London {Part I}: Olympics!

I'm kinda gonna go about posting about our trip to London in a backwards kinda way.  Since the Olympics are now in full swing, I thought I'd start with some stuff on the glimpse we got of all the Olympic Games-hoopla going on in London.  When I was thinking about whether or not to go to London, I had concerns about it being over-crowded.  Security going through the airport was a little bit tighter than usual, but other than that, it was still an enjoyable time.  Not too chaotic a crowd.  On our first day, we visited the Tower of London, which is right next to the Tower Bridge.  They'd suspended the Olympic rings from the bridge, which made for a fantastic photo opportunity for all.

When I first saw the bridge, I instantly thought it was the bridge we all know from our beloved childhood song, "London Bridge is Falling Down."  It's actually not.  That bridge is actually the next bridge upstream (along the River Thames).   This bridge, however, is an iconic symbol of London and one of the most unique bridges I've ever seen (and I've seen tons of bridges in my lifetime!).

This picture of Vaiosina was taken from within the Tower of London grounds.

Vaiosina and I made the trip with some good friends--the Eichhorst/Eddy Family.  What great traveling companions!  There's no way I would have made it through this trip without them.

That same day, we rode a double-decker bus through the city.  Among many other things we saw, we were shown the roads that were designated as Olympic lanes--roads specifically laid aside (and shut down to the general public) for members of the Olympic Committee during the Games.  Considering the traffic we saw, it looks like it's going to be a rough time for drivers over the next month or so.

So, all over London, you can spot these one-eyed Olympic mascots.  We spent almost the whole time trying to figure out what they actually were.  We tossed around the idea that maybe they were Olympic flames with one eye, to symbolize one of the main attractions in London, called The Eye (essentially a big ferris wheel, which I'll tell you about later).  Yeah...no. 

They're actually two different one-eyed fellas--named Wenlock and Mandeville.  Apparently, they represent two drops of steel from a steelworks in the city of Bolton (wherever that is).  Wenlock is an English town that helped inspired the modern Olympic games; while Mandeville is the name of the hospital considered the birthplace of the Paralympic games.   Apparently, their eyes are cameras that allow them to record everything (weird?).  They wear "friendship bands" in the colors of the Olympic rings and taxi lights in the centers of their heads as a tribute to London's famous black cabs.

Depending on where you were in London, Wenlock/Mandeville are painted differently. We took a picture of one near the aquarium, so naturally it was painted blue with fish around it.  I thought they were so cute!

Also, we were lucky enough to get a picture with Wenlock, whose head is round but points at the top, like this:

And Mandeville, whose head has ridges like this.  Mandeville was just down the road from Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

These guys were just about everywhere in London--in the form of these statues and on t-shirts, signs, backpacks...you name it.

By the way, while we took pictures with these guys, Olympic athletes would just pop in and out trying to take pictures with them too.  We bumped into folks from Cuba and saw some other Olympians around the city too.

Now, I'm not following the games too closely.  I regret admitting that I didn't even get to watch the opening ceremonies.  It's really hard to do with a rambunctious toddler around, but I've watched some good stuff so far! Go USA!

I can't believe that four years has gone by already and it's another Olympic year.  I started this blog right around the time the last Olympic games started in Beijing (holy cow...2008!).  We were in Colorado Springs at the time and my sister-in-law was living with us and training for it.  She represented American Samoa in judo.  This really reminds me of the good times we had with her.  Funny...Malu was gone for training and getting ready to deploy then too.

Anyway, there's a little bit of London for ya.  It's really cool when they show London on TV and Vaiosina yells out "The Eye!" because she's been there and absolutely loved it.

Have a great week everyone!

The Sunshine Project {Take 2}

I hope Kim and Summer don't mind me linking up a little late for this.  They normally do this on Thursdays--shame on me!   However, I didn't want miss the opportunity to shed some light on what brought sunshine into my life this week! 

First, we returned from our trip to London on Monday.  You guys, I can't even tell you just how much fun we had.  What an AMAZING city!  Although we were only there for 2 days (actually, less than that), we saw so much.  I definitely plan on sharing the details very soon!

