San Diego, A House, And A Baby Who Doesn't Like Apples

I know it's been forever since I've posted, but I've been a little busy. Between my family, two kids, their doctors appointments (Brady has had strep and Noah an ear infection and a 6 month check up), traveling, and building a house, I don't have much time to blog...or bathe for that matter!

So, to save time, I thought I'd combine a few topics into one post to get ya' caught up on where we are.

First up, San Diego. We flew to San Diego 5 days after arriving in the states from Germany to visit Buck's family. His parents are both from San Diego and his grandparents still live there. The last time we were there, I was 6 weeks pregnant with Brady, so the great-grandparents hadn't seen either of the boys yet. It was a wonderful time! Of course, perfect weather and family always make for a good time, right?

In this photo: Buck's parents and siblings, (minus one sister who couldn't make it out) and his paternal grandparents, a.k.a, Granny and Grandpa.
Four generations of Carroll men; all of whom have the first name Allan and the initials, ABC. :)

Granny with the boys. And this is again Buck's family, but with his maternal grandparents, his aunt and two of her three kids.

The boys with Nana and Papa. Brady was in no mood for pictures this day!

Me with two of my beautiful sister-in-laws. :) (I decided to throw this one in since I rarely post a picture with me in it.) The House: It's coming along...slowly! I didn't realize how long it took to build a house (the lot was cleared in April!) or how involved a process it truly was. (Bless you dear mother for the months of work you did without me here to help!) We finally have stucco outside (which has been re-done since this picture was taken thanks to a composition problem) and painted walls inside. The doors, crown and baseboards were going in today, and cabinets are being delivered tomorrow. Eventually, we will have a driveway, and flooring put down, and be able to move in...eventually. The baby: I swear this kid has taken the term, "picky eater" to a whole other level. Remember this post. Well, the grains weren't agreeing with him. A few hours after eating the cereal (oatmeal too) he would vomit. Not the baby spit up kind, the projectile kind involving coughing and spitting. I took him off for a month and tried again at 6 months with the same result. His pediatrician told me some babies don't tolerate grains well and to just start him out on apples, bananas or pears. So I did. And he hates them. ALL of them! He makes the awful face (pictured below), gags and spits them all over me. So far he's hated apples, peas, bananas, squash and pears. I continue in my futile efforts, hoping that one day he'll choke down a bite or two and find something other than Mama's milk palatable. That's about it for now. Hopefully, I'll find time to post before October rolls around.

**Disclaimer: I know that these pictures are in need of editing, but I'm too tired and busy, (or maybe just too lazy) to edit them.**

The City of Lights...

...Of which I did not see the lights. Having two little boys in tow makes it hard to wait until 10:30 at night when it gets dark and they turn on the lights, and we thought that the Metro might not be a safe place for the kids that late. Paris, however, lights or no lights is a spectacular city!

We thoroughly enjoyed every second we spent there! We'd definitely plan a return trip if we were staying in Germany a bit longer, and plan to one day re-visit Paris (without kids)! We packed in as much as we could in the three days we had. We of course saw all of the touristy "musts"...The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and Notre Dame. All of that was amazing, but I think the best part was the people. Parisians are superbly friendly, helpful, wonderful people. We truly loved this city and it's people! Oh, and the fresh pastries from the bakery just around the corner from our hotel...to die for!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip...

The Eiffel Tower (or Tour Eiffel) as the french would say.
We had to put B on a leash. :) He loved running around this park next to the Eiffel Tower.

Noah just sat in his stroller, a happy baby, taking in the view.

I love this picture. Brady kept climbing up on his bed and gazing out the window at the skyline.

The Mona Lisa. It's not nearly as big or impressive as I had imagined. She sits behind glass in the middle of a huge room, with a ridiculous crowd pushing and shoving to get a shot of her.

Here's the crazy crowd. I actually waded through it to get my picture...nuts, I know.

Oh, how I love this face.

I think Brady's favorite thing was feeding the pigeons outside the Louvre. At one point, I think we had every pigeon in Paris at our feet.

