A Christmas Tale

After the screaming with Mr. Ho Ho HoWhen all of the stockings were hung neat in a rowThe children lay sleeping in their beds
While dreams of sugarplums danced in their heads
Down below, the tree stood with presents stacked tall
They created a fortress like a giant brick wall
The kids clambered down and stood in awe
Where did they come from, they hem and haw
How would they ever make their way through?
Then they blasted a hole, and they tore and they chew
When at last all were open and strewn about
The boys were tired and all tuckered outThe fight was finished and now time for fun

Until Mommy made them stop and talk to everyone.Hi Grandma, Hi Grandpa, Hi Uncles and Aunts
Thanks for the presents, the toys, the shoes and snow pants
We miss you all, and wish we were at your homes
Instead of posting pictures and cheesy poems

Here are links to three nearly identical, yet subtly different videos of Bruin and Logan playing with their new "construction equipment." The last one is the smallest if you have a slow connection speed. You can either click on the titles below or copy and paste the links. Either way you'll get to the same three movies.

Tractor Video 1
Tractor Video 2
Tractor Video 3

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5875937867769983636&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1864337451593212202&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1997565980968608434&hl=en


Merry Christmas to all, and to all Good Night!

Basic Training

Kathy went to training for her Daycare Thursday night, so it was just me and the boys. We made a fort out of the dining room table. Then we cut out cardboard guns.
They both caught on very quick to run around and point the guns and yell "Bang, Bang." Boys must come pre-programmed that way. We would hide in the fort and then run out attacking the house, or the stairs or the bathroom and then run back.
Poor Logan was so excited that he kept forgetting to duck when running into the fort. He kept bashing his forehead. We should probably get him a helmet.

There were really only two rules that I had to enforce:
DO NOT SHOOT OTHER PEOPLE!
DO NOT EAT YOUR GUN!

Wait 'til they see the foam swords we got them for Christmas. We got 4 of them, so that mommy can play too. We'll see how well she does fighting off three boys. I'm pretty sure boys vs. girls comes pre-wired too.

Gift or Treat!

We let Bruin wear his Halloween outfit (that reminds me, I need to post those pics) the other day.
He says, "I have an idea, let's do trick or treating for Christmas. Yeah, that's a good idea. We should do that."

Santa Wise

MWR had a Christmas tree lighting ceremony two weeks ago. Santa and his elves were there, they had the gym full of inflated amusement rides and cookies and cocoa. After the lighting, Santa did a photo op with the kids (pictures to be posted soon). Bruin hops up in Santa's lap and starts talking to him very seriously. We didn't coach him to do anything that day, other than hop up in his lap so we could take a picture. We had been telling Bruin that he needed to be good so that Santa would bring him a good present. Well after the pictures we asked Bruin what he said. "I told Santa, (very seriously) You gotta bring me a Bob the Builder backhoe for Christmas! And a Little People one too!" He had seen the BtB toy at the NEX, and the other one a neighbor has. He is very obsessed with backhoe's and excavators. Well yesterday, Public Works held a Christmas party and Santa was there. He gave away generic boy/girl toys to the kids. When he called up Bruin, Bruin runs right up and then brings it back to tear it open. Bewildered and confused he stares at the toy (a little spark truck). We quickly realized that he expected Santa to bring him the gift he demanded a few weeks before. We do what all good parents do and start telling him that Santa brings his best presents and leaves them under the tree for Christmas. If he is good, of course.

Logan is 1 year old!

Logan is now 1 year old!

Time to trade him in for the 2007 model.

Haha, just kidding.

We made him a tractor cake, and threw a little family party. We'll have a bigger party next weekend. The mold for the tractor cake is very detailed, but you lose that when you frost it. We're thinking of making a green cake without frosting so that you can see the details.

Now that he's over a year, its time to shave his head.

Budapest Vienna Prague Trip

In October we joined two other families in a whirlwind tour of Budapest, Vienna and Prague.

This is a picture of the Chain bridge in Prague looking back up at the Palace.
This is a picture of us in the gardens behind the Schonbrunn Palace. The thing on the hill is just part of the garden.Prague was wonderful. The leaves were changing, the people were nice and we were in a great location.In all we had 6 adults, and 5 kids under 3. It got a little hectic at times, like when we were waiting for a tram.
We traveled from city to city by rail, which wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be.
Somehow we made it through victorious.

Quick update

It's been a long time since I've posted. Logan just had his first birthday, so I'm going to try to post a lot this week and catch up. Here is a quick video of the boys playing. Logan also decided that he was going to walk this week. Bruin has decided that he is going to be well behaved, and do what we ask him to do. At the same time, he has decided to be lippy. So even though he is becoming well behaved, he now talks back while doing it. "Bruin get dressed." His retort while he starts to get dressed, "You get dressed Daddy!" Its kind of funny, and he's doing what we asked, so it is kind of hard to discipline him.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5094421832332453429&hl=en

Spook Fighting

Bruin really go into Halloween this year. He even practiced spook fighting with Kathy.

Where the Wild Things Are

Dreaming of a place where giant bugs crawl around on trees, giant plants with big orange fruit cover the ground, and little pygmy men feast on anything that pleases them.

National Night Out Military Style

I don't know if you have this in your neighborhood, but we had National Night Out a couple of weeks ago. This is another time when its cool to be near the military. For starters, Bruin has become obsessed with all things Fireman, Fire Trucks, Fire Hoses, even fires. Oversized Fire Dogs creep him out, but he likes their boots. The cool thing about National Night Out here is that Bruin gets to play with a .50 Caliber machine gun, and the bomb squad likes to pick on the D.A.R.E lion. It is kind of lame trying to have a night where you are trying to keep kids, specifically teens, occupied and safe when they are basically under military lockdown anyway. They can't drive, there's no place to go other than the activity centers on base, they're always surrounded by fence, and the closest thing they can get to drugs is their parents cigarettes and beer. It is fun, but it just doesn't have the same effect that I think it would have in an American suburb where kids have actual troubles to deal with. Our biggest problem is actually with the sailors fresh from Boot Camp that can go find trouble downtown.

Italian Tri-Color Airshow

This is later than I had hoped to post this, but we went to an airshow on base the other day. The nationally famous Frecce Tricolori team plus the Red Bull team and some others came to the base to show off. Red, white and green are the Italian colors, so they like to leave lots of colorful smoke trails. They were pretty amazing. A lot crazier than what people should be doing in high speed jets like that. One of the Italians I talked to said they don't fly as close as they used to, because of a crash that killed a bunch of spectators several years ago. I just can't imagine driving closer. I guess when you grow up cruising through town in your mother's arms while your dad weaves the scooter that you (and your sister and brother) are also riding on in and out of traffic; flying 50 feet from another jet must seem tame.

First Post

So we're starting a blog. Its a long way home from here, as my brother found out recently, but hopefully this helps us feel closer to everyone.

Here we are on top of the world



Its erupting right now, if it's clear tonight maybe we can see some of the fire.