Quick update

Life has accelerated to warp speed when we figured out that Jay would be coming home in April. His R&R is scheduled for September, but he has a leftover back injury from the last deployment that has been aggravated by the current deployment, and requires surgery. It's all very whirlwind and in true Army fashion, I actually found out that Jay was for sure coming home when I checked my email and had a message from our commander. That went out to everyone. Solid.

Anyway, Jay is en route to Germany as we speak, and will be seen at Landstuhl (Army hospital conveniently located near Ramstein AFB, home of the mall and Mac Grill)...scratch that, just received a phone call, he is currently at Landstuhl. Not sure when we will actually see him, but we're in the same country now! Eeep!

Look what the bunny brought Hayden!

Despite our never-ending traveling status, the bunny managed to find Hayden anyway! He's on a reading kick, so he really enjoyed his basket full of books. We did also enjoy some warm chocolate chip cookies this afternoon, and maybe next year the Easter bunny will drop off a few sweet treats for him!

Happy Easter...from the Netherlands!

For Easter weekend we headed up north to the Netherlands. I booked two rooms at the Holiday Inn Leiden for the four of us (Amber & kids, Evonne & Anessa, Mandie, Hayden and myself) for two nights. We planned to go to Amsterdam and also to visit the Keukenhof Gardens. We headed up Friday morning, and to our surprise were met with NO traffic. Thankfully, since our last trip was definitely soured by horrendous traffic.

We arrived at the hotel, checked in and were pleasantly surprised with our accomodations. Our rooms were spacious and comfy, breakfast buffet was included but best of all, this hotel totally catered to kids! There was a "jungle room" for the kids with a ball pit, video games, small playground, blocks, etc. The kids were in heaven! Whereas most of the time we spend with bored kids in a room, this time around they were begging to go play. We also had an indoor pool to enjoy, but Hayden was not really feeling that adventure. They had Easter activities for the kids, and another play room with more video games, a bounce house and ping pong tables. We love to travel but it's hard on the kids sometimes, so this was win-win for everyone!

Saturday morning turned out to be grey and cold so we bundled up and headed to Amsterdam. We wandered aimlessly for a bit but by the time we had a destination in mind, the rain started. And poured. The rain definitely put a damper on the day, and limited what we could see. I had been to Amsterdam before, in 2007, and had seen everything I wanted to see then but the others hadn't been yet. In the end, we split into two groups...one that wanted to get out of the rain and go back, and one that wanted to see a bit more before calling it a day. It worked out perfectly, and everyone was pretty happy with our adventure.

On Sunday I heard the rain at 6am so we all slept in a bit before getting up and at 'em. We ate breakfast, let the kids play and packed up the cars. The weather was grey and dreary but not raining (!) so we headed to Keukenhof to see the tulips. We spent a few hours wandering around amongst the gardens, and really enjoyed it. We saw the giant windmill, wooden shoes and tons and tons of flowers. With the cold winter and cold weekend, the tulips weren't all the way up yet but it was beautiful!

We headed back home around 3pm, after a diaper disaster with Hayden was handled. We stopped for food and gas (in MORE rain) and were making good progress. Hayden was having a little trouble with his teeth and general crankiness, which came to a head about 30 minutes before we got home. He was crying uncontrollably and chewing on his fingers and threw up everywhere. I took the first exit I could, cleaned him up and changed him and got back on the road. When we got home he slept through his diaper changed and slept until 8 this morning! We had a great time, but today there's no place like home!

Bazaar weekend

Last weekend was the annual Spouses Club spring bazaar. Since I'm actually a member of the Spouses Club this year, I got to help with the bazaar instead of just shopping! I worked a little on Thursday before going to work, and volunteering gets you early shopping before the doors open on Friday! Friday morning I showed up and bought two cases of wine and four kinds of cheese...all before 10am! Seemed like a pretty good way to start my day. There's a wine vendor that Jay loves so I picked up a case of his favorite, and they had the gluwein we love so much in red AND white, how could I choose between them? I didn't, I split a case between them. Jackpot. Jay also really loves this South African hot sauce the cheese guy always has so I picked up a few bottles of that for him as well.

I worked Friday and then stopped back by the bazaar. They needed a few extra hands so I hung out for a bit, thanks to my full-time daycare I had two extra hours to help out! Hayden and I came home to hang out for the evening, and relaxed for the most part.  Saturday morning I took him to CDC for Super Saturday and was able to volunteer for four more hours at the bazaar. Some of those ladies worked all day, every day from Thursday to Sunday so being able to help them was nice.

I picked up a few gifts, and one more piece of Polish pottery (like I needed another one, right?) from Andy's, one of our favorite stores that was closed when we went. I have some egg plates, yes, but I had to have this one. Did I mention I love the bazaar? It was quite a successful endeavor, for both the shoppers and the Spouses Club!