The Courageous Lion

Eating his stash of Halloween candy...














This is what happens after too much candy!

My Busy Beavers

Eliot loves to help his dad!

The Big Move

There was a fungus among us... and it kept growing... and growing... and growing...
And finally it found it's way to the kitchen. So after our landlord not taking care of the problem for 6 months, we decided it was time to move. The fungus got the best of us! As Eliot puts it, our old house is "broken".

So, the main reason (besides an awesome trip to Munich/Salzburg for a week to see Carey and Jon - pictures to follow) that we have been completely out of the loop and not posting anything is that we suddenly had to move out of our house, find a new place to live, move, unpack, and set up new German utilities. For those new to our blog, please go back to our posts from 1 year ago to review how efficient the Germans are with their installation of telephone and DSL service. This time, we are happy to say, it only took 2 weeks instead of 2 months to get internet access!!!

So we had some great adventures. Fortunately, Mitch and Molly were here to help with the move. And all of us (Mitch and Molly) stayed with our very gracious neighbors (Ed, Toni, and their son (and Eliot's best friend) Michael). We found a place pretty quickly and are now finally starting to settle in... nice place, overall more space than our old place (especially storage space!), 5 min. closer to work, awesome landlords, well built house... not quite as much character and we wish we could have brought our neighbors with us, but this place is suiting us quite well. And for all of you who are planning to visit, no worries, there are more guest bedroom options here!

We will eventually take photos of the place with our stuff inside, but in the meantime here is a link to a page the landlord had set up; there are two indexes of photos with pictures, you can alternate at the top of the page, and view in slide show mode if you click on the photo directly:
Click here for photos

Also, Andy has at least quadrupled his office space, and now has the entire 3rd floor of the house planned as a "man room" with his multiple computers, foosball table, and a flat screen TV and comfy couch on the way. I'm just worried that once the couch and TV arrive, he may go into early retirement/hibernation mode! I think just the shock of having a TV after a year without one may put him into a beer coma (especially during football season, then it rolls right into college basketball season, etc).

So that's our saga. We promise to be much better from here on out about posting again, and there are more Eliot photos to come.

Back from Turkey

We had a very nice time in Turkey. Very different from our first trip to Istanbul, but also very relaxing. We spent a lot of time either around water or in the water.

More Ultrasound Photos

Another B-Day Present for Eliot

Thanks Dave and Kim!

B-day visit to Speyer's Technik Museum

Sorry Dad. We didn't get through it all and are looking forward to going back in October.

Happy 2 Eliot!
Toni and Ed made Eliot this awesome train cake. THANKS!

Eliot and Michael thoroughly enjoyed the Air Force's 60th birthday celebration at Ramstein Airforce Base this afternoon.

It's a ...................
(Clues in slideshow)

Happy Birthday Eliot !

ok. This box is empty of presents. Thanks everyone.

What do you mean my present is in there?

Here's a picture of Eliot saying goodbye to his new friend, Ernie, as he went back off to war in Afghanistan.



I'm not sure who's missing him more... Eliot or Andy! Let's just say the two of them really hit it off. Who said anything about "don't ask, don't tell"?

Playtime with Michael

More of Ireland

Ruedesheim, Germany

Ireland

We stayed at this wonderful thatched roof cottage about 20 miles North of Dublin. The cottage in the back is that of the owner. Ours was just a little ways up the path.
Beautiful day, but just the night before there was a constant 20-30 mph wind along the beach. It was amazing how fast the weather could change in Ireland.

Time for a beach walk.

This is the jellyfish that Eliot stepped on while coming back from his beach time with Mom. I watched him do it. It was intentional. I thought to myself, "Surely, he wouldn't step on that would he." I was wrong. Didn't seem to phase him though.

Yeah, we were just as amazed as you. (Usually, he spells it with two Ts)

If you look real closely, you can see a stringer from Eliot to the top of my head. Now, that's some quality father son bonding.

The StorehouseIt wouldn't have been a true trip to Dublin if we missed the tour of the Guinness Brewery (i.e. The Storehouse)

Enjoying our complimentary brew at the 7th story gravity bar. The 360 degree view of Dublin was very cool. We had a hard time convincing Eliot that they were now making orange Guinness, but he eventually believed us. If you can't trust your parents, who can you trust, right?

Digger

I wonder where Eliot ever got the idea that digging could be fun.?

