Can't Win 'em All

Kinda wish grandpa took a picture of daddy in front of a Nixon-Agnew sign back in '68. The election did not go as Sarah wished, though there was never a canidate of Reaganese stature, so you go with who you think will do the least damage. Sarah was saying the other day how Obama is an elite empty-suit with not a touch of experience. Besides, Sarah likes Sarah.
-

=

Ask Sarah who her favorite president is and she will reply . . . . . . NIXON!

Redneck Sarah

We wanted to prove to Rep. Jack Murtha that Western Pennsylvania is not the only place gun loving rednecks exist. Below is our bundle of joy, ready to pop the first income distributor who may venture on our land.

-

For those ready to call CPS; relax, it is an unloaded pellet gun. When she is older, we'll take her to the range so she can learn how to properly use assault weapons.

State Fair of Texas - 2

Earlier in the month, Sarah's parents attended their 19th State Fair of Texas together, and the second one for Sarah. Since we have seen just about every attraction dozens of times, we have geared the activities towards Sarah. Below, Sarah is learning how to plant seeds.

-

Sarah enjoyed the petting zoo, puppet show (though she would not get near a puppet) and other attractions, but let's face it, she digs the rides. Below, Sarah is on a swing that goes around, and around, and around.

-

In the car pavilion, Sarah 'test drove' numerous show cars. The gals at the Hyundai and Nissan booths were totally enamored by her. So of course, when she got a chance to do some 'real' driving, she was ready. It took her some time to get a feel of the wheel, but she was soon bashing into unsuspecting motorists.

-

Kinda driving, but Sarah was digging the ride nonetheless.

Lunch

Haven't posted much lately as nothing that exciting has happened since Mikel started back to school. On Sunday, we met the grandparents at The Venue Grill, down the road from their swanky townhouse. Below, Sarah and her grandmother peruse the menu.

Sarah the Groupie, Part 2

What are the words every father wants to hear from his daughter? "I love you, daddy" and "I got an 'A' in Biochemical Engineering, daddy" and "No tattoos for me, daddy" are just a few. But the words that melt this daddy's heart are, "I want to watch baseball, daddy." So we went to another RoughRiders' game. Below are some of the players Sarah got to meet.
-
-
-
Above is Beau Jones, a relief pitcher who came over to the Rangers' minor league system from the Atlanta Braves in the Mark Teixeira trade last year. I will refrain from the 'mullet' jokes.

-

-

-
Andrew Laughter was practically attacked by Sarah, as he was not prepared for Sarah's enthusiasm for getting in his lap for a picture.

--
--

-
This fine young man is Derek Holland, who pitched for the first time in Frisco the previous day. Derek seemed impressed by Sarah's appeal for a picture, as he was inundated with autograph requests from a group of miscreants, but choose to pose with Sarah. Derek is rapidly moving up the prospect list and is now considered one of the Rangers' top three farm hands.

-
-

-
At the beginning of the season, Sarah would not go near RoughRiders' mascot, Deuce. Now they are buddies and above is the picture to prove it.

-
-

-

Traveling mascot, Birdzerk, was in town to entertain the crowd. Sarah was a little leery of Birdzerk and needed mommy near by for a photo.

Lake Travis

This weekend we drove down to the palatial estate of Sarah's Godparents, Al & Cindy. They have frontage on Lake Travis near Marble Falls, and most importantly - a boat.
--
-

Above is Sarah and her mother getting ready to be dragged around the lake. Zoom in to the action shoot below and you can tell Sarah is having a great time, or at least she looks like it.
-

-

A cousin of Sarah's, Danielle, recently moved to Texas. One may recall pictures of Sarah dancing at Danielle's wedding in Tulsa last year. Our magnanimous host Cindy invited Danielle and her husband Kyle to join us for the day and have some water fun. The young couple tried the inter tube ride and later both water skied - Kyle's first time. Great fun was had by all.

-
-

Above, Sarah and the young couple relax after a fun day on the water.

-

On the way back home, we stopped by the Fugate's country manor south of Waco. The Fugates were a part of our travel group in China. They were united with their daughter Olivia about five minutes after we became a family with Sarah.

-

The way I see it, when a child goes to another child's house, they give each other the once over and then the visiting child samples the host child's toys. This is when the host child all of a sudden starts getting possessive of toys she has not given a rip about for ages. So it went with Sarah and Olivia. -

-

-
Above, Sarah tries out Olivia's guitar. Looks like she is about to belt out 'Baba O'Riley.' Thankfully, after a short time Sarah and Olivia became best of friends.

-
-

Above, Sarah the Elder explains to Olivia the Younger how things will be when she turns the big 3. And below, the girls get down-right goofy.

-
-

-

Much thanks for another grand feast presented by the Fugate's. They always spoil us when we visit.

Sarah the Groupie

Last Saturday night we ventured to Frisco to see the RoughRiders. We got there plenty early so Sarah would have a chance to meet some of the players. Sarah, under no pressure from her father, is becoming quite the baseball fan. Many a day she will find daddy and say she wants to watch baseball on TV.


=
Above is RoughRiders' pitcher Michael Schlact, Sarah's first interaction with a player.

A few minutes later, Sarah met Brennan Garr, another RoughRiders' pitcher.

Over near the dugout, outfielder Steve Murphy was nice enough to come over to say hi to Sarah and pose for a photo.

Later we moved over to the right field side and San Antonio Missions' player Seth Johnston was happy to have his picture taken with Sarah. All the above players were very kind and professional with Sarah and she had a good time meeting them.

-

Sarah enjoyed meeting the players; however, she is still leery of big, furry mascots. Above, Daisy the Ground Hog comes over to meet Sarah. Sarah was shy at first but she eventually gave the varmint a hug.

Face Painting

At the end of May, Sarah was invited to Hope & Faith's birthday party (yes, Hope & Faith are twins). There was a face painter on hand and below is Sarah near completion. Mommy also had her face painted, but somehow there are no pictires of such. Hmmmmm.

Last Day in Paris

Upon learning that our camera was digital, and he could take as many pictures as he wanted to, our host Chris decided to get artsy on a few pics.



From the Arc de Triomphe we picked up a bus to the airport. We will fly to Boston, and then to Dallas.

=

Thanks to all who pestered us to continue the Paris blog. We lost internet access just before we headed to Germany and never found it in Germany. Now that ya'll were so desirous of us to finish, somebody should at least comment, no? Yeah, we know, ya'll want more Sarah, less us!

Day 7 in Paris - Heading back to Paris

This is our last day in Germany. We have to catch a 4:00 p.m. train back to Paris from Cologne.

First stop; Bonn, former capital of Germany. Presently, the Euro Cup is in full gear and the German team is one of the favorites. There is Team Germany gear all over the place. During our shopping we bumped into these two very fanatical soccer fans. The gal on the right said she has the hots for German team captain, Michael Ballack.


=
At the SportsArena store we found our jerseys. Mikel went for team captain Ballack and Craig choose feisty Bayern Munich midfielder, Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Above are Sarah's parents in the Muenster Platz, at the base of the Beethoven statue. We passed Beethoven's house a few blocks earlier.

-

-

-
The Bonn Minster is one of Germany's oldest churches having been built between the 11th and 13th centuries. It is across the square from the Beethoven statue.
=
After our quick visit to Bonn, we headed north to Cologne; our second stop. This is where we will get our train back to Paris. The Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom in German) is one of the best-known architectural monuments in Germany, and is one of the world's largest churches. It is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. For four years, 1880-84, it was the tallest structure in the world, until the completion of the Washington Monument followed by the Eiffel Tower. Because of its enormous twin spires, it also presents the largest façade of any church in the world.
-
-

Above is the happy couple in front of the cathedral. Norte Dame in Paris and the cathedral in Reims were huge. The Cologne Cathedral makes those buildings look like pocket churches. The picture above does not truly demonstrate its massive size.
-

-
Above is one of the many Gothic figures that adorn the cathedral.
-
-
-
A thirty second walk from the cathedral is Köln Hauptbahnhof; the train station we will find our ride back to Paris. No check-in. No security wands. Just get to the platform a few minutes before the train leaves and walk on.
-
As we found our seats on the train, Christoph and Angela drew on the window from the outside. Unbeknownst to them was the back soot that was transferred to their fingers. And for Christoph, from his finger to his face. Kinda like the black face paint athletes wear.

-
-

-
After a pleasant four hour train ride we were back in Paris. One the things we had yet to do was go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Above is Mikel with the Trocadero over her shoulder. Believe it or not, the picture was taken around ten in the evening.

Tomorrow we leave for home.

Day 7 in Paris - Still in Germany

We are just loving our time traveling along the Moselle River. In the early morning, Craig got up to go bird watching. Walking through the cemetery that wraps a small church was a memorial to the citizens of the small town that lost their lives in the two world wars. Did Craig take a picture? Of course not.

On our way to Burg Eltz we walked to a high point over the river. That is the town of Moselkern between Mikel and Angela and a campground on the opposite side of the river.

First stop; Burg Eltz is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River. It is still owned by a branch of the same family that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. This was probably Mikel's favorite site during our stay in Germany. The only negative might be the walk to get there and back.

Second stop; Festung Ehrenbreitstein is a fortress on the same-named mountain on the right side of the Rhine opposite to the town of Koblenz. Didn't take any pictures there as it was raining pretty good our whole time there. From its western end we had fantastic views of Koblenz and Deutsches Eck.

Third stop; Deutsches Eck (German Corner) is a spit of land at the confluence of the Moselle and the Rhine. An equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I was erected here in 1897. Wish we had more time to explore Koblenz, but we had so little to see and too much time. Wait . . reverse that.

After leaving Koblenz, we headed to Bad-Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. This consists of two parts, Bad Neuenahr in the east and Ahrweiler in the west. They were united in 1969.

-

The older part of the city is encircled by a walled fortification. Above is the crew up on the wall. We stayed at another bed-and-breakfast a short walk from the town square. The immediate area included may fine examples of half-timber homes and shops. We started our quest to find jerseys of the German soccer . . er . . football squad.

Day 6 in Paris - Not in Paris, in Germany

Mikel's main goal was to see Germany's castles. She will get to see two, but not before we visit a few other sites.

First stop; The Porta Nigra, or Black Gate, is Trier's signature attraction and symbol of its Roman heritage. It was built of light sandstone in the 2nd century and was only given its present name in the Middle Ages when the stone aquired it's signature color. Craig thought it was darker because of the Euros smoking cigarettes. Porta Nigra is one of the entrances to Trier's Marktplatz.

Above is Sarah's AWOL parents in the main square of the Hauptmarkt. The tower behind us is St. Gangolf Cathedral.

Feeling guilty about leaving our darling daughter behind, we visited a toy shop. Our German hosts, who gave us a beautiful coo-coo clock a few years back for hosting their son, bought Sarah a coo-coo clock that will match her room decor. Above, Matthias dons battle gear.

From Trier, we drove through the gorgeous Moselle river valley. Numerous, quaint German towns lined the river banks with vineyards framing the valley. Second stop; the crew takes a break near the site of some ancient Roman burial ruins.

Third stop; at last, Mikel gets to see a castle. Above is Reichsburg Cochem. You have to act like you are about to hawk a loogy when you say Cochem. This was a fine castle, but it is fairly young in comparison to other castles in Germany. It was also very commercial, with a restaurant and wedding facilities. There was a wedding taking place during our visit - seven red Ferraris were lined up outside the wedding hall; though we are not sure why.

See, proof positive that Craig will drink a beer. We stayed the night in the small town of Mosel. That night we ate at Zum Dorf-Brunnen, a German restaurant. Is it a German restaurant if it is in Germany, or just a restaurant? Wish I remember what we ate, but it was very good. Angela's appetizer was especially yummy. It was was one of those dishes with various food items that one would not typically combine, but a taste sensation it was. We should have taken notes.

Day 5 in Paris - Heading to Germany

Today our we were picked up and whisked out of Paris by the retreating Germans. It took forever just to get out of Paris proper. We are headed to Germany with numerous stops along the way.



First stop; Notre-Dame de Reims (Our Lady of Rheims) is the 13th-century Gothic cathedral of Reims, where the kings of France were once crowned. It is in the Champagne region of France.

-
Since we were in Champagne the ladies felt the need to indulge in the local bubbly.

Second stop; The Douaumont Ossuary is a memorial containing the remains of soldiers who died on the battlefield during the Battle of Verdun in World War I. The monument kinda reminded us of a submarine in its shape, which is not obvious from the photo above.

Third stop; The Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. This is were General Patton is buried. Unfortunately, it closes at 5:00. We got there at 6:00. Christoph had no clue who General Patton was . . . or George C. Scott. From there we headed into the Fatherland and stayed at a bed-and-breakfast in the town of Konz, where the rivers Mosel and Saar converge.

Day 4 in Paris - We must see everything

We met our German friends in Montmartre in the morning. This is the artsy/fartsy area of Paris. We walked up numerous steep steps to get to Sacré-Coeur. This was the first big site we saw on the bus ride into Paris from the airport a few days earlier, based upon its position on the highest point in Paris. We also walked by the famous Moulin Rouge.

Above, we are in front of Sacré-Coeur; however, our German friends Matthias and Angela seem to think it is their turn for picture taking.

We took the the subway over to the Opera Quarter to see the Opera House. FYI, this was Hitler's favorite sight when he visited Paris in 1940. As you can see, it is raining. Afterwards we went over to the Galleria to have lunch at . . . . . McDonald's. Mikel had to have a 'Royalé with Cheese.'

Much to our German friends' chagrin, Mikel was adamant about visiting the Catacombes. No, we did not try to smuggle out a souvenir.

-

After the Catacombes, we walked through the Luxembourg Quarter. Above is the Fontaine de l'Observatoire at the southern tip of the Jardin de Luxembourg. The sculpture in the center of the fountain was erected in 1873 and considered one of the 'liveliest' in Paris. After a stop at a cafe, we left the Germans, who were headed to a bar to watch the German national team in the Euro cup.

That evening Chris, Mary Beth's husband, returned from his business trip and met us at the base of the Eifell Tower for a late picnic. Other than the temperature, we had a grand time with our wonderful hosts.