Nice, France

The next city we flew to was Nice, France. Sadly, we didn't get there until it was dark so we didn't get to see any of it during normal day light. BUT, we went down to the Old City and walked around. Oddly enough, it was like being in "Little Italy" with the small streets, tall buildings and cafes everywhere. We had dinner and then walked around the area, ending at the boardwalk along the coast. The difference there is that their beach isn't covered in sand - it's covered in stones of all sizes! We decided that Nice was a place we wouldn't mind returning to during the Summer to be able to enjoy it to it's fullest potential. The next morning, we had a train to Torino, Italy and we were able to see more of the coastline and area during this ride. You are on the beach, but surrounded by the Alps so it was beautiful. Enjoy!

Paris, France

With so many pictures for each day in Europe, we wanted to tell you about where we went divided up by the city we were exploring. So, first up is Paris, France! We arrived in Paris at about 5:30am (Paris time), picked up our luggage and took the metro in to the city to find our hotel (Hotel Home Latin). After a few wrong turns, we found it and were able to lock up our luggage until we could check in to our room. In the meantime, we went exploring. We had a great brunch at a little cafe and then we followed Rick Steve's walking tour in his France 2008 book to see some of the main sights close together. One of the main ones was the Notre Dame Cathedral - this was my favorite place I visited back in 2001. The outside and inside are incredibly detailed. We explored some of the side streets close by and then headed to the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe (so I thought at the time). We then walked around some more and eventually went to dinner. After dinner, we decided to walk off what we ate and went down to Champs-Elysees and walked all the way down it to the REAL Arc de Triomphe! :) We explored the city a little more before turning in for the night.












The next day, we woke up, had breakfast (croissant and coffee) and then went to the Army Museum which was fantastic. Napolean's Tomb was also here so we walked through it as well. It was a museum that we could have spent many hours in, but we were limited on time. We defintely recommend going there if you ever get the chance. After our museum visit, we checked out of our hotel and took a flight to our next destination...

Europe Bound!!

Jesse and I leave tomorrow for a 12 day trip to Europe!! We decided to take advantange of our time off from the Army and go on an adventure together. We plan to go to cities in France & Italy, mostly places we have never been before. Please pray for our safety and smooth travels while we are gone. Pictures will soon follow our return home...

Movie Review: Twilight

When I moved to Ft. Campbell, I was sucked into reading the first book of Stephanie Meyer's series, "Twilight" by two of my friends - Claire and Rebecca. I will have to admit - I got hooked! Although the books are designed for younger readers than myself, I fell in love with the storyline. Some people hesitate to read them since the story is built around vampires, but they are definitely PG-13. Because I got hooked, I finished the first book quickly and moved on to "New Moon" and "Eclipse" and read those even faster. I am currently about 25 pages from finishing the fourth book, "Breaking Dawn" and the storyline is still great! Check them out: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilightseries.html.

Now, on to the movie. I'm sure most of you have seen the craze for this movie - I saw it on the day it came out. It was by far, the closest movie to the book that I have ever seen! They did a great job on ALMOST everything. Some of the casting was not that great, but that was mainly in characters that aren't as big right now (i.e. Jacob and Eric). Everything was so close to what I pictured it to be, with the exception of the Cullen's house. I was totally impressed. The only downer was that I was one of the "older" people in the theater and there were teeny-bopper girls screaming with giddiness when Edward or Jacob came on screen - SILLY! It is a movie I would definitely see again and I look forward to the sequel that will come out eventually (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainment/view/392086/1/.html). I had never heard of this series until this summer and look how popular it is now! I highly recommend to anyone to read the book before seeing the movie - it makes it so real in your mind! The books are lengthy, but worth the read.

It's Like He Never Left...

Jesse is HOME!!! His plane got in around 10am this morning, holding over 400 soldiers from the 1st and 2nd Brigade. Unfortunately, Jesse was all the way in the back of the plane so it took a while for him to get to the hanger. I did get my first call on my cell phone from Jesse when the plane pulled in to where all the families were! It was amazing seeing the plane land and all the excitement as the soldiers got off the plane. As soon as they were all off, the families and friends went back into the warm hanger and waited for the short ceremony to begin. They opened the hanger doors and in came all of the soldiers with their gear off in formation. Some guy gave a short 3 minute speech and then the soldiers sang the Army song. After that, they released the soldiers to see families. Thankfully, Jesse spotted his mom and I pretty quickly while in formation, so we found each other in the mass chaos easily. It was amazing...seeing him in person and being able to touch him - WOW. His mom took some great pictures of us reuniting and then he spent some time getting some hugs from his mommy. It was wonderful knowing that he was safe and back home. Jesse had some out-processing to do before he could come home with me, so after 15 minutes of a visit, the soldiers were put back into formation and escorted out to go to their brigade areas on base. We were in the car going home about 2 1/2 hours later after he arrived. Jesse was so happy to walk in our house and just be himself, not a Lieutenant. He had a little reunion with Callie (she was happy to have some extra lovin') and took some time to unpack, shower and reorient himself with "home". It has been an easy transition with us - it's like he never left. We can't believe that he's been gone 5 months! Thank you God for provision of my husband during this deployment - we are blessed!

About what I said before regarding the beautiful tree...

Yeah....It was beautiful and all, but COME ON!! Enough with the leaves in my yard already! I've spent the last 3 weekends raking those leaves and if I have to rake again, I'm going to scream!!!! I've had amazing neighbors that have raked some for me when it was just ridiculous and I had to work - I am blessed! I was warned by our neighbors when we moved in that we needed a blower for this very purpose and I'm so glad we got one. They weren't joking at all! I sent pictures to Jesse so he could see what he has to look forward to next year - HA! This was the first big leaf drop...

This is the yard after my raking frenzy...check out the piles of leaves!

And then this is 2 days later....YEP! 2 DAYS LATER!!! AAAHHHH!!!!!

What military wives do for the return of their husbands

When the husbands return home from deployments, wives begin doing the preparations necessary. You would think that this means just the straightening of the house and the finishing of projects. On the contrary, this also includes haircuts, manicures/pedicures, tanning (even in the Winter which I think is silly), grocery runs, and the last of the chic-flicks. I'm guilty of most of these, except for the tanning. This is a picture of my new haircut. In theory, you want to look your best for your husband's return, but in all actuality, he won't care much what you look like - he'll just be happy to see you as you are! I plan on finishing my preparations mostly this weekend so hopefully all will be ready for Jesse's return home. It's getting close!