Our two ragamuffins.....

May I introduce the latest addition to our household.... 

Mitzi .... a 3 month old Miniature Maltese

and then there's 

Toto... the 1 year old Westie.... 

What was I thinking.... 

What's happening to me.....

Yesterday I was so domesticated 

it's scary!!!

I mailed boxes.. 

made Chili.....

went grocery shopping.....

changed linens ....

 (this is Joe's childhood quilt - I had it 

re-quilted for Christmas last year)

made hot cocoa with whipped cream .... 

started a fire.... 

brought in more firewood.... 

washed three loads of clothes.... 

OMG!!!!!

Just two exits down.....

It still amazes me that just two exits down 

from where we live, I can step back 

into another time.  Pretty amazing... 

Thanksgiving..

We had great friends over for a very traditional Thanksgiving Dinner and everyone brought yummy food.  

A good time was had by all and no one left hungry.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family 

and friends near and far!!!!

Thankful for the surrounding beauty !!!!

These photos were taken near the Swiss / Austrian Border

And these were from a venture through the forests just north of Stuttgart.  

A day in France

The Eiffel Tower at night

To celebrate Y2K, the city of Paris decided to light the Eiffel Tower such that at midnight on Y2K it would sparkle.  When sparkling, the Tower resembles a sparkling bottle of champagne.    The people of the city liked it so much, that the Eiffel Tower now sparkles every hour on the hour.  

A different angle of the Eiffel Tower... 

Just to give you some perspective

and further away..... 

Inside looking out of the Muse de Orsay

(former city train station, now museum holding 

beautiful works of art - see statues below, 

just to show you a few) 

Inside looking out of Notre Dame

A beautiful statue 

(I want to try and paint some day)

Another beautiful marble statue

(I also want to paint some day)

Summer at G's Part II

THE DAYS WERE FILLED WITH ......

SWIMMING....

AND CHESS PLAYING AND DOG PETTING...

AND DOG WALKING... .

AND MORE DOG WALKING...

AND HORSEBACK RIDING..

and MORE HORSEBACK RIDING

AND VISITING HORSES

AND SKATEBOARDING LESSONS

AND FISHING.... SORTA....

AND MORE FISHING... SORTA...

Our summer at G's Part 1

This was a great vacation filled with ...

CANOEING.....

TREE CLIMBING....

FROGS....

CANNONBALLS....

AND MORE CANNONBALLS...

AND WATERMELON.....

TENNIS...

COOKIE MAKING .....

WATCHING MOVIES WITH SLEEPY TOYS...

AND BEING WITH FAMILY

From the 2nd half of our trip to the states this past summer

These are the three muskateers 

(in the Winter, but it's such a cute picture).

L's mom hosted us while we were in the DC area.

S is looking too cute here.  

We visited Mom and Ray

We visited our bestest buddies in the whole wide world!!!!

We visited my sister (in the middle) and her husband and 

daughter (2nd from the right) and son-in-law.  

We had a beautiful sunny day swimming at my sister's house  

- although J doesn't look so happy toting the girls around