Our weekend in Beilstein...

The first two pics are taken from the castle in the town of Cochem -- the scenery never fails to amaze us!

JP loves riding in the backpack...Daddy's little buddy :-)

Our child has "Osterkamp blood" that's for sure. Aren't children supposed to not like the taste of wine/beer. We sat down for a wine probe in Beilstein and JP enjoyed it as much as we did :-) (Don't worry...we actually cut him off pretty quickly!)

This is another picture of the Mosel from the castle in Beilstein...

This is a picture of our balcony -- JP had a blast playing up there and dropping flower petals over the side onto the people eating down below.

JP's favorite ride...

Here is JP's favorite car...his "Boppy Car" as Germans call it :-) He goes all over the backyard with it -- he feels like such a big boy!

Playing outside...

We're loving the summer sunshine here in Germany... JP takes every chance he can to go outside. Usually, he picks up the dogs tennis ball thrower which gets them all excited...running around the house. The only way to calm the dogs down is to take them outside at which time JP gets to go out and play too -- yeppo, JP is pretty smart :-)

He is starting to really enjoy "smiling" for the camera -- now we just have to work on keeping his eyes open!

Riding the dogs :-)

We knew it was only a matter of time before JP started riding the pups around the house :-) Unfortunately, Lucie is JP's "pony" of choice...too much fun!

My ride in an F-16!

It was incredible! This week is Spouses Appreciation Week on base...and so they had a lottery for one spouse to go up in the F-16 and I was picked!!! I can't believe that this is Matt's job -- craziness! (More pictures to come once I get them...)

Getting fitted for my helmet!

Posing for the camera one last time before take-off!

Back on solid ground again...what a thrill!

*P.S. -- for those of you that are familiar with Air Force Regs...the 10% rule applies :-)

Such a big boy...

I'm LOVING feeding myself...the pictures don't prove it, but I'm actually pretty good at it :-)

Visiting Great-Grandpa Johnny...

4 generations...too cool!

Having fun in California...

We have quite a few more pics from our trip back to the states -- just need to get them on a disk from the fam... We had such a great time visiting everyone -- we're definitely looking forward to our next visit :-)

Hmmm...sand is SOOOOO yummy!

Playing tether ball!

Matt's Homecoming...June 1, 2008!

The wait is finally over...Matt is back!!! YIPPEE!

Watching Matt taxi the jet to the hangar...

Waving to Daddy as he shuts down the plane...it felt like FOREVER!

The canopy opens...he can finally get out of the jet :-)

Trying to get JP to walk to Daddy...although he wasn't too sure what was going on!

Finally...we're together again. JP looking on is too cute!

JP showing off his walking skills to Daddy...

Sizing JP up...Matt couldn't believe how much JP had grown!

We were in shock that they actually came back on the target date...but we're not complaining!

The happy family...

Matt's first beer in 4 1/2 months -- yep, he was a little excited!

Sardinia -- May 2008

Here are pics from the trip JP and I took to Sardinia right before Matt got home. Sorry it took so long to post -- we had a GREAT trip! JP loved playing in the sand (and eating crackers that he had purposefully dropped in the sand...a little dirt don't hurt, right???)

Thanks to my friend Carma for getting all these great pics...she's a pro at it!