Do you see a trend developing here?

I always do that...stop posting in the middle of a trip.

Last few days in Munich:

We went on a free city tour of Munich It was pretty good. Lasted about three hours and we learned alot about the city, Hitler's beginnings and beer. That night we went on the Munich Beer Tour. The guide took us to three different beer halls and taught us about the different types and some beer history.

The next day we took a late flight home. Pretty uneventful...now I just need to post some photos.

A visit to the original SS "School of Violence"

We got a late start today. Didn't get out of the hostel until around 1130. We got on the S2 train and headed north-east today to the town of Dachau.

The town was made famous for the concentration camp that was built there in 1933. It was a fitting day to visit, very cold and gray.

We arrived in the town of Dachau about 1230 and went for a short walk. Found a little cafe to eat lunch and then set out down main street to do some shopping. Looked in a toy store but nothing special...you can only see so much Playmobil and Lego.

About a block or two later we came to a luggage store. Heather found a few things. She may or may not have bought a few Christmas presents.

Took the bus to the main entrance of the camp. There is no fee to visit the concentration camp and we only paid €3 for the audio tour.

First, we watched a 20 minute movie about the camp. The majority of the footage was shot by WWII soldiers who liberated the prisoners in 1945. The footage was b&w and no sound, but very moving. Lots of bad things happened there...

We walked out into the large court yard where the prisoners all had roll call every day. There's now a large sculpture and memorials set up all over. We went down the middle of the camp past the area where the barracks used to be. At the end was the crematorium. Really eerie stuff. I'm sort of glad Nick and Tom are still a little too young to understand the incredibly terrible things that happened there.

Ahmadinejad's comments are an all to scary reminder of the very recent history. The things that happened in Dachau were only 63 years ago. Ahmadinejad believes it his his calling to bring about the end of Israel and the United States thus fulfilling Islamic prophecy. Let's pray the President-Elect Obama has learned from the past. The last thing you want to do with a mad-man is try to reason with him.

So we left the camp and took a bus back to the train and took a train to Munich city center (Mareinplatz) and walked a few blocks to the Hofenbraus brewery. It's a large beer hall where t the lady's carry 5 to 10 steins full of beer all at once! Kind of like the Augustiner we went to last night, only much larger and much more popular.

We had sausage, meatloaf, potatoes, pretzels and beer. We haven't tried schnitzel, yet, but the apple strudel was very good. It didn't stand a chance...it was gone about 30 seconds after it hit the table.

Caught the train back to the hostel, the boys took a shower and we finished watching "Atlantis" on the portable DVD player....

Bud

Winging it!

We got up this morning and decided to go to Salzburg. I looked at the tourist dept website and saw that they have a Christmas Market. We knew there's train to the city but we didn't know the schedule. So we decide to "wing it." Worst case scenario we miss the last train back to Munich and have to stay the night in Austria.

We had breakfast at the Hostel and then took a tram to the main train station. As we walked into the station we saw a train leaving for Salzburg in 10 minutes. Tried to figure out the automated ticket machine but even with the English menu there were too many options. I was afraid of buying the wrong ticket...so we went to the ticket booth to talk to a real live ticket agent.

We got the Bayern Pass which is a round trip ticket for two adults and two kids for €29 and the train was leaving in 4 minutes. So we booked it back to platform 21 and barely made the train. I'm talking the train started moving as we were looking for a seat!

The trip was about 2 hours and uneventful. The boys bickered over who got to watch the latest Star Wars Clone Wars episode on the iTouch and who got to read the first "Twilight" book.

From the station in Salzburg, Austria, we walked to the Christmas Market, stopping for a cappuccino. The first market was small, but had cool gluhwein mugs. The main market was about 15 minutes farther but worth the walk. Very large and lots of people.

We bought an ornament for our tree and Tommy got a new hat (you'll see it in the video.) Got some snacks - sausage with kraut, chocolate covered pretzels and bananas, gluhwein, chocolate apples, and some really good toast with bacon - and headed back to the station. Stopped a skate board shop and picked up some stickers.

We made the 1718 (5:18 pm) train which got us back to Munich at 1912 (7:12 pm.) We had dinner at the market in Marienplatz - pasta with cheese and ham - and then took another train back to the hostel.

The boys were done with showers by 2100 (9:00 pm.) We left them our cell phone and went downstairs for a drink. Right next to the hostel is this cool old biergarten. I don't remember the name, but they've been brewing beer since 1328!

