Snow Day Saturday

Yup, after about a 6-month hiatus from this blog, it's time to reopen the thoughts and let the words flow. It snowed about 20 inches this weekend and we fully enjoyed the time "trapped" at home. Jenny had hit the grocery store on Friday with all of the other crazy Apocalyptic shoppers so we were well prepared for a couple weeks of snowed in survival.

Aside for the normal shoveling and uncovering of our vehicles, we were able to venture out pretty well on Sunday. The roads in Northern VA aren't all they're cracked up to be and that combined with the talented drivers, we didn't wander too far from the homestead. We got to see one of Jenny's old college friends who was visiting the DC area in Old Town Alexandria and got to catch up on all the crazy stories of Jenny's wild youth, haha. We took Andi out in the snow and she was burrito wrapped in this Everest Survival Suit that's a nice shade of blue...obviously procured prior to Andi's arrival. (see pictures) Perhaps most impressive is that its got a nice fuzzy hoodie to it do Andrea actually looks like she was hair sticking out. It keeps her warm and aside from the obstacle challenge of ingress and egress, she's a fan of the coat.

Monday was a snow day for the ol' Federal Gov't so we got to sleep in a little and venture out more today. Andi was Baby Bjorn'n it throughout the day and we even took her sledding as we avoiding the traffic. Folks were going absolutely bonkers today with the ice/slush roads and not wanting to chill out and wait for the 1/2 plowed lane to open up. We were glad to watch from the sidelines. I'm back to work tomorrow as usual but it's a short week before Santa's visit.

Short blogo update but more than we've done in quite a while. Looking forward to posting more and hope you enjoy the pictures!!

Jim

Andi's Four-Week Birthday

It's hard to believe that Andrea Ann is already 4 weeks old. She's getting bigger everyday and Jenny's taking wonderful care of her all day long. I'm back at work so I help as much as I can during the evenings but Jenny is doing amazing.

Took yesterday (Friday) off to tackle a few honey-do's around the house. It was a nice day off that started with an early round of golf to celebrate the first sunny day this week and 1st round back in DC in 2009. Ironically, last time I played was on a course in Germany on the Rhine River while Jenny was in the hospital prepping for Andi's arrival.

It's Saturday morning and one of my favorite things to do us to get up early, put on a pot of coffee, and catch up on news/SportsCenter. About an hour later, I sneak upstairs to see both my girls fast asleep. Andi is usually hanging out on my side of the bed with Mom close by. I can't imagine life any different than what we have right now. Tomorrow is the Jenny's 1st Mother's Day and I got some tulips delivered here to remind her of our wonderful time in the Netherlands. I hope Andi likes the yellow, purple, and red colors of the flowers too. Off to play a little early morning beach volleyball and then some car shopping this afternoon.

Special shout-out to our Uncle Pat for the CSU onesy. We'll support the Rams but don't think about sending any of that Cowboys stuff (except maybe diapers).

International Promotion

The past week I got to participate in a promotion notification for one of our British Sergeants that work in the Geo branch here at Brunssum. Since we have only 8 folks on the team, there’s substantial interaction and got to know Mark quite well since my time here. On Thursday morning we (the officers) headed down to the UK Support Element for an office call with the Officer In Charge. He has told Mark to report to his office at a designated time without explaining the reason. While Mark was waiting to be called into the office from the waiting area, we snuck in and walked through what was going to happen. There was a small coffee table with a couple small glasses. The door to the office was closed so Mark knocked once, was summoned in by the OIC, and reported as requested (full with square corners, salute, and eyes locked). The OIC then explained that the results from the board have been released and it was his privilege to inform Mark that he has been selected for Staff Sergeant in the UK Army. As with most things that I’ve come across with the UK military, things were prime and proper as expected. As tradition permits, we cracked open a bottle or port and brandy (depending on your preference) and poured the glasses. Making a toast to the good news and wishing Mark the very best in the new rank and more to follow. I gotta tell ya, a glass of port before 0900 is a nice way to start a day!! Like myself, Mark will be departing Brunssum in the near future and will pin on the new rank upon his arrival to his new assignment.
As much as I’ve enjoyed the job here at Brunssum, it’s the folks you work with are the real reason I want to come to work. The challenges, frustrations, and successes aren’t nearly as memorable if you don’t have the right mix of folks to share them with. I still have some time left here at Brunssum and lots of things that I still want to do but I will always appreciate the finest quality of people that I’ve been around. It’s not everyday you get to work elbow-to-elbow with Brits, Pols, Germans, Belgians, and many more NATO partners.

