Nothing nicer than Normandy

Here's a few pictures from a recent trip we took to Normandy (I'm a little behind on the posts, but I'm working on getting caught up). Paul and I had both wanted to visit the D-day beaches and thought no better time than right after the most recent anniversary (June 6th). We got there late enough to miss the crowds, but early enough to get wonderful weather.

On the way to Normandy we took the scenic route (rural Normandy) instead of going through Paris, and boy was I glad. Not only did we avoid crazy traffic, but we were able to drive through quaint French towns with beautiful chateaus and wild flowers growing alongside grazing horses.

After the most beautiful drive through the northern countryside we stopped for an afternoon in the coastal town of Etretat. This town is located on the Alabaster Coast and known for its beautiful beach with rock formations that resemble wading elephants. I have to say that this little town was my favorite part of Normandy.

This town had a breathtaking coast and a little town that reminded me somewhat of Cape Cod. Etretat is definitely worth the trip (it's about 1.5 hours from Bayoux and the D-day beaches).

The following Pictures are of Omaha Beach and the American Military Cemetery there.

Here Paul and Tristan take a walk on the beach (this day there was a very low tide).

As this beautiful cemetery overlooks the historic beach a sense of reverence is almost tangible there.

Saint Mere Eglise, the rally point for numerous allied paratroopers celebrates the arrival of their liberators (65 years ago) with an annual parade and numerous shops filled with British, U.S. and Canadian flags and memorabilia. If you look closely, they still have a parachute hanging on the town cathedral where an American airborne soldier landed so many years ago.

Bayeux is a sleepy city filled with quiet streets and picturesque livestock.

Throughout Normandy we were surprised to see American flags flying alongside the French. In a Bayeux grocery store a large banner hung and said "Welcome to our liberators!". I was so surprised that after 65 years their expression of gratitude seamed just as strong as ever.

As I said previously, Bayeux seamed quiet and almost sleepy. As we walked some of the streets they reminded me of the oh so charming movie "Chocolate".

Here's a few pictures to show you what life's been like here at home in Germany. Tristan has a sweet tooth as you can see here. Any chance he can get, Tristan will try to get the syrup from the fridge and sneak a sip.

This is how I found him (below) after returning from the kitchen. He obviously was done with lunch, and wanted no more of his high chair.

This is his "This bib is strangling me!" look.

Here you can see the happy guy in one of his favorite places-the office.

Tristan giggles with delight as he practically runs up the stairs to get to the computer.

Summer means strawberry picking for us, and here's a few pictures of our latest experience here in Germany.

Tristan enjoyed being able to eat as many strawberries as he could get his little patties on, and I enjoyed how happy he was. What a fun day for all of us!

Tristan made a friend with a sweet local girl (take notice of her particularly nice clothing-we of course wore our grubbiest clothes for picking this juicy fruit but the Germans wore nice clothing and picked somewhat cautiously).

Here's Tristan playing dress up with Pauls clothes.

Windmills, Clogs and Canals

After who knows how long, here's the second part of our Holland trip. I just thought I'd share with you some of my favorite pictures of this beautiful land.

This country oozed rural tranquility as sheep, ponies, and goats roamed alongside the dikes.



How could we resist posing inside these enormous clogs at the clog factory in Zaanse Schans.



At the end of this day, Tristan's exhaustion and irritability could only be cured by a strawberry milk shake (which was previously Pauls until he gave the little guy a sip...).






A cheese shop in Zaanse Schans that featured dozens of delicious types of Dutch cheese. After much deliberating we went home with two varieties that we enjoyed for days and days.

Amsterdam

We so enjoyed this relaxing city as we took a boat through the canals and walked the cozy little streets. Amsterdam is a city filled with more canals than Venice and more cyclists than the Tour de France.








Boat houses fill the canals and are common places to not only live on weekends but serve as permanent residences for numerous 'Nederlanders'.









Anne Frank's house.




Windmills, windmills and more windmills. The town of Kinderdyke was quaint and know for just that -picturesque windmills.




