Susannah's First Visit to her Birthplace

We have been so blessed by amazing, and according to all of our German neighbors, extremely uncharacteristic, mild spring weather.   So we decided to take the sunny, ninety minute drive over to Strasbourg on Saturday.   Showing Susannah where she spent her first six months was so fun.   We even ran into two of our neighbors at the park.   Here are some of the photos from the day:

As you will see, Susannah was not in a photo-taking mood, so unfortunately most of our pics do not represent all the fun we actually had.   This is us at our picnic spot, Place de la Republique.



We grabbed sandwiches from our favorite Moroccan shop and enjoyed the green grass and brightly colored springtime flowers of France.

Modeling Daddy's shades.

The one smiling photo is from the fire-truck of a carnival ride that they had at Place Broglie.  

It was so fun and a little surreal to watch Susannah ride because I remember walking by this spot so many times before we were parents. 

We walked all day and Susannah usually caught a ride when the crowds got a little too thick.

Susannah's first glimpse of the Cathedral.  

And her first gelato from our favorite little shop.

Standing outside of Peter's school.   It is so funny because we have a picture in this exact spot when Susannah was only a few days old and there was a foot of snow on the ground.

We tried to end our day at one of our favorite restaurants, but forgot that for the French, 5 pm is a laughable time to even think about dinner.   So we had an aperitif instead and headed home.   As you can see, Susannah was exhausted and more than ready to go.  

 She LOVED Strasbourg though, and even said, as we were leaving the beautiful Parc de l'orangerie,  (where I unfortunately neglected to take even one photo) "Mommy, I want to stay in Strasbourg forever."  Peter and I completely understood where she was coming from.   ;)

After church on Sunday, we headed to the park.  

And to the ice cream shop down the street.   It has been all closed up for winter and we were so excited to try it out.

Susannah ordered the "Pinocchio".  So cute.

Speaking of ice cream, Susannah had her first ice cream truck experience on Friday.   We were spending the afternoon with friends on base when it came by.   I don't know who was more excited, Susannah or me!   And yes, I realize that ice cream three days in a row probably isn't the most nutritional choice, but the sunshine and warm weather relaxed this Mommy right into compliance.   ;)

Hope all of you had fun and relaxing weekends as well.   Happy Spring!

USA Part 2 and a Big Announcement

First, the announcement:   We went to the doctor this week and everything looked perfect.   We also found out that it is a ...........

 

BABY GIRL!!! 

 

We are so excited.   Susannah especially since she, in her words, "can dress her all in pink, my favorite color."  

 

Now for the rest of our trip to the USA.....

 

After 10 fun-filled days in Knoxville, it was time to head back south to spend the rest of our visit with Mimi and Poppy and Shoo-Shoo.   Here are some of the highlights:

 

We spent some of the mild afternoons out on Mimi and Poppy's back porch.   Susannah loved playing and ready with her Poppy.

Aunt Liz, Uncle Will, and Clara Kate were all at Shoo-Shoo's when we arrived and it was so fun to watch these two girls play together.  

Being silly at the Mexican restaurant.   These are the faces of girls who love cheese dip!

Poppy tried to take Susannah fishing, but it was a little windy and cold that evening.   She did come down to check out his catch though.  

We were so happy that we were in town for cousin Sidney's 2nd birthday party!   Here are the cousins eating their pizza.

Susannah helped Sidney open her presents.

All the birthday party fun wore her out, so she was very happy to read a book with Poppy and rest.

Susannah and Meadow were so elated to see each other.  

We miss you Meadow!

We were so happy that the Insogna's drove down from Nashville for the weekend.   We spent an entire Saturday watching the girls play and catching up.   It was perfect.  

Thanks to Leah and David for hosting us.   The girls loved your back yard!!

Catching up with my best high school and college friends is always one of the main highlights of a trip home.   Elizabeth and I are both pregnant, which made it even more fun.

Susannah and Preston played so well together.   It really was an amazing day.

We spent another day digging holes in Shoo-Shoo's yard.   How cute are these girls in their jeans and rain-boots?

Checking out the earthworm they found.

Cousin Emma came over to say hi one afternoon.   Susannah loves Emma.

Cousin Sidney and Susannah waiting on their dessert after dinner one night.

