In early December I was invited to go on a girl’s getaway to celebrate my dear friend Leigh’s 30th! She had invited a group of her friends from Germany and asked if I would come along. I was honored! We headed out on Friday afternoon and Seth graciously dove in as SuperDad and kept the boys until Sunday afternoon when he and the boys joined us! So I got to have Friday night, Saturday and most of Sunday just with the girls. We ate and chatted and ate some more, shopped a little at the Interlaken Christmas market, drank hot wine, ate some more! Each of us took on a meal and it was really fun because everyone got really into their meals. We ate like queens all weekend and I am confident my pants were tighter when we left the chalet. It was such a fun time of celebrating Leigh and getting to know her sweet friends!

I missed the memo about wearing skinny jeans and tall boots. I have since gotten with the program and got some skinny jeans to go with my boots! Sheesh, someone should have told me sooner!

Katy Jo unexpectedly got to tag along for the girls weekend and was such a pleasure! She was a great sleeper and such a sweetie!

this was the view of the mountain directly in from of our chalet. Stunning!

Bo, Leigh and Katy Jo.  We are enjoying every chance we can to hang out while we live so close!

The boys and Seth came up on Sunday night to join in on the fun. We stayed in the chalet until Tues morning when we headed back to Bern. Unfortunately, we had no idea that Owen had a double ear infection. He didn’t sleep more than 20 mins at a time the first night and the second he was up screaming ALL night! Despite the ear infection and sleepless nights we enjoyed being on our first getaway as a family of 4. We sat by the fire, sipped hot chocolate and champagne and enjoyed each others company. We hope to go back someday when everyone is healthy!

carpenters workbench in a little shop we went in

We had kind of an extended Thanksgiving this year. We spent Thanksgiving Day in Bern doing untraditional things like eating Chinese food and walking around downtown looking at the windows all decorated for Christmas.  I will be honest holidays away from home are not something I look forward to. By the afternoon I was knee deep in self-pity and if my tired brain is remembering correctly my sweet husband had to basically say that he wasn’t going to want to hang out with me and take me to dinner if I didn’t cheer up. It is a weird lifestyle to begin with most days of the yr but I find holidays to be the toughest.  But by the time we had some dinner and took in some holiday cheer downtown things were looking up. On Friday we headed up to Kandern (not sure if it’s actually up but we headed there) for the weekend with Bo, Leigh and Katy Jo.

It has been a surreal experience for me each time we are with the Bowen’s on this side of the ocean. I always hoped to live near Leigh when we were both grown up and were married with babies but never thought it would happen. After going through all of the jr high, high school and college journeys together it is fun to continue the journey in closer proximity.

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving celebrations both in Bern and Germany

And now off to Kandern…it was a snowy day so we were a bit nervous about the roads. They were clear and it was amazing to do a roadtrip in a winter wonderland!

Friday night Bo and Leigh had arranged for some students from BFA to watch the kids so the grown-ups could go out to dinner! It was a much-needed night out!

pumpkin soup!

so maybe walking the icy hill with a loaded stroller wasn’t the wisest of decisions

the finished bird…best yr yet. Maybe we have finally gotten the hang of it.

I attempted a turkey roll for Jackson…he wasn’t as impressed as you would expect!

our spread

Bo had a broken foot but was a good sport about hosting a crowd!

Jackson waited all week to use the turkey napkin ring he had made at school. The time had finally come! He was so proud of his creation!

Owen had a wonderful first Thanksgiving..he wasn’t so sure of the strawberry bib that KJ lent him but he loved the food!

We had a wonderful weekend and arrived home on Sunday afternoon in time for Seth to shovel the driveway and Jackson to get some rosy cheeks! Followed by a round of hot chocolate!

Let the holiday season begin!

In April, April 10th to be exact, my little brother Graham married Tina! We love Tina and were so excited to celebrate with them.  It was a whirlwind weekend packed with visiting with family and friends from near and far, eating wonderful food, lots of pre-wedding events and of course the wedding!

