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.