NATO's 60th Anniversary

We enjoyed a concert last night to celebrate NATO's 60th Anniversary at JFC Brunssum and Armed Forces Entertainment put on a heckava show. We hosted a Happy Hour/Tailgating (with no tailgate) party at our place with a couple friends before making the 15 minute walk downtown. The concert was hosted at the local sports complex in downtown Brunssum and Steven Kellogg and the Sixers opened up. They put on a great show but unfortunately, only played for about 15 minutes. They were totally energetic and gung-ho to be there. Culminated the set with a great rendition of their tune Fourth of July. They are a great band and I highly reco checking them out at www.stephenkellogg.com
Sugarland came on next and they even played some tunes that I recognized. They're a much bigger band but I gotta tell ya, I wished Stephen Kellogg coulda played for an hour and less of Sugarland. Both of us are a little favorable towards the underdogs of the music business. Regardless, it was a great night and we had a blast!! Hit the sack after many, MANY beers before a 0700 showtime for Brugge the next day!!

The North Sea
Or Jim likes to call it the Black Sea : ) I just like to call it the ocean, either way going to the beach for the day is a fabulous way to spend the day. Even if you can’t lay out, get a tan, or get into the water. Just hearing the waves and taking in the salty air is good enough for me. I love going to the sea. We decided on Thursday that we would go to the northern coast of Holland. The province is called Zeeland which is made up of many tiny islands. The drive there was very easy less than 2 hours to get to the beach. There were lots of little towns to choose from and to tell you the truth I am not sure which ones we stopped at. It didn’t matter…it was just fun to visit the beaches and walk around. I think the best part was the sun was out and it was relatively warm. When you only see the sun once a week you really start to appreciate every time the sun comes out. Jim and I stopped at a local restaurant on the beach for what we thought would be hamburgers. But European hamburgers are different than American hamburgers. It should be but when you have something in your mind and you get something else it throws you for a little loop. We quickly recovered and eat our hamburger without a bun our tasty French fries and salad. Jim had beer, I had water and soda and we took in the sights of the beach while I recharged in the sunlight. After lunch we got back in the car to see more of Zeeland. Jim quickly discovered that he needed a nap so we pulled over at a beach. Jim took a nap and I walked around just as happy as could be. After the nap we toured the little towns making stops where ever we wanted (which is the best). After seeing Zeeland we headed back home. Now we love GPS and our friendly British-sounding lady takes us right where we need to go except for when we are headed home. For some reason she likes to take us through the town instead of on the highway. We want to get her drug-tested because we think she smokes crack during our trips. Needless to say, this adds time to our trip home when we just want to get home. Going through the towns is fun but not when we are just ready to be home. Plus all these little towns have roundabouts, cars parked in the street, and traffic is VERY slow. After some maneuvering we finally make our way back to the interstate for a quick trip home. No other GPS has been this difficult but for some reason our Mercedes likes to take us on tours of random towns. The trip was capped off with a great couple gyros at our favorite Greek restaurant.

Jim and Ann Tobin visit us in Brunssum
We got back from London and the very next day we had two visitors from the other side of the Atlantic. We love visitors and Jim and Ann were very easy guests. We picked them up at the Aachen train station on Tuesday afternoon. They flew Space-A to Ramstein and took the train all the way north to the closest German city ( a nearby train station in Germany). We fed them a harty Irish dinner and then after some chit chatting they hit the hay trying to get acclimated to our time zone. The days to follow were wonderful very relaxing with lots of food, card playing, swimming and talking. We showed Jim and Ann around Brunssum and the NATO base with a special stop at the library. On Saturday we experienced our first Carnival which was quite an experience. Lots of parades, people dressed in costume, food and drinking. Ann and I even stumbled upon a church that had an English speaking mass that we could attend. The church and mass was beautiful and after mass we were invited for coffee and cookies. On Sunday we went to Dordrecht to visit Ann’s cousin Bob Reinders and his family. They were great hosts with lots of coffee, peanuts and yummy rolls with cheese. Rob showed us around the city and then we went to an Indonesian restaurant for dinner. It was a great day and we are so happy we made the trip. Jim and Ann had to leave us on Tuesday and we were sad to see them go. We had a wonderful time and we were very happy they made the long trip to come see us.

