Grandma and Grandpa Visit Germany

Carly and I are still in Germany. CJ took Maria back to Turkey with him yesterday, and it looks like Carly and I will be going home on Friday. I can not wait. I am so ready to be home. We have had a great week and a half though. My parents came to Germany to see the new baby and we just had to show them a good time. We ate some real German food and now know why there are no German eating establishments anywhere else in the world. We went to Heidelberg, Germany and Paris, France and then they went on a Rhine River Cruise. Oh, and there was a lot of time spent holding Carly and playing with Maria. We had a great time and were so glad that they came. We also had some friends that lived in Turkey, but are now stationed in Germany, come and visit us. I was very excited to show off my beautiful baby to everyone. We also got some note worthy news while my parents were here. We are no longer moving to Wyoming. CJ's orders got changed last minute and I would like to report that we are going to Hawaii (I still was holding out hope) but we are not. We are going to - wait for it - Hill Air Force Base located in Ogden, Utah. We are trying to be excited, but are a little disappointed. We do not wish to make anyone feel bad by our disappointment, we had just hoped for another adventure and have already had the Utah adventure. We will be leaving Turkey the middle of June and arrive in Utah the end of June.

Cheers and welcome to Germany Grandma and Grandpa.

Maria and I on the bridge at Heidelberg, Germany.

My parents went to look at the Paris sites and we didn't think that Maria and a newborn would be much fun to drag around for the day. Instead we took the girls to the happiest place on earth DISNEYLAND. CJ and I decided they need to change the slogan to the happiest place on earth for children. Maria had a great time and Carly did great.

One final photo with Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks for coming and visiting us.

Maria saying goodbye to Caleb.

Having dinner with friends from Turkey the Woodbury family. Michael "Woody" worked with CJ in Turkey and was there without his family. It was great to finally meet his wife and kids.

Carly Jane is Here!

Carly Jane Anderson was born on March 27th at 1:19 in the morning. I went to the hospital about 9:00 and four hours later had a sweet little baby girl. I called the hospital at about 5:00 that night thinking I should come in, but was told that I was probably just dehydrated and to drink some water. I drank some water, but surprisingly drinking a lot of water does not stop contractions or labour. We took Maria over to the hospital with us not knowing what else to do and so she was present for the entire thing. Luckily it was late and she slept through everything. I don't know how, but was thankful that she slept so sound because she could have awakened to a nightmare. Instead she woke up to a new baby sister and a clean and happy mother. Carly is a cute little girl. She was eleven days early and still weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 inches long. The following day she had passport pictures taken and now we wait so that we can get her back home to Turkey. We are excited to be able to show her off.

CJ Arrives in Germany

We have made it another week and a half here in Germany. We were planning on doing a few fun things such as go to EuroDisney and visit our friends that live about 3 hours from here and I wimped out. I just knew that I was going to go into labor and not be near a hospital, but here we are sitting around our hotel room with no baby and getting a little bored. St Patrick's day came and we didn't have much green for Maria, so we did the best we could with what we had and made a beautiful headband. She was happy with it, and wore it all day. We also had a great surprise, CJ came a week early to be with us. It's so good to have him here for so many reasons. Maria had to show him YabbaDoo and told me to not feel bad, but that it was lots more fun with dad. I didn't feel bad at all, and had to agree with her. We have spent a lot of time in the BX here. It is the biggest BX in the world and one of Maria's favorite things to do there is play on the exercise equipment. It tires her out so I'm happy with it. We also got some great news early Tuesday morning. We got a call from a lady in Turkey informing CJ that he is officially a Major select. What does this mean? He will pin on Major in four or five months. He is saying that it's not a big deal and that everyone in his career field makes major, but I'm still proud of him and I know that he deserves it. To celebrate we found a Japanese Grill and went out for sushi. Maria loves sushi and is starting to get the hang of chop sticks. She is a funny girl, won't eat a hamburger and fries, but give her a big plate of sushi and Japanese stir fry and she's a happy girl. That is about it for our week here. We are looking forward to the weeks to come. Maybe next week I'll be blogging about a new little girl.

Maria modeling her lovely St. Patrick's headband. She called it Harry Patrick's Day. Just when I think that I'm raising a genius, she can't get something as simple as St Patrick's Day right.
Her favorite piece of exercise equipment at the BX.
At the top of the big slide at YabaaDoo having so much more fun with her dad than her boring old pregnant mom.
Having sushi and eating it with chopsticks.

Having Fun in Germany

So Maria and I have found stuff to do to keep us occupied this week. It's mainly been fun stuff for Maria, because if I can keep her busy and happy then I'm much happier. The base here has a really nice pool that we bought passes for and have gone several times. I have to get in with her, but there is no way that you will see me posing for a photo in a bathing suit at this time. I'm very glad that I don't know anyone here. I then found an indoor play area in the nearby city of Kaiserslautern called YabbaDoo which we spent a day at and will be returning to soon I'm sure. Maria was a little reserved at first, but once she got going she had so much fun and then slept really well that night. Then on Saturday we went out to eat and to a movie. We saw Alice in Wonderland. Maria did not blink the entire movie. She loved it and I enjoyed it almost as much as she did. On Monday we went with a group to a basket factory and a chocolate factory. I think that Maria was expecting the chocolate factory to be like the one in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It wasn't as you can imagine, but she still enjoyed it. The lady that was giving the tour liked Maria and kept giving her free chocolate so she was satisfied. It's been a good week, but we are really missing CJ and can't wait for him to be here so that we can do all these fun things with him.