These last pictures of Holland are from Kuekenhoff's petting zoo. After hours of walking around and enjoying the flowers Tristan was more than thrilled to get out of the pack and play with the animals.


This Flintstone type car was oddly placed in the middle of the petting zoo, but Tristan couldn't have been more happy.



You can see from my face that this emu (I think that's what this animal is) just nipped me.



Tristan's favorite animal was by far this little sheep. He couldn't help but climb into its little manger and sit in the hay with him.

Lately Tristan has found every possible spot to find climb into and sit in. After fears of him braking the end tables we finally found a chair just his size.


Tristan just like his dad is a huge fan of meat. More often that not we wonder if Tristan is eating enough, because of most of his meal ends up on the floor. This particular day though, that was not the case. We had barbequed pork ribs and he couldn't get enough.

After putting away an amazing amount of ribs the little guy was feeling fat and happy. I have to say that after reviewing these pictures, I'm wondering what happened to his bib and why he reminds me so much of a crazy old man (you know the ones that roam their home in a wife beater all day) at only a 16 months.

Lastly, we do have some news that we're very excited about. After a recent ultrasound we found out that the newest baby Domm will be....a girl!

Holland

I know it's been a while since posting, and I know I said I'd do better-and I haven't I'm sorry. My excuse: We found out we could be coming back to the states much quicker than anticipated and so I've been house hunting. If you're interested, I'll give you more details to follow. For now I'll tell you a little more about our oh so fabulous and relaxing vacation to Holland.

Holland was probably the most relaxing vacation we'd been on thus far. I was surprised by the beautiful countrysides, picturesque ponies (grazing just a stones throw from fields of flowers ) and kindness of the locals (upon almost hitting a woman and her child -on their bike, she smiled, laughed and then waved very kindly to Paul and I). To say the least this was a wonderful vacation. This first installment (yes there's more) covers the beautiful flowers of Keukenhoff. Keukenhoff (for those of you out there who haven't heard of it) is the most spectacular collection of tulips and others seasonal beauties in an 80 acre park. For those of you who love flowers, make this trip a priority-you must go in your lifetime. After going you'll know why Holland is the flower capital of the world!

Paul being sassy in the park.

The day was filled with beautiful flowers and delicious food. Paul and I enjoyed Benelux waffles more than once that day (and yes we've renamed the famously delicious Belgian waffle-since you can get the warm sugary dessert in almost all of the Benelux region). This time we enjoyed it with fresh cream and strawberries-ooh delicious!

Tristan rode in style in his brand new Deuter pack. He loved riding in it almost all day long and then was so comfortable that he slept in it afterwards.

Another sassy picture of Paul and Tristan (even though you can't see his face, I'm sure he's being just as sassy)

Paul and Tristan enjoying some yummy french fries (sans the fatty yet hugely popular mayonnaise).

How could you not smell the flowers? With thousands- no millions of flowers there the place smelled amazing. Paul was sure to smell more than a few varieties.

Being in Dutch country I couldn't leave without a picture of me wearing a huge pair of clogs.

More Benelux waffles (this time covered in deep dark rich chocolate)-oh so delicious!

I hope you enjoyed the flowers and if you're interested in more Holland, stay tuned for more. About our recent news: Paul got accepted into the Solar Space Science/applied physics masters program at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio. He was accepted into the program starting October (tentatively). We are still awaiting details but as of now we should be in the states by this fall.

Summer Days

It may not technically be summer but boy has it felt like it. We have had such a string of beautiful days, that I forgot we actually had a few more months til the real summer came. Tristan has enjoyed our neighbors trampoline (Thanks Ray family!), playing with our sweet neighbor Anne Cathrin (she is 3 years older than him and speaks German-but that wont stop them from having a great time), and simply getting out and exploring nature. The little guy is over joyed every time he can get out and chase ants-and the like.

Here he is taking a break in one of our flower pots (please don't look at the yard-we're working on it). This was at the end of a busy day-and he was sapped.

Paul was washing the grill and Tristan had discovered the water faucet outside. Upon discovering the wonder that is water, the little guy proceeded to drink from the tap til we took him in for dinner (he could have stayed out there all night).

