Sorry for the lack of updates

Sorry - I've forgotten to update the blog lately. We went to Paris the weekend of Kemper's birthday because James had a 4-day and we don't have much longer to travel before we head back to the States.

Sliding after church on Easter Sunday

Double trouble!

Kemper made a friend on the church playground

Kemper and Daddy before church on Easter

Trying to convince us to open his Easter basket goodies before church

Checking out his Easter basket

Paris was actually a let down for us. We saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and spent some time lounging on the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower, but Paris just didn't impress us nearly as much as Rome. We did take Kemper to Disneyland Paris on Sunday and had a great time! There were a few things that he could ride and he enjoyed them! He rode It's a Small World, the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups, Dumbo's Magical Flight, The Enchanted Carousel and Buzz Lightyears Laser Blast. He really enjoyed It's a Small World and the Teacups. James and I took turns riding a few of the larger rides and were able to take advantage of a great program that Disney offers to parents of small children. It's called Baby Swap and it allows one parent to wait in line for a ride and the other waits with the child. Once the first parent is done riding, the other parent gets to get on the ride right away without having to wait in the long line again. It was VERY nice because some of the lines were WAYYY too long for us to wait in with Kemper. As usual, Kemper did GREAT. We got to the park at 10:30am and left at 8:30pm without so much as a meltdown. He took a nap in the stroller we rented (we've learned that traveling with a stroller in Europe is pretty much pointless as you spend most of the time carrying it up and down stairs) and was happy to look around at all of the colorful Disney decorations.

Whoa! Daddy took off a little fast at MegaPlay

Loving the slide into the ball pit at MegaPlay

Where's Kemper?

Trying to figure out how to get one of these ball pits at his house

Chasing Ruger

Kemper's still going to CDC 3 days a week and LOVES it. He really loves his teacher, Ms. Josie but we just found out she's PCSing in 3 weeks so he'll have a new teacher. I'm sad about this. Ms. Josie is SO good with the kids and you can tell that she honestly loves her job and loves the kids. She is truly excited to see them and is sad if they're not going to be there for some reason. Recently, when I dropped Kemper off she asked me if Gavin was ok because he was scheduled to be there that day but had cancelled that morning. I assured her that he was fine and Lynse just had the day off and wanted to play with him. She was sad he wasn't going to be there. She puts me at ease and makes me feel much better about leaving Kemper. We'll miss her, but we won't be around to much longer after she leaves!

Come on Mom, I'm ready to go inside.

Enjoying the beautiful spring day

Kemper demolishing a lemon at a restaurant in Paris

James got his orders yesterday that say we are officially heading back to the States at the end of June. We'll be heading back to Bedford for a week, maybe 2, for a wedding and then will be going up to Petersburg where James will be at Ft. Lee for about 5 months. We should find out around October where the Army will be sending us for the next 3 years. We get to submit a "wish list" and hope that there is an available job for James at our top choices. We're really looking forward to being closer to home for a bit and hope that it will alleviate all of the stress that we feel when we come in for Christmas and our 2 week summer trips. There are always so many people we want/need to see but only so many hours in a day. Plus, now with Kemper, we just can't run around as much as we did before. He's a tough little guy and pretty adaptable but he also gets tired and cranky if we constantly go non-stop.

James and Kemper in front of the Eiffel Tower

He liked the Carousel until the horse starting going up and down!

Kemper and I in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle

As our time in Germany winds down, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that our 3 years here is up. Granted, James was gone for 15 months and I was in the States for 12 of those, but I remember in August of 2006 thinking that the time for us to move back would NEVER come. There are many things I'll actually miss about living here. Driving on the autobahn is FUN! Steak on a Rock is DELICIOUS! We have WONDERFUL friends here, who, with the way the Army works, we probably won't live near ever again.. We get to travel to beautiful places and see things that we never dreamed of seeing. It has truly been an amazing experience.