Swimming at the Ramstein base pool.
A big tent thing that you climbed up and then slid down. I was shocked that Maria could make it to the top, but she did and loved it. She spent most of her time at YabbaDoo on this thing.
A swing that you got going by pulling on the rope in front of you. I was happy that I didn't have to push.
One of about six trampolines. They were all put together so you could bounce from one to the other.
Roller slides that you went down as you sat on sled type things.
Heading into the movie. Maria and I ate that entire thing of popcorn. I was up all night with an upset stomach because of it. It didn't effect Maria at all. Kids are so lucky.
The Wawi chocolate factory.
Watching them make a chocolate bunny at the factory. Maria with her friend that gave her all the chocolate that she wanted.

Goodbye Turkey (For a Few Months)

So I'm a few days late, but here's what's been happening with us the past ten days. Maria and I are in Germany now but before we left Turkey Maria got her nails done by her dad and went to her last ballet/tap class. It was one evening, and Maria wanted her nails done. I was not wanting to do them so her dad came to her rescue and did her nails for her. They were two toned, sparkly, and had flowers on them. What is he going to do with another girl in the house? On Monday Maria went to her last ballet and tap class. She has loved her class and her teacher Miss Michelle. We will miss our Monday nights filled with dance. On Thursday we said goodbye to CJ and Maria and I flew to Germany where we will call home for the next six weeks or so. We made it fine and are happy to be here, but wondering how we will occupy our time while here. These first days are pretty much filled with getting everything in order and trying to find our way around, but after that I don't know what we will be doing. CJ will get here on the 24th which will make things much better. I did take a tour of the hospital the first day that I was here and I'm very happy with the decision that we made to come here. It has not been the easiest thing to do, but I am much more confident in the health care that I will receive here as to what I would receive in Turkey. Here's to an exciting six weeks.

CJ giving in to his girl for the thousandth time, and doing whatever she asks him to do.
Maria at dance. Miss Michelle has 10 three and four year olds for 45 minutes a week, 20 minutes of that is those same 10 little girls with tap shoes on. We love dance and Miss Michelle!
Home for Maria and I for the next six weeks.
One of the best purchases that I have ever made. I think that this one purchase will make these next six weeks so much more enjoyable. We skyped with CJ the other night and he sang a song for us and Maria did a dance for him. Not only that it has given Maria some entertainment other than watching movies while we're in the room. CJ found her a painting game that can keep her busy for about an hour, and is a little more educational than plugging into the TV, or maybe I'm just trying to justify.

Fishing, Party, New Bed, and The Women's Market

So we have had a fun week. Saturday we went to the base family fishing day. Before they get the swimming pool ready for open swimming they fill it with fresh water, throw some trout in it, and hand out fishing poles with hooks baited with corn kernels (I guess Turkish trout like corn). CJ helped Maria and they ended up catching three fish in about 15 minutes. I think we had the best spot because no one else was catching a thing. Maria now thinks that this is the normal way to fish, I think that she is in for a surprise when we get to Wyoming and go fishing for real. Maria then went to her friends birthday party. They were all told to dress up as cheerleaders, luckily we had a High School Musical East High Wildcats dress up (thank you Aunt Carla). She looked great and had a great time. All this happened on Saturday and then on Monday she got a special surprise. We had a new bed and desk made for her and it was delivered on Monday. She was bouncing off the walls the rest of the day and also the following two days. She has stayed in it for three nights now so we are thinking that it's worth every penny. On Wednesday we went to Adana to the Women's market with some friends. It is a market where Turkish women sell their handmade items. We have been a few times before and enjoy it. This week has made me realize a few things that I will miss about Turkey. Our few experiences in one week can not be had anywhere else and we will miss this place and all that we have gotten to do here.

Myself, Jaywon, her son Max, and Maria at the Adana Women's Market.
Maria enjoying her new bed for the first time.
Timeyah, Berk and Maria at Timeyah's sixth birthday party.
Maria showing off her three fish that she caught at the base fishing day. She was a little traumatized when they cleaned them for her and the fish were still moving after their heads were cut off. She then asked how they were going to swim without heads. She was under the impression that she was taking these fish home, putting them in a tank, and keeping them as pets. Let me just say that she was not about to eat them once we got home and grilled them up.
CJ and Maria throwing their line into the swimming pool to catch some fish.

Happy Valentine's Day

Another week down and here I am blogging again. Two weeks in a row should not be that much of a record, but for me it is. We went on a little Valentines Trip. We went to a mountain about three hours from Adana and stayed the night and went skiing and sledding. I of course didn't do either, but Maria and CJ did and had a pretty good time. There are not many rules or safety precautions here in Turkey so they let them take the sled up the ski lift and sled down. That ended up being the funnest part and the scariest for me to watch. The place that we stayed at was very nice and had a special Valentine's Day dinner. The dining room was all decorated and looked beautiful. The food was very good also. It was a great time and I loved the people that I was with most of all.

CJ and Maria heading up with their sled.
CJ and Maria at the bottom of the hill. I couldn't get a picture of them coming down because they were moving to fast. Maria isn't going to know what to do back in the states when there are actually rules that you have to obey.
Skiing down the mountain.
Valentine's Dinner

In front of all the desserts. We let Maria try as many as she wanted and then she rated them. She ate a lot of dessert that night.
CJ and Maria making snow angels.
Our family snowball fight. Maria made the biggest snowball, but couldn't lift it so CJ wins for biggest snowball thrown.
Maria wanted to be buried in the snow like we bury her in the sand at the beach. I think that she decided that she likes both.