After a busy day of playing outside Tristan did something that he has never done before...he fell asleep (outside his crib that is)! It was unbelievable, Tristan fell asleep on Paul at 6pm and well we had to take a picture (after all we didn't know if this would ever happen again).

Here's a close up of the little guy.

Today after church Paul suggested that we get a picture of Tristan before he changed or got filthy (he looks like such a dapper little guy in his church clothes but we rarely get a picture before he's covered in food...).

Here's mom and the little guy (he looks like he's ready to moon dance with his stylin white socks and black shoes).

We couldn't resist taking all the pictures-he was so uncharacteristically chill!

Big blue eyes

Here he is wondering what the heck we were doing and why we were doing it so long.

Here's the little guy looking a little older than I'm used to.

Just a couple pictures of our happy boy before he went to bed.

Lastly, I want to say thank you again to Megan for making these beautiful letters (we've still got to hang them up but that's the easy part).

I hope you're all enjoying beautiful weather (and if you're in Rochester take a walk in Highland Park for me-oh how I love the lilacs and Magnolia trees!).

MIA

Yeah, yeah I know I've been MIA. It's been several months since being present in the blogging world, and I'd love to tell you that I've been in some exotic local, but I was here (most of the time)-and my excuse...well I was just too tired. After our last posting we surprised our families in NY (during the month of January), and after that well I found out I was pregnant. Soon after I lost all desire (or energy) to do anything extra (which included blogging). From here on out I'll try to do much better, and I can pretty much guarantee I wont go another 4 months without blogging. Well this is another long one, but I'll try to sum up our last few months as briefly as possible.

Tristan eating of course

Tristans first birthday was filled with yummy desserts-and our carpets were the evidence to prove it (we steam cleaned them both immediately after the party).

Tristan enjoyed his fresh whipped cream cupcake...

and loved being able to make a mess (and mom not worry about it).

The next morning, we had success as we attempted to fly home space available via a military plane. We were able to get on the first flight out and had plenty of space to move around (the flight carried more German beer than passengers).

Here's Tristan in his comfy new car seat.

Here's a picture of Tristan and Tyler, a cousin just a few month older(both looking a little dazed -and both possibly teething).

As we attempted to get a picture of several of the cousins, it turned into mass hysteria and quite the entertainment for the adults. Note: Tristan's the one assaulting his female cousin in the back row.

When we returned home Tristan received a much needed haircut (where soon after I had a little bit of an emotional break down-when I found out I was pregnant, the outburst seemed to make a little more sense). In this picture you can see the "botch job" as well as Tristan helping me with some house work.

Tristan received this outfit for his birthday, and it always seems to brighten my spirits when he wears it.

Unfortunately, he wasn't so happy-but I did love the last three pictures that showed his ever changing emotions.

One afternoon we took a trip to the Luxembourg U.S. Military Cemetery and Memorial, just a little over an hour away.

As we were leaving we saw a sign for the nearby German Military Cemetery, we were both intrigued and so we made the very short trip (it was just a stones throw away).

We both felt it was very appropriate and fitting to visit this cemetery as well as the U.S. one. Paul and I were very moved at the stark difference between the two memorials. Unlike the American memorial with beautiful symmetrical grave stones and monuments, this little plot was filled with rough dark stones that gave the names of not one service member but sometimes up to 5. The cemetery felt small, dark, and almost shameful. This little memorial was inconspicuous and felt in a way a secret-it definitely felt like the resting ground for the losing side.

I was saddened by the reality that the majority of these men were not men at all, but young boys. The average age on the grave stones was 18-just like this soldier who shares a birthday with my older sister Sarah, and a last name that has the same origins as my maiden name.

This is the story to go along with the picture: after arriving home from the States, Tristan got an ear infection. All went well as we gave him amoxacillan to treat the infection, but a week after he finished his last dose he broke out in a full body rash. When we took him to church people wondered if he had the chicken pox-or something else much worse, but I reassured them that what he had wasn't contagious-just ugly! Unfortunately Tristan looked like a cartoon character for about a week.

