Sweet, sweet summer

I just love summer! I love the smell of sunscreen and drinking ice cold lemonade all day. I love wearing flipflops and summer dresses. I'm really having fun playing with my camera these days. I've been lucky lately and catching Miles in tons of smiles.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer too!

Prayer

Just wanted to put a little prayer request out there for the Guthrie family. (Brad's mom's side)

Brad lost his grandpa a couple days ago. It's so sad to loose grandparents. I wish Miles could have met him.

Sports

Our little guy is a sports-o-holic. Forget the playground, pools and friends. This past week we got Miles a new baseball and glove as well as a basketball hoop and ball and that is ALL we've been doing. He's also sat and watched every single USA world cup game. I don't know how much of a preview this is to his future but I definitely think sports is going to be a part of his life!

Summer is here.

Happy first day of summer! I'm always a bit sad on June 21st because it means from now on the days will be getting shorter. I never cared about this sort of thing until moving to Germany. But, I definitely wouldn't want to the days to keep getting longer! The sun already doesn't set until 9:30 which means it's not completely dark until well after 10pm.

While Brad's been at work, Miles and some friends and I have been doing a lot of pool. INDOOR pool. Saturday and Sunday were in the 50's. Freezing! It's funny because my parents are in Michigan right now to escape the Memphis heat. But, when Brad and I visit this summer, we're secretly hoping for some heat!

Now that summer is here and in full force. Here are some of the things we're looking forward to this season:

8. The 4th of July - we're always up for a party and the military is doing a HUGE celebration here in a couple weeks! We're going to let Miles stay up this year to watch the firecrackers. I can't wait to see his little face.

7. Finishing the last of my 'juice books" before school starts back up again.

6. Brad says, "Playing all the Modern Warfare 2' I can stand... when you leave for the States of course".

5. Seeing my parents...again. I love the little relationship Miles is starting to build with Pock and Grandma. Also, round #2 of babysitting.

4. Being in the USA! Gosh, I miss this place. Like last year, we'll be hitting up malls, Olive Garden, all that good stuff.

3. Seeing Jack (Brad's dad). He STILL has not met Miles yet. This is our top priority this year and is so so important to us. He has Alzheimer's and is just not doing well anymore. Also, depending on how things work out we might get to see Donna (Brad's mom).

2. Lots and lots of beach/boats/lakes/sunscreen/volleyball/cards. Everything that makes Michigan what it is. Every year that Miles gets older I feel the more he'll enjoy and understand. Michigan is like HOME to me because of how much I've moved as a kid and adult. It looks like Miles is unfortunately taking the same path due to the military lifestyle. But I take so much comfort in MI and its familiarity because it has always been a constant for me from a baby to adult. Hopefully it can be a place of home for Miles too! We get to enjoy it for 6 whole weeks this year!

1. Finally, I might, just MIGHT get to see my oldest best friends, Jessica and Angela! If so, it will be just like old times. Us girls and no guys! We're currently researching plane tickets. We'll see! It's going to be a very full year at the lake!

In the paper!

The magazine, Pentwater: This Week, will be publishing my story! Check it out.

Dear Oceana's Herald Journal,

This summer my family and I had the opportunity to have our photos taken at the top of the Zugspitze (Germany's tallest mountain). The thing that makes this photo so special is that 3 of us randomly brought our Pentwater sweatshirts to keep us warm. While we had a good laugh about this, we had several people stop and ask us where this Pentwater was and why we all had the same sweatshirts on. We were happy to tell them that we visit every summer and one of the must-dos is to purchase a sweatshirt from Hancock St. And to think all these conversations took place on the very top of Germany!

The people in the photo (from left to right) are Brad Lowe (my husband), Suzi Baker and Fritz Baker (my parents). We have been coming to Pentwater every year for my entire life. It is our piece of 'heaven on earth'. Pentwater runs as deep as my grandmother (Mariam Baker, 88 years old) who has been coming since she was 2 years old. I have now passed the tradition on to my own family, so much in fact that we are about to make the international trip for the second year in a row from Stuttgart, Germany. Whoever would have thought one's favorite childhood and adult memories all take place in one tiny town? We love you, Pentwater!

