The Nurnberg (Nuremberg) Zoo

I have been feeling pretty lousy the past month and a half - nauseous, tired, grumpy - but wouldn't you know that good ole sunshine and the great outdoors is a wonderful cure for all that morning sickness! We've been pretty active lately - going to Passau, Germany and Cesky Krumlov (a beautiful medieval city in the Czech Republic) last weekend, attending BBQs and hail and farewells at local Gasthauses, shopping for outdoor furniture in Neumarkt and today we ventured out to the Nurnberg Tiergarten (Zoo). It was a beautiful sunshine filled day and the temperature stayed around 74 degrees - perfect. We got off to a late start - Luke has taken up sleeping in later than usual so he didn't get up until 9:45am. Brian and I weren't much better, sleeping in until 9:00am. Anyway, we headed out the door around quarter to 11 and arrived at the zoo a little before 11:30am. We spent 2 1/2 hours walking around, sans stroller. Luke is at a wonderful age where he doesn't need a stroller, stays fairly close to Brian and I, and when he gets a little tired he let's us carry him, for a few minutes anyway. He can be a little pokey so our walk around the zoo was a little slow going at times but we had a great time looking at all the animals, wandering around the kinder (children) zoo (complete with a HUGE playground, pigs in sand and goats to hang out with) and stopping at the little garten for french fries and drinks. The Nurnberg zoo is nice, a good amount of animals but nothing compared to the St Louis Zoo or Milwaukee County Zoo but we still had a very nice time and I'm sure we'll go back again and again. We had a great time and have some pictures to show for it. I'll try to get our Passau pictures posted sometime soon but in the meantime, enjoy the pics of the 3 of us and some friendly animals.

The Prarie Dogs - Luke adored these little creatures - they are pretty playful and active so he got a kick out of watching them run around and scramble up the side of the logs.

See? On his tip-toes watching those Prarie Dogs.
Time for a shoulder ride! He realized he could see a LOT of stuff from this vantage point.
The playground in the Kinder Zoo
Fat pig buried in the sand.

The goats! You could pet them but Luke had no interest - he just liked to walk around.
This is as close as he got to these guys - he would not touch them (not that I minded at all - ewww, dirty goat!) ;)
Snack time!

There are wild horses behind us - exciting I know.

We are looking for seals. Luke had no idea what was in the water until a seal popped it's head up and snorted out water right in front of us. He figured out what was going on and was trying to find them all.
Spotting seals - he loved it!
A penguin parade

We've Got Some News

Hi everyone! I know it has been awhile since I have posted on our blog. I swear I haven't forgot about you all - I just have not had the energy to do much of anything lately. I've been exhausted, sleeping whenever Luke sleeps, and even catching some cat naps on the couch while he plays. I don't feel very well the majority of the day and any bursts of energy I have are spent on Luke or trying to keep the house looking half way decent. I also just recently kicked a hard core Diet Coke addiction and stopped drinking my morning coffee. Why you ask? Because I am pregnant! The baby is due in January. I have a few more weeks left of my first trimester and I am really hoping that the exhaustion and nausea disappear soon. We are very excited for baby #2 and are glad we have plenty of time to prepare for his or her arrival. Here are a couple new pictures of Luke with the ultrasound picture - we sent these pics to the grandpa's for Father's Day as a surprise. They got a kick out of it and are very excited for the baby. Hope you all are doing well. And I hope as I get some energy back I'll be posting more often. Take care...



Oh, and I taught Luke a new trick. Not sure it was the best thing to teach him but it had been so cold and rainy for awhile and we hadn't gone outside in a long time so we were trying to think of fun things to do in the house. Here's a little clip -

Hello!!!!

Hello! It has been crazy and hectic around here lately and I haven't had time to blog! Brian went to France for a staff ride earlier this month. He went to northern France to learn about Normandy. They had a professional photographer on the trip with them so hopefully Brian will get some great pictures and send them my way so I can share them with you all. He got back from France on the 16th of this month.
We had some sad family news last week. Brian's grandma Ledford passed away on Saturday, the 17th of May. He was able to attend the funeral and he flew into Atlanta on Monday, the 19th and stayed through Friday the 23rd. It was a sad reason to have to go back to the states but he is glad he did and he enjoyed being with his family, and his grandpa, during that time.
Since Brian has been back we have been enjoying the great outdoors! The weather has been beautiful (although if you have allergies I guess it's not that much fun!) and we have been trying to be outside as much as possible. We had a neighborhood BBQ on Saturday, we ventured out to a flea market on Sunday and the past couple of nights we have been walking on the trails in the woods near our house. Luke loves it and walks the entire time. Last night I brought the camera along with me and snapped a few pictures. It's beautiful where we live, huh?

Luke running on the gravel path

The forest right by our house
And the train tracks...
Walking up 1 of the paths
Wheat everywhere!
And little flowers too...

We stopped at the park on the way home to play for awhile...

Well if daddy can do it so can I!
Hmmm...how do I do this?
Hanging on!
I think I like this. :) (Notice his cool baseball belt? I made that for him!)
Every time Luke sees sand, it's in his hand and then thrown on something else.
Luke loves this thing and Brian went around so many times that Luke couldn't walk! I caught it on video, it that mean? :)
Fields of flowers!
A flower in Luke's little hand
He really didn't want to leave the park so we had to distract him by finding dandelion puffs for him to shake and when those ran out we found wild daisies for him to pick. It worked like a charm.

The End!

Germany in May

Last time I posted I gave you pictures of all the plants blooming and of Luke. Today, I give you more of the same. :) I know we haven't done anything adventurous lately but we are really settling into our house and enjoying our home so we have been staying around the town on the weekends and enjoying Parsberg. Every day Luke and I enjoy the beautiful May weather (sunny and in the mid 60s) and while Luke bounces on trampolines, slides down slides and destroys flowers, I take pictures of him and of the beauty surrounding us. The neighborhood is nice and quiet during the day when the neighborhood kids are at school and I can let Luke play in the backyard while I am getting things done inside the house - I just check on him frequently but I usually hear him talking to himself or making a racket.





Yesterday Brian played in a golf tournament and when he got home we grilled out and stayed outside until way past Luke's bedtime. Luke get to bed a little after 9pm. He was so worn out that he sacked out right away. But not before we could capture some video footage! I wanted to upload our clip of Luke telling Brian all the endangered animals in the book "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" Luke says "take a bite of..." before saying the animal - he thinks he is pretty funny. But it is a large file and it won't upload so you'll get Luke starting his ABCs and changing it to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and then Luke bashfully singing his ABCs while I hold him. Enjoy!

Miss us?

Where have we been? Why haven't I updated the blog? Well, we've been here, at home, enjoying the sunny days of spring. And I've been busy blogging on Fray Baby and listing new items in my shop. But have no fear! We still make time for fun and we've been to a JMRC formal, a kiddie carnival and have been strolling around the neighborhood playing in the parks, bouncing on the trampolines and snapping pictures of all the flowers blooming.

Here is Luke at the spring carnival. And what is that in his hand? That is our new pet - a fish.

He has no name. I guess we should name him but he is living in a Pyrex measuring cup and we thought he might be belly up by now but he seems to have taken to us. (Why is Mr. Fish living in my Pyrex? Well, every child at the carnival got a little fishie and therefore the small fishie supply area at the PXtra is cleaned out. They did give us a small baggie of fishie flakes to feed Mr. Fish so don't worry, he isn't going hungry. Just look how healthy he looks!)

Luke sitting on the couch enjoying his bowl of popcorn. Notice the short sleeves? Yup, it was that nice out this weekend.
On your mark...get set...Go! Luke loves running all over the place. Brian took him in the jogger stroller on his morning run the other day and then let him run free afterwards. It was a gorgeous day - he didn't even need the jacket but Luke associates being outside with having to wear a jacket so he insisted.


Pictures of the trees and flowers in bloom! Aren't they beautiful? And they are all in my neighborhood. I think I need to get a few planters and add to the splendor.

Our backyard is enveloped into the community backyard where there are a bunch of toys, some slides, swings and a trampoline. Thankfully there is a mesh "wall" around it so I don't have a heart attack when I see Luke haphazardly bouncing around. He likes to throw all the balls on it and climb up and jump around. We try to go outside during the day when the big kids are in school so he can bounce around without getting wounded. Here is a little footage of the endless fun he can have on a trampoline. Enjoy. :)

Spring is Here!! Oh, Nevermind

Just when we thought it was warming up, we woke up to this Thursday morning!




These pictures were taken pretty early in the morning when everything was still pretty quiet so the unexpected white blanket was quite beautiful and breath-taking. We also knew it wouldn't last because the sun was already starting to rise and warm the air. But what a beautiful site and the neighborhood kids got to whack each other in the head with snowballs while waiting for their weather delayed ride to school from the bus.

(I can appreciate snow in the middle of April because I had 4 1/2 years of sunshine in Hawaii AND we didn't arrive in Germany until February of this year. I'm sure next April, after freezing, sloshing and bundling through 6 months of cold, April snow showers won't be as appreciated.)

Not for Sale

An update mostly for the grandparents because they are probably the only ones who think this is cute - and they miss Luke the most!

As you know I have been quite the entrepreneur and opened a shop on Etsy. Last week I retook a bunch of the pictures of my items on a bed of white chenille. Luke woke up from his nap and saw me taking pictures of my latest bib and burp cloth set and he walked over to it and picked it up, placed it aside and put his gross blankie in it's place. Then he sat beside it and said "Luke camera, blankie camera. Cheese!" And I obliged. After all, he is a lot cuter than a burp cloth.