London:
This is long overdue but better late than never. Our trip to London was fabulous we had great weather, food, tea, and beer. We went by train out of Brussels right into the heart of London (St Pancreas Station). The train ride was about two hours which was just long enough for a nap : ) We stayed at a UK Military Hotel in downtown London. The service, location and structure was great the rooms however are very old. The beds were very uncomfortable and the rooms were small but we would stay there again in a heartbeat. We decided that we would get around the city on double decker buses instead of using the subway or underground as the Brits call it. It was cheaper and we got to see a lot of the city plus when in London do London things. We walked a lot of the city to take in all the sights and experience the city. We took a ride on the London Eye (the world’s largest Ferris Wheel) and got to see the bird’s eye view of the city. We saw the Parliament building, the London Tower Bridge and the even the queen’s quant little home : ) We also took a tour of Westminster Abbey… amazing inside with so much to see I think you have to go a couple times to take it all in. We stopped by Buckingham Palace for a spot of tea but the royal family was unable to move around their schedule to meet up. Maybe next time!! We went to a Winston Churchill’s War Museum as built and operated for running England’s effort in WWII. We were kind of rushed but we were glad we stopped for the history lesson. We found wonderful restaurants but our favorite was a little café called St. Stephen’s Tavern right across from the parliament building. It was very small with the best atmosphere, food and drinks. We walked through a few of the many parks in London. We came across a memorial for Princess Diana in Hyde Park that was very nice. Our trip to London was a lot of fun with lots of memories.

Knight Rider?

So its Sunday and we're walking to our friends house with plans to hit downtown Maastricht to see Slumdog Millionaire and dinner. It was AMAZING yesterday (a clear +11 degrees) so we took every chance to be outside. Since nearly all of Europe shuts down on Sundays, we took the ~1 mile walk past the closed-down grocery store right by our house. In the deserted parking lot are 3 people and two cars. They are outside looking at one of the cars.
Seriously, it's the Knight Rider car. Full up black Pontiac Trans-Am with the Air Foil Hood and get this...KIT status lights running east/west. We couldn't believe it. In the little town of Brunssum, Netherlands and 20 years after the show, some Dutch fan did up his car as a replica. I'm looking out for either the A-Team van or maybe the Fall Guy truck next.
Slumdog was sold out for all shows but the late one so we'll have to try next time. Maastricht was alive with shope open the 1st Sunday of the month and the warm weather to boot!!
What a Sunday!!

London Pics

Description coming soon...

London Bound

Jenny is (still) getting ready upstairs (sigh) and we are trying to head out the door to head to Brussels. We are catching the Eurostar train that takes a little over two hours to take us from downtown Brussels to the middle on London. No euros there so we're gonna be (British) pounding in for the weekend. Will take lots of good footage and have a complete report once we get back. I was only in London for about a day in late 2006 so it'll be nice to spend a whole weekend there and show Jenny some of the spots that I discovered last time.
One more week until Carnival here in the Southern Netherlands/Germany region. Carnival is a really big celebration that's a mix between Halloween and Mardi Gras with lots of parades and fun things like that. I hear it gets pretty crazy so I'm sure there will be some stories to tell. Enjoy your weekend and Happy Valentine's Day!!
Clark and Ellen Griswold

Our First Guest

After only 4 hours of sleep we woke up early to take Jaimers to the Brussels Airport. Our visit went by too fast, a week just isn't enough.

I picked Jaimers up on Monday in the snow (the second time it has snowed here since Christmas). We took the train back to Mons, Belgium where we met up with Jim. After Jim's meetings at SHAPE HQ we drove back home to Brunssum. Jaimers was a trooper and stayed up till 8pm on Monday night. After getting a full nights rest and acclimating to the seven hour time difference we started planning our events for the week. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side but that wasn't going to slow us down.