Our time in LaGrange went way too fast, but we ended on a definite high-note.....Susannah's first frosted orange from the Varsity.   The new international terminal at the Atlanta airport is awesome.    The Varsity is one reason why.   ;)

Last Sunday before our first morning back to church.   Susannah was so excited to wear her new owl dress.   Thanks Aunt Susan!

Thank you to all of our Georgia family and friends.   Spending time with you all was such a gift.  We love you all and miss you so much!  

USA visit part 1

Well, for those of you who didn't know about our trip to the States, yes, we are still alive.    While not blogging for over three weeks makes this type A mama twitch a little bit, I also understand the wisdom of not alerting the internet to our empty apartment.   So, now that we are safely back in Stuttgart, I can share the photos from our fun-filled three week visit to the good ol' US of A.    Susannah and I traveled over without Peter, who had to stay back and work.   He joined us for the last 5 days and the overnight flight back though.  

Here are some photos from Knoxville, where we spent the first half of our visit:

Peter splurged for the "Economy Comfort" bulkhead seats and I can not say enough about how amazingly worth every penny these seats are when you are traveling with young children.   10 hours in the air with a three year old could be pretty treacherous, but with room to stand and walk without bothering anybody, we had such a pleasant experience.  

 After recovering from jetlag for a few days in LaGrange, Poppy drove us up to Knoxville where we had a very fun reunion with Grammy and Grandmama.   I was so happy to be there that I forgot to take any pictures though.


  The next day we headed over to my best childhood friend's home, where we had our traditional lunch with 3 generations of girls.   Here is Susannah enjoying chicken nuggets with Ellie and Scarlett, the beautiful daughters of my two oldest friends. 

Ellie's grandparents have a super fun house on the lake, complete with this awesome car and lots of land to drive.   Look at those faces of total glee. 

Now it was Susannah's turn to take the wheel.   All of us Mom's noted that this was a terrifying glimpse into our future with these girls.   In 12 years this will not be a toy and we will not be there to monitor. 

Miss Betty's house also has lots of fun indoor toys, like this train that Susannah loved.

Susannah and Ellie.

Scarlett at the wheel.   Watching these girls grow up is such a fun blessing.

The obligatory group photo.   The crowd has grown by two baby boys, Anthony in Amy's arms and Hudson who isn't pictured because he was napping during photo hour.   We should find out soon if we will be adding a boy or a girl to this mix for our next visit.  ;)

After giving Grammy the cold/fever combo that we picked up on the plane, we decided to give her a morning to rest and headed to Target and the Mall to explore all the beautiful American stores.   After lunch we wandered into Build-A-Bear "just to look."  Of course, within minutes, we were building ourselves a stuffed friend.

It was such an adorable process.   Here Susannah is warming up the heart and making a wish for her new bear.

Then it was bath-time.

And here is Sally Bear in her new outfit picked out by Susannah.   All pink of course.

Spending time with family was, without a doubt, the best part of our visit.  Here we are after dinner at Grandmama's house with all of Susannah's great great aunts.   Aunt Betty, Aunt Charlotte, Aunt Viola, and Cousin Debbie all came to spend the afternoon and we loved every minute.

We also drove over to Dandridge to spend the day at Uncle Andy and Aunt Susan's house.  

Susannah loves playing in their yard.

Aunt Susan found this toy and cleaned it up for Susannah.

It hadn't been used since Andy and Caleb were her age....at least 20 years.   She loved it.

Running with Uncle Caleb.

So fun.

Swinging with Uncle Andy and his girlfriend Nicole.   And Molly.

Piggy back rides with Uncle Andy.

One of Susannah's favorite parts of our visit were all the cats she got to meet.

Of course, everyday seemed to bring more presents.   Here we are modeling our new tiara and butterfly wings.

How cute?

Playing dress-up with Aunt Susan.

Trying on Grammy's sunglasses.

All four generations.  



Susannah LOVES her Grammy.   They had so much fun on this visit.    Susannah loved playing with Grammy's huge closet, specifically her high-heel shoe collection.   And doing Grammy's make-up.

And hair, of course.  

 Our time in Knoxville flew by, as usual, but we really did enjoy every minute.   We love you Knoxville family and friends!!   Thank you for such a wonderful visit.    We are already looking forward to the next one!