Party Pics

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Gruss Gott! Ni Hao! Warmest greetings and big hugs to all our loved ones and friends.

Well, I promised you pics. Here they are. I hope you enjoy them! Our little princess enjoyed making them!


Playing a game on my new computer


Turn on the computer.


My new pet and our telephone!


Some of my gifts


Playing with my toys


Look at all these wrappers!


More of us girls!


The cake is so pretty...and YUMMY!

Don't forget, you can view even more pics at Bavarian Angel. This weekend I will try to add some more pics.

Well, I'll let you go for now. May God give you a joyous week!
Ciao!

Party Time

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Gruss Gott! Ni Hao! Our heartfelt greetings to all our loved ones and friends.

Well, it’s time for another big post. A big post about a big celebration for a big girl!


The birthday princess!

Wednesday was Jasmine’s birthday, so we spent a little family time together celebrating the joyous moment. She got a gift and we had some cake and dinner. It was some much enjoyed time together. Her joy at being the center of attention was really infectious. And her joy at the gift we gave her was something powerful! Of course, earlier in the day, I went to her class and brought goody bags and cake for them to share. She loved being able to share with her classmates, and they loved it that she thought of them. Everyone was able to enjoy the day!

After a couple normal days, things took a turn toward the crazy! Friday I worked, and then it was time to prepare for the party! Hubby helped some by running errands and fetching supplies all day. He tried to smoke up some ribs, but the off and on rain prevented him. I spent half the night cooking and getting things ready for the morning.

Saturday morning came a little too early, as we had to cook and prepare for the big day! I spent the morning cooking lumpia, pancit, potato salad, pasta, salad, chicken breasts, and roasting 2 whole hens. It was a serious cooking adventure! Hubby smoked up 2 racks of ribs and cooked up some skewered pork. He calls it “monkey on a stick” from his Navy days, how silly is that? He also cooked up a whole bunch of chicken legs. Then he fetched the birthday cake and the 6 ft sandwich we ordered from Subway, as well as some essentials to finish. Jasmine did her part by getting in the way and being under our feet the whole morning. She actually wasn’t that bad, but she was so excited! If you’ve ever done a huge party in your house, you know it can be frustrating. Of course, you also know the joy and reward of having all your loved ones there to share the rewards with.

As usual with these things, the guests starting arriving. Our fist arrival was Princess’s classmate, Jazmyn. These 2 girls are best of friends, so our princess had someone to play with. What a joyous sound, children playing happily and without a care.

Their joy carried over into the entire evening. As folks arrived and starting talking, eating, and enjoying the evening, things changed to a more fitting mood and the excitement started rising. Soon it was time for the cake and candles. Wow, the buzzing of the kids was so rich in happiness and excitement! One, two, three BLOW! Out went her candle and another birthday wish was about to come true. Hubby had printed out a wonderful picture for the cake, but the baker couldn’t get it on the cake right, as it was the wrong size for their scanner. They copied the picture by hand to make sure Jasmine had her princess cake for the birthday party.

With all the food and all the guests, I forgot to take a lot of before pics. Hubby got some really great pics, but no before the party started. Our house was full from one end to the other! I loved being able to share our special time with all our loved ones, with new friends, and with long time friends as well. The night wore on with so much fun and play! Jasmine loved all her gifts, and having everyone here with our giant extended family.

As the evening wound down and people had to make their way home, the aura became even warmer. We all knew more times like this were to be had, and more gatherings were in the works. Sharing special times brings strength and warmth to all our friendships, and fills our hearts with joy and love.

Jasmine received some of the best gifts this birthday from all her loved ones. She was so overjoyed and wants me to thank everyone who came and gave her gifts! So, rather than list everyone here, I will say thank you to all who shared some love and warmth with our princess this wonderful birthday and thanks to all for your magical gifts!

To Miss V and Miss M, even though you couldn't attend, you were here with us in spirit and in our hearts. All our love to you and yours! To my Kumare, Marietta Jasmine loved your cards and always looks forward to talking with her "Godmother."

All that was left was the clean up. It didn’t take long! Hubby called it post-party depression, but I just said let’s just do it! It didn’t take long at all, and we were able to play with Jasmine and her gifts. She was delighted! In the words of Jasmine and her friends "This is the best party ever!"

Well, That’s about it for now. I’ll have more, with pics, pics at Bavarian Angel later.

Wishing you all the love and joy we shared here, and all God’s good will!
Ciao!

Happy Birthday!

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Gruss Gott! Ni Hao! Our heartfelt greetings to all our loved ones and friends.

Just a birthday wish for our little princess, Jasmine. Today is her birthday. She’s 5 now, and a big girl! We would like to wish her the best birthday ever!

Happy Birthday, Princess! You are our treasure and our joy!

I'll post the pictures from today and her party after the big party, Saturday! God bless!

Ciao!

Quick Hello

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Gruss Gott! Warmest greetings to all of you! I hope that life is treating you well!

Well, this is just a quick post to send my warmest to everyone and to load a picture hubby made. It reminds us that Halloween is right around the corner.


"Supergirl" showing the world she's here!

Well, it's too short, but I'll post an update in a couple days! Busy, busy! May God give you all peace and joy!
Ciao!

Too Long...

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Gruss Gott! Warmest greetings to all of you! I hope that life is treating you well!


Well, another week has gone. It’s actually been about a month since my last post. Or, as the title says, Too Long. I’m sorry for the long time between posts. Our life is so full and busy, that the opportunity isn’t always there to post.

Since our last post, we’ve been busy!!! We’ve attended quite a few birthday parties, Jasmine got her teeth fixed, hubby’s been working like crazy, my birthday, and now Jasmine is getting ready to start real school sessions next month! She can even write her own name without our help, she can write numbers and letters, and she can read some words. She knows yes, no, and a couple others she encounters regularly.

She and daddy read together and daddy is helping her to learn reading. When hubby isn’t reading to her, I am, so she’s learning to love reading and telling stories. Daddy just started to teach her “2 plus 1 equals 3” using finger counting. She sure learns quickly!

We went to the Schmidmuehlen fest a couple weeks ago, and it was great! Hubby bought a couple old beer steins, I got some nice porcelain, and everyone had fun playing, eating, and riding. We went with a group of our friends, which always makes things more fun.

Of course, every time we go somewhere, hubby is our official photographer. He loves to sit at his computer and work on the pictures. He finds so many different ways to make great photos look even better. He’s been finding all kinds of new techniques and trying them out on his own. He loves to read some of the photo magazines and try what they teach to make some artistic effects. You can see some of the pics both in this post, and at Bavarian Angel.

Sunday was my birthday. Hubby secretly saved up and bought me a laptop so I can watch TFC all through the house. He wired everything up and made sure I can see my shows everywhere. The biggest surprise was that he could save up and not let me know! We went out to Josef’s, are favorite little Gasthof here in town, for my Birthday dinner. A lovely day spent with both family and friends.

Tuesday was the birthday of hubby’s mom. We got her a digital picture frame and loaded it with almost 1000 photos and some songs that she will like. Even though it’s a little late, we’d like to wish you a happy birthday, Mom!

Here are some pics, mentioned above.


A great composition by hubby


My new laptop. Thank you my wonderful hubby and princess!


King and Queen, photo by Jasmine


This is yummy


A nice shot of the cake they bought me.


This is interesting. It's like a pen and ink. Joy and Jasmine, BFF.

Another interesting one. Our princess showing her beauty.

I'd like to thank Emily for the wonderful birthday surprise. I will treasure it always. To VK, thank you for the lovely birthday greetings. To Marykay, also thank you for the birthday greetings. It means a lot to have such good friends. Of course, my heartfelt thanks to everyone for their wonderful birthday greetings. I love every one of them, and all of you. And I can't forget to thank Art for his visits and support.

Well, it’s bedtime. Time to let you go and time for us to rest. We have another birthday party in the morning!

Have a great week. May the Lord bless you in all you do.
Ciao!

Landshut... A Lovely City!

HALLOOOOOOOO!

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Gruss Gott! Warmest greetings to all of you! I hope that life is treating you well!

As promised, here are some more pics from the Landshuter Hochzeit. Enjoy...


A carving in St Martin's


The main crucifix in St Martin's, it's 16 feet tall


Perfect capture of a perfect jump


Pikes and flowers


Rose on a pike


A lovely shot of roses and a traditional pike


A flag bearer


Ladies in waiting


Another lady


The princess in her coach


Greeting the crowds


The princess approaches.


Falconry among the court ladies


Riding ahead with the news


Representing their cities


A guard prepares the way


Wow, he's so tall!


Princess with her King.


More night games


One princess awaits another


How sweet is this?


The fountain in town

Taking a break from a long day

Well, that's it for now. It's been a busy week, bu it's been so happy and active. Being busy and spending time together always make life a rich and rewarding thing. May God give you all a great week ahead and bless your lives with peace and joy!
Ciao!

Hallooooo Landshut!

HALLOOOOOOOO!

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Gruss Gott! Warmest greetings to all of you! I hope that life is treating you well!

As promised, here are some pics from the Landshuter Hochzeit. What a wondereful and memorable trip! Enjoy...


Here comes the princess


The festive games, flag wavers that did amazing tricks!


Bonfire at the festive games


St Martin's in Landshut. The highest brick building in the world!


Burg Trausnitz, overlooking the games.


A princess holding court.


Schweinebraten dinner. So yummy!


Playing games while waiting for dinner.


The Imperial Escorts posing with the princess.


The Emperor and royals watch the dance.


Mommy posing for jasmine to shoot a picture.

For more pics, visit Bavarian Angel, and Lily's Bravenet, my other blogs. You can see a lot more there.

Well, I do hope you enjoyed the pics as much as wee enjoyed taking them and posting them!

May God give you all a joyous and peaceful week ahead!
Ciao!

HALLOOOOOOOO!

HALLOOOOOOOO!

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Gruss Gott! Warmest greetings to all of you! I hope that life is treating you well!

Well, it's been a while since my last post. Since then things have been rolling right along. Work has been busy for both of us, and "school," as always, has been very very fun for Princess Jasmine. Saturday was the 4th of July, the time we remember and commemorate the independence of America. I hope everyone out there had a Happy Independence Day.

This weekend hubby arranged for us to take a little vacation. We went to the Landshuter Hochzeit. It’s Europe’s largest medieval celebration and it only happens every 4 years! We went to the last one in ’05, but our little darling was too young to do much. This year, we were able to see the knights, the princess parade, the medieval dancing, and the festive games. Hubby was very lucky to get tickets! He called around January and they were sold out! But, thanks to Ms. Ursula, a wonderful young woman who works at the Landshut office, he was able to get tickets and a hotel reservation. She went out of her way to get him tickets and reservations, and worked so hard to ensure our vacation would be a success. Our heartfelt thanks go out to our friend, this wonderful lady who made our time so abundantly enjoyable.

We started off Saturday morning. It was cloudy and rained some on the way. As usual, we went a little slow so we could enjoy the drive. Once we arrived. The wonderful staff of the Goldene Sonne Hotel, who were so helpful through our whole time, greeted us. The entire staff made us feel so welcome and like a part of the family. And the restaurants served such delicious food! The hotel is very old and has such beautiful furniture and decoration.

Well, after settling in and cleaning up, we were off to see the town. It’s been 4 years since our last visit, and it is still the most beautiful city! The center of town, the Altstadt and Neustadt, has the most beautiful buildings and colors. You have to see it to believe it!