Jackson and Seth were honored to be in the wedding. Jackson was the ring bearer and Seth was a groomsmen. Owen was there to charm the ladies!  I think there were times when Tina wondered why she chose Graham when Owen was just so darn sweet! I think she made a better choice in Graham. Owen has some growing up to do

The boys both were in on all of the fun! They were up late every night and held it together until the wedding ceremony when Jackson walked sweetly down the aisle and then proceeded to shriek and disrupt the whole room. Not my proudest mother moment. But he recovered from his meltdown and regained energy with a big Texas Barbecue meal. He was fresh as a buttercup when Graham and Tina danced their first dance. He hit the floor when the dj said it was open for all.

Here are some pictures from the weekend! There are lots and they are a bit out of order but they will give you a taste of the fun!

this was Owen’s first time to fly! And in true Owen fashion he enjoyed every minute, mostly by napping! I don’t expect that on the flight to Bern!

The rehearsal dinner was at Joe T. Garcia’s. Jackson enjoyed his first virgin margarita!

just a little evidence of Owen’s influence on the ladies!

Tina got a yucky kiss! Jackson was too tired to notice her reaction!

Congrats, Graham and Tina!  We had such a fun weekend at your wedding and we look forward to years and years of memories! Tina, welcome to the family. We love you!

As you can see we are still catching up on our homeleave posts!

After Oregon we flew in to Ft. Worth where we visited with my parents and got to see a few friends while we were in the area. We didn’t make it to Dallas more than for 2 hours for the state fair so it was sad not to see all of our friends there.

While in Ft Worth we continued the blue bell ice cream trend and got to have Thai food made by my mom! Jackson spent lots of time with my parents dog Noah. My parents were in the middle of a move themselves so it felt a bit like we were being stalked by boxes! We were glad they still wanted us to visit even though they had a lot going on.

Jackson’s 2nd birthday gift from us was a tricycle. We bought it for him in Ft Worth so he would have it for our road trip. He amazed us with how he was able to hop on and ride with no help or training. We had no idea he could do it!

We spent a morning at the State Fair which was lots of fun! Before the fair we got to meet my sweet friend, Jenny and her baby Emma for coffee.

gazing up at Big Tex

We got to see my brother Graham and his fiance Tina one morning. They came along when Jackson went to fly a kite with PopPop.

We had dinner with a couple of my college friends one evening. Jackson was in rare form from being excited and exhausted but it was a good time! I ordered Jackson french fries and we were shocked to see the Texas size for fries. See below the bucket of fries!

After a week and a half it was time to hit the road and head to DC . We packed up every inch of the minivan and set out. Jackson was a trooper and took great naps throughout our trip. We could not have asked for a better traveler.

We drove through Nashville and got to have lunch with one of my Jr High/High School friends, Hannah. Her son’s name is Jackson too so Jackson thought it was amazing that he got to play with another Jackson! It was so fun to see Hannah and her boys as well as her mom and catch up even if it was only for a little while.

After Nashville we drove on to Louisville where we spent a few days with the O’Leary family. Jackson was in heaven with constant attention from Evan, Maddie and Gilly. It was such a fun time to take Jackson to be with them after having watched them when they were Jackson’s age.

Jackson crashing the girls slumber party

Pumpkin painting with the girls

Seth was like a boy on Christmas morning when we spent the morning at the Louisville Slugger Museum!

Seth and Jackson posing with Mickey Mantle’s bat. They had to wear white gloves to protect the bat.

After a great homeleave we arrived in Virginia on the 10th of Oct. We were so relieved to be done traveling and unpacked our suitcases within the first few hours! I am not sure we will ever do a month of travel again with a toddler, let alone 2 little ones! Adjusting to time zones and a zillion different beds for Jackson was a bit more of an adventure than we had warned him about. We have gotten settled into our “home” for the most part and have gotten right in to life here in VA. We are enjoying the gorgeous fall leaves and having family and friends so close by! We will post pictures of our Fall times soon. We promise to get it up before the first snow