Bella girl, my first baby...

My very first baby, she followed me around the house every minute of everyday her first couple of months....she was a beautiful puppy and she's still good lookin..This is Belle over the holiday at my parents house, now--she's my mom's baby....I miss her terribly and was so glad to spend some time with her AND she did pretty good with Evan...

4th file,4th pic

Leslie's friend Holly has kept a blog idea going....you go back to your fourth file pic, fourth picture....and post it, so this was mine. September 2004 John and I stationed at Thule AB in Greenland. I took this pic hanging out of our dorm window. A little brook/creek/waterway and in the summertime we actually saw a few guys brave it with some type of kaiak/canoe. For it being out in the middle of no-where and desalit, it was very beautiful. I'm glad John and I got the oppurtunity to go there, we really did have fun up there.

Sirocco Band

Coming to a desert location near you...Here's John's band with some extras, some cool horn players. Good Luck guys!

A big shout out to Keisha Gwin-Goodin!!!! Miss ya and thinking of ya!!!!
Love
Evan

Evan's Art Time...

Evan had art time this weekend...this is his masterpiece.

John and Evan play piano for me....I loved it.

The Links together....

A highlight from the CT trip, the Link kids together. This was very enjoyable and we wanted to stay longer.

The Saga of visiting family in the states....Part 1

Well, It started something like this....after days of not getting out on hops we decide to take the only thing available....it's going to the west coast so we go for it....It's a freezing (not cold) but freezing cargo plane going to McChord (13 hr flight)....we get there, get snowed in, buy comm. tickets, they get canceled....we get out on another hop back to the east coast, Dad picks us up in the middle of the night. Yes....we're home.....but I start to not feel good, hmmm feels like a cold wait, the flu, no wait a real bad flu, I fight this flu through a trip to CT. We get back to MD, now everyone is feeling bad.... Christmas..... A few days after xmas....one of the baby nephews comes down with a vicious stomach virus. We all get this virus eventually...and it's aweful and if there's a better word....then it's that. John has to go back before me, ok so a day and a half before I have to travel with Evan by myself with a 9 hr lay over in Dublin....I get the bug, I up-chuck all-night and I mean all-night. The day we travel I'm barely making it but we get home....now for the last leg---we have to transition to Germany time (opposite of MD) so Evan has been up everynight practically all night. But we're making it....now John is the last with the stomach bug right now so I make him sleep at night as he has lots of important training going on during the day, poor guy, hope he gets well soon. Now I truely know the meaning of inner strength and patience that mothers develop the moment after giving birth, I have found some mental and physical toughness I didn't know I had...to be continued.... ok holidays over...back to work....and prep for the deployment....

John's Band Online

Please feel free to view the following link to USAFE Touch 'n Go: www.myspace.com/usafetouchngo. You will be able to hear selections from their new CD "Right Place, Right Time", view photos and video, and leave feedback!

Our little begger...

He can have a full belly but if mommy or daddy have food......."mmmmm, can I have some? and could anyone say no to those blue eyes? Daddy even gave up some of his homemade potatoe-cake (one of my favorite foods on earth) Evan really needed some since he only had just filled his belly with fruit and one and a half potatoe-cakes himself! Not to mention his appetizer of cheerios that morning....

my first home cappuccino

well thanks to Keisha, who left a simple cappuccino/espresso machine downstairs, I decided to give it a whirl. I had one in the states that did not get alot of use....(producing milk foam is an art) I had given up but I decided to give it a try as I have started enjoying my coffee beverages again, and this would save some cash money....so I'm proud to say that this was my first one, made yesterday..... and I really enjoyed it!

On another note, an Evan walking update: so he's been doing this 5-6 step thing and then that's just about it and he also is learning to walk beside us just using one of our hands but tonight......John set him a standing near the couch-then kept backing up and he walked the entire carpet! we happened to be counting, 26 steps!!!

Christmas Market time in Germany!!!

One of few things I like about the winters in Germany is the Christmas markets that are set up all over. Some are small, in little towns and some are bigger....this was one of the bigger ones, in Worms (sounds like Verms). We went early enough in the day to see the Dom, the catherdral. And managed to get there for the sunset, it was beautiful and I must add that it was only 3:00 in the afternoon at sunset....

A mosaic on the agacent wall from the church

front of the cathedral with sunset

The stain glass was beautiful inside (but I am still learning all the settings on this new camera), so they didn't turn out the way I'd liked but here is a shot of the reflection on the inside wall of the room they do baptisms in.

This pic just doesn't do the interior justice....it was so ornate and they were working on the other side as you can see the scafelding....so much gold

ok, let's talk about the food at the Christmas markets, available: brats, xl brats, waffles, crepes, roasted nuts of all kinds, fried potatoe patties with either garlic sauce-as shown or with apple sauce, beer-ofcoarse, gluvine (a warm to hot special wine served in mugs-which we partook in) and much more....yummmmm

this was cool for me to see an outside ice-skating rink, we never had this where I am from in MD that I knew of and I just have never really seen one in real life, anyway thought it was really cool

Also an added bonus, never thought I'd see a live performance of this....it was really cool

TouchNGo reunited....Keisha's back!!!!

Well Keisha was back in Germany for a week so, of course....an impromptu gig was put on the books....They played in the only restuarant in our town and they rocked

this town out!!!

so this is what an audience looks like when Touch N Go is playing.....can you find Evan--yes he was there too, he parties pretty well

I'm in green dancing with Leslie and the girls we had a lot of fun at the Mona Lisa last friday night.

The Band





I think this gig is what they all needed....

The musician always gets the girl in the end.....

so cute what else is there to say.....