After wandering around and seeing the costumes and some of the sites, we headed to the Rathaus for our first event. It was the Tanzspiel. The folks dressed as princes and royalty performed medieval dances to music played on traditional instruments. Jasmine was in heaven! The show lasted for over an hour and was the most amazing display of dance and music! They were performing like it was a typical night in the royal life, so it gave the dance even more style! After the show, we walked and chatted about how lovely it was, and then it was off to dinner. We ate at the outside terrace in the hotel. What lovely weather that evening for dinner and small talk. The waitress even cleared off a reserved table for us! Hubby, of course, had the Cordon Blue, which he loves. Jasmine had some soup. And I ate schweinebraten. It was truly delicious! It was in the top 5 ever! Of course, Joseph’s in Hohenfels steals top place for me. Followed by Goldene Sonne, Eckmeder’s in Schmidmuehlen, the Hirsch in Parsberg, and the Gasthof Schoell in Hoermannsdorf.

After dinner, it was time to head to the Turnierplatz for the Festive Games in the Night Camp. Oh my! Such a spectacle. People dressed in costume waving flags, dancing, performing acrobats, and horses. Yahoo! Horses, mommy! Our little princess was in her stride during the whole show, which lasted about 2 hours. She was excited with every little thing being done on the field. I took her out for a quick bratwurst when she got hungry, but aside from that, she sat watching the show. She was in awe of the tricks and stunts, the dancing, and riding. Oh the joy of seeing her so happy will live with us forever! After the show we wound our way back to the hotel and to our room to soak up the atmosphere and finally, to sleep.


The princess and her mommy.

Sunday morning, we had brunch at the hotel. After wandering around some more, we went to our reserved section for the parade. It really was so lovely to see all the actors and participants’ parade through the town and perform such a lovely re-enactment of the procession. Jasmine was so excited to see the princess and yelled “HALLOOOOOOOO!” in reply to all the participant’s shouts and cheers. She really was so engaged with the town’s people performing for our pleasure. After chasing the parade a bit, we visited with Ms. Ursula, who was such a gracious host and is such a wonderful lady.

To the people of Landshut, we send our thanks and admiration for doing something so wonderful to preserve the culture and history of your amazing city. We will be visiting your lovely town for some time to come and hope to return during the next “Landshuter Hochzeit.”

Now that I’ve bored with our story and the details of our weekend, I’ll let you go for now. Of course, there will be photos on all my blogs. Don't forget to click the home button above to see more pics, posts, and stories! Hubby took over 800 photos during our trip. But before I go, I would like to say a special “Thank you!” to our landlady, Mrs. Schaffranka. You have made us feel like family since day 1 and we look forward to another 5 years of being here.

May God bless you all with a great week and wonderful fortune.
Ciao!

A Shopping Adventure

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Weekend greetings to all of you! I hope that life is treating everyone out there with kindness!

Another adventure this week. Yesterday I went out shopping with some of my friends. It doesn’t sound like much, does it? The adventure part comes with where we went shopping. We went to the Czech border!

We all met up at the local store, and broke into smaller groups for the trip to the border. After settling in and getting breakfast, we started our little voyage. We didn’t eat right away, we drove about an hour first, talking and chatting. I rode with Christy and Luella, what a time we had! When we stopped for a rest break at an A-bahn McDonalds, we dug in and filled our little tummies! Then it was back on the road for another half hour. It was a much quicker trip than I thought it would be.

Cheb is a lovely little town on the German-Czech border. It has lovely churches, a castle, and many other sites to see. It also has the “Dragoun Bazar” and the Asian Dragon Bazaar. These “bazaars” were the real destination of our trip. Vietnamese run the Asian Dragon Bazaar and they will really bargain with you! The selection at both shopping areas is incredible! There was crystal, ceramic, clothing, foods, and about anything else, you could name! There were restaurants for every taste there, as well.


Here I am taking pictures of the dinnerware and myself.

