A Georgia Girl in Germany

Labels: Boy Scouts, Germany, Zachary

OK, so I’m not usually one to brag about my college’s sports rankings, standings, etc, since -- let’s face it -- Valdosta State University doesn’t play with the big dogs in NCAA sports (it’s Division II). However, the school does play hard within its division, winning the NCAA Division II national football championships in 2007 and 2004, and the national men's tennis championship in 2006. Additionally, the school’s head baseball coach is the all-time wins leader in NCAA Division II baseball with 1,302 wins -- and counting. And let’s not forget Atlanta Falcons’ linebacker and five-time pro-bowler Jessie Tuggle graduated from Valdosta State.

Why does this merit mentioning? Because Valdosta State University is now officially part of “TITLETOWN USA” according to ESPN. All sports in Valdosta contributed to little ol’ Valdosta being recognized with this honor. In particular, the high school football teams have stellar records. Valdosta High School is the winningest high school football team in the country, and Lowndes County High School has several championships to its record as well. **However, I must add that my high school -- NOT Valdosta High School -- won the football state championships my senior year…go Warner Robins Demons!!**

So, how did I celebrate? I went out for Greek food with a friend who graduated from Lowndes County High School, and we toasted the town’s honor with a sip of ouzo (that’s about all either of us could handle). Actually, we had planned this dinner for a while, since we’re both moving this summer -- the timing just worked out that we were able to toast Valdosta as well as our friendship.

For those of you who are interested, you can see the ESPN Titletown coverage here.

Labels: Pam's thoughts

It struck me last night as I watched Benjamin sleeping, just how big he’s becoming. He looks so big sleeping in this “big bed.” He usually sleeps in his own twin bed, but since Zachary and MacKenzie are in the states and we’re down to temp furniture, I’m spoiling him and letting him sleep with me. With the way he stretched out over the entire bed, it just emphasizes how much he’s growing. I still find it hard to believe that he’ll start Kindergarten in the fall! He likes this picture because it shows off his belly (no the pj’s aren’t too small for him, his shirt simply rolled up during his sleep). You can also see that he doesn’t like being covered up while sleeping, which drives me batty when we share a bed since I must be covered (he usually ends up sleeping on top of the sheets, which makes it that much more difficult for me to remain covered).

Here’s more proof of how big he’s becoming -- he can swing all by himself, and get pretty high while at it! He’s so proud of his swinging abilities, and I enjoy being able to take a book to the playground to read while watching him (meaning that I don’t have to push him!).

Labels: Benjamin

Today at lunch, I was explaining to Benjamin what we’ll be doing over the next few days -- from the last bit of cleaning in our apartment, to moving into the on-post hotel and finally taking three planes to get to Florida where Papa will meet us and take us to the farm in South Georgia. Benjamin didn’t believe me that we go to the farm every summer, so I had to explain that Uncle Sam is a crop farmer instead of an animal farmer, and named off some of his crops. As soon as I mentioned cotton, Benjamin replied, “like cotton candy!” I don’t see Uncle Sam’s cotton fields producing the same kind of “cotton” that Benjamin enjoys so much!

Labels: Benjamin

It’s amazing how many little items can disappear through the years. What better time to find these missing treasures than when moving. Here’s a sample of some of our new-found treasures that had one last chance to make the move with us -- I keep a “lost items” ziplock bag so these treasures can be reunited with their rightful owners once we make it to our new house. Yes, most of these belong to Benjamin (note all the marbles -- or as he calls them “mar-balls”), but Zachary and MacKenzie each have at least two items with which to be reunited next month.

Labels: Benjamin, MacKenzie, Zachary

Labels: Benjamin, MacKenzie, Zachary

Well, the time has come to pack up and move out. The packers showed up mid-day on Monday and quickly got to work packing all of our stuff. They finished all three kids’ rooms and the hallway closets before calling it a day. Fortunately, since they’re based out of Hanau, they’re staying in a hotel and have been here at 8 a.m. the rest of the week. On Tuesday, they packed up my room and bathroom, the entryway (and closet), the den, and made good progress in the kitchen. They were so efficient that at one point ALL my shoes had been packed! Guess that’s what I get for wearing slippers inside the house. Fortunately, I saw that my shoes were missing before the box into which they had disappeared had been sealed up. Not so for a few items I had set aside to keep Benjamin occupied and for me to work on these past few days. But, when I asked about them, we found the box immediately so I could pull out the desired items. Whew! Disaster averted.

