Last First Day of School!

I can't believe school has already started again. I wasn't home for more than 2 weeks the entire summer with all of our Europe travels and then AT. This being my last semester of school (hopefully ever), I decided I better document the moment. I don't know if your mom did this when you were a kid, but every first day of school we'd get our picture taken in our "first day of school" outfits with our new backpacks standing on the steps of our house. So here I am for old times sake on our steps for my last "First Day of School" photo ever.

It's going to be a busy semester for me. I am doing an internship with the Grand Forks State's Attorney's office and so far really enjoy it. I am excited to get some experience before I graduate in December. After I graduate I will take the Minnesota bar in February. Adam is finishing up his Criminal Justice degree and will graduate in May. That's all for now. I hope all is well with everyone!

Annual Training

I have no idea if anyone checks this anymore, but just in case, here is the latest update. Adam and I have just returned from spending 2 weeks at Camp Ripley, MN for annual training. We did everything from an 8 mile road march to team development courses and signal work. I am glad to be home once again, but life is busy because school starts tomorrow! Jolene and Adam create a fire point.

The girls and I cram into the back of a POV.

(Privately Owned Vehicle - for all of you non-military types)

Here is my battle buddy Erin (holding the paper) along with some of the lovely ladies in our unit. Adam in one of our signal huts.

This is me running one of the obstacles at the Team Development Course and below is Adam's team going through a different obstacle.

Adam & Erickson look really excited to be on an 8 mile road march at 4 a.m.

By the time the sun actually came up our LT convinced us to run the last mile of the road march, rucksacks and all. I have many blisters to show for it. You can see me leading the right hand column.

We Missed Our Nieces & Nephew!

It's been so nice to be home! We had a wonderful trip, but I love no longer living out of my huge backpack. We finally got through all of our laundry, mail and errands. Our favorite thing was seeing our nephew and most of our nieces (we haven't had a chance to see Emma yet). They got so big while I was gone! Here we are with Lexus and Ahmara.

This is my sister's baby, Kaitlyn. She learned all kinds of new tricks since I'd last seen her. She's got wild hair that won't lay down and loves to crawl under the coffee table. And here is Kaitlyn's older sister & brother, Lexi & Jaccob.

Iceland

Hi everyone. Here are some pictures of our last 5 days in Iceland. It is a very beautiful country, but sadly it is more expensive than Norway - if you can believe that! We walked by an ice cream shop and saw a regular old banana split for just over $10 and a margarita at the restaurant we ate at was $20 - ridiculous!

We took a trip to a geothermal spa called the Blue Lagoon. The water was wonderful, even though it was only about 60 degrees outside. We took a day trip out to this waterfall called Gulfoss, rode Icelandic horses and watched some geysirs.

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Frankfurt, Germany

Here are some of the sites from Frankfurt. The picture above is in an area called "Old Town" and the picture below is of the tallest building in Europe.

Above is the train station where we hopped a train to Heidelburg, which is what the remainder of these pictures are of. We rented bikes and rode all around the town.

We went up to this castle and saw amazing views of the city.

Italy

Here is Adam standing next to the trailer we stayed in at the campground outside of Venice.

As you can see it was very close quarters for the 3 of us.

Here I am enjoying my last plate of gnocchi in Italy.

This is a view of Italy as we fly off to Germany.

Pisa

Hi Everyone! We are in Frankfurt, Germany. It is incredibly hot and our hostel does not have air conditioning! Below are a few pictures from Pisa. I haven't had a chance to put the rest of my pics on this computer yet so the leaning tower pics are still coming.

Hello from Venice!

We have been having a splendid time in Italy. We saw the leaning tower of Pisa and ate fabulous food. From there we took the train to Florence and spent 6 hours running around seeing the sites and buying beautiful Italian leather purses. That evening we boarded the train once again for Venice. We are staying at a campground in a trailer that reminds us of the kind we stayed in in Iraq. Tonight there is a festival with fireworks over the grand canal so we'll be there of course. Hope everyone is doing well. We miss you!

Pisa

Well the Running of the Bulls came and went. Adam and I were unimpressed with the event and with Pamplona itself. It was rather disgusting. Every street reeked of urine and we saw more than a few people relieving themselves and broken glass was everywhere. It was a giant party all night until the Bulls ran at 8 a.m. and it was not uncommon to see people passed out in the streets. The running itself was under 4 minutes and afterwards we looked at each other thinking "That was it?" We were glad to get back to Barcelona and spent one last day on the beach before heading off to Italy. We are now in Pisa. We had our first hiccup in travel when our flight from Spain was delayed for almost an hour. This meant we didn't get to our hotel until after 1 a.m. We got some rest and are now headed out to see the sites of Pisa.

Paris & Spain

Paris, like London, rained most of the time. We were grateful that it stopped raining while we were at the Eiffel Tower, but nothing has improved our spirits like the sun in Barcelona.

This is the local dish called Paella. Adam can't get enough.

Tomorrow we leave for Pamplona to watch the Running of the Bulls. I'll post more pictures when I can.

Pictures at Last - Take Two

I've finally got internet in Barcelona on Erica's computer and an outlet that works, so here are some of the sites from London. I wish I could write and add more pictures, but the more time I spend at this computer, the less time I have to lay on the beach! Buckingham Palace

Tower Bridge

The picture above & below are of St. Paul's Cathedral where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married. We toured the inside as well, but couldn't take pictures. The Gustafsons and Big Ben

The Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium