Today we had a play date with two of Drew's buddies, Andrew and Ethan from school.  It was SO cute seeing the boys use their imagination playing everything from pirates to pilots.  I LOVE this age!

While Andy was at work the other morning I thought it would be nice to make him a birthday card from the kids.  I left Claire with a marker for 2.2 seconds to get tape and this is what I found.....

To back track... I LOVE chap stick.. and so does Claire.  When I put it on she always wants some on her.  So I pretend to outline her lips with it.  AND this is what she did perfect with her marker!!  Slowly putting on her chap stick with her marker!

We took out Andy's guitar on Sat morning and had a jam out.  It was Andy's from when he was in college.  Drew thought it was awesome and ran and took his guitar out right away!

Navy Ball

This past weekend we had our Navy Ball held at a beautiful venue here in Puerto.  Out of all of the balls that we have to go to, the Navy Ball I would say is my favorite! 

The chicas

Each table had a different theme to it. Colby was thrilled to be at the nurses table (he's a nurse on base).

The chico's!

Ahhh Molly on the bus ride home after the ball!

Oktoberfest

This past weekend Andy and I headed to Munich Germany for Oktoberfest!  The best part was that my sister Allison and her husband Jeremy were meeting us there for a long weekend.  Neighbors of the year Matt and Tristin watched the kiddos for us so we could have a weekend away!

                            It was sooooo great  to see Allison.  Allison is just so much fun and always up beat. 

 So we thought if we tried to get into a tent by 10am it wouldn' be a problem at all.  I mean really who wants to drink beet at 10am?  Well about 20,000 people want to I guess!!  Below is what the tents looked like at 10am!  It was CrAzY!!!!  A little too crazy for us!  We couldn't find a seat anywhere and tried about five different tents!

 This picture doesn't even do justice... the tents had an up stairs in them!  Did I mention how crazy it was in there?

                                            We did manage to find giant sausages though (it was a half meter dog)!

 On to plan B.... This was better than a tent to me and Allison.  The guys were good sports and went along with it.. it was a bike with a bar in the middle.. you had to peddle the bike (while you drank beer) and then you were given a tour of the city!  What a fabulous idea!!  While you peddle to your next stop music was being played, it was a blast!

                                      This is what the bike looked like to give you a good idea

                        The restaurants were so cute and would have a live band playing at them!

 One of the days we came along an awesome park. Allison and I kept saying how cool this park was and how big it was.  Come to find out it is the WORLDS largest park!!!  We were in heaven and rented bikes ASAP!  I can truly say it was the best park we have ever been to and there were even beer gardens along the way.  The Germans really know how to stay hydrated!

                                The boyzzz trying to lock up four bikes with one small bike lock!

                        One of the lakes at the park where you could even rent boats!

Drew's 1st Triathlon

On Saturday Drew competed in his first triathal on base. The race consisted of a 25m swim, 1 mile bike ride, and a 1/4 mile run.  Drew was so excited for his race and did great.  He competed in the six and under catagory.  Andy did the swimming and biking with him and then I did the run with Drew. 

Getting ready for the swimming part

The transition after swimming into shoes for the biking part

And he's off!

Claire loved all of the action and sitting up high in the backpack to see it all.

Parking his bike getting ready to transisition into the run

Mom and Drew doing our lap

And the BIG finish!!!

Drew was so excited after the race!!

We told told Drew how important it was to cheer on his teammates who were still raceing

Fruit was served to replenish after the race

Claire also needed to replenish...

Drew listening at the awards ceremony

And his first medal of his life!!!  It was so cute to see his reaction!

 

We were so proud of Drew.  Drew did the race ALL by himself and didn't stop or walk once!  We have an athlete on our hands!

Drew's First Day of Pre-School

On Monday Drew started his first day of Spanish Immersion here on base. Spanish Immersion is a great program they offer here for 3-4 year olds. The class is taught by two spanish women and they speak only spanish in the class! His school is Monday-Friday for three hours a day.

Claire also knew it was her big day as well and it now means that she has one on one time with mommy!!!
(Claire now holds her hands in front of her face when she's nervous...)

How can school not be good when his good friend Liv is in his class as well!  Liv's mom Heather and I were so excited when we found out that they were both accepted into the school.  In July we planned our photo shoot for the first day of school!  And of course with three year olds it lasted about two minutes!

Liv in his class AND a Buzz back pack does life get any better!!  Thank you Aunt Allison for the awesome back pack!!!

Daddy and Drew having a talk about how much fun the first day of school is going to be!!

Drew in his class, hanging up the back pack

Ahhh perfect.. play-doh and a seat next to Liv

Claire mean while stayed busy at home playing with her new doll, Adi.  At frist she loved Adi (who is taller then her..) then Adi's arm fell off...... it may be a while before you see another post of Adi!!

Disney Mediterranean Cruise

"Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test..."  And that's exactly what we just came home from doing!  Our family along with four other families from the base went on a 12 day Mediterranean Disney Cruise and came home giving the ship 27 stars out of five!!! We had several port stops along the way including: Malta, Tunis, Naples, Rome, La Spezia, Corsica, and Monte Carlo.

 I don't know where to begin... The ship is so big that it never feels crowded, I couldn't have asked for a more child friendly vacation, and there was something always going on for all ages.  Usually in the evenings the kiddos could have stayed up longer as there was so many shows and activites going on (past 11pm)  Andy and I, however we were the ones that were tired, not the one and three year old!

Claire was all prepared for the emergency drill...

Drew was in heaven.... Mickey waffles!

We always looked forward to the meals on the ship... not only for the awesome food, but the entertainment!  There were characters walking by (that took Claire a few days to warm up to.. she liked them from a distance)!  They would make hat's out of napkins, and if there were a melt down by a child, not a problem as the staff would come to the  rescue with a bag of tricks!

Drew sporting the Peter Pan hat

Yap.. a little too close for Chip next to Claire!

Drew and Claire both picked out a new "baby" to have.  Drew new right away what he wanted.. a baby Mickey that came with a blanket.

And then there was Claire.. she had to touch and carry them all around the store to find the perfect one

They both settled for a baby Mickey which they (us) carried with them everywhere

In the morning there was Mickey Mouse dance class

Our first stop, Malta.  Malta was gorgeous with so much history

Looking into the city

The city busses!

Tunis, Africa

Another huge perk was having all of the channels in the room Disney!!!  Something was always on when we needed some down time.  Reason 1,374 why I heart this cruise line!

Pulling into the out skirts of Rome

Vatican City

And the kiddos tuckered out after a long day!

This was one of my favorite stops, the leaning tower of Pisa.  I remember learning about this in school and to see it in person was so cool!!!

Um yes... so this sums up Monte Carlo.. MONEY!  This is someone's personal yacht .  This is one of many "small" yachts that we saw.

This picture doesn't do justice to all the nice cars that we saw there.  The town was off the hook and put Beverly Hills to shame!!

Swmming in the crystal clear water of the French Riviera!

And this is everone's "small" boat to take out to their yacht!

How was miss having a towel turned into an animal every night...