Today, they finished boxing up everything else in the house AND loaded everything except the furniture on the truck. Unfortunately, “everything” included an open box of cleaning supplies that I had set aside. Even though I packed it and it wasn’t sealed, it found its way onto the truck. By the time I realized it was gone, it was too late -- it was toward the front of the truck and inaccessible without unloading several layers of other boxes and furniture. Fortunately, most of my cleaning supplies were elsewhere (not in that box), so it wasn’t a terrible loss. Tomorrow, they pack and load the basement and load the big furniture. They expect to be done by early afternoon.

I have to say, I haven’t seen things packed quite this way before. They don’t use nearly as much paper to wrap every individual item (especially for items in the bedrooms and closets), but the furniture is WRAPPED -- as in BUBBLE WRAPPED -- so nary a scratch will harm it. The item to the right is my antique armoire. Wow! I’m not terribly concerned about the lack of paper in the boxes though since everything’s going directly to our new house instead of going into storage (see below for more details). Hopefully it makes the unpacking go a little quicker without all the extra paper that usually envelopes each and every individual toy, game, jar or pencil.

Benjamin was surprised to see his room packed up when he came home on Monday, but was even more surprised to see the progress on Tuesday and today. Here, he’s checking out the work going on in the kitchen.

There are a number of boxes labeled “things” and “items,” so it should be interesting when I go to unpack. Hmmmm. I’ve been making educated guesses and writing what (I think) is in the boxes based on which rooms they’re in. We’ll see how close to the mark I am. I also expect that I’ll go stir-crazy when trying to get to my dishes. So the boxes aren’t unbearably heavy, they packed my dishes on the bottoms of boxes with Tupperware, plastic cups and other lighter items on top. So, I’ll have to unpack all the lesser-used items from the tops of the boxes to get to the desired dishes at the bottoms. Oh well, c’est la vie.

The other minor irritation is that I requested a door-to-door move last Monday at my transportation office. However, my request wasn’t forwarded to the company doing my move. When I talked with the packers, they indicated that my stuff was all going into a warehouse and would be delivered later. EGADS! After checking their schedule, the earliest they thought they could deliver everything was Aug. 1 -- the EXACT day that Benjamin and I are flying to the states. When I asked about a Saturday delivery, the manager indicated that they can’t force their employees to work on Saturday. However, one of the individuals here packing my stuff called several of his coworkers and convinced them to work on Saturday to deliver everything for me. Yeah! There should be five or six of them, so it should go by quickly! Plus, this now gives me Friday to get my utilities squared away. I suppose things work out for the best after all.

Labels: Benjamin

Labels: Benjamin, Birthdays, MacKenzie

Zachary and MacKenzie both enjoy camping out with scouts. This summer, the Stuttgart area Girl Scout council sponsored a 2-night campout vice a 5-day day camp concluding with a single overnight campout. I think MacKenzie gets nervous when setting out on her own like that, but she had a great time. Here’s the tent she helped set up for the campout.

She also found time to jump over the World War II foxholes surrounding her tent area. They’re really prevalent in this part of the camping area.

On the second night of the campout, parents were invited to attend the campfire. She was especially glad to see me since I spent the previous four days in Ramstein looking for a house for us to move into. The campfire started a little after 8 p.m., however, since it was the night after the summer solstice, it was still rather bright out.

Her campout troop performed a skit and introduced a challenge song to the campers (I didn’t realize there’s a slower verse leading into the Oscar Mayer Wiener song -- ask her about it the next time you see her). Yes, it stayed light out until well past when the campfire was over, so there really wasn’t a need for a fire to light up the campground.

The campout didn't wrap up until noon on that last day -- six hours after Zachary departed for his week-long campout in Garmisch. Again, since the summer solstice was only two days prior, it was pretty light when he left at 6 a.m.! In fact, the sun begins to rise about 4:30 a.m. during the longest days of summer and the last rays of dusk don’t disappear until around 10:30 p.m. Benjamin doesn’t understand how it can be time for bed when the sun’s still up during the summers here, even though he can read the clock and know when it’s bedtime (or later).

MacKenzie was pretty worn out after two days roughing it. After her shower and lunch, she quickly crashed out on the couch! At least she had fun though!

