Where have all the posts gone?

I am sure you are all despertly waiting for the numerous posts that should have been posted by now including John David's first Christmas, 9 month milestone and our trip to Spain.  Unfortunately below is what my office looks like at the present.

I have to admit that yes that is my Cricut out on my desk already.  I couldn't resist taking it out of the box but I assure you it has not been turned on yet!

Part of this is do to the fact that I have neglected this room since we arrived and the lack of organization has allowed this room to turn into basically a room full of crap instead of the organized room for crafting, school,  bills, etc that I originally envisioned.  As such you will have to wait a few more days to get the complete run down on the last weeks events while I take care of this mess.

My favorite picture with my new camera from our trip to Spain of John David is below to put a smile on your face while you are waiting! 

Aachen Christmas Market

On Saturday we got up and drove to Aachen, Germany to visit their Christmas Market.  Aachen is right on the German border and about 1.5 hours away by car.  We actually had to drive through The Netherlands briefly to get there so David, John David and I all picked up a new country without even planning.  Aachen is a very cute city and they had a nice Christmas market with lots of delicious food.  We forgot that it was the Saturday before Christmas though and it was packed, too packed actually for our taste so we didn't stay very long.  Plus is was cold.  But we had a very nice time and it was a great way to spend a Saturday.

Aachen Christmas Market

Can you tell David is cold in this picture?

Lots of Yummy Bratwurst

I'm not sure John David cared too much for the visit but at least he was nice and warm. 

Giant Aachen Gingerbread Man

We have been getting a good deal of snow here in Brussels which is a bit surprising since everyone told us that it hardly ever snows here.  I would say we have more days with snow now than without.  It is really pretty and since it doesn't build up on the major roads and David takes the Metro and Tram to work it really is pretty easy to deal with all the white stuff.  I gave John David a small snowball to check out this afternoon and he was not too sure about it.  Here are some pictures and a cute one of John David in a very festive winter outfit. 

John David Meets Santa

Santa came to the Ambassador's House yesterday to visit and see all the good little boys and girls and John David met him for the first time.  As you can see from the pictures below he wasn't real sure but his lasted longer and a lot of kids.

 

Boxes Are Super Fun!

We have been getting lots of boxes recently and John David has been having quite a lot of fun with them.  I will say he was supervised the entire time that he was playing with all this plastic and cardboard.  

Snow in Brussels

We have had snow for the last couple of days so I thought I would share a few pictures from outside our windows. The pond across the street is starting to freeze over and the ducks and geese have a smaller and smaller pool to swim. They really do not do much to the roads or sidewalks believe it or not so it is getting a little dangerous especially if you have to walk like David does to and from the tram or metro. John David doesn't really think too much of the snow. If it was a little warmer I would take him out to explore it a little but it has been in the 20s and will been in the high teens for the rest of the week so we don't plan on venturing out too far. Yesterday I went out during John David's nap to shovel our driveway and sidewalk.  Our neighbor did it earlier in the week so I thought I better take a turn too.  It brought back memories of shoveling the driveway in Iowa and Illinois.  Now as an adult I can see why Dad and Mom bought a snow-blower as soon as I moved to college.  

John David checking out the snow

Thanksgiving trip to Berlin

We had the most wonderful trip to Berlin for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Our friends Dan and Stacey and their three boys are posted there now so we stayed with them. In addition, are good friends Erin and Megan and their two girls came in from Kiev. While it is cold in Brussels it is really cold in Berlin and we got plenty of use out of our cold weather gear. We arrived late Wednesday evening, celebrated a delicious Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and got out to see some of the sights in Berlin on Friday. Unfortunately, John David came down with something while we were there and woke up early on Saturday morning with a high fever so we stayed in on Saturday with Stacey and her youngest while everyone else took in a few more sights.  We had such a great time seeing our friends.  It was hard to say goodbye and we miss them already. Below are a few pictures from our visit.

John David and Sean playing with the bag popper which was a big hit with John David

Bundled up for a walk through their neighborhood with the Dads

Not so sure about this cold weather

John David enjoyed Thanksgiving with pureed Turkey and Sweet Potatoes

Christmas Market

Dan and David enjoying the local cuisine

David with Dan, Stacey and the boys

New Jewish Memorial (our Embassy is right behind the large tree on the left) it is supposed to symbolize how lost the Jews felt after the War because when you are inside walking around you cannot see anything and you start to feel lost

John David loved all the beer coasters at the restaurant where we ate lunch

Reichstag (German Parliament)

David, Eric (& Eric's daughter) and Dan

Stacey and a very bundled Kiernan

Christmas Market at Night

David and Dan with their Gluhwein (Mulled wine which is super yummy)

Sign when you enter old West Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie

Other side of the sign

On the metro heading home