Went back upstairs an hour later and got the boys to bed.

Bud

Why is this such a mindsuck?!?!?

Why haven't I updated this stupid blog for over a month and a half? It's not like it's hard to download photos from the camera, type up some silly commentary and upload a few pictures. It's such a chore just to think about it..."Crap! I gotta blog..." And know I can't get it to upload a photo! Argg!!!!

We're in Munich. We flew in last night to go shopping at the Christmas Markets. They actually call them Christmas Markets here...not some cheesy "Holiday" festival.

The first one was in the airport. We had just got off the plane and were trying to find the Starbucks. It was a good size market...had an ice skating rink in the middle. We had our first taste of Gluhwein (pronounced "glue vine") which is hot German wine with brandy.

We checked in to the hostel. The same hostel chain we stayed at in London. If fact, we made our reservations for here the day we left London.

This morning after breakfast we headed to Marienplatz, the center of town, to check out the big Christmas Market. Stopped for a coffe at Lavazza, an Italian espresso chain, and ran into a couple of people we know from Sicily! They're here on vacation as well. We actually saw them at the airport yesterday leaving Italy and figured we would run into them somewhere.

Walked around the market for a bit and then headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.

Afterwards, we went on a wild goose chase for some Rokenbok toys. Looked up a toy store on the internet that sells Rokenbok, but when we got there, the store was gone. A shop owner next door said the toy store no longer existed but suggested another one down the street. It was the bottom floor of a department store. They hadn't even heard of Rokenbok but pointed us at still another store. No Rokenbok.

So, we got a coffee and went ice skating. It was really fun! We couldn't believe we actually got Tom out on the ice. He's usually very reluctant to try anything like that. But they had these big plastic polar bears on skis with a handle to help people who aren't the best skaters. I think that motivated him...not to try ice skating but to push the bear around.

From there we walked back to the market for dinner. Heather and the boys had pasta. I went for the German sausage and potatoe cake. Took a wrong turn after exiting the train on the way back to the hostel, but made it back before 2030 (8:30 pm.) We're all pretty tired...

Bud

Giant's Causeway Cancelled!

October 14, 2008

Cold and rainy this morning...just the way Ireland should be in mid October. We had breakfast at the hotel. Much better than the hostel in London...it better be for the price!

We decided to skip the drive to northern Ireland. We initially planned on visiting an area along the north coast called "Giant's Causeway." It's a very unique natural formation of hexagon shaped rocks. I don't recall what makes then hexagon shaped, and the homeschool-on-vacation-moment is lost so I don't much care anymore. I'm sure you could use the google.

Part of our decision was based on the locals at the hotel informing us the drive was about 4 to 5 hours! Which means we would have been in the car all day today and all day tomorrow as we drive to Dublin. So we skipped it altogether and decided to drive straight across on the N6 to spend the whole next day in Dublin.

We stopped in a little town called Balisone at a very cool little cafe for a cappuccino. Popped into an electronics store with the boys and found a 220v charger for their Nintendo DS' with the big, honkin' English adapter.

Got back on the, now M6 motorway, and continued east. The road turned into a "double carriageway" which Heather says sounds much more proper than "double lane road."

Listening to the radio in English was fun. We listen to the radio in the car back in Italy, but the DJ's and the news is all in Italian. We can pick out a few words, but they speak so fast we never understand what they're saying. In Ireland it sounds like there's a little leprechaun in the radio. I couldn't help thinking of having a bowl of Lucky Charms.

The Garmin Nuvi 270 (with North America and Europe Maps) came through again and brought us right to the front door of the apartment. It was a nice little one bedroom apt with a small kitchenette and a pull out sofa bed in the living room for the boys. We left the luggage with reception (because the apt wasn't ready yet) and set out for the visitors center around the corner. Bought some postcards and picked up a free map.

Next stop was the Temple Bar, an area of Dublin just south of the river, where we had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Used our new membership and and everything! The burgers in London are better.

On the way back to the apt we found a big book store. We never shop the book stores in Italy because just like the radio...it's all Italian! So it was nice to browse a book shop where all the books are in English. We found a Euro coin book we've been looking for - but it was a few years old.

Made it back to the apt, got our bags and settled in for a nap.

Later than evening we headed back to Temple Bar. We heard the pubs were kid friendly until about 9:00 pm and we saw a family inside Farringtons so we ducked in.

