Baby Proofing almost complete!

Tyler has been crawling for a bit now - since about the 5th of June - and now is unstoppable! The hotel room last week it was a challenge because nothing was baby proofed and she was all over the place finding whatever she could to shove into her mouth (surprise surprise) and she has picked up a real fascination with cords; power cords to the laptops, speaker wires, earphones/headsets, phone cords, etc, ANYthing that is a wire/cord. I never noticed before how many there are in a hotel room, till then. This past weekend we went and picked up another set of baby gates for upstairs and the main floor. I bought one before to try out but it didn't work very well (plastic) so back it went. Given that our walls are concrete and the floor is tile over concrete, I want something I know works!

We found some nice wood ones in Weiden that did the trick. Housing (thank god) sent out a couple guys to put them up this afternoon. They are the kind that fastened to the wall and attempting to drill into concrete walls was not my idea of fun! Now we should be safe at least until she figures out that she can open cupboards LOL

Munchkin in the kitchen - I think I will pick up the cupboard locks sooner than later though.....all my tupperware/plasticware is in the bottom cupboard at her level. She just doesn't know that yet :)

This morning Ty and I took Max to the vet. He has a good sized lump on the inside of his body by his back leg. We had gone to one vet and tried antibiotics and it got smaller but did not go away so this time I got a base appt and they biopsied it. It is....a fat lump....Mr Skinny-as-all-can-be and it is a fat tumor. LOL I am not complaining - I was worried it was going to be something really really bad so I am happy that is all it is but I was surprised. Riley has one too that we found while in CA. Think I am going to get both of them taken care of while here in Germany - it is much muuuuuch less expensive to do it here at the base vet than back home. He is still a big ole wimp though. The waiting room was packed and there was a cat in a carrier that he kept sniffing. Finally the cat puffed up and hissed at him. He jumped back a foot and a half and practically layed down on the floor his tail between his legs LMAO Everyone cracked up. He then got up and howled as if to prove he hadn't been scared. Ahhh yes - my protector!

Visit to Dad's Office

Well we went to visit Dad at his office and Ty loved it. Soooooo many things to look at and touch and throw on the ground LOL I suggested I could leave her there for the afternoon as she seemed quite happy....(grin)....Sebastian was less enthusiastic about the idea.

This is going to be FUN!

"Dad won't miss the markers and highlighters and sticky notes and calculator and papers and....." Whaa? Who me make a mess??

Dad watching and attempting damage control....

LOL Dad's revenge with sticky notes and rubber bands

Back from Heidelberg

Time flies when you are having fun LOL Well we made it back from Heidelberg last Friday (Sebastian was in a course there so we tagged along for the ride) and I learned a few things on that trip....One, I still hate stau's (aka traffic jams on the autobahn), Ty likes to be up at night in hotel rooms, Heidelberg is more beautiful than I remembered and, oh yeah - did I mention I hate stau's!???! Especially with a 9-10 month old who has decided she does NOT want to be in her car seat anymore and nothing you do is going to make her happy!

Fortunately she is not a fussy eater and likes her food :-) All kinds of it! It does not matter that I feed her before we go out to eat, nooooo she still wants what we are having. I swear some nights I don't know where she puts it all!

MMMMMM - RIBS!!

She can't eat one but she does a good job pretending provided there is still

some b-que sauce left on it!

Look!! No Hands!

That was the 'clean shot' LOL You do not want to know what her shirt

looked like by the time we left :)

It was fun but between that and the Paris trip I am not looking to do anymore traveling soon. I love going to see other places but Europe summer traffic and hotel rooms with baby have definitely made me more hesitant. Maybe if we took a train - at least then we could keep Ty occupied and she is not stuck in a seat for hours at a time...I know there is a long weekend approaching - July 4th - cannot believe that July is next week! I swear if I blink I will miss the summer.

Paris - The drenched French Open

This time around we were determined to make it to the French Open. Last time in Germany we made it to Wimbledon and had a great time - but getting tickets into the French Open were impossible. It took months to get the tickets but we got them. We broke up the drive by staying in Ramstein for the night (found out through earlier trial and error that Ty was NOT going to make that long a trip!), and we arrived to Paris in the rain. The next day it rained as well but we tried to make the best of it by touring around the city and trying to keep Tyler dry.

