Mondo Verde

Adeline and Norah had two weeks of Spring break in April. We had a couple of days before we left on our big trip to Southern France, so we decided to make a day of it and hit up Mondo Verde. It is a a little bit of everything; zoo, small rides, parks, pretty trails, etc. Since it wasn't too warm and during the week, we practically had the park to ourselves. It was fun hanging out for the day and exploring somewhere we hadn't been before!

They have these cool climbing structures at a lot of kid play areas in Europe (well at least in the Netherlands and Germany). You have to run up them as fast as you can and try to make it to the top. Of course Norah is a sticky little Gecko and had no problems making it to the top by herself every single time!

Easter

Easter was pretty low key. We attended a Easter Egg hunt that was run by the Brunssum NATO base and the kids were really looking forward to that. They have different areas to search for Easter eggs depending on what age your kids are.

All the kids stood patiently for quite awhile waiting for the littlest kids to start.



Meika was totally confused and overwhelmed about the entire thing since it is so crazy. Once they gave the little kids the go ahead to start searching, she started crying as we were encouraging her to hunt for eggs. Once we finally showed her that there was candy inside, she became a little more interested. I think she probably collected a total of four eggs?

This random little girl kept trying to take away Meika's basket and kept taking her eggs out.

I didn't get a picture of the older kids searching for eggs. It was really crazy and so many kids, that it was hard to even see where they were at! All in all, the kids had fun and enjoyed going on some rides that they had set up as well.


We ended up celebrating Easter one week early because the holiday landed in the middle of our Spring Break and we were going to be on vacation. The girls were excited to get their baskets in the morning and there were also eggs hidden around the house for them to go on a little hunt.

Hansel and Gretel Play

Back in April, Adeline had a little Hansel and Gretel play and the parents were able to come watch it. Weeks before, Adeline would come home with her script and practice her parts. She was pretty excited because her and one other girl were able to be Gretel. She was so cute. She knew every single part of the play and would mouth it when it wasn't her turn and then of course would speak out her part when it was her turn. Love this girl!

Our next home

I have been so anxious to find out where we will be headed next. I finally came to the conclusion that I was ok not knowing until end of May/June to find out since that would be the timeframe. A week or two ago Abe called AFPC (Air Force office that makes assignments) to see what they projected. They had told us last year that most likely we were going to Los Angeles. Well, when Abe called, they confirmed that we would be headed to LA UNLESS Abe got a green door assignment... which is pretty much a special request from a specific person at a specific base asking you to fill a specific position. These are harder to come by, especially in the places we wanted to go. We had some connections to get to the Pentagon, but I really can't be East coast again after living away from family for so long! So, since all the green door assignments were pretty much filled anyway for the fall, we thought it was a done deal that we were headed to LA. Abe was so sure, he even told Adeline and she was super excited to be by her cousin Jojo!

2 days later, Abe got an email from a Lt. Colonel at Peterson Air Force Base, which is in Colorado Springs. He said that he had a green door position to fill and Abe's name came up and if he was interested, he had to reply ASAP. Of course Abe called him right away and told him that he was interested. A couple days later, Abe had a confirmation saying that he got that position and that we will be moving to Colorado Springs in October! Crazy. We can't really explain how any of this happened, except that it must be meant to be. I am so excited to be driving distance from family and to live in such a neat area! Starting next week, our schedule is pretty much jam packed with events/visitors until August, which is when we will most likely pack out (and live without stuff for 6 weeks on this end!). Not looking forward to it and completely looking for ward to it all at the same time. On to our next adventure!!

Bike ride through the fields

Last weekend my friend and I took our kids on a bike ride. I love how there are so many bike paths here and they connect each little village. The bike paths are normally through the fields and are paved. My kids were excited to get out of the house because we have been trapped indoors a lot. This NATO base is offering support right now for the Ukraine Crisis and let's just say we have barely seen Abe for the past 3 weeks straight. He was even working about 13 hour shifts on Saturday/Sunday.

I let Norah ride her little two wheeler too because she really wanted to. I was a little nervous that she wouldn't make it and get super tired, but she did great! I think round trip we did almost three miles. I was very proud of her! I will miss these yellow canola fields when we move!!



Adeline insisted on bringing her tea set along with some little snacks and they had a little tea party at our half way point.



And then of course all the kids wanted to run around in the wide open fields for a bit.











And of course it is impossible to get one good shot of me and the girls.

Meika's Two Year Old PIctures

While we were in France visiting Abe, I figured I might as well take a couple pictures of Meika since I hadn't done any yet for her two year old shoot. I found a little random area off a path we were walking down to snap a couple. Meika is normally in a great mood, but she was not having any of it. Great.


Adeline started acting really goofy and tried to get Meika to smile. She saved the day.













And I really wanted to get one of all three girls and wasn't sure it was going to be possible. BUT, it turned out perfect! Love these 3 little ladies :)





Meika at 2 years:

She is still the sweetest thing ever. When she agrees to something, she always says "uh huh!" in the sweetest high pitch voice. She loves being a copycat to her sisters and wants to follow them around. She has no interest in being potty trained, which is quite frustrating since the other two potty trained fairly easy at/by two years old. She gives great hugs. She is a super sleeper and I normally have to wake her up by 9-9:30am and she still takes at least a two hour nap. She is pretty agreeable and after she asks something and I answer her, she will say "Ok mama". Her favorite foods are fruit, cucumbers, noodles, pizza, yogurt... she has started to be less picky and will eat *almost* anything. Meika's favorite things are riding on the back/or front of my bike, riding her her little balance bike, jumping on the tramp, going to the park, riding her mini mouse car... she is generally happy and is happy doing most things. Meika loves her sisters and is always wanting to give them hugs and kisses. We love little Meika moo and feel so blessed to have her be a part of our family!

Adeline's extracurricular activities

Adeline has been playing the violin for about a year now and has only been able to work on "Twinkle Twinkle". her teacher wanted her to somewhat master it before they moved on to anything else. It was a bit frustrating for her to play the same thing over and over again. She has a love hate relationship with her violin. I have to pull teeth to get her to practice and sometimes go to her lessons. Sometimes I will just say, "Ok Adeline, you don't have to play it if you don't want to!" She will respond with, "Ok, but I still want to keep my violin". Since that is not an option, she says she still wants to play. I guess we will see if there is any real progress in the next year or not.

Horrible iphone picture of Adeline and her friend Katelyn




Here are two versions of twinkle that she had to play... although there were a handful of others!





This year, Adeline has also been doing Girl Scouts. A lot of her friends were doing it, so of course she wanted to. She enjoys attending every other week after school. I have to say though that I have not been impressed. Her leader(s) are very unorganized and seem to be a bit lazy with everything. Sometimes there will be something going on that Adeline was "invited" to, but no one will have ever told us. Here are a couple pictures of her selling cookies at the Commissary.