Maybe it's even better to manage other diggers.

We'll see.

Happy Day

Today, Eliot made his first poo on the potty. We've had a couple of successful pee pee trips, but this was the first productive #2 on the potty. Such a proud day in a parent's life :) For all of you waiting on more pictures, we thought we'd omit this one. Some things are just not made to be Kodak moments.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

I must say, I am truly impressed with Dave's investigational skills. He even beat out our resident entomologist, "the golden child" by a few minutes. However, Scott did provide a link to a very nice website with a description of these interesting moths: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphingidae

First Beaver Blog Competition!









So we had this really cool bug in the backyard, and Andy decided to get all fancy with the camera. The little critter was fast though, so these are the best photos he got. I am offering up some good German chocolate to the first person who can correctly identify the genus and species (and common name for those of us not so scientific). There should be a certain member of the audience with a distinct advantage... no pressure :)

Aquarium Trip

Eliot likes to drive, whether it is cars, his tricycle, or this boat. Let's just say he likes to be in charge. Don't know where he gets that from...

Aquarium petting zoo - Eliot got to touch a starfish, sea anemone, and spiny urchin (OUCH!)

Dad and Eliot wowed by the shark and ray tank.

Fishbowl

Such a boy (or should I say, such BOYS!)

Eliot has been recently fascinated by all of the following things: Trucks, Bulldozers, Excavators, Tractors, and Dirt Diggers. Let's just say that yellow is certainly the favored color, and John Deere is a dirty word in this house. Once a CAT family, always a CAT family.

Sometimes it's hard to get the monkey off your back.

OK, if you want to be academic about it, it's not just any monkey, it's a Lemur. And it's not just any Lemur, it's a Duke Lemur. This Lemur traveled all the way from North Carolina with the help of Aunt Onika first to Maryland, then with mom over the Atlantic, to find it's way on Eliot's back. For even more academic information about Duke Lemurs, click here.

Eliot (Randy Beazdan the first), Andy, and I would like to introduce you to Randy Beazdan, Jr.

Eliot's little sister or brother is due to join us on January 2nd, 2008, and we're going to do our best to keep her/him in for a full 40 weeks this time! OK, if Andy gets his way, we'll have a 2007 baby (for tax purposes, of course!) We are all very excited about our new member of the family :)

Blast from the past (OK, only 2 months ago)

These are from a couple of months ago when my mom was visiting. She had a lovely time with her son and grandson in Bingen (a beautiful wine town on the Rhine River), and Eliot loved spending time with his Babcia.

This is us all tuckered out on the train ride home. I don't know, but I think Eliot's got the best seat in the house.

We had a fun time together for 2 weeks, then she travelled to Poland, and then came back for some more fun with Eliot while Andy and I snuck off to Paris!!! Thanks mom!

I can't hear you.

After a wonderful 3 day vacation with the neighbors, Eliot needed just a bit of alone time. Here he is practicing his budding ignoring skills. Michael just wanted to play more...and ultimately won out.

Looking a little quilty.

I think Kaya is ready for Mom to come home too. She's gotten a little extra attention from Eliot and is ready for a break.

Brushing Teeth

I know I said I wasn't, but I even got Eliot to brush his teeth. Renee will be so proud. I hear a superdad accolade coming.

See, I am feeding him.

Normally I wouldn't include a plate of half eaten food in the picture, but it is important that Mom sees that Eliot is getting some nourishment while she is away. Yes, it is corn two days in a row, but hey it's a vegetable. The spicy Italian sausage was all Eliot's idea.

Happy Mother's Day
(a sad, mad, glad greeting)

So I had to remind Eliot this morning that mommy had taken a plane to the States yesterday. He was sad that he could not wish her a Happy Mother's Day in person.


I said, "Don't worry she'll be home on Friday". We'll evidently Friday was a little too far away and Eliot was a little mad.

But then I told him that since it was just the 2 of us here alone...pizza and no brushing teeth all week! He was happy again.

Almost a month....

Wow, sorry, it's been almost a month since our last post. We'll we're almost done with our extended round of visitors and we have accumulated lots to post. Here's just a few until we have a bit more time.

Julie, Ron, Debbie, and Tony prior to our trip to Munich

Eliot and Michael all decked out for the zoo.

Gramma and Grandpa in Heidelberg