Kathryn (Baker) Lowe

Today

I'm so happy to say Brad has less than 6 weeks of this crazy job left and we are DONE. Back to a normal Monday-Friday job. But, until then I have to get ready to send Brad off to work tomorrow and not see him til Saturday. I happened to tag my camera along with me today. Here's what we were up to. We renewed our season pass to the zoo and wandered around there this morning. Not bad price this time around considering the Euro has tanked.

Every few nights we like to take a family bike ride and here is the route we take. We cross through the cemetery. They are all so manicured and kept up.

Cross through the field.

Stop by the pond to feed the ducks.

Stop by to say hello to the watch goose. We also brought an apple for the horse but he wasn't out tonight so I couldn't get a picture of him. Gorgeous horse though!

Say a 'mooo' for the cows and head home!

Our bus ride to Pisa

This bus couldn't have been more packed. Just when we thought we couldn't pick up more, we stop and 5 more people got on.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Let's go USA!

While I do enjoy soccer, I've just never gotten into the world cup. But these Europeans live, eat and breath soccer (or futbol I should say). So needless to say everyone is in a hype about the current worldcup in South Africa right now, so it has peeked my interest. You would think it's New Years Eve or the 4th of July around here. I am going to try and take a photo so you can see how many flags are everywhere. The highways are littered with German flags because people have been putting them on their car and they go flying off. I think it's great that they are so passionate it about it!

So, last night kicked off the world cup and what do you know...it was England vs. USA. I was shocked to see some Germans actually flying the American flag! They really do like us after all!

I haven't met a single person who thinks USA will win, but we did tie England last night at 1-1. Good thing I like to root for the underdog. Let's go USA!

Booked and booked!

The bad news? We are officially broke! After having just returned from a Med cruise and having just now booked 3 tickets to the USA in prime travel season, we are now drained.

The good news? We are coming home!

Miles and I will be arriving in Michigan on July 8th. I chose a different plane route this time. Instead of trying to fly for 17 hours with several legs, which is really more like a 24 hour day when you add up the times of arriving to the airport, driving to Pentwater, etc. (Not to mention planes will likely be late and luggage has higher chance of being lost with so many legs!). I opted to do a non-stop. I'll be driving to Frankfurt (2 hours) and taking a non-stop flight to Detroit (9 hours) and then driving to Pentwater (4 hours). This was the cheapest route, a grand total of a 17 hour day AND I only have to do 9 hours of it by myself. Not too shabby huh?

Last night we booked Brad's ticket. Ugh. His cost almost as much as Miles and I's combined. I am glad this is the last year we have to worry about trying to get home from Europe. The whole situation with him is tricky, infact I'll be nervous until he steps on that plane. Long story! Anyway, as of now his flight date is July 26th, but I have a big fat feeling we'll have to shell out again and have it changed. Fingers crossed!

We'll all be leaving on Aug 19th! Can't wait! I'm ready to get the flight over with now but have to wait 4 weeks!

Cruise

Whoops. I forgot to share the best part of the trip on here. Time on the boat! Let me just say I LOVE cruising, almost as much as I love bingo. It's worth every penny to have every meal cooked, beds made, entertainment every night, FREE childcare. I am a big fan. I still can't believe we somehow convinced 2/3rds of my family to fly to Europe and cruise around. This is the same man (my Dad) who has been caught recycling papertowels by hanging them up to dry. Anyway, here are some of my favorite moments!

Ah, formal night. Would have been perfect if childcare hadn't called me to come pick up my crying (yet not crying) child.

The pool was great if you could get over the salt water! My 'intel specialist' husband spent much time arguing with me that you can indeed open your eyes in salt water. Boy was he wrong after I told him to prove it! :)

Slots were a great 5 minute joy ride. Better make sure your fingers are in shape! Rachel made it to the finals, but lost.

