Ponyhof....not hofbrau!

 
 
Ava and I went on an adventure to Gechingen, a village about 24 km. from our house. And just outside the village, they have a ponyhof, or a place where an adult can get a lot of exercise walking in the woods and fields while their child sits and enjoys the scenery. During our walk, Ava stopped and asked if we could look at the view, so that's why we have the second photo. And what a view it was!

So check out http://www.ponyhof-gechingen.de/programm.html for more information:*) 

Kinderfest 2006

 
Last weekend at a fest for kids in our town of Sindelfingen. They even had camel rides, which Ava didn't want to do, until after we went to dinner:*( 

GOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!

 
  

Princess Ava is back

 
 
If only we were alive 400 years ago....I think she would have been part of the royal court:*) 

First day in German Kindergarten

 
OK, not really, just on my way:*) 

What I found when searching our new zip code

http://www.tampoprint.com/gb/vertrieben/aussendiensten/aussendiensten.html

Our Sixth Living Room

 
Since we've been married, we've moved five times. So this makes it our sixth living room:*) 

Our "new" living room

 
Don't you just love the furniture? 

We're in our new house

We're here, only some loaner furniture(oooh, the beds are terrible) and the three of us. The stables across the street are already a problem....Ava thinks she can cross the street and go look all by herself.....yikes!

Day at the pool

 
 
We've finally gotten the weather we've been waiting for, so we've been going to the pool quite a bit!
First is the beast in the "shower" and the second is just the kids pool. There are others that I will put up later, but they are all made of stainless steel...(thanks Mercedes-Benz)
We'll be moving in our new house Friday, albeit without any goods. No shipments have shown up yet:*( Oh well, welcome to our world!@ 

Wilhelma continued...oh, and life too

 
 
 
 

The journey continues to find a 2nd car. There just aren't any, and what there are....well, we don't want to buy!

We've eaten at a fabulous Italian place, and last night Indian....mmmmmmmmmm....Today, it's not raining again, but the clouds are there, so I won't hold my breath! 

We went to the Wilhelma Zoo

 
 
 
 
Our second beautiful day happened to coincide with a day off for John, so we took the train into town and went to the zoo.
Ava picked out her own outfit:*)
These were the biggest lilypads I'd ever seen. *notice the ducks and birds on them...
We saw the cheetah....
Then a fashion pose. ( I'll post these next photos next, malfunction)
John held Ava up to see the giraffes.
Then she got to pet the goats...this one was her favorite, so she took a photo of him! She wasn't so sure about the next goat though. 

View of Stuttgart

 
We did our city tour Wednesday, going in on the train. So now all our visitors will get a chance to use our "knowledge" to go into town.
Stuttgart is a very cosmopolitan city that has beautiful garden areas, good restaurants, shopping and is very clean. We are already having a good time, which for us is a very good sign!

Oh, housing update. We signed a lease yesterday for a house less than 5 miles from John's office. 210 meters, garden, no neighbors behind us, nor in front of us(we have a riding stable across the street). It's on a dead-end street with walking/biking/riding trails. We're very happy the apt. fell through, as now we have a view and a garden, and Ava might get to ride a horse.(in her cranky tired state the other evening, she was ranting about riding an appaloosa) 

Spin, spin, spin

 
What would've been our local park had we taken the apartment.....Ava calls it Brown Park 

Where am I, Bremerton?

Arriving into Stuttgart 3 August, we've had rain every single day. And, being the idiot that I am, I'm thinking that I'll be in Europe during summer, so I pack lots of linen and sandals...same for Ava. Except that I don't look at average weather in Germany, so I have no socks, rain jacket, sweater or anything that resembles appropriate attire. And I hate to go actual shopping, so we're freezing.

Oh, and the PX here is TERRIBLY small, so I'm screwed! Tried looking last night at the mall, but like I said, I hate shopping! So, Ava and I will get out of the room today and try again.

On the plus side, I've ordered a "handy" (German for mobile phone), so I might have communication by next week:*)

The view from 40 inches tall

We went looking at apts. today. Very expensive, but very convenient!!! So, we'll see what happens:*)
 
  

Don't look at me!!!!

  

Aren't you jealous

of our new "home"? This is probably one of the reasons some military personnel don't move overseas....we've got 3 sinks, 4 beds, a Mr. Coffee(but we don't drink coffee), a microwave, a small refrigerator, 2 televisions, but no sofa. So I guess I'll learn to lay in bed all day and drink coffee:*( Maybe housing will have some good news for us...not counting on it though!
 
 
 
  

We've arrived

Upgraded to business class, so life was pretty good:*) Ava took a short nap inflight, but other than that she's been going strong! Finally passed out in my arms about 45 minutes ago. Our rooms aren't ready until 2:00pm, so she's taking a nap upstairs at Maureen and Sylvan's house while John is out trying to get us on the housing list. More later when I'm not a zombie.

A Chorus Line