Climbing up to the Sacre Coeur Basilica....it's a good stair workout (particularly with Ty, stroller, bags, etc)

Well, when in France.....Sharing baguette at the Basilica (and for Mom - hot, hot coffee! did I mention Ty doesn't sleep well the first night in a hotel? LOL) We all devoured plain baguettes from Paul's bakery - delicious!

Closer view of the Sacre Coeur. When I went inside there was a special service going on for Memorial Day. While not an exceptionally old church, it is a beautiful one!

The layered look LOL Trying hard to stay warm and dry. While we love using the backpack for Ty, tucking a big shawl/scarf into her stroller to be used as a sling comes in real handy

YEAAA!! Break in the clouds looking down the Champs Elysee

Checking out the Roland Garos site for tomorrow.

After being rained out so much we knew the crowds were going to be craaaazy!

Getting ready for the French Open....then we realized that it was not going to be that sunny (wishful thinking), so with a quick change we headed out and managed to get a whole day of tennis without rain! We were very happy to be able to catch most everyone we wanted to see - Feder, Baghdatis, Nadal - though not many of the women were playing today.

It was a good, if very long day. At Wimbledon there was a big lawn area to sit on and watch the screens should you not want to be in the stands...Yeah, French Open does NOT have that LOL So we had to walk around a lot with Ty but she was a trouper!

Salzburg, Austria

Here is Salzburg!




Miss Tyler getting ready in the hotel room LOL



Come on guys! Its time for breakfast!!!




Salzburg!! Beautiful city with lot of narrow old streets and great food :-) It also has one of the biggest intact fortresses that we have ever seen - definitely worth checking out.






The pictures below are from inside the fortress





They had a marrionette museum inside. Normally not something I would go out of my way to check out - but it was really amazing. The detail on these things is incredible and the arm strength and coordination it must take - wow.



Ty decides they are not that interesting haha







Views from the fortress wall....anyone interested in old churches? There are 4 of them in this square - all big, varying in ages and amazing. I cannot recall what this one is called....





And now for the all important



ICE CREAM BREAK!!!

LOL That was a lot of climbing you know! :-) We have many other pictures of Salzburg, the old church/grotto embedded in the hillside, the egg store...but I think I have pictured this blog to death already.

I will try to do one more blog today which will just be catch up misc kind of post.

hugs
Lori

Catching up!

Here are some catching up pictures!


Garmisch-Partenkirchen (April 2007)

(above) Taken on the balcony in hotel room...

Sebastian and Ty at Lake Eibsee (beside Garmisch) . There is a 4-5 mile trail that goes around the lake with fantastic lake and mountain views.

We saw this car when we came in the summer of 2005 - it is a Smart car-wanna-be-a-Ferrari LOL The guy works at Eibsee and has Ferrari stuff ALL over and in it!



Chilling at the base facilities in Garmisch - enjoying the view (see below)


This is what you see while sitting there :-) Much prettier when in full sun - will try to get that shot next time...



Max and Riley - we took them with us...once. LOL

They liked the area too - just not the hotel room so much!

Sebastian takes some GREAT pictures!!!


More Ty Pictures

Snoozing in Nurnberg

Ty protecting Dad's Promotion Cake! (Feb/07)

Hmmmm - which hotel?!?!...Nope - not sure! Think it is the old hotel room in Vilseck

Back in Feb when we still needed fleece occasionally!

One of the last times in the swing (6 months) - she became too big! It is now down in storage.

Max checking out Ty's toys (March-Apr/07)

Riley will look from a comfortable cushy distance!

Too CUTE! (7-7.5 months)

Hanging with the dogs

Ready for another day trip! (Apr/07)

The 'Lawrence of Arabia' look (complments of Dad!) (Apr/07)

Don't care as long as I have my bottle!

Going hiking with Mom & Dad...Dad's turn! (Apr/07)


Okay - that all for now. Pictures from May pretty much pick up in Salzburg. I will try to post regularly! Hope you all are doing great!