luke's Birthday Party

Our little man just turned 3 and had a little celebration with a few of his favorite people ;) We celebrated with a BBQ on Memorial day, and lucked out with some sunny weather! We had 2 families come over,  one is Luke's best friend, Malaky. We ate, let the kids play, did a pinata, ate cake, and opened presents. It was a very low-key easy party! Luke was very specific about having a pirate cake that was vanilla flavored with raspberry frosting.

Luke with his BF, Malaky:

Cake, piñata and pinata treat bags, pirate juice, and some bubble wands for the kids:

Game of baseball in the backyard:

Wacking his piñata:

The loot:

Opening presents:

Visit with Barbara and Eddie

We had such a lovely treat this Memorial Day weekend when our friends from Williamsburg, Barbara and Eddie, came to visit. The kids were so thrilled to have them here! Unfortunately, they came during some pretty crummy weather. But given the year we've had with weather, it's not at all surprising that we were cold and rainy! We took them to the downtown Wiesbaden Farmer's Market and a Rhein River Cruise to see some castles on the first day. We took them to Koblenz where the Mosul and Rhein River meet on the second day. We were able to take the gondola to the Fortress Castle where the 2 rivers meet and enjoy the festival they had at the top (in the freezing cold rain I might add). On Monday, we explored downtown Wiesbaden more and then celebrated Luke's birthday with a BBQ and a few friends. It was a fun time for everyone! Unfortunately, Barbara did fall on our stairs and cut her arm after dropping a glass of water which ended her in the Emergency Room. We are very thankful that everything worked out and she received excellent care from the doctors. She was sore from her fall, but still had a great time exploring with us. 

On top of the fortress in Koblenz:

Church downtown Koblenz:

Fortress festival (lots of pictures of only Addy because Luke often refuses to take pictures):

View from the fortress. The different colors of water show where the 2 rivers meet. 

Addy's Ballet Recital

There is really nothing cuter than little girls dancing on stage in a tutu. Addy had her ballet recital this past weekend, and it sure was adorable! Her class did, "the Colors of Spring". Each of the girls wore different spring colors. We loved watching the entire show. I am pretty sure Addy's favorite part was the chocolate and flowers in the end. Jeff took Addy behind our house when we got home and tried to capture some great shots in the fields behind our house. They didn't turn out as well as we'd thought, but those flowers sure are gorgeous!!

Nothing like the little brother who messes up the photo:

Addy with her teacher, Kim.

In the fields:

So pretty!!

Lochmule Fieldtrip

Addy's German school had a fieldtrip for the entire family to a local amusement park , the Lochmule. It's no Busch Gardens, but the kids enjoy the little rides and the petting zoo. We also lucked out with weather seeing that it has rained for about 10 days straight. We happened to have about 6 hours of sunshine during our little outing!

Luke making friends with a goat

Addy and Luke on the tulips-- very similar to spinning tea cups

The big slide that Luke insisted we go on at least 5 times in a row

Addy riding the gnome roller coaster with her friend Dana

Split, Croatia

Finally a vacation full of SUN!!! We just got back from a week in Croatia and have nothing but wonderful things to report. Jeff had some work to do in Split, so me and the kids gladly tagged along (or should I say BEGGED to tag along). Split was a really neat city and I'm glad we were able to really enjoy it with beautiful weather. 78 degrees and sunny for 5 days is about as perfect as it gets :) While Jeff worked, I would take the kids to the beach almost everyday. The water is amazingly beautiful. I actually really enjoyed the rocky beach too; it's so much cleaner! We stayed an extra day to get in some good sight seeing (so Jeff could enjoy it too) and took a tour of some islands on a speed boat. It was such a neat experience and definitely a memorable one. The remote islands are absolutely beautiful. Our tour guide, Toni, took us to 2 different caves that were pretty spectacular. One of them was pitch black with bright turquoise blue water. It was incredible that the water was so beautiful and the real neat thing was that you could see all the way to the bottom (30 meters!!) I am definitely going to plan another trip back to Croatia before we leave. I would love to visit the Northern part and check out, but somehow get to Dubrovnik too. Who knows, we may have to go back twice.

Split Promenade 

 Diocletian's Palace (our apartment was a 2 minute walk from the center of this, it was so lovely at night. The square had live music every night and one of the musicians was awesome!

Near the blue cave on our island tour:

Love the very old stone charm to these towns in Croatia:

A day at the beach

Enjoying the speed boat:

Beaches don't get much prettier than this:

Disregard our creepy eyes, this cave was sooo amazing!

Village of Trogir, right outside Split. I love how such old old architecture can be so charming

 Trogir:

Addy's favorite beach, she loved picking at the snails: