Trip to San Antonio

Dave is doing a 9 week Army course in San Antonio. Less than a month before we left, they sent out an email with new dates for the course which were a week earlier than originally planned. I had forgotten how the Army can jerk you around. It meant that after we got back from Paris, we hit the ground running. We packed up and headed out to Tennessee where Dave caught a flight to San Antonio. The kids and I stayed in Tennesseee for a week. We saw our great friends Bill and Kim several times. My parents, brother & girlfriend Sarah, and my Aunt all came out to celebrate my mom's birthday. It was fun to have all those people together in one place. After that, my mom was nice enough to drive the rest of the way with me. Traveling with three kids is not easy, but we made it! San Antonio has been perfect so far. Our two bedroom apartment is awesome. I love the sunny and warm days, and the best part is that Dave gets off between 2 and 3:45 everyday!

Bill and Kim with the twins and good smiles from everyone!

Kim playing with the twins. She made us dinner twice! One night we watched American Idol after dinner. I fell asleep with Jack on my lap (yes that is embarassing). When I woke up, Bill and Kim had the twins and were feeding them bottles. How nice is that!!

Chris and Sarah with Tim. Tim loves the camera :)

My Aunt got to see the twins for the first time

Jack's most recent thing is for my dad to read him "Guess How Much I Love You." My dad read it to him about 15 times a day. He started trying to get Jack interested in side adventures from other pictures in the book.

Paris Trip

Dave took his OCS exam on the 7th and then we ran off to the airport headed to Paris. It was wonderful! The flight was only 7 hours which is almost half the time it has taken us to get to Europe from any where else that we have left from. My 30th birthday was in the middle of the trip. It was a great way to end my 20s and kick off my 30s. I had about 200 pictures and so these are just a few of the good ones we got.

The first night we went to dinner at the Jules Verne which is a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. We got lucky enough to get a window seat. This is the view from our table. We went last time too and it really is one of the most incredible things I have ever done in my life.

The Eiffel Tower just sparkles at night!

We did a boat tour on the Seine.

Here we are at the Louvre. Our highlights were the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, the Egyptian artifics, and the crowned jewels.



We didn't realize that we would be there on Ash Wednesday until a few days before we left. We got to go to Ash Wednesday mass at Notre Dame.



Inside the church with our ashes



We wanted to go to the top but you have to wait in line all day, so we went back for an early Sunday mass and got there before the line. We saw many views of Paris. This was my favorite!! I love love love all the gargoyles on top of Notre Dame so it was breath taking to see them along side the view.

We went up to Montmartre. After getting off a the wrong metro stop, we ended up walking over a mile up hill to get to the top. It was worth it. We also found a small square that had artists painting and bought a painting.

One of the best parts was our day trip to Champagne. Our tour was amazing!!!!  We went on a tour with a small group that went to a vineyard (picture), a small champagne house. a large champagne house, and Notre Dame in Reims. The best part was the small champagne house called Godme. We got to meet Madame Godme, see the entire champagne making process, and taste 5 kinds of her Champagne. The tour guide was amazing and explained a lot about the area and the business of champagne.

This is Notre Dame at Reims where the kings and queens of France were coronated. It was huge and very beautiful. 

and now we are off to San Antonio for a 9 week Army course that Dave has to take.

Our Latest

The Latest:

Jack - knows all the letters and what sounds they make. He recognizes numbers 1-10 and can count to 10. When we read a book, he comprehends the story. I'll be reading to him and then he will stop me to tell me what happened in his own words. I can hardly believe how fast he is developing! Proud mom :)

Tim - has been responding to his name for about a month now. Other than that, he is all about physical development. When Tim is happy he kicks his legs all around with a closed mouth grin. He has been working on crawling for weeks by getting his legs underneath himself then rocking back and forth. Today he crawled!!! I was floored. My 7 month old preemie low crawled across the room.

Chris - just started responding to his name. He is more about verbal development. Tim has no babbling at all but Chris is babbling all day long. He loves to flash big open mouth smiles and squeak at people when they talk to him. I love it!

Dave - studying for the Orthopedic Clinical Specialist Exam. It's been six weeks of studying at night and most of the weekend. I had forgotten what it was like when Dave is studying. I just really hope he passes because it is a decent little pay raise and I don't want to have to do this again next year.

Me - Next week, I turn 30. We decided to spend my 30th birthday the same way I spent my 20th birthday ..... in Paris :). My parents came out to watch the kids and we leave tomorrow night. I'm excited!

This video is from a few days ago (before Tim crawled). You can see Tim (green pants) trying to crawl and Chris babbling away.