Heather struck up a conversation with them as I ordered us a drink. They were on holiday from Wales and had two boys, a year younger and a year older than Nick & Tom. I got our drinks and we enjoyed our very first Guinness in a real Irish pub with a friendly English family!

I was admiring the Guinness bar mat - a friend wanted one as a souvenir - when the bartender told me they are free from Guinness. I guess you can't buy them from the gift shop at the brewery so he gave it to me!

We walked across the street after a couple halves (that's how the Irish say "half pint") of Guinness and had, you guessed it, pizza for dinner! A good Italian place called Botticelli. The bruschetta was different, but good.

Got back to our apt, the boys took a shower, I read a chapter of Narnia and we were in bed around 9:30 pm.

Did You Know You Can't Take a Sword on an Airplane?

I know...I'm way behind - bear with me...

October 13, 2008

Had breakfast at the hostel and picked up a sack lunch from the kitchen. We got home so late last night that we didn't have time to do laundry so I did two loads at the hostel this morning. I was crazy rushed because we had to catch a flight at 1515 (3:15 pm) and you have to be there two hours early and the hostel was about an hour and a half by train from the airport...

Packed the now clean clothes, checked out of the hostel and headed for the tube. I was worried about the time so I didn't stop at the Starbucks right outside the tube station for a cappuccino. I'm kicking myself now because I can't find the London city mug anywhere!

At Victoria Station we found the train to Gatwick. After we got aboard, we hear an announcement that the train is going to split somewhere along the line. Half the train is going toward Dover and the other half somewhere east (Brussels, I think.) We were worried sick until the conducted came along and told us we were in the right cab and that the train splits after the airport.


Talked to a nice couple from Israel on the train. They had some questions about the upcoming elections. They mentioned the traffic jam during B. Hussein Obama's trip the Israel. I told them I was the wrong one to talk to about American Politics if they wanted to see more of Obama because I won't be voting for him. They gave Nick a couple of Israeli coins for his collection.

At the airport, we checked our luggage and headed for security. After the boy's back packs went through the x-ray the nice security officials wanted to search the bags. I don't mean "nice" facetiously, they were the nicest airport security people I've ever met! Very polite, "thank you for your time", the who bit.

However, when we visited the Tower of London, Tom had purchased a small, medieval wooden shield and sword. The sword couldn't have been more than 12 inches long, dull, wood and obviously a child's toy. But, rules are rules, and anything that resembles a weapon can not be carried aboard.

Heather and the boys waited for me in the terminal as I headed back to the airline check-in now armed. The man at the desk exclaimed, "Oh, you're back!" He had a huge line of people checking in but still took a few minutes to explain I could check in the sword as a separate piece of luggage but that it would either (a) end up lost, (b) get broken or (c) both. Also, it would cost me $20 to check it. Then, he gave me a piece of paper to write my address and promised to mail it to me.

The flight to Shannon, Ireland was less than an hour. We rented a Toyota Terra from Hertz and headed for the Cliffs of Moher - on the wrong side of the rode!

All of Great Britain and Ireland drive on the left side. It was easy enough to get used to after the first 3 or 4 traffic circles. They're called roundabouts on this side of the pond and they're everywhere. Right turns proved to be the most difficult because it's like a left turn back home. I was humbled only once after making a right turn and turning onto the right side of the road vice the left. I drove along on the right side, without thinking anything about it (neither did Heather) for about 10 seconds.

I immediately got over to the left and only 100 meters down the road I went around a curve and passed a couple of cars going the opposite direction...on the same side I was just on! I drove for about 5 minutes before my heart stopped racing! But you should see me now...driving on the left side of the road, from the right side of the car, shifting with my left hand and signalling all at the same time!

We arrived safe and sound at the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland about an hour before sunset. The parking lot was open but the visitor center was closed. We briefly talked to some Americans who were on vacation from California and learned the park was closed but you could still go out to the cliffs.

Walked along the cliffs to a small castle tower. Took a handful of photos and then looked for a bathroom! The far corner of the parking lot served well and then we got back on the left side of the road for about an hour.

Our first night stay was at the Travelodge in Galway. The portable Garmin driving GPS unit worked awesome...took us right to the hotel!

