Woah...June is OVER!

Where did the time go? When I got here, I was kind of sad that Brad & Debbie were going to be gone for almost a whole month - so long without them! But now, they're coming home tomorrow and I cannot believe that the whole month of June is gone already. It's the Forbes' last night! I'm crushed. I'm going to miss them so much. I'm going to miss Blaire's talking in the third person. ("Blaire didn't hit her - that's good." "Blaire wants to pray!" "Blaire will do it.") I'm going to miss Graeme's mathematical mind and his cool lego inventions - but not so much the sneaky tickle-attacks. I'm going to miss Paige, who comes and curls up in my lap, or running-leap-hugs me, or drapes herself around me, or just cuddles with me. And Duncan and Suzanne!! They were the perfect couple to fill in for Brad and Debbie while they were gone. I'm really going to miss Suzanne - she reads my mind ;) and is so easy to talk to - about literally anything. I can't remember last time I made such a close friend so fast, or found such a mentor. That's definitely one I'm going to keep in touch with.

As for what's been going on here, let's see. This last weekend we went to a chapel-wide barbeque on post, then loaded up the van and headed off to K-town to visit Fred and Diane Stocks, who run the K-town Hospitality House. (K-town = Kaiserslautern) They took us to 'their' castle, which I have to admit is in some ways cooler than Brad's castle. It's all in ruins, but there are a great many random walls left, and lots of fun places to climb up in and play spiderman. There's even a dungeon! (Gated up, can't get in. Sad.) After that (oh, I do like Brad's castle better because I can sing in it, and the hike isn't as killer!), we went back to the K-twon House and had Chinese food for dinner. I think the funniest part of the afternoon was right after the hike, seeing all of our people spread out on all the couches and most of the living room floor - sound asleep. How nice of the Stocks' to let us come over and crash!

Let's see what else. Brad and Debbie come home TOMORROW! I'm excited - even though I'm terribly sad to see the Forbes' off. I'm driving with them to Frankfurt, chilling at the airport for a while (babysitting the van), then driving back with Brad and Debbie. This weekend we're going on a bike trip up the Mosel Valley - now THAT will be cool. The next few weeks may be sad, though, as some guys are waiting to deploy - again - and some are hoping to get orders even this week sending them back to the States. That's the sad part of military life - all the goodbyes. But the friendships are worth it.

A Wonderful Weekend

Friday
Friday night after Bible study, we finally hooked up the volleyball nets. We played four on four, me and Andy and Jonathan and Pedro against Duncan, Suzanne, Jeroham, and Kristen. We played until it was too dark to see the ball and the fireflies came out. (I haven't seen lightning bugs since last time I was in Michigan, and they make up part of my favorite memories, so I was TERRIBLY excited.) After we finally gave up (we lost too many balls over the fence), we went up to where Duncan had started a fire. Some of the guys had NEVER roasted marshmallows, so I took it upon myself to make lots of them. After people went to bed or back on post, Andy and I sat around talking and playing with the roaster-hanger and the poker in the fire, until the coals were out.

Saturday
Saturday we took a trip to Barefoot Park - 3500 meters of various things to walk on. The very first is mud. Slimy, cold, mushy-gushy-nasty mud. There was also a lot of grass, several wood bridges, a rolling-thingy, round rocks, flat rocks, sharp rocks, rocky rocks, wood chips, loam, a muddy water, a river, and a rope bridge. My feet hurt afterwards, but it really was a lot of fun. We had three other families go with us, and one soldier.
Sunday
Today after chapel, we went to a middle-ages-market thing at Kusel Castle in Burg Lichtenberg. (sponsored by the german army...?) It was a really warm day for Germany - 85 degrees and humid. We walked all around the castle and looked at all the little booths and their overpriced wares. We did get really good bratwurst and potatoes, though. After coming home and chilling (literally) in the basement to recover from the heat of the day (be quiet all you phoenix folk!!), Suzanne and Mac and I went to the theatre on post to see Prince Caspian. It's a weird theatre - the seating is flat, so all the kids bring booster seats so they can see the screen. We dropped Mac off at his barracks and came home to play around on our computers, trying to get all our various pictures and blogs up. And with that - I am done, and can go to bed!