22JUL11

I know there are a lot of people that don't understand the friendship we have with the Holtgrewe's. They don't understand that they are family. When you're in the military and so far away from family and everything you know and even cultures that you know your friends are all you have. You have to rely on them for EVERYTHING. Then your husbands deploy, you start your families at the same time AND you ADD to your families at the same time... What I'm trying to say is, We love you Holtgrewe's and we are SOOO glad you used your vacation to come and visit us. We had a blast and can't wait to be stationed together again (it WILL happen!)

Here are some pictures of the kids we had to take the day before they left. Kids are so funny. I love the little personalities that totally come through in pictures.

This was not what we asked them to do! :)

Yep Alexis did bunny ears. Thank you my class clown.

She wanted to pic every pose we did and when Anya said how about this she did it SO willingly. HA!

Just so you can see she DOES have a pretty smile.

They insisted on pictures with Tucker. Turned out pretty cute.

I love these kids!

21JUL11

Nate requested we go to the Infantry Muesem while they were here and I was excited b/c I've never been (even though it's a 5 minute drive from our house!) I have a lot of pride being an Army wife and even more being an Infantry wife so it was definetly cool to see everything the Infantry has done in the past and is currently doing. I will admit though my favorite room was the Family room where they had a lot of stuff about families supporting the military (including parents of soldiers, wives, husbands, and children.) They also had a dress up room for the kids and all of them LOVED it! I posted a TON of pics from there but they were just too cute!

The front with a TON of Basic Training guys waiting to go in.
They had really cool models and when the older girls saw the airplane Lexi said, "my daddy jumps out of those!" To which Anya replied, "my daddy jumps out of helicopters!" Proud girls.

This was posed themselves. So funny.

Watching some movie on the Infantry which was VERY entertaining I guess...

Dress up time.

My girls.

HA! Lex had watched Madagascar recently so she kept doing HAPPY/SAD with her hand. Soooo goofy!

Saluting.

Her mean face.

With Anya. Ry looks hardcore!

All 3 girls saluting.

THis was the little mock tank...

20JUL11

We were so busy while Nate and Cristine were here we only got to go to the pool twice (well I went one extra time with all 4 kids by myself.) We went once the day after they got here for less than 2 hours before lightening started and once the day before they left. We REALLY wish we had more time to just lounge by the pool and Cristine started to understand why I love hanging at my pool so often! :)

Ryan.
All of us in the pool. Note Ry lounging and Lex hanging on me. This is the norm! :)

See told you lots of blue coconut slushes!

The girls stole their moms sunglasses and Cristine got some pics. This one is seriously my favorite one of the girls EVER!!!

Just love them.

19JUL11

I absolutely LOVE Callaway Gardens. It's a resort place that has biking trails, golf, bird shows, a butterfly garden, and my favorite a BEACH! Usually it's 25 dollars PER person but they give a military discount, as in FREE! So we LOVE to go there about once a week during the summer. They have the lake with a big sprinkler in the middle, sand beach, and a huge bouncy island thing (that costs extra and we had never done that before.) I absolutely love this place so of course we had to take the Holtgrewe's. We actually decided to try the bouncy place this time and we had a TON of fun even if Eric, Ryan, and maybe Cristine and I spent most our time bobbing in the water with our life vests. It was worth just for how much fun Alexis had. The stuff was a little hard to climb for a 5 year old (let alone a 3 year old and her 30 year old mother oh man am I really admitting I'm 30??) but Alexis had a BLAST! She was climbing, swinging, sliding, and jumping. I didn't actually get pictures b/c I couldn't take my camera on the water and Cristine who had just bought an underwater camera got all of 3 pics before her battery died... :( These pictures are COMPLETELY out of order but...THis was one of the pics she got before the battery died. Note me sitting and Ry TRYING to stand but it was not a stable thing at ALL!! :)


Poor Nate had to ride in the back anytime we went somewhere with out Travis but that didn't stop him from letting LEx use him as a pillow. PASSED OUT after Callaway all FOUR of them! :) (Told you they are way out of order...)

My favorite picture of Eric of the whole trip. Rocking the pink sunglasses. Cristine couldn't get to his so he borrowed his sisters! :)

So funny they both have their heads sideways.

Cristine and I actually remembered to take a few pics of ourselves!

Happy kids.

Right before we went on the bouncy thing.

18JUL11

We did SOOO much fun stuff while the Holtgrewe's were here. We seriously barely stopped at all. One thing I knew we HAD to do while there were here was go the Animal Safari. Alexis, Ryan, and I have been twice and we still LOVED it. Since I've already posted pics from there I decided to get a few out of the norm pics to post. We had so much fun.

Getting to pet a baby jaguar (I think what was it again Cristine?) They all thought that was fantastic!!!

Something in this picture is just classic... Love these kids.

THis is my favorite picture. Cristine is HILARIOUS with animals (and bugs and heights HAHA calling you out girl!) She literally ended up this close to me when the emu came around. She would have sat on my lap if she could have!

17JUL11

We had so much fun with the Holtgrewe's here. It was honestly like we had never been apart. The kids got a long so well and the day after they left I swear my kids could NOT be entertained b/c they were so used to having Anya and Eric here. They all played so well and the only fighting we heard was between siblings (well and the occasional Ry trying to purposely annoy someone! :) ) I have SOO many pictures it's ridiculous so I'm going to start with all the random ones...

Cristine and I on our girls night! We went shopping, got mani/pedis, Cristine got a makeover, (for her 50's photo shoot SOO fun!) went to dinner, and laughed almost the whole time! It was so fun having some time without the kiddos.
This is my loveseat even though the couch actually faces the movie they were watching they crowded together on the love seat! So cute.

Girls picture!

This was a fun routine. We eventually had to split up reading time b/c every kid is used to picking their own bedtime books and it took us a while to read four every night!

It was so sweet that Anya and Lex switched playing and reading to the other one's sibling.

Alexis and Anya... I don't even know what to say. I feel like they are just going to be the sweetest friends forever! Even when their older. They kept talking about playing "hay in a day" long before Anya ever got here. This is a game they made up in Germany during sleepovers and they had a blast. My favorite part about these pictures is how opposite they are in looks. Anya had beautiful brown hair and Lex with her golden blonde. Anya is soooo stinking tall it's ridiculous and after 2 weeks in GA Anyas tan was twice as dark as Lex's who has been in the sun twice as much!!! :) We are ALL in trouble when these girls grow up!

We very rarely asked them to pose they just did whatever they felt like!

Popsicle time. One of many.

CHEESERS!!!!!

I know Eric and Ryan were really young when we left Germany but we've visited the Holtgrewe's in TX before and I think with how often Lexi and Anya talk about each other it really seems like they know each other really well! They played together really well although they got sad if their sisters didn't include them! They are so used to playing with their big sisters I think it was hard for them that they didn't want to play as much since they had someone else around. Overall though Eric and Ryan were very sweet with each other.

Snuggling on the couch!

When Eric first got there the stairs made him a little nervous but he was more than willing to let Ryan help!!

One of many blue toungues from a Sonic blue cocunut slush (seriously both of them loved blue coconut and the older girls always wanted watermelon. So funny.)

I have deemed this Ryan and Eric's engagement photo! :)

I just love this picture of Ry. They had a blast with the air matresses.

Eric LOVES to wrestle but I think Ryan held her own for the most part.