Labels: Boy Scouts, Germany, Girl Scouts, MacKenzie, Zachary

The last week of school, Zachary’s Boy Scout troop held its semi-annual Court of Honor, where they recognize the scouts for their accomplishments during the preceding six months. Zachary was first called up with other scouts from his patrol (same grade in school) and presented his Railroading Merit Badge. He worked on most of this badge with Uncle Sam last summer when we visited Georgia. I wish I had been able to go with them out to the Rice Yard where Uncle Sam works to see and learn about the trains there! Zachary finished up the merit badge by going on a historic train ride (the Öchsle Bahn, see this post) and visiting the Merklingen Train Museum (watch for a later post).

Once all the merit badge presentations had been made, his patrol -- the Mohawks -- was called up to be recognized for earning the National Honor Patrol Award. This is a fairly prestigious award that requires several accomplishments to earn. The troop Scoutmaster commented that in his 24 years of scouting, this patrol was the first one that he’s seen earn the award (he’s pointing out where the award is to be worn on the scout uniform). Some of the requirements for this award include holding at least two patrol meetings every month (in addition to the weekly troop meetings), participating in at least one hike, outdoor activity, or other scouting event and performing two service projects approved by the patrol leaders' council. I was very impressed that a group of sixth graders had the desire and determination to earn this award!

Zachary was also recognized for being elected Den Chief for the next rotation of leadership positions. Unfortunately, since we’re moving, he won’t have an opportunity to perform those duties here since it requires him to work with a Cub Scout Webelos den (fourth and/or fifth grade Cub Scouts) as a junior leader and assistant to the den leadership. Hopefully he’ll have an opportunity for a leadership position shortly after we move to Ramstein.

Finally, and to correct an oversight, he was recognized for advancing from Second Class Scout to First Class Scout. He actually met his Board of Review and advanced back in January, but since that was two weeks after the last troop Court of Honor, this was when he was recognized in front of the entire troop. One tradition that the Scoutmaster points out during each advancement is for the scouts to “pin” their mothers with a miniature pin of their new rank and give them kisses. I like that tradition, and he always grins when his back is turned to the audience as he gives me a (quick) kiss. I suppose it’s not so bad since everyone else has to do likewise when it’s their turns.

Since we’re getting ready to move, he’s been working to make sure all his records are in order (which will be especially important when he goes up for Eagle Scout). He’s already completed the documentation for seven additional merit badges he’s completed in the past six months, and will have them mailed to us at the end of the summer. He’s also set a goal of achieving Eagle Scout rank at a younger age than his dad did. He has three years -- and three ranks -- to go.

Labels: Boy Scouts, Zachary

We are less than two weeks away from leaving Stuttgart, well “officially out-processing” Stuttgart, and things are slowly falling into place for our departure. Phase One of our departure was yesterday when Zachary and MacKenzie flew to the states to spend two weeks with Nana and Papa before Benjamin and I join them for our annual getaway to the states.

Catering Strike = Delayed Flight
When we checked in at the airport yesterday morning, we were told that the caterer was on strike -- first time ever -- and that the flight would be delayed anywhere from one to four hours since they can't leave on a 10-hour international flight without meals. I was very relieved when I saw the Gategourmet truck arrive next to their plane a mere 40 minutes after their scheduled departure, and equally relieved that Delta decided to simultaneously load the meals and passengers. MacKenzie was a bit teary-eyed when it was time for them to walk toward the plane, but Zachary calmly put his arm around her shoulder and she rested her head back on him. As much as they can annoy each other at times, they really do take care of each other. Watching their interaction at that moment really did my heart good. Fortunately, the plane pushed back right at one hour late (instead of four).

As their plane pushed back, this T-Mobile zeppelin appeared on the runway. Apparently there’s a zeppelin festival this weekend -- I saw three take to the skies yesterday, including this one flying near the base when I picked up Benjamin at the end of the day.

My next concern about their travel was their connection in Atlanta -- including clearing Customs. They were originally scheduled for a 2 hour & 15 minute layover, so I knew it would be tight with the one-hour delay. Thankfully, there were two subsequent flights that they could have been rescheduled onto, both with plenty of available seats. Come to find out, they raced to make their scheduled flight, only to have to sit at the gate for another hour-long delay on that flight. But, they finally made it to Philadelphia and were excited to see Nana and Papa -- and they both slept on the drive home. They needed it after the long travel day they had.

