Christmas Adventures - Part 1

Greetings to everyone and Happy 2013! I am really looking forward to starting this year and leaving the end of last year behind. Mostly because the past 4 months haven't been the easiest because of the lack of sleep (I was getting about 2 hours of sleep total each night). But Winnie's belated Christmas present to me (she gave it to me Jan. 5) was sleeping through the night. Thank. Goodness. I feel so much better. So now I have a much better attitude about life and am ready to conquer the world (or at least clean my house more regularly and cook dinner).

I bet you're wondering how our travels to Europe went. We had such a good time! We stayed with our friends Kelsey and Eli, who live in northwestern Germany, and we visited The Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of Germany. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's rewind a bit and go in order...

Two days before we left for S.C., we found out Ruby has bone cancer and has about 2-3 months to live. The last time Kevin deployed Bobo died. I hope this doesn't start some trend or something...



She had a biopsy, and she kept bothering her stitches despite the cone of shame, so I had to create my own cone of shame. Can I get a What What for the redneck collar I made Ruby from insulation piping and, oh yes, that's duct tape.

So anyway, she's doing okay. Limping a lot, but still feisty enough to escape from the car yesterday and run away through the neighborhood for a few minutes. (Side note, she stayed with our neighbors while we were gone.)

Winnie turned 8 months old.


So we left for S.C. We drove for 6 hours in the car on Thursday, dropped Eden off at my mom's house in Lexington, then drove the next morning to Charleston AFB (2 hours) with Winnie. We got on the plane (a KC-135 - a refueling jet) with 7 other people going to Germany and flew 8.5 hours to Ramstein AB.



The cargo plane was great. It is so nice to be able to fly in one of those. Lots of room (even though it doesn't look like it) and it's very relaxed.





Kevin and couple other people slept on top of the pallets of cargo during the flight.




Then we arrived in Germany in the morning and drove with Kelsey 3 hours north to her town near Geilenkirchen. So we were riding/driving for almost 20 hours straight. Winnie was a champ. She only started to get really cranky on the ride back to Kelsey's house (sorry, Kelsey).

Then she crashed (Winnie sleeping, I mean. Not Kelsey driving.).


While we were in Germany, Winnie really started walking around (assisted).




While we were in Germany, Kevin, Eli, Blake, Winnie, and I visited Koln (Cologne) and the Christmas market and Cathedral there.









The food alone was worth it. We ate some kind of awesome sandwich, potato pancakes, crepes, hot cocoa, some nut streudel thing, and mushrooms in sauce. There is a reason we gained weight while we were there.

Kelsey and I went to Sittard in The Netherlands to this great market that is there every week. I wish there were markets like this near me. The fresh produce and food...oh, my, I'd weigh 1,200 pounds.







Kelsey made me the customary cobb salad that I love.



Isn't Grant cute?



Kelsey and I also went shopping in Maastricht in The Netherlands. They also had a Christmas market with to. die. for. Belgian waffles. Holy confection, Batman, are these awesome!



And sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger, but Winnie just woke up so I'll have to pause in my blogging and go deal with her. More later today or maybe tomorrow. Toodles!