Great pic of Rachel and Adam.

I WON BINGO! I finally won their stinkin' bingo after sailing this ship 3 times! It was sooo my turn to win. My niece LB was giving me some stiff competition though. I am going to do GREAT in an old lady home with my cats and my Bingo.
Before I forget, I just have to wish my hubby Brad one last happy 30th birthday! He turned 30 on the last day of our cruise. Adam and Rachel took us all out to a very nice restaraunt that I know was not cheap. (Thanks again guys) and my parents got him a nice gift card to amazon which he has been researching for 3 days now. I don't think he'll ever figure out what to buy for himself. We also did a list of 30 things we like about Brad. I, of course, forgot to make a list and had to think of things on the spot. But, he's such a great husband it wasn't hard to do it all.

Going home?

So Brad and I have been seriously contemplating going home. I realize we sound like a ping pong ball and up until recently we were pretty dead set on staying here in Germany. So, what changed our minds?

Well for starters, Brad has been relieved of this crazy job and is a free man as of August 1st. We just learned this on Tuesday and this was the #1 thing originally holding us back from the start. I didn't want to do the flights by myself or spend 6 weeks without him.

What else? Well, our little cruise that we just disembarked from also changed my mind. Does it make me sound horrible if I say that I am a little "Europed out"? We had planned to save our summer money to travel more of Europe . But, when asked which would I rather do, travel more Europe or go to Michigan and lay on a beach or boat? I am opting for the beach/boat option. Brad and I counted last night and we've now visited 18 cities in 12 countries. We have a whole year left and all I can think about is this summer is going home. I think I need a little America. I also am not ready to ruin Miles perfect record of visiting MI every year of his life so far (including gestation!)

So, I'll keep you posted. It's not 100% but it's definitely looking more and more likely as the days go by.

Palma De Mallorca

Palma, our last stop, was right up there with Monaco when it comes to my favorites. I thoroughly enjoyed this place. It was clean and had some amazing culture. My parents joined us on a panoramic tour of the city. We went to a couple small villages, as well as a castle and some breathtaking ocean-views. Aside from our mean and bossy tour-guide it was perfect. However, if you asked my brother and his wife about their experience, it's quite a different story!

Trying some famous Valldemossa hot chocolate

My all-time favorite picture of my Dad taken at the top of a bull fighting ring!

Where's Fritz?

Exploring the ring. Neat place but not sure if I'd want to see a bull fight!

Pompei

Pompei was actually our 4th stop. (Just realised how much I've mixed up the order of our stops). It was so neat! To think it was this thriving city that came to an end in 79 AD and was perfectly preserved. I was very impressed with how modern they lived for it being nearly 2000 years ago. The bodies were quite eerie though!

Some of the insides of the city. Some paintings are still on the walls.

The volcano that did it all.

Rome

Rome was not my favorite this go around. And that's not to say the city of Rome isn't one of the most awesome cities in the world, we just had too high expectations this time. The Pope's parade through a huge wrench into our plans. We couldn't visit the Coliseum, Roman Forum and the city was as packed as can of Sardines which took away from some experiences (like the Sistine Chapel), and most of my pictures were taken from a flying bus doing circles around the same fountain. I was bummed about this because I was really looking forward to taking some neat photos. I was more disappointed for my families sake than mine. We've seen Rome at it's best and this was their first impression. But, oh well. Rome is still on my top 3 favorites, my family had a great time and we still made great memories. I am sure we'll visit one last time before saying goodbye to Europe!

The Vatican

Whatcha looking at Brad?

Making our way to the Sistine Chapel. Wouldn't have dared to stop and tie a shoe or study a painting. It was literally a river of people.

The story of our day... lots of waiting and bus rides.

The Trevi fountain

Circled this same fountain at least 10 times...and still didn't get a decent pic. Ha!