Aaron Baillio’s Blog

Well, it was a very Happy Birthday for me.  Last Saturday Kristin threw a wonderful party!  There was tons of good food and fake champagne and the few people I like were there.  So, it was cool.  We played a modified version of Balderdash where there are several categories of words to use for definitions.  It was fun…especially the acronyms.  It was funny to make up weird acronyms and get people to think they were correct.  Anyway, it was lot of fun.  Plus, we had a flan cake.  It didn’t come out perfectly but it was darn good.

Well, one birthday cake wasn’t enough so we made a German Chocolate cake that was tasty!  I figured – Hey, I am in Germany, lets have a German cake.  So, we ate on that all week.  Last Friday I stayed home from work and I opened up the presents (that I bought myself).  I got another guitar for Guitar Hero so Kristin and I can play together and I also got Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party.  Now that is a lot of fun!  Will hasn’t gotten the courage to get on the mat yet but he likes to watch.  Asher loves to beheld and bounce around as we try to dance.  So, that game is fun. 

The weekend was gorgeous (finally) and so we spent the majority of the time outside running around and throwing the Frisbee.  While doing wind sprints in the back yard, Will found this massive earth worm he kept calling a snake.  I tell ya, it was long enough to be a snake!  It was big and nasty.  So, we watched that for a while.  Sunday we went over to some friends house to eat and that was fun too.

Monday, my actual birthday was fun too.  I went in to work in the morning mostly to study for my first test.  I am taking Squadron Officer’s School correspondence.  I passed!  Of course, I have 4 more tests to go, but hey.  The course doesn’t do me much good if I ever leave the AF but it is a major stepping stone for advancement while I am in.  Fortunately things are slow enough at work that I have time to do some of the lessons at work.  Anyway, I came home after the test and when the boys got up from their naps we opened my cards and another present (from Gma & Gpa) and had cake.  Will helped me open my present.  It was two nice jackets.  Thank you!  Will was awful about the cake eating for some reason.  Mom gave him a piece and layed it on its side.  Well, he wanted a piece that was standing up!  So we fought over that and I finally gave him a bigger piece that could stand up.  Well, he didn’t like that either.  And then it fell!  It was awful…I mean, who has to force their kids to eat cake!

Anyway, we played a little Dance Dance Revolution and watched a little TV.  We had been planning to grill some steaks but it started raining.  Well, we went out in the rain anyway.  I got one fo my old jackets and put it on Will.  Kristin rolled the sleeves up and we zipped it up and it covered him but came down to his toes!   We gave him an umbrella and I christened one of my new jackets.  It was fun.  Will was really cute holding that umbrella.  We had fun.  That night in his prayers he thanked Heavenly Father for outside rain fun and the umbrella.

Anyway, diner was great and we had a relaxing evening!  So, now I am 30.  I don’t feel to different nor do I feel older!  Oh well, at least I have my hair!

Well, looks like we are back on again for the house we thought we lost.  We called her the next day to look at the other house she had available.  It is also a great house but that is for later.  Anyway, while we were there Kristin mentioned how heart broken she was about not getting the house we wanted that she promised away.  Well, turns out those folks decided to bail after finding out how much it was going to cost!  So, it is available again!  So, now she has our full intentions and our information and at least we’ll get one of them, hopefully the one we want.

 Anyway, so the other house is also one floor and is really charming.  It is a little further away from base but no further than where we currently live.  It has a really cute kitchen with tons of space which is important and it has a bar and a door so that we can close it off so little kiddos don’t get in.  It has a nice fire place and a huge step down living space with tons of big windows.  Fortunately that side is on the north side so it stays a little cooler in there.  It has a really cool back yard and patio area and me and the boys could have a lot of fun back there.  One of the drawbacks to the house is that the rooms are small and German homes don’t have closets so free space you do have goes toward these massive wardrobes for your clothes.  We would have to do some fancy arranging to make sure we could fit our stuff but it would work. All in all, not a bad second choice.  So, she has to do some thingson her end to get it through the housing office and what not and so we’ll see this weekend.  If neither of those go through, we did see a house also yesterday that was really cool.  Pretty high tech features but we wouldn’t be upgrading in the kitchen area for sure.  Otherwise, I think it is a step up form where we live and it is also brand new so we’ll see.  Anyway, that is the tale for now.  Continually changing!  Talk to you later!