On Tuesday, we took a much needed swim at the JFC Brunssum pool. After our swim we went to Herleen (nearby town) for a late lunch and hot chocolate. We proceed to stay at this quaint cafe for over two hours chit chatting (this would become our trend for the rest of the week). We then met up with Jim at home after coming back to the car to find a parking ticket (52 Euro...OUCH). Jaimers and I both swear we did not see a parking meter anywhere near our car. Since then I have been extra cautious every time we park, I learned my lesson. Tuesday night we went to Maastricht for trivia night at the local Irish Pub. We met up with some of Jim's work friends. We actually kicked some butt at trivia, we were in second place till we were too tired to play and left after the 6th round.

On Wednesday morning we woke up early for Kinderdijk, Netherlands. Kinderdijk is known for its windmills. It was a gloomy sunless day but we saw all the windmills and had came across a swan we couldn't get enough of. After Kinderdijk windmills we drove north to Amsterdam. We walked through the city for a little while then made our way to a little cafe where we had a yummy pancake dinners and hot chocolate of course. We proceeded to chit chat for at least an hour if not more then decided we had had enough so we headed for home. We reached home after 9pm and Jim was happy to see us.

On Thursday we slept in a little bit. watched a couple episodes of The Unit (yes, now Jaime is hooked) after we got ready and headed to Aachen, Germany. It was sunny most of the day which was a nice change from the past three cloudy days. We ate lunch at a yummy cafe and after our hot chocolate we hit the town. We toured a beautiful church and got lots of pictures. We walked around the cobble streets and stopped in at a local bakery for fresh bread and pastries. When it started raining we decided to head back home. We made a pot roast (my best one yet but still a little dry) asparagus and potatoes for dinner. Jaime and Jim finished two bottles of wine (so jealous) while we chit chatted the night away. Finally at 12:30 we went to bed for the night.

On Friday Jaime had an online class to watch for school and after that we went to Maastricht for the afternoon. It was a perfect day in the 50's with the sun shinning warmly on us. We enjoyed walking around the city seeing all the sights and picking up tasty chocolate for loved ones. It was a busy day in Maastricht and after Jaimers had gotten pushed for the 100th time we decided to head home for a nap. We had dinner at the house, played cards and watched a couple episodes of The Unit.

On Saturday we woke up early to Jaimers doing our dishes (thank you) and scrumptious french toast with homemade berry syrup. It was a great way to start a Saturday especially since it was foggy, cold and rainy outside. However this wasn't going to stop us since we had a fun day planned on the Rhine River. We got ready and headed to Germany for the day. Our first town we came to on the Rhine River had a beautiful church that we visited. Then we had a tasty Italian lunch with views of the river. We then headed south down the river. We stopped at one of the many castles on the Rhine this one just so happen to be one we could actually see. It was so foggy and rainy it was hard to see any other castles. This castle looked to be closed but we ventured up the road on foot anyway. After we were sure it was closed we stopped half way up the road and went back to our car. We decided that it would be worth driving up the road in the car just to get a closer look at the castle (what was the worst they could do tell us to turn around). We discovered a deserted stable house (which looked like a small castle to us). We parked the car, hoped it wouldn't be towed away and walked to the castle just up the hill. When we got the castle much to our surprise it was open. We took some pictures and then got asked by a lady who worked at the castle if we wanted a tour. After 7.50 Euro for all three of us we got a fun tour of the castle. There was only one other couple on the tour with us, needless to say this isn't the busy season. We were so happy we didn't give up on our castle adventure it was an exciting day. It was 4:30 when we got back to our car and it was getting dark outside so we headed back home. We stopped at a town called Valkenburg for dinner which ended up being dessert and alcohol. Soup and cola for me : ) When we got home Jaimers started packing for home while Jim and I talked on Skype for a little while. We all stayed up till 1:30 in morning talking not wanting the adventure to end.