One morning when Tristan was being particularly quiet, I went to check on him and found him like this.

He couldn't have been happier with anything else.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of him after I took the Desitan away-then he wasn't so happy.

Because of teething Tristan has gotten more than his share of popsicles. As a result he's become quite good at feeding himself.

As Tristan has grown and become more active it has become harder and harder to get a good picture of Tristan. Usually he's lunging at the camera (hence the numerous pictures of him in the high chair). Despite the many failed efforts, I tried to get a few pictures of him for my mom (so she can see him wearing the clothes she sent). I'm so thankful for my Mom who is so generous as she sends the best care packages, filled with cute clothes for Tristan.

Our friends the Grizzards came and visited us for a week, and so we took a trip down to Bavaria. Here are a few of my favorite pictures, from the trip.

Whenever Paul tried to get a picture of Tristan and I, Tristan would turn around and point to the castle-he was obviously impressed by this unbelievable structure.

Tristan on the Hotel fish ride (which happened to be broken-but this didn't stop Tristan from having the time of his life).

I took this picture for Pauls sister Kelly(Nussbaum). If you look above this decorate wood carving-it tells you what type of wood its made from -Nussbaum (nut tree).

This is the famous glochenspiel (sp?) in Munich, where we spent our last day in Bavaria.

Tristan looking out over the city with Paul (Tristan loved the view and could have stayed there for hours).

When we did decide to go Tristan was not happy about leaving-and so you can see Paul prying him from the bars.

All of us at the famous Hofbrau Hause, where we did not have any beer but had plenty of good brots, sauerkraut and german bread.

Tristan enjoying some of Pauls wurst and sauerkraut. The little guy enjoyed the food so much that after tanking up, he slept for three hours in the car.

Since our little trip to Bavaria, Tristan has had a few days of crazy fevers (which have since past), and we hav been enjoying the beautiful weather we've been getting. Tristan loves playing outside and discovering all the sights and sounds that come with exploring nature (recently he ate a lady bug in our front yard). Hopefully you all are enjoying wonderful weather and have had a wonderful Easter!

Swamped

It's been over a week since we've been back, and I still don't feel I have the energy to catch up with the blogging world. Call me a slacker, but I just don't want to deal with uploading pictures and creating an accompanying blog. I have this nagging in the back of my brain, telling me that I need to get caught up with all of my friends and family via the blogging world-but as for now it's just not on the priority list. Since coming back(fyi-I don't mean to be cryptic I'm just exhausted. If you're wondering, we surprised our family in the states. It was great but much too short. I'm sorry if we were in town and we didn't get to see you-there were so many people we wanted to see and were simply unable) anyway, since coming back Tristan and Paul have been sick and I have followed suit. In addition Tristan has been boycotting food (which has been both frustrating and worrisome) and yesterday we learned this was due to a painful ear infection. One day soon I'll be providing you with a more entertaining post-one with pictures and witty comments, but as for now I'll just leave you with this lame excuse for me being MIA from the blogging world.

Ode to Tristan

What a sweet little guy, this blue eyed small fry

he may never cuddle or be a good sleeper

but his laughs and his giggles make him a sure keeper!

I've never professed to be a good poet, but my silliness is very much a result of this special day. It's Tristan's birthday! That's right, one year ago this crazy little guy entered our life. I can't believe it's been a year, and yet I feel like we've been together for much longer. In his short existence, Tristan has brought so much joy to our home and has taught me what true love is. Because of this little guy I have learned to sacrifice and also to relax (before Tristan I never would have stood for my dining room floor looking the way it does)! Our family's dynamic is so different and wonderful because of Tristan, and on this very special day I feel especially blessed because of him.



The following pictures are a few I took yesterday.


I got such a kick out of Tristan's post nap hair.

If your wondering, this is what happens when you take a nap with damp hair (after getting a bath from Dad).

Recently Tristan has enjoyed hanging out on the bottom shelf of this table.

Upon waking up, this was one of the first places he went to play.

The following pictures are some of my favorites from the past year. I hope you enjoy!