The Arc de Triomphe. Yes, I ran out into 8 lanes of traffic to get this picture...

Noah enjoyed helping Daddy read the map. :)

A shot of the Eiffel Tower from across the Seine.

Notre Dame. Not as big as I expected, but so beautiful. A peaceful haven in the middle of the city.

I just loved this shot.

But, my favorite picture from the trip...this one. This is the view I live for.

Normandy, Part 3: The Rest Of The Pictures

Here they are. The remaining pictures from our Normandy trip...Well, at least the one's I'm putting on blogger.

Day 3 was the actual D-Day anniversary. We first headed to Point du Hoc. In case you don't know the significance, this is the spot, just around the bend from Omaha beach where rangers from the 5th Ranger Regiment scaled the bluff to take out strategic German gun emplacements. In doing so they saved countless American lives. From here, the Germans had a birds-eye view of the waters and beaches littered with Allied forces. It was truly an amazing feat considering that the bluff is a vertical cliff. Before the invasion began Navy ships heavily bombed the coast line leaving enormous craters. It's hard to believe that anyone could have survived this initial bombing. Just to get an idea of the size of these things, I had Buck walk down into the bottom of one...and this one wasn't the biggest crater we saw!
Point du Hoc may have been the coolest place we saw. There were ruins of German bunkers and gun emplacements everywhere. Several of the bunkers were still in tact and we were able to go down inside of them. They were however very, very dark and even with the flash on I couldn't get a good picture inside.

Noah was just chillin'.

And Brady was playing with his "tickle" rocks...don't ask...I can't begin to understand the thinking of a two year old.

After lunch we headed over to Omaha beach. It is impossible to describe the overwhelming feeling of gratitude that flooded my emotions as I stood there on that hallowed ground.

It is so peaceful and beautiful. Impossible to fathom the carnage that once took place here, is it not?

Omaha beach was a much more difficult assault because of the bluffs that line the beach head. This picture was taken from a top a bluff. You can't really tell just how high or vertical they are unless you look closely. See those tiny black dots on the beach...well, they aren't dots, they're people. The invading troops had to make their way up those bluffs to capture the high ground and take out the German guns. It really is a miracle that they ever succeeded.

A reflective me...

And on the drive back home, I got a great preview of Paris...our next planned trip!

Normandy, Part 2: The Pictures

Like I said in my last post, our trip to Normandy for the 66th anniversary of D-Day was the trip of a lifetime for me! I'm a big history buff, (perhaps a little unknown fact to some of you), especially military history. It's no wonder I married someone in the Army! When we moved to Germany, I told Buck that there were two places I absolutely had to see while we were here: Normandy and Rome. Now, I've crossed them both of my list!

We spent 3 days in Normandy, which is a region in France, not a city. It was amazing! The tiny little coastal towns that were the sights of the invasion, like Saint Marie du Mont, Vierville, Saint Mere Eglise, Carentan...have changed very little in the last 66 years. It was like stepping back in time.

There were "re-enactor" dressed in period uniforms everywhere, military vehicles driving down the roads, and American flags flying side-by-side the French flag, waving proudly from nearly every window.

I was expecting to see more of the veterans who fought their way through those streets and towns, but I suppose that the trip is becoming to much for most of them, who now are most likely in their 80's. We did however see a few, and I couldn't help but to stare and wonder what their eyes had seen.

That's enough rambling I suppose. Here are some of my favorite pic's from the trip...

It was a long drive, 8.5 hours, split into 2 days, and it didn't take long for B to rack out.
As usual, Noah was all grins...pretty much the entire trip. Both of our boys are awesome little travelers.

This was in our hotel room in Reims, our half-way stopping point. We had to pull out my computer for B to watch Little Einsteins (thank heavens for iTunes), since all of the programming was in French and had no cartoons! And, after seeing this picture, there's no denying that those two are brothers!

Some of the British vets who fought in Saint Mere Eglise. We saw more of these guys than American vets. I suppose it's a much easier trip for them. I loved these guys! They were the same 20 year olds who fought through those streets 66 years before, only trapped in an 80 year old body! Aren't they adorable?!?

One of the actual jeeps used by American forces. It's been restored, obviously.

This was one of the actual planes that dropped American paratroopers in on D-Day. It also pulled a glider plane in on the 7th.

Utah beach. In the background is the museum. And, of course that's B, running after his daddy, in the foreground.

Stay tuned for pics of Point-du-Hoc and Omaha beach.

Normandy, Part 1

Step back in time with me if you will.

June 6, 1944. D-Day. The coastline of France has transformed into hell on earth.

The sounds of machine gun fire, mortars, and the biggest guns you can imagine exploding on the shore next to you are deafening. Paralyzing. Almost as loud as the cries for help coming from your buddy, your best friend, who is dying right before your eyes.

The smell is of fear, death, metal and smoke from blazing guns.

The water through which you wade is littered with bodies, red with the blood of your brothers.

You wonder if you will make it through this day, or even survive the next seconds, let alone minutes or hours. You wish you could jump back in the boat or on the plane, turn around and go home.

Even though you're surrounded by thousands, you've never felt so alone.

Fast forward 66 years.

That same coastline, peaceful, tranquil, quiet, breathtakingly beautiful.

Families now lie on the beach soaking up the sun and enjoying a picnic.

Kids splash in the water.

The only sounds are those of laughter, gulls and peaceful waves washing ashore.

I wonder why anyone is allowed to splash in that water. It seems to me that this place should be a silent memorial to the men who died in that sand.

I feel frustrated with their seemingly short memory, angered by their disrespect and overwhelmed by the sacrifice of the greatest generation all at the same time. Tears fill my eyes.

I realize more than ever that life is short. I'm more thankful than ever that by God's grace I'm an American child and that my children are too.

I want to go back in time and kiss my grandfathers face and thank him (all of them really) for the sacrifice he made 66 years ago to keep this world free.

Then I realize something else. That if those men who fought there and died there were standing next to me they'd probably say, "Let them play. Let them laugh. The louder the better." After all, that's what they fought for. To liberate a continent from tyranny, evil. For freedom. The freedom to play and to laugh and to enjoy all that life has to offer.

They really were the Greatest Generation, you know?

After walking those beaches, and getting a feel for what they faced on that day, to what must seem just a few years ago to them, I am humbled and honored to have traced their footsteps.

It was an experience that I will never forget. A lifelong dream fulfilled. #1 on my bucket list now crossed off.

I only wish that my boys could have understood. But, I'll be sure that one day they do.

No...Freedom, isn't free.

This flag flies overlooking the shore at Utah Beach.

Tulips and Windmills -- Mother's Day Weekend

This Mother's Day was very special indeed! Not only did I have two beautiful boys for which to be thankful, but I was able to see a beautiful part of God's creation. We spent the weekend in Noordwijk ann Zee, a wonderful little seaside town in The Netherlands.

I have always wanted to see the tulips in the spring. From all of the photographs I've ever seen it just looked like a little piece of Heaven here on Earth. And seeing it in person left me more convinced than ever that it is indeed! God's hand was evident in everything that I saw and smelled and touched.

I took many, many photographs and thought I'd share my favorites with you.

It is quite difficult to get a 2 month old and a 2 year old to look at the camera at all, let alone at the same time. This is the best we could manage. :)

This picture is a bit out of order, but I didn't want to go back and upload all of these again, so here it is...This is Keukenhof. The 2nd largest park in the world and 3rd most photographed. It's not hard to see why. There are millions of flowers here!

Not long after crossing the border into The Netherlands we started to see windmills. I know this isn't the greatest picture of one, but cut me some slack...we were driving 80 mph on the Autobahn. It's a wonder I could even get it in a frame!

Our hotel, the Hof van Holland. It sat on a beautiful, quiet street. I loved the streets there. It was like stepping back in time to the 1940's. We saw many families riding their bikes with woven baskets on the front.

The rest of the photos were taken at Keukenhof. They are simply amazing!

...And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:13