It was a great visit and much needed Jaimers time. I can't believe after a full week of chit chatting we NEVER ran out of things to talk about. Jaimers was a wonderful first guest and we were happy to have her visit us in the Netherlands. We already miss her, it had been quiet here today without her. Thanks Jaimers for the adventures and memories : )

(For Jaime) I told you I would put this entry up before you got home : ) Have a great week and I will talk to you very soon. Miss you!!!

Amsterdam

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I first arrived in Brunssum. It didn’t take long to learn my way and how to drive a stick shift again. I have seen a lot of places for only being here a month. We have visited Paris, Brussels, Cologne, Amsterdam and lots of little towns around Brunssum. It has been a lot of fun, I am enjoying every minute because soon I will be up to my elbows in diapers : )
We went to Amsterdam this weekend which was a lot of fun. We were going to take the train but they were working on some main tracks plus it was going to cost 80 euro. Which is ridiculous we could have could fly to Amsterdam for that much. So we decided to drive which worked out really well because it took less time and we parked at a downtown Dutch military base. Once we arrived to Amsterdam we went on a boat tour of all the canals (and there were a lot), then we walked around the city, had a fabulous lunch, coffee, hot chocolate at two different places. The city is covered in cobblestones and plenty of pedestrians crowding the shopping areas. Found the best Belgium chocolate named Leonidas where we were “forced” to get lots of tasty selections. Found a flower market just southwest of the center of town and picked up some tulip bulbs. Lots of choices there and the prices couldn’t be beat!! We also stumbled upon the Red Light District which was an experience for sure. The RLD is a pretty interesting place during the day but we heard lots of stories about how the atmosphere changes once the sun goes down. After a nice day in the city we returned home for a spaghetti dinner and a movie. Some things don’t change even if you are in another country : )
I have been using the wonderful Brunssum swimming pool at least twice a week. I love going to the pool it is refreshing and it is a good work out. It is a bit shocking to see all the Speedos but some of the men look pretty good : )
That’s it for now but will drop another line soon!!

Cologne, B'Eagles Game, and more

It’s been a while since we blogged so we’re gonna play a little catch-up and then do better about keeping it updated on our adventures. Went to Cologne (err…German spelling Kohl) last Saturday for a morning/afternoon excursion to a great city only an hour away from our front door. While it was our first trip, we now realize that we will go back quite often. Cologne has a Gothic cathedral that sits right in the city center between the train station and all the shops. Despite the fact that nearly all the city was completely destroyed in WWII, the cathedral was preserved from destruction (gotta credit the ol’ Allies for the precision bombing, haha). The Germans rebuilt the city in the 50s and 60s and has a mix of older-looking buildings that didn’t look too old. Great downtown shopping and we enjoyed our fair share of German pub food and biere/water. The city sits right on the Riene River and there was lots of shops that has “summertime biergarten” written all over it. Despite the chilly weather, we lived it up inside the little café’s, people watched, and ate some great German snacks. No weather, chilly rainy or otherwise, will slow us down from living it up here in the BENELUX (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) region!!
Alas, the Eagles are not going to the Super Bowl. Seems like we’ve seen that more than we care to admit but they have a valiant effort against the Arizona Cardinals. We hosted a few work friends over on Sunday evening to watch the game. We got a projector and from the online laptop feed, we showed a nice big screen on the wall. Thanks for the great season anyway!! Good luck to ol’ Pat Tillman’s team!
We ventured to Maastricht with some friends to an Irish Pub (yup, they are everywhere!!) for their weekly Tuesday Trivia Night. We didn’t come in last but we were not close to winning (turns out that the Round on Dutch culture really killed us). Lots of laughter, cold Murphy’s Irish Red, and Jenny miss her Chocolate Lover’s Dessert by 5 minutes of kitchen closing time…bad news for the waitress. Moral of the story…don’t mess with a pregnant woman and her just desserts!!
We had our International Night with our Polish and German friends over for dinner. Jenny made her infamous green chili enchiladas and we traded lots of stories about what adventures led us here together in Brunssum. We are so fortunate to meet all these great folks from all over the world and learn so much about one another’s culture, background, and lifestyle. Tossed in some good French wine, Tequila, and hot tea for quite an evening of entertaining. We are also conspiring to field an International Dream Team for one of Maastricht’s Trivia Nights.