I know they're going to have fun spending one-on-one time with Nana and Papa -- going to a cookout, the beach, the museum (where Zachary will work on a Boy Scout merit badge), and many other exciting summer activities. I know Nana and Papa will relish the time as well.

Labels: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, MacKenzie, Nana and Papa, Zachary

As proof that some skills do skip generations, like other genetic traits, here’s MacKenzie showing off the fruits of her green thumb. Actually, she’s showing off one fruit plant (yes, tomatoes are fruits) and one veggie (red-tipped lettuce). Nana has a tremendous green thumb, while I manage to kill off most everything green that gets close to requiring my care, so I'm glad that this trait skipped a generation.

MacKenzie grew the tomato plants from seeds as part of a Girl Scout project, and brought home a fledgling lettuce plant from one of her Summer Camp field trips. She repotted them both last night, just before heading to the states this morning, in hopes that they survive while she’s gone. Hopefully the tomato plants will flourish and bear fruit before the end of the summer. I’ll probably have a very nice salad with a few leaves of lettuce in a few days, but will leave enough in the dirt to regenerate more for subsequent salads.

I think she can hardly wait to help Nana and Papa in their bountiful garden...once she gets over jet-lag, that is.

Labels: MacKenzie

MacKenzie really enjoys the field trips she gets to go on with her Summer Camp program. They go just about everywhere from amusement parks and the bowling alley, to a skate park and a nursery. Wednesday, they went fishing.

I thought for sure she’d enjoy the fishing adventure, and she definitely did! When I picked her up at the end of the day, she insisted on showing me the fish that the group had caught. For some reason, I thought they’d do “catch and release” all day. Nope. There in the kitchen was a cooler chock-full of freshly-caught fish on ice. Next thing I knew, she was being handed a bag with two fish! Yes, she caught two fish, although they were all grouped together, so she didn’t necessarily bring home the two exact ones she caught. She explained how she needed help casting the line, but that it didn’t take her long to catch them. She also explained that she had to “hit them on the head” to kill them once they were caught, otherwise they’d squirm too much...and to put them "out of their misery" (even though fish can't feel pain). Definitely not a girly-girl trait there!

Fortunately, one of the counselors had already gutted the fish. I’m not sure what species they were -- perhaps rainbow trout. As the reality of what I was about to bring home sank in, the counselor asked me if I knew how to scale them. Um, no! (All I could think of was how Grandpa Walker would catch a slew of catfish from one of his water holes and bring them home for Granny to gut, prepare and fry -- and how she didn’t particularly relish doing so!) Thank heavens for internet Google searches to help educate me on these things!

When we returned home, fish in hand (actually, in the bag), and Zachary saw MacKenzie’s bounty, he ran to his room and hurried out with one of his Boy Scout knives -- with the fish-scaler apparatus out and ready to use. He readily agreed to scale the fish, which then piqued MacKenzie’s interest -- so he retrieved a second fish-scaler-equipped knife for her to use. They were soon outside on the front steps, scaling away.

Yes, this was the typical look on MacKenzie’s face as she scaled her fish. She and Zachary even swapped fish when they were done so they could check each other’s work. They both did great – so great that at this point in time I had still not touched either of the fish! However, I soon had to chop off the heads and fins to get them ready to cook.

Here are "Bob and Joey" battered and frying. I'm not sure why MacKenzie decided to name them, but she did. Fortunately, it didn't stop her from eating them.

Of note, I had actually managed to plan our meals so Zachary and MacKenzie could help empty our freezer before they depart for the states on Friday. Alas, these two fish threw a wrench in my menu-planning. So, I cooked pork tenderloin AND fresh fish for supper tonight. Surprisingly, she and Zachary opted for eating fish instead of tenderloin, which means I now have leftover tenderloin to last me over the weekend as I prepare for the movers to arrive on Monday. Yup, Bob and Joey are gone, and Zachary and MacKenzie enjoyed devouring them.

Labels: Cooking, MacKenzie, Zachary

Labels: MacKenzie

A few nights ago, when I announced that we were having hamburgers for supper, all three kiddos rushed into the kitchen to help make the burgers. I was surprised, especially since I typically can only elicit that kind of response from them when we make pizza (they love snitching as we pile on the ingredients).

The intrigue with making hamburgers is that they can get their hands messy while squishing the ingredients together. They all took turns adding the various ingredients (and I carefully watched how much garlic was added this time) and rolling the concoction into patties before putting them in the oven. I think I need to find a few more recipes that will have them rushing to help in the kitchen!