I bought a couple bags. Of course, handbags are a requirement and were the first stop. I got a Chanel bag for me and a “Lesportsac Tokidoki” bag for my little princess. Her bag has the Pirata design on it, which is somewhat cartoony! Great for her to carry and enjoy. I also bought princess some really nice outfits. They even had some shirts with “Hanna Montana” and “High School Musical,” which I just had to get for my little Jasmine. I bought a couple crystal pieces for display. Always a good choice.

Granted, even the “brand names” are often knock-offs, but it’s nice to spend the time with friends and to pick up some things to show where we were. After all, there is nothing like a shopping trip with close friends! I even bought hubby a lighter. I thought he would like to use it, but when he saw it, he said that it’s for display. I thought it said something about Czech, but it turns out that it said Temujin in Czech. It said TieMuzhen 1162-1227, and has art of Genghis Khan on it. Hubby loves the history of the Mongols and considers Temujin an incredible leader. He says that the Mongols actually conquered all the way to Salzburg, and were the largest empire in history!

Hubby and Jasmine stayed home so they could have daddy-daughter day together. They played and watched some DVDs together and went out for pizza and pictures. Hubby worked on some more photos and video from the Asian Pacific celebration. They had a lot of fun over the course of the day, too. I hope that by the end of the week hubby will have finished all the DVDs he’s making of the celebration.

Well, as you’ve probably guessed, it’s time to go. I’ll be posting some photos at, Bavarian Angel, as well as some more photos of the celebration.

I wish all of you a magnificent week ahead. May God bless you with love, joy, and peace!
Ciao!

Party Time!

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Warmest Greeting to everyone out there!

Yesterday was a nice day! We had a big get together. A friend, Cheryl, is moving to Hawaii, and yesterday was her going away party. It was also her baby shower, as she is pregnant with twins! Going to Hawaii is a big blessing and joy, but being pregnant really makes it special. It was also the birthday party for Miss Bernie’s twins. They are such a handful for her, but you can see how great she is with them. They even learned all the moves from the Asian Pacific Heritage dances.

Jim and Cheryl’s hubby, Ron, ran the grill and cooked up such wonderful meats. There was chicken, pork, pork belly, bratwurst, and the list goes on. Everyone brought something to eat. I brought rice and bico. There was potato salad, mac and cheese, vegetable platters, salad, corn, and so much more! It truly was a feast.

Of course, the best part was all the friends and fun. Hubby, Jim, and Dave spent a lot of time together. Hubby said he told them some jokes and they talked about grilling. Hubby spent the biggest part of his time watching and taking pictures. Jasmine, our little princess, was so happy! She loves the twins and had so much fun being with them. She also loved hanging out with Joy, Heather, Kayana, and the big girls. The girls were so nice to Jasmine and made her feel so nice playing with her and all the other kids! I’d like to thank them all for being nice and playing so well together!

Hubby even had a couple beers! That’s unusual for him. But, it was a nice place and a nice time with such wonderful folks. Jasmine broke out into dance when they played the song “Umbrella,” by Beyonce. It was so cute! One of the guys gave her a dollar tip for dancing and entertaining them. It was silly and at the same time so cute!

Finally, the big moment arrived! First, the boys “blew” out the candles, and then it was gift time. They were excited with every gift they received. It was magic to see! Then it was Cheryl’s turn. She and Ron seemed so happy. It’s a bit sad to see a friend go, but it’s nice to see them going somewhere so nice and with so much ahead of them!

We cleared out about 7:30 in the evening. It was chilly for most of the afternoon, but we had so much warmth, sharing our time and friendship.

Well, hubby fixed up some pics. I’m posting a couple now, and the rest will be posted later. I'll also post this same one at Bavarian Angel.


Posing on the play bridge.


Cheryl and hubby. Congrats!


Miss Bernie and the twins. Happy birthday, guys!


The gang!


The girls in the group.

Wishing you the very best and looking forward to your comments. God bless!
Ciao!