Second, we literally had a lot of sunshine this week, in terms of the weather.  The only downside was having to be in the office most of the time instead of spending time out enjoying it.  Not to mention, there is no air conditioning in most of the office buildings (or in housing) and 80+ temps with your full uniform kinda stinks!

Third, on Thursday evening, Vaiosina and I went out to dinner with some friends to a restaurant called the Schnitzelhaus.  This place serves giant schnitzel--the kind that covers your entire plate!  Dee-licious

Fourth, today was Vaiosina's first time at a movie theater.  I'd been contemplating taking her to see several kids' movies over the course of the past few months, but always worried she wouldn't sit still through it or would make a fuss.  I think I need to give this little girl a bit more credit because she did great!  She saw Madagascar 3 today and loved it.  Stayed awake through the whole thing, enjoyed popcorn, and snuggled with me for a little bit of it.  What a blast!  Of course...Bear Bear's gotta tag along.  He loved it too :)  (Sorry about the blurry photo!)

Finally, thank goodness for Skype!  We got to chat with Malu today.  There's nothing sweeter than seeing your daughter kiss her daddy on the computer screen.  She even says "Muah!" when she kisses.  Too cute.  Less than a week and he'll be home!  So proud of all you do sweetheart!

Hope everyone's enjoying the weekend!

Sneak Peek: London 2012

The good Lord blessed us with a safe and expeditious trip to London and back.  However, we are EXHAUSTED.  Actually, that word doesn't even cover it all.

Anyway, it'll take some time for me to go through the gazillion photos I took although, truth be told, I left my good camera at our "flat" (ha ha, I still love saying that!) on the first day of our trip (the same day we woke up super extra early just to get to the airport on time), ended up using my iPhone only to have it die not even an hour later.   Still, I have dozens of photos from yesterday and will rely on my marvelous travel companions for the remaining photos. 

Until then, you can enjoy this small sneak peek (which I posted to Facebook earlier tonight)...

I'll tell you guys all about it once I catch my breath (because it's back to the grind in the a.m.--ugh!).

All this craziness over London...one thing still remains...I miss Malu badly and so does his little princess.  We missed sharing this fabulous experience with you, babe!

Have a great day everyone!



Bathtime Fun

Just having good, old fun in the bath tonight, although she doesn't really look it in this photo.  I swear...she was smiling just before and just after I took it!  I posted this on Facebook tonight and thought you guys would get a kick out of it.  Totally brings you back to the Little Rascals movie, doesn't it?  Oh, Alfalfa!

We're off to the United Kingdom in the morning folks.  London baby!

See you when we get back!

The Sunshine Project: Take 1

Today, I'm linking up with Summer @ Summer's Story and Kimberly @ Kimberly's Corner for the Sunshine Project.  It's actually their 4th week doing it--this is my first installment.  It's simple really...you just blog about something(s) that has/have really brightened up your week.  When you're done, go to Summer or Kim's blogs and leave your link on their Sunshine Project posts.  Too easy!

I don't think it's any surprise that Vaiosina is my absolute sunshine.  Like any tot, she's got her moments, but she really is such a fascinating and fun little girl.  She just started potty training last weekend.  Truth be told, I thought she was ready months ago, but I didn't want to push it.  But last Friday, I just decided to plop her on the toilet that morning and she peed in the potty.  She peed in the potty all day at school that day too.  The next day, I had her pooping in the potty!  We've been continuing on with her potty training (and kudos to her teachers at school for keeping up with it) and she's doing great.  This week, we're in pull-ups and I'm over the moon excited--for her and about a soon-to-be diaper-free life (that is, until the next little one comes along; whenever that will be)! 

No, I don't keep her potty on our living room ottoman.  This was specifically for the photo opportunity!  That's her travel potty anyway--that sucker's going into the car!  So proud of you baby!  Keep it up!

It also shouldn't be any surprise that Malu brings a lot of sunshine into my life as well.  He's been at a school for two weeks now and he's doing really well.  We actually got to Skype tonight and that just made my heart pitter-patter...even if it did take him forever to give us a call!

Last ray of sunlight...we're going to London this weekend!  Yay!  One more day of work and we're there.  Very excited!

Anyway, thanks to Summer and Kim for allowing me to link up!  I hope everyone's week has been filled with wonderful, happy moments!

Travel Flashback: 4th of July Weekend @ Lake Constance

Okay, so stay tuned for a bunch of these "travel flashback" posts.  In addition to keeping a log of Vaiosina's growth, this blog was supposed to catalog all of our traveling adventures, which I've obviously failed.  I mean, I'll have flashbacks dating back to Martin Luther King weekend in January. Sad, but true.

In any case, over the 4th of July weekend, we decided to ditch the fireworks display on post and head out to the lake with some friends of ours.  I'm pretty sure that on a number of occasions, I've mentioned how much I love the fact that we don't have to travel far over here to find something fun and interesting to do.  Sky's the limit!  Well, just under two hours away is Lake Constance (in German, the Bodensee)--a ginormous and beautiful lake that I'd heard tons of people rave about for months and was dying to see.  Plus, during that week, we'd had a string of hot, sunny days and we just wanted to be near water and enjoy it.  The lake is huge, which is not surprising since it borders three countries--Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  The view driving in was pretty breathtaking...as was the view of the lake from our hotel restaurant terrace.

After lunch and getting settled into our rooms, we decided to rent some bikes and head down to the lake.  The hotel had a variety of bikes, including some that were electric.  I never knew there were electric bikes, which is completely absurd since we have motorized bikes and all.  This bike, however, looks like a completely normal bike, but when you need some help (i.e. navigating steep hills), the motor kicks into gear and off you go!

Here we are!  It was actually Vaiosina's very first bike ride!  Since then, we got our own bikes out of storage, installed a bike seat and go riding all the time.  She loves it!

Okay, so the ride down to the lake was all downhill.  No big deal.  My friend, Jeremy, had gotten an electric bike for his wife.  Malu?  Yeah, not so much.  He insisted that I didn't need one and would be okay.  Let's just say I wanted to kill him on the 12% grade hill and every other hill we hit on the way back.  I. was. not. happy.  Our friends' dog also got quite the workout.  I felt so bad for her!

We found a little park just off the lake that had nice grass, benches and quick access to the water.  Not sure about you guys, but I think lake water is nice to look at--from afar. I don't necessarily like swimming in water that isn't bluish-green and/or clear.  I'm just not.  Call me a lake snob.  Malu...he doesn't care.  Neither does Vaiosina.  They had a blast!

We probably stayed at that area for almost three hours.   We enjoyed a nice dinner at a local restaurant just down the road and biked that miserable trek back to the hotel.  We closed out the night at the hotel pool.  Fun times!

The next day, we drove about 10 minutes away to the Affenberg Zoo in Salem.  After I'd posted pictures about this on Facebook, a friend asked me if the place we'd visited was Monkey Mountain.  I didn't realize it, but that's what Affenberg translates into.  Anyway, the place was amazing.  It's a small zoo where they have monkeys roaming out in the open.  You're given handfuls of popcorn to feed them along a pathway where they're just out and about, waiting to be fed.  Well, not all of them...some looked like they were just plain sick and tired of popcorn.  However, most of them happily accepted.  Both Vaiosina and I were scared at first, but we eventually warmed up to our hairy friends and had a fun time.

This was Vaiosina showing us a monkey up in a tree at the start of the tour.  She's really got a good eye, I'll tell ya!

Look at these old, chubby fellas. I tell you, it was so nice to bring all of the monkeys Vaiosina has seen on television and in books to life!

This guy clearly didn't want to be bothered by anyone! 

Malu and Vaiosina getting an up-close-and-personal look.  They can be so goofy sometimes.

One of my favorite family photos--even if Vaiosina has her finger in her mouth!

I still get a good laugh out of this photo.  It was all Malu's idea.

Another ten minutes away from Affenberg Zoo lands you in the coastal town of Meersburg at which there is a dock that you can board ferries and ride to one of three islands on the lake.  We didn't take a ferry, but we did enjoy ourselves in Meersburg.  What a cute little town! 

When we got there, I was just blown away by the place.  Malu immediately said, "wow, it looks like every other German town," which is true, for the most part.  However,  I swear, every town's got its own charm.  This one had a row of restaurants at the water's edge, tons of little shops, and an old castle to boot.  An old castle dating back to the year 630!

