Tooth Fairy

Ryan lost his first tooth!! The tooth fairy made a visit last night - she left a note & some money in exchange for the tooth. He is very excited! Here is a video from last night.

December

Last weekend we headed to Stokoe Farms to cut down a Christmas tree. It was soooo bitter cold that we ended up buying a tree from the lot instead! Here is a shot of the kids in their winter gear ready to treck thru the fields to find a tree.

A closeup of Jess in her bunny hat. She loves this hat!!

Santa's reindeer!! Which ones are they?

After ~10 letters sent to Santa via the US postal service Santa decided to REPLY to Ry & Jess. How exciting!!!! Thanks to the Chili post office!

Ottrott and Strasbourg France

I spent about a week in the Alsace region of France - wine country! They are most known for dry Rieslings and for Gewürztraminer wines. I enjoyed quite a bit of wine while there!! A new bottle was opened for each course of dinner!! And one day I even had wine in the Ortho cafeteria with my lunch! Now that would never happen in the US!!!

I stayed in a very small town called Ottrott - right in the heart of wine country. The hotel is a tourist destination for French & Germans who enjoy wine tasting since it is right on the wine trail. I loved this hotel - great decor, delicious food, and a very nice room!

Here are a couple shots of the hotel lobby - small, intimate and gorgeous! And yes, we did sit in front of the fire and drink wine.

Here is the view as I walked out of the hotel front door - cool huh!

We drove up to the top of a mountain and walked around Mount Sainte-Odile which is an old monastery dating back to Prehistoric Era. Here is a shot down to the town we were staying in.

Here is a another shot - note that over the fence on the right is a sharp drop down the mountain. I can only imagine how beautiful this place is in the summer with the trees & flowers in bloom!

Here is a picture of the town of Ottrott. There were 3 restaurants, one bakery, one pharmacy and once tiny grocery store.

View out my hotel window - just beyond the town here are the vineyards.

Cathedral in Strasbourg - this place was so tall!!! Construction started in 1015. See here for more info on this Cathedral.

Shopping area in Strasbourg. Can you see the German influence in the architecture?!!

Well - that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed!

France

I'm off to Strasbourg, France for work for 8 days.
I'll post pictures when i return.
Au revoir

Happy Halloween

Trick or treating was so fun this year. We headed out with a bunch of neighbors and enjoyed the warm evening (temp in the 50's). This is the first year that Jessica was into it - after every house she ran down the driveway yelling to us that she got candy! So cute!! :-) There were at least 15 kids all running from door to door together - all under the age of 6! Complete chaos and fun!

Here are Optimus Prime (transformer) and Abby Caddaby (fairy from Sesame Street).

Here is Jess at the end of the evening- completely delighted that she rang a doorbell, said trick or treat, and got CANDY!!

Happy Halloween!!