Mind the Gap

October 12, 2008

We finally got to tour the Tower of London. The London Pass came through again...we were able to skip an entrance line about 45 minutes long and enter through the group entrance! Saw the Crown Jewels including a scepter that has the world's largest diamond (Heather says she would use the Coronation Spoon to eat soup) and a bunch of other old stuff.

There was a display about the new 2008 coins inside the White Tower.

Toured the "Bloody Tower" named because of all the beheading that took place in the medieval times. So, Nick's customary "Stormtrooper visits the Tower of London" scene had to include a beheading.

Had lunch at a restaurant called "EAT" alongside the castle wall. Then took the RV1 bus across town to Gabriel's Wharf where we got a free bike rental (London Pass, again!) We biked past Buckingham Palace and Shakespeare's Old Globe Theater. The ride took about an hour. Had crepes and a coffee for a snack afterwards along the river.

Next, we took the tube to King's Cross station to visit Platform 9 & 3/4 made famous by the first Harry Potter movie. The was a luggage trolley stuck in the wall for tourists...

Tube back the hostel and dropped off our bags of souvenirs. Then we went down the street to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Typical Italian service (slow) but good food. Saw a bunch of cool cars parked along the road on the walk home...including this Nissan Figaro. They were made in 1991 only in Japan and there were only 20,000 ever made!

(Mind the Gap is the recording that plays several times on the subway every time you get on or off the cars. It refers to the gap between the car and platform...evidently they don't want people getting stuck. Tommy used this phrase to practice his English accent.)

Does the Queen Have to Call Brush When She Get’s Up from Her Throne?

October 11, 2008

Had breakfast at the hostel then caught the tube to Victoria station. At Victoria we got on a coach (bus) to Windsor Castle.

Windsor is really a sight. It’s a real, live working castle where the Royal Family stays. We toured the state apartments and St. George’s cathedral. Took about 2 hours then we headed into the town of Windsor for lunch.

Heather says it looks just like a Fisher Price Little People Castle she had as a little girl.

Caught the 13:55 coach back to London. The boys watched the latest Star Wars Clone Wars episode (new TV show) on the iPod.

We rushed to catch the tube to the Tower of London but it was closed. So we hurried over to the London Tower but it was closing as well. So, we walked over to the gift shop at the Tower of London where Nick found the 2008 GBP coins mint set. It’s a really cool set – the back of the coins forms the shield of the Royal Arms. We’ve been finding them in circulation but we also picked up the un-circulated proof set.

Next, we took the tube to Picadilly Circus. It’s to London what Times Square is to New York…packed with people.

We ate dinner at Planet Hollywood. There was a 45 minute wait but the London Pass got us priority seating so we were seated in 5 minutes. The food was not as good as Hard Rock Café, but they had fun stuff to look at. They had the long barrel revolver from the Batman movie and the over sized Zagnut bar from "Betelgeuse." They also had Indiana Jone’s whip and the big sword from the bad guy in the first movie – the guy in black who pulls out this big long sword and starts swinging it around all crazy so Indiana Jones just shoots him.

Took the tube back to the hostel and were in bed by 22:00!

(When we were walking around Windsor Castle, we saw several large thrones in the different rooms. In the aviation community of the Navy, if you get up for a just a few minutes, and you want to save your seat, you call “brush.” Then nobody can swipe you chair when you’re gone. I doubt the Queen has to call brush when she leaves the throne, but Heather was wondering. )

Greenwich Mean Time

October 10, 2008...

How did I forget to mention that we rode on a double decker bus yesterday???

Had breakfast at the hostel and the boys grabbed a roll each to take with them and feed the ducks.

Then we walked through the Science Museum for about 90 minutes. The Science Museum and Natural History Museum are both right across the street from the hostel and are free!

From there, we went North to Hyde Park and walked along Rotten Row past the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. The boys fed the ducks and geese as we walked along the pond. Stopped at a playground for about 10 minutes before we left the park to the East.

We had lunch at the ORIGINAL Hard Rock Cafe! The very first one! Heather and I had cheeseburgers and the boys had a hot dog and mac & cheese. Best burger we've had in a while. Tom tried to order chocolate milk and our server had no idea what he was talking about.

The Hard Rock store is across the street. We went in and took the vault tour. Their store is in a building that used to be a bank, so there's an actual vault in the basement where they keep all the most prized rock & roll memorabilia. Guitars from Slash, Clapton, and even Jimi Hendrix's Flying V...plus Madonna's brassier

After lunch, we rode the tube to Greenwich to visit the Observatory. The museums and observatory were closed, but we got to stand on the prime meridian and walk around the grounds for a few hours.

Took a cruise boat back to London on the River Thames.

Got back to the hostel at 10:15 pm...

The Turner Family World Tour 2007-2008...

Paris, Rome and LONDON!

Travel days can be sort of fun...

We had to wake up at 5:00 am to catch our flight at 8:30 am. But it was a two and a half hour non-stop flight meaning we didn't have to make a connection in Rome. We got our bags, bought a train ticket and were in London in about 45 minutes. Found our way to the tube and rode to our hostel, the Lord Baden Powell House about two blocks south of Hyde Park.

After getting our room settled, we rode the tube to Piccadilly Circus to pick up our London City Pass at the Visitor's Center. It's good for all kinds of sights such as the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey to name a few.

Then we walked by way of Horse Guards Road which runs by the Horse Guards Building...

...stopped to feed some squirrels in St. James Park...

....continued around a corner to catch our first glimpse of Big Ben...

...past the Westminster Abbey...

...with it's cool sundial (it was about 3:00 pm)...

...stopped for a photo in the shadow of Big Ben before heading...

...across to the River Thames and onto the London Eye.

We took the ceremonial Lego Storm Trooper photo and Tom added his Sponge Bob Lego.

Nick took our picture from the capsule. The view of London was awesome!

Stopped for a snack (candy bars and water...not a good snack) and walked over to Waterloo Station to catch the RV1 bus which took us over the Tower Bridge and past the London Tower. We changed to the #15 Bus and took it to Piccadilly Circus where we had dinner at....

...wait for it....

....wait.....

Pizza Express!! The boys had the Margherita Pizza and I had the Americana (pepperoni.) Heather chose the salad and swiped a couple of slices of pizza from the boys.

Back to our room by 10:00 pm where the boys took showers and we all passed out from our 18 hour day!

United Kingdom Tour 2008!

I've been super busy with homeschooling and playing travel agent. Some of you may remember us planning a trip for London back in June? Well, tickets bought, plans made...Bud was unable to take vacation due to an important inspection at work (we were told it was going to be at a different time.) ; - (

Then the boys and I went to New Hampshire for the month of July. Yes, I know I still need to blog about our trip and post pictures. We flew Space-A into Dover, Del. via Rota, Spain and saved a ton of money. However, I spent a ton of money on a rental car and shopping!

We have finally recovered from the summer and purchasing school work. I was wanting to plan a fall trip, maybe northern Italy, but was still really wanting to visit England. After about three weeks of work we are finally set ; - ) We are sooooo excited!!!

We depart Catania on Thursday, Oct. 9 in the morning. Arrive in London by 11. We will be staying at the Lord Baden Powell Hotel for 4 nights tooling around London. I purchased the 3 day London Pass and tickets to the London Eye. We have some friends, another homeschooling family, that will be visiting England at the same time and we may meet them in Windsor for dinner. They are visiting Legoland for a few days. We decided to see Windsor Castle instead.

On Monday, Oct. 13, we head to Ireland. We are flying into Shannon Airport, pick up our car and head up the Travelodge in Galway for the night. Along the way we will be stopping at the Cliffs of Moher.

On Tuesday, Oct. 14, we'll be driving up to Northern Ireland to visit the Giants Causeway. I'm sure the boys will play a quick game of Heroscape. Do you see the resemblance? That night we'll be staying at the Sunbeam House B&B in Londonderry.

Wednesday, Oct. 15, we'll spend the morning driving south to Dublin. We'll be at the Abbey Apartments for the night and in the morning heading to the Dublin Airport. We arrive in London Luton by 9:30. Pick up our car and head north to RAF Lakenheath Lodge for the next 4 nights.

From Lakenheath we would like to explore Hadrian's Wall and maybe drive up to Dumfries, Scotland? South to Stonehedge and Avebury and drive thru the Cotswolds.

We head home on Monday, Oct. 20. Ready to get back to school and work. ; - )

I know Bud will have lots of great photos to share.

Ciao,

Heather

Look What We Found!

We went for a drive today looking for new bike rides and found a Canadian WWII Cemetery in Sicily! It's about an hour away in the town of Agira. Nice drive...a bit of a climb so I'm not sure that we'll do it on the bikes (not yet, anyway.) Agira is the town on top of this hill. We stopped for a cappuccino and some gelato.

The drive home took us through a windmill farm. Those things are huge! There's a little white car on the bottom of the picture to give you an idea of how honkin' they are!

We did 43 miles on the bikes yesterday. We're still beginners with our hill training...one was 760' elevation gain. A handful of others before that. Nothing to brag about...but the scenery! Some of the roads are in pretty bad shape, so you really have to watch your descents.

Later that evening we went to a big sporting goods store about an hour south near Siracusa. You would think you can never get used to getting stuck in traffic because of geep (sheep that look like goats) but you do...yes, that's geep poop all over the road.

Ciao...

Bud

Back to School

The boys are back to school and doing great. They are enrolled in the A-Beka DVD Academy. It's an accredited school out of Pensacola, FL. We get all the curriculum for 5th and 7th grade as well as DVD's mailed to us every couple months. The boys watch the DVD for whichever lesson they're on while Heather gets all their lesson plans in notebooks prepared each day. They enjoy it so far and seem to be doing much better in all subjects.

We were supposed to start Sep 2nd, but we started a week early. We're taking a trip to London in October and wanted to be a bit ahead of schedule before we put school on hold for a week or two.

Soccer season has started and only Nick signed up this year. He's just about done with the Italian baseball team until spring. He also has a "job" during the week. Every day he goes down the street to a neighbor's house and checks on their dog. They pay weekly ($25 week) to check the dog's food and water and let him out of the house for a few minutes. Not a bad gig. He's already started shopping for all the coins he plans to buy for his collection.

Tom is Tom. Playing video games, terrorizing the playgrounds, catching frogs and Cub Scouting.

Heather has been appointed an Ombudsman for the Navy base. She just went through three days of refresher training and had an appreciation luncheon today. She also did her first 50 mile ride (all by herself) last week.

I'm trying to survive another year of Cub Scouting (which starts this month.) I have more adult leaders signed up and plan to putting them all to good use!

Gotta go...we just put in "Batman" (the 1989 movie with Michael Keaton.) I need to go make some popcorn...

Ciao,
Bud

New Videos

A video from the expedition up Mt. Etna to watch the lava. It's about 7:00 minutes long and mostly just crazy driving up the mountain.



This is a throw-back to early 90's when Heather was still active duty. It's her re-enlistment ceremony at NAS Brunswick, Maine.

Hiking Mt. Etna

A friend of mine from work, Dax, has been telling me about this great trail on the Mt. Etna. The views are awesome and there's a great spot to see the lava coming down the east side. It didn't disappoint.

The drive up was a road I had never taken before. It was 45 minutes straight up the hill from Dax's house in Nicolosi. The trail head was at an intersection and there were about half a dozen cars parked when we got there.

We took a break a few times, the altitude really sucks the air out of your lungs! The pictures:

First is a break on the trail and some hikers were on their way down with flashlights. Next is me, Dax and another friend who went with us, Ryan. Third is the city of Catania with Jupiter up in the top left corner. Catania is the second largest city on Sicily. Finally, another shot of the lava. Enjoy....ciao!

Never Argue with the Data!

Sunday morning ride....Greg, Trisha, Shane, Erin, Eric, Ray, Mo and Me. This was taken at the bar where we stopped for a cappuccino - at the half-way point. Luigi (one of the Italians Heather and I usually meet every Sunday morning) took the photo.

I set my new Garmin 305 to auto-pause, auto-lap, auto-everything...but it was in running mode. I didn't even think to check when I switched to bike mode this morning so my data is totally skewed. I hung with the EOD crowd at about 19-20 mph, average cadence 90 rpm, total calories 1,695. We went 22.89 miles - not long, but fast!

It was eventful...Trisha got cut off by a car at an intersection and laid her bike down. Her knee is all tore up but her thank heaven her bike and riding outfit are ok. It is a fashion show, after all.

Eric got a flat. We had all these cool gadgets - canisters, adapters, etc - but in the end nothing fit. So luckily Greg broke it down old-school for us with the collapsible pump.

MWR is having a family fun bike event in a couple hours. They're riding perimeter road all the way around the airfield and then playing in the pool and BBQ-ing some burgers. I told the lady who's in charge that I would go early and help out. It's in my best interest - last time they did this we had half-dozen riders take a wrong turn and rode across the runways!

Happy Birthday to Nick and Tom! Hope you guys had a great birthday...you better call me tell me what you got....

Ciao,

Bud