And, yes, the burgers turned out great. We had a slightly different mix of seasonings, but it was still good and very palatable.

Labels: Benjamin, Cooking, MacKenzie, Zachary

Benjamin enjoyed his big day, even though we didn’t have much planned after having his party yesterday. The highlights of the day include dinner at LeRose Italian Restaurant followed by cake at home.

When we arrived at LeRose, Zachary let Luigi and our waitress know it was Benjamin’s big day. When our waitress came to the table and asked him how old he was, he timidly held up his hand with five fingers. She replied, “A whole handful? Wow!” Yes, he can be quite a handful at times -- how appropriate!

It worked out well having three cakes, since we managed to save one entire cake for tonight at home. We did the complete candles and singing routine again for him, and he grinned as we sang to him before he blew out his candles. No worries about the wind or a friend extinguishing them this time.

Of course, he indulged in his cake via his typical fashion -- frosting first. I was surprised that he eventually ate most of the chocolate cake (sans frosting). He definitely knows what’s good though.

Labels: Benjamin, Birthdays

Benjamin has been very excited this past week as we counted down the days to his birthday and to his birthday party. Every morning when I’d wake him up, I’d ask him how many days until each special day and he’d reply by sleepily holding up the appropriate number of fingers. On Saturday morning, he came into my room, woke me up and announced that it was his birthday (party). Ooops. I had to explain that the countdown goes down to “0” instead of stopping at “1.” He was a little disappointed, but he was soon OK with having to wait one more day.

He helped me bake his cakes Saturday morning. His idea of baking was to dump all the ingredients into the mixer, then wipe all the extra batter off the mixer blades when we were done. When it came time to make the frosting, he did the same thing again. Isn’t that the main purpose in wanting to help make the batter and frosting?

I suspected that we’d have enough cake mix to make two cakes, but soon discovered that we’d end up with three. It just meant that I’d have to make “Green Percy” in addition to making Thomas and James. Fortunately, Benjamin didn’t balk that the trains didn’t have faces, although he did insist that I add Percy’s windows. I think they turned out pretty well for an ad-hoc version of his favorite character trains.

When I finished using the frosting, I turned the kids loose with the leftover tubes and empty plates. MacKenzie wasn’t quite sure what I meant when I told her she could decorate a plate, but caught on quickly. She and Zachary accentuated the designs in their plates, while Benjamin more or less squirted globs of frosting on his plate, squished them all together a-la finger painting style, then licked his fingers. I remember making wonderful plate creations alongside Granny Walker and Aunt Mildred when they made their wedding cakes, and I figured that wasn’t a bad experience to pass on to my kiddos.

Benjamin’s party was small -- Gabriel and Luci were his only friends who could make it (the hazard of a summer birthday), but he didn’t mind. He enjoyed all the attention, and was ready to get the party started. The wind actually blew out four of his candles when we initially sang to him, then Gabriel helped blow them out when we re-lit them, but it didn’t bother Benjamin for more than a few seconds.

Soon everyone was feasting on cake and ice cream. As soon as Benjamin was done, he announced that he was ready to open presents. He started opening presents from the seat where he ate his cake and ice cream, but in the excitement moved closer to where the presents were stacked. Naturally, the spectators moved in closer too. Luci and Gabriel ended up on top of the table, and Zachary and Logan were inches away from helping at times.

He really enjoyed his party, especially since he told me a few days ago that he’d never had a birthday party (his first four parties were family-only events). Fortunately, the weather cooperated. It rained in the morning enough to make everything damp (nothing a few towels couldn’t remedy), and the afternoon rain waited until his party was over.

As I tucked him in bed tonight, I made a big deal of the fact that it’s the last time I’ll tuck my 4-year-old Benjamin in bed since he’ll be my 5-year-old Benjamin when he wakes up in the morning. He matter-of-factly told me that he’s already 5 since he’s been doing 5-year-old things for a while now. I guess that’s what we get for pointing out all the good things that 5-year-olds can do (finish their supper, clear their plate from the table, put on their own shoes, get on their own pajamas/clothes, etc). He then excitedly added that since he’s now 5, we’ll be moving to Ramstein and he’ll be starting Kindergarten soon. He definitely remembered that timeline. I’d say he’s ready for that next big event now that he’s (almost) 5!

Labels: Benjamin, Birthdays