Merry Christmas

Hello and Merry Christmas! Santa stopped in last night so we were evidently good boys and girls in 2005.

Over the last three weeks we have made a few road trips to Christmas Markets in the area - Rothenberg ODT, Nurnberg, and Strasbourg. This past Friday we tried to check out the Christmas market in Bad Wimpfen (highly recommended by several long-time Army folks) but their market had already closed. Yesterday we drove to Strasbourg, France to see the town and visit their Christmas market; one of the oldest in Europe.

Last night we had a nice dinner at home and watched football. Tonight we are going over to the Roundy's house for dinner and socializing. Shelly and I both work on Tuesday and Wednesday, we then leave for Prague on the 29th for the New Year.

A few pictures from the Christmas markets are below. We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a great 2006.

--Ed

Shelly "snacking" on a brat

Street decorations in Rothenberg

Winston and Griffin by the Christmas tree

Jessica and Mike - our first road trippers in the BMW

Mike and Ed enjoying a waffle in Nurnberg

Shelly and Jessica at the Nurnberg Christmas Market

The drive to Strasbourg - a much quicker trip in the BMW ;)

Christmas decorations in Strasbourg

Shelly by the Strasbourg Christmas tree

The Strasbourg Christmas tree

Warming up with some Gluwien

Strasbourg cathedral and street decorations

Girlie opening her present

Our Christmas tree with presents

The new BMW

When we got back from our Thanksgiving trip we took delivery of our new car; a BMW 330i. We REALLY like the car and have taken it on a couple road trips the past two weekends. We got the navigation system which has made driving so much more pleasant - no more reading maps in the dark, looking for street signs. We've had snow and rain so the new baby is pretty dirty right now. Once we get a break in the weather we'll get a wash and post more pictures.

Shelly's ready to roll

The new BMW - rear and driver's side

The new BMW outside our house

Thanksgiving

We went home to Florida for two weeks over Thanksgiving. We spent the first few days of our trip in Clearwater and Sarasota with Ma, Brian, Penelope and Steph and Wade who flew down from Wisconsin. We were able to spend some time with Shelly's Dad and Dee, as well Pat and Dick Donegan.

On Thanksgiving Day we drove up to Gainesville to spend some time with my family. Tracy and Chris and the kids drove down for the weekend so we had a full house which was fun. We were able to make it to a Florida basketball game on Friday, and on Saturday we tailgated and went to the Florida/FSU football game. It was great to be back in Gainesville and see so many of our friends, if even for a few minutes at the tailgate. Thank you to my dad for giving up their tickets so that the rest of us could go to the games.

After Gainesville we drove to Melbourne and spent some time with Regan and Cheri. We then spent our final couple of days in Clearwater with Ma. I have a few pictures from the trip, mostly from Gainesville and Melbourne.

Regan, Cheri and Jackson

Mike and Brenda

The Ballards

Final score

Shelly with the Hackenbergs

Florida Drum Line

Tailgating

Ed, Shelly and Maryn

Halloween

Our friend John Liebsmyer is a Halloween nut; his entire basement is full of Halloween costumes and props. Each Halloween John does a haunted house on post. Below are a few pictures from the haunted house; Shelly is white trash...

Creepy butler

ShellynEd

Shelly and John