Beautiful, huh?  We had lunch at one of the restaurants along this road.  About two hours spent over drinks, delicious Italian food, and great conversation.

This is a store called the Wine Cellar.

Apparently, rose wine is a specialty in Meersburg.

We totally lucked out on weather the entire time we were there.  The weather forecast called for rain both days.  It was so beautiful out!

That's the castle in the background.

It was so hot, I think this was our second stop at the ice cream shop.  Yum!

 We drove back home that same day.  I'm proud to say that I'm actually the one that drove us home.  I'm getting better about being back on the roads!

Anyway, sorry for the barrage of photos and this long post, but hope you enjoyed it!  I think this will be one of those destinations that we'll bring visitors to just because it's such an easy drive and a grand old time.  Who wants to come visit?

Hamburger Fischmarkt

Wow!  It's been such a long time since I've posted that I almost forgot my login password to this blog!  It really is sad that I haven't been consistently updating my blog.  You guys have been missing out on so much in our lives.  We've been BUSY!  What's worse is that I haven't been providing statuses on how much Vaiosina has grown in the last few months.  No worries though...I plan on catching you guys up.  I also plan on giving this blog a little makeover, but let me just get to business for now.

Malu is out of town due to yet another TDY.  So it's me and my little bug for now.  We spent most of the weekend relaxing at home.  This evening, I just wanted to get out and do something fun--not to mention, I had nothing planned or cooked for dinner. 

The Hamburger Fischmarkt has been going on downtown for the last week or so.  Not too sure what the story behind this festival is, but I did some Googling.  The original Hamburger Fischmarkt (Hamburg Fish Market) is a 300-year old market located in the city of Hamburg, which is six hours north from where we live.  Hamburg is Germany's second largest city with an 800-year old harbor that is one of the largest ports in the world and the second busiest in Europe.  The fish market is a huge open-air market showcasing all kinds of seafood, fruits, nuts, flowers and teas from all over the world.  It sounds a lot like the Pike Place Market in Seattle to me.

Anyway, the city of Stuttgart brought the some of the sights, sounds, and definitely the tastes and smells of the Hamburger Fischmarkt in the form of a festival right in the middle of downtown.  As with any festival located in downtown, it was crowded and a pain in the butt trying to maneuver Vaiosina's stroller in and around it.  However, it was fun and we had some really good eats.  Despite some drizzling, the weather was comfortable (although breezy) and I managed to enjoyed myself.  I think Vaiosina enjoyed herself as well.  There's not much complaining once you give this little girl a cup full of ice cream :)

In this picture, we're nearing the entrance to the festival.  I tried my best to get a shot of those flags that said Hamburger Fischmarkt.

Fried seafood galore!  Calamari, fish sticks/nuggets/paddies, shrimp, mussels...you name it!

They even had shrimp scampi.  See that big pan?  It was filled up with scampi.  Yum!

What's a fest without beer?  Here's Sina enjoying her ice cream next to this mini bar.

Okay, so these kinds of sandwiches are sold everywhere around here.  I believe they're herring sandwiches.  The fish is served sashimi style (ugh..raw!), with sweet mayo, pickles and onions. There is nothing or no one on the face of this planet that could possibly convince me to try one of these.  What do you think?  Would you try it?

Our dinner a.k.a. "heart attack waiting to happen."  I didn't finish it all, but it was delicious!

Strawberry wine.  I held off on this for obvious reasons :(

A ship bar.  Too cool!

So that fruit basket...there was a booth where these guys put out about 20 or so baskets and tossed all kinds of fruits into them--grapes, plums, nectarines, pineapples, apples and oranges.  You see it's filled to the brim....we got it for 10 euro (which is like, $12).  What a steal!  Truth be told...I really wanted the basket.  Vaiosina loves those grapes!

We called it quits after about two hours.  And only in Germany (or maybe in all of Europe) will you run smack dab into a completely different festival on the way back to your car.  We did some browsing for a while then made our merry way home.

Like I said, I'm extremely behind in posting, but will do my best to get you guys caught up to speed!  I kind of hated that I was in such a blogging funk.  Time to get back to it!

Happy Sunday everyone!