Being part of an overseas military community can be very hard as friends come and go. While you sort of get used to it, there are some friends that you meet that you just don’t know how you will get along without. Harry and Kristie – You have been great friends and family to us during our time together here. The last year and a half have flown by and I can’t believe you guys are leaving already. Thank you so much for sharing this time with us. We will truly miss both of you (and I don’t quite know how to tell Annie that Miss Peabody is leaving!). May God continue to bless you both and others through you.

We’ve lived here for over a year now, but I still love watching the sheep wander around the roads. It is amazing to see how timid these creatures are (and really, really stupid), but how well they know the voice of their shepherd. There is definitely a lot to be said for knowing the shepherd’s voice.

One day at school Gavin announced to Abigail that he was going to marry her. He told me that she wasn’t exactly happy about it at first, but he told her to be and it was okay after that. Ah, kids! Too funny. I think they look like miniatures of my mom and dad.

Next, I’ll have to get a picture of Bella and Tristan. I think she’s laying claim to him.

The Pauls came over for a play date. Tristan and Gavin just love Luke (Abby’s little bro). Plus, our neighbor came over to play too. They weather was just perfect for a day of play.

Fortunately for us, that’s about all the traffic we have to deal with here!

Okay, so we are all in our pajamas, with the exception of one Mr. T-bone, and with crusties still in our eyes. We were still recovering from walking the base singing Christmas Carols to the on-duty Sailors. Fun!

* Oh – and it just wouldn’t be Greece without a picture of one of our neighbor’s goats watching me load up the kayak!

Oh, and BTW – HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I traveled to St. Louis for Sam and Laura’s wedding. It’s still a little weird to think that my little brother is married. All in all, the weekend turned out to be quite nice.

I met my parents at the St. Louis airport Thursday night. They had flown in just a couple of hours ahead of me. Well, they were supposed to be ahead by a couple of hours. Turns out that their flight arrived early and my flight was delayed by at least an hour. So, I arrived several hours after them. Luckily, I had given them the information for the car rental and they were able to secure the car before the desk closed. I saw dad right where I was expecting to grab my checked-in bag. Actually, mom, dad and Sam were all waiting for me. Sam had taken the metro to the airport to help us navigate to our hotel. That turned out to be a relief.

Once at the hotel, we were introduced to Laura and her parents, Andy and Sandy. My goodness Laura is tall. Looks like I will continue to be the midget of the family. Hey, I’m really average height!

After being away for over 24 hours, I was finally able to go to bed. And miraculously, I had no jet lag related sleep problems. I won’t go into detail about our weekend. We had some bonding time with the bridesmaids (Erica & Cara) and I had the pleasure of meeting the groomsmen (Mike & Brian). Ray (best-man) came in from Texas late Friday night. It was nice to see a familiar face and have someone else participate in the making fun of Sam activity we had engaged in. I think my parents might adopt him (inside joke – sorry).

Sometime during the weekend, I had to break away to check on my flight home. Dad, Sam, Ray, and the rest of the boys went paintballing. Mom volunteered to accompany me back to the airport. We took the metro (Metrolink) and received a brief introduction to St. Louis life. En route, I noticed an interesting billboard posted on a bus stop. Actually, it is quite disturbing.

The Wedding

The wedding itself was very simple and elegant. Honestly, it was awesome! The weather held out for us. It was extremely cold while we were standing at the “alter”. The wedding was outside and the temperature must have been in the 50s. Toward the end of the ceremony the wind kicked up and my knees started knocking. I tried to remain focused, but I think that my entire body was shaking. The ceremony ended soon afterward and we were whisked off to the barn (aka: Malmaison building). After the ceremony we had appetizers and drinks. Let me tell you, Ray and I didn’t wait to dig in! He had his James Bond thing going and turns out that I couldn’t decided on what to drink. I ordered several wines and when one didn’t work for me, I passed it along to mom. She didn’t mind. The four of us huddled in the corner, which turned out to be the furthest point from heat! Anyway, we had an interesting conversation about the funny tasting “scallops” that we were eating. Quite honestly, we did not believe that those beef tasting strips of meat were scallops. I mean, maybe they’re called scallops in Texas. The waiter assured us that they were indeed scallops (fishy kind), but . . . turns out that they weren’t. No kidding.  Another server gave us some “scallops” and guess what – they were scallops formerly swimming in the sea, not grazing in the pasture! The four of us were having a blast. The wine didn’t hurt either.

After drinks and appetizers, we moved into the nice, warm tent to eat dinner. The four of us rogue, groom’s side people were seated together and near a heater. We sat with the brides parents, her aunt and uncle from Seattle, and her aunt from Oregon/Arizona. We watched the bride and groom cut the cake and then we ate a nice dinner. The mother of the bride and mother of the groom were served some cake with a beautiful rose. Then the fathers were served with flowers matching the sunflower theme of the wedding. The cake, which was Sam’s pride and joy, was delicious. Way to go Sam! I hope Sam and Laura were able to enjoy their own cake. I know Sam wanted to take the rest home and eat it.

At one point Laura got up and sang Devil Went Down to Georgia. Apparently, Sam is the devil and Laura is from Georgia I had recorded her daring entertainment debut, but my camera decided not to keep it. I guess it was too much for the little gadget to handle. I am totally bummed about not being able to share that.

In the end, I made it back to Crete – Souda Bay. I was able to fly first class both ways. All thanks to Kristie and Harry Hansen. I love you guys! I was even able to change my flight from Athens to Crete to make it home earlier. Yippie!

I enjoyed my trip and I met some very nice people, including my nephew and niece (Bob and Moose; both cats). I missed my hubby, my boys, and my pretty, pretty princess Annie Bo Jangles.