Stay tuned we plan on doing a quick trip to Amsterdam on Saturday. Have a great weekend!!

EAGLES Win!!

Well,

It's 2224 on Sunday night and the Eagles just defeated the Giants in a classic NFC East grinder. They battle the unlikely Cardinals next week in the desert of Arizona for a ticket to the Super Bowl. It was a great game...well, actually it was pretty sloppy on both sides...just less sloppy for the B'Eagles. Last week I bought the playoff package on the NFL homepage and been fortunate to watch both of the Eagles games so far and will be online next week as well. Haven't looked up the time yet but hopefully its better than the 2am finish of last week's game.

The Philly Faithful are present in Brunssum, Netherlands and looking forward to next week. Go Eagles.

Country Music Night

Went to Shinnen Army Garrison tonight for a concert put on by Armed Forces Entertainment. Not exactly Ticketmaster but similar to USO, they bring artists to troops all over the world. Since we sit in the TriBorder area, we have 3 bases within 12 km that have US personnel stationed there. Tonight we got to see Thom Sheperd and the Nashville Players. This group played in the Activity Center at Shinnen for US and NATO personnel for about 2.5 hours. These singers/songwriters are perhaps best known for writing tunes for some of the more famous singers like Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Trisha Yearwood, and George Strait. There were a couple tunes that even this Jersey boy recognized but Jenny was lots of help to let me know the songs being sung. It was impressive to see these writers be able to sing their own songs made famous by others and perhaps get a little more credit than they normally do. It was nice to see how many #1 hits and Grammy-winning songs that this little-known group had written.
Great way to get out on a Wednesday night. Jenny and I had a great time and it was nice to support those who come out to visit the troops.
Here's a link to his site. Should have some pictures from their two-week tour. http://www.thomshepherd.com/Thom_Shepherd/Home.html

The Tobins are blogging!!

It's time to embrace 2009 with a blog to commemorate the closure of a worderful year and future adventures. New Year's Eve 2008 finds us in Brunssum, Netherlands enjoying the -2.0 degree (celcius that is) weather. 2009 started with Jenny's 22nd week of pregolife and we went to Paris to celebrate the first weekend of the year. We drove 400km to a suburb of Paris and took one of the local trains (RER...regional express railway) from the town of Louvre to downtown Paris. After a great Friday lunch in downtown Paris, we took a long (longer than we would've liked or had predicted) walk along the River Siene to our hotel seated right at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. We refreshed quickly with a nap and hit the town again for the evening. We spent the evening with a bite to eat at a wonderful cafe (Le Champs de Mars) and walking around the Eiffel Tower with excursions out to the Arc de Triomphe, Avenue des Champs Elysees, and all the great spots around Paris. I begged Jenny to pick up a couple things at the Louis Volture store but since she already had so many items, we passed (phew!!) By the time the night was done, both of us were pretty cooked so we looked forward to getting some rest. It was a great first night in ol' Pari.
We woke up Saturday to get in line for the Eiffel Tower tour. The tower opened at 0930 and we got there a little early to avoid the crowds. Aside from braving the cold weather, we got to the top of the Eiffel Tower as the morning broke and the fog lifted off the city of Paris. The wait was well worth it and the view from the top was priceless. We warmed up over some croissants, chocolate chaud, and pain au chocolate (pastry) while sittin on the first stage of the Eiffel Tower. We got a one-day Paris pass and took the Paris subway to some of the sights including the Louvre, Grand Palais, and Trocadero. We even got a chance to see the remains of a 25,000 person protest with the full works (overturned vehicles, riot police, and much more). Fortunately, we got outta there quickly before the protesters (in support of the Gala Strip) regrouped. We finished the evening with some nice French desserts (crepes, mousse, and of course, tasty French wine) and chatting about life.
Sunday was our last chance to see the Eiffel Tower and headed back to our Euro life in Brunssum. We had a classic French breakfast before hitting the road. It was an amazing weekend and something we will soon not forget. We have other trips that we are planning for 2009. Best wishes and we hope you like the pictures and stories!!

Pictures from Paris