Heath Springs

Our next stop was some time in Heath Springs with Pops and Janice.



We had great weather for fishing and



Miss Sidney caught her first fish.



Carolyn had so much fun that day that she and Brian woke up early the next morning and went back out in the boat to catch some more.



She caught her first Bass that morning and ate the whole thing by herself that night.  She couldn't believe that her daddy wanted her to kiss the Bass.  A tradition that surprisingly I had not heard of either.  I guess it is good luck to kiss the fish you catch.  Sidney didn't fish that morning but did love getting a spin around on the boat as long as she was right beside her Daddy.



This is how Payson felt about not getting to go out on the boat.  She thinks that she is as big as the older girls.



I love a behind the back picture!  Especially when my girls are being sweet.



We also got to do a little horseback riding.  Carolyn looks like such a skinny thing in this picture.



I love this picture of Sidney I took while Carolyn was having her turn on Archie.  I can't remember why Sid was sad.  I think it had something to do with where she sat in the saddle and I ended up telling Dad just to go without her.



I do remember that we were much happier once Carolyn returned and



they both headed out for a ride.  They gave Pops a good workout that day.



We had a great visit and Carolyn is already asking us when we can go fishing again.  My little tomboy has decided that she would like to catch a catfish next.

Arriving in ATL

We made it!  The 10 hour flight that I was dreading turned out to be not that bad.  Payson was better than I imagined her being and the older girls were so excited about the plane in general and seeing their cousins, that they were wonderful.  After landing in Atlanta, we traveled all over the state of South Carolina visiting family and filling our bellies with American food we had been missing.  We arrived on June the 9th in Montgomery and are currently staying in a three bedroom apartment on Maxwell Air Force Base.  We have been able to go inside our house we will be renting and I can not wait to move in. (Hopefully this time next week!!)

Here are some pictures from our first stop in Atlanta...
Our first full day in America we headed to the baseball field to watch Austin play in his last T-ball game.



We decided to take the girls to the American Girl store here for their birthdays.  Aunt Seana joined us for the fun since the boys don't really shop in this store.



They were thrilled and I will confess that I almost wanted to buy a doll for myself here.



Brian was a great Dad and came along for the fun as well.  Doesn't he look super excited.  I will admit that he listened better than I did on how to care for the dolls hair and had to give me tips after the fact.



Eating at the Bistro attached to the shop.  I was surprised how good the food was here and how cute the menu was.  Truly a little girls paradise.



Just a picture of Payson from that day.  I'm sure with three girls we will be back in this shop.



We also chopped the girls hair off while we were there.  We decided that a summer cut was in order since we were all adjusting (definitely not complaining) to the heat that the South had to offer.

Another group shot of the four from Austin's preschool graduation.  He cracks me up in these pictures.

Farewells

Just wanted to post a couple of pictures of all our farewells right before we left GK.  I was right. After all of our traveling, these are some of the faces that we are missing right now!

Nostalgic

I meant to post this earlier but never did...here are pictures of the girls when we first moved to Germany.  Carolyn was 3.



Miss Sidney was 14 months.



And I brought home a 6 year old, an almost 4 year old and a 16 month old. ( I took these right before we moved into our guest house)





Our time there went by so fast I just wanted to be able to look back and see how much they had grown.

Stein Woods

We found this great walking trail right before we left the big town of Stein.  Complete with streams filled with baby ducks,



friendly horses,



friendly horses that needed haircuts,



dandelions to make wishes on, and



great light for photo opportunities.





I only wish we had found this sooner.

Last Days of School

Sidney and Carolyn had their last days of school this past week.

Here is Sidney on her first day of preschool.  So not happy about going...



Here she is on her last day.  I wish I could say that Sidney got over her unhappiness about school but there were still mornings right up until the end that she would give me a hard time when I left her.  But as soon as I was gone her teachers said she was fine.
She was all smiles this morning because it was her last day.



Carolyn on the first day of Kindergarten.



Here is my big girl on her last day.



Carolyn with her teacher Miss Barrington.  She has learned so much this past year and has just matured a ton!  I thought that she might be teary eyed on her last day but she was fine.  It was me who was having to bite my tongue to keep from welling up.



We are so proud of both of the girls!

SPRING!

We had one of the darkest winters here on record. I kept saying as we were preparing to move that I wanted Germany to make me miss it. I wanted more of the Spring like weather we normally get around this time of year and less of the snow and rain that seemed to not go away. Well, Mother Nature finally listened and the weather here has been great for the last couple of weeks.  This has been perfect for us because we have been eating out quite a bit since we have nothing in the house. With kids, being able to eat outside makes for the least stressful situation. The other day I came up with the best idea ever, and while we waited on our food the girls took turns strolling Payson around. Happiness for everyone involved!



It's always nice to get rewarded with ice cream!



Funny how the third child picks up really quickly on things.  There is no way you can eat ice cream in front of her and not give her some now.



Afterwards trying to walk off some of our dinner and



letting the girls run off some of their sugar high.



This little girl LOVES her Daddy.



I know I am being redundant when I say we are so looking forward to moving home, but there are going to be soooo many things that we miss about living here.