Well we had a pretty fun weekend.  First of all, we went to the “air port” to eat at Subway.  Don’t ask me why…its a long story about there not being tables at the other subway.   Anyway, at the airport terminal on base is a Subway ‘with’ tables and Kristin hasn’t had Subway in a while PLUS it was at the airport with….AIRPLANES!  This is mostly what we have on base here are these huge Hercules C-130 planes.  We looked out the windows and there were about 8 of these massive planes sitting out there.  Will was awe struck.  Plus we saw all the transport cars moving around.  We also got to go down the elevator!  That was cool too.  It was a glass elevator so you could see the movement.  All in all…it was AWESOME!  Will even now still says, “Thank you for the airport fun” in his prayers.

After that we went to an antique shop and looked around.  It was pretty cool.  Of course, it was all way to expensive.  But it was fun to look.  So we went to a flea market next which was much more reasonable.  We still didnt’ buy anything but it was really fun to see all the stuff people have to sell and what we want to buy and make plans and stuff.

On the home front, we have hit a little snag.  We were talking to this one lady about her house for about 2 weeks and she kept tellign us to wait and see this other one she had.  Well, it finally became available yesterday and we got a brief look but we said we wanted her house.  Well, she said she promised it to someone else!!!  We were furious!  After all this stringing along and she hangs us out to dry.  So, unless that falls through, that option is out.  So basically we are back to ground zero which is slightly disheartening since it is so difficult to find something that is just right and we have such specific wants.  I don’t know.  We’ll see.  Not that we need to move, we just want to.  Kristin was saying we are coming up on a year and a half to go so can we manage?  I think so.  I don’t know.  We have to reevaluate it.  Anyway, that’s all for now.

Well, that seems like that is all we have been doing all week is house hunting.  It got kicked off after the theft and the funny thing is, the house across the street really spurred things into motion.  The house right across the street has everything we want and since it exists we figured it must exist somewhere else.  Well, 20 houses later, we realize that it is not.  We have seen about 15 of the same house…the house we already live in!  That is our problem is that we currently live in a house that is fairly nice.  To upgrade without moving into a house that is so huge is difficult for people to believe.  Plus, people who rent houses here don’t build nice kitchens for the renters.  What we want is something that has a lot of counter space which for some reason is unheard of in Germany.  Oh well.  So, after all the complaining we have found 2 houses worthy of moving.  One is in Miesenbach which is right by base.  Here is the crest:

Anyway, the nice things about it are that it is all one level which is extremely rare in Germany, it is an older hosue so it has that German charm but it has been remodeled to include a new kitchen and bathrooms plus it has a nice yard and a pool and a terrific view.  the drawback is that the garage is a hike from the house.  It is nice to have a garage (with a door) but it is really far from the house.  A hassle but not a deal breaker. 

Here is the other house:
This house is really cool too.  It has the old German charm which is really cool and it has a lot of good usable space.  It is really nice and has a nice garden and a garage.  The problem here is that it is pretty far from base.  We rely so heavily on base and to make the trip so many times would be a burden.  But again, the house is great and has an amazing view and is in a cool area.  But, we would have to rely on the Euro more which isn’t a fun thought…although we would be making more.  I don’t know.

We are taking a break this week from house hunting.  We can’t even move until the 1st of May anyway so we have a little time.  Everything else is okay I guess.  Asher must be getting teeth or going through some weird spurt cause he seemed to be really fussy and clingy to mommy.  But, he is almost walking which is fun.  He is the cutest kid but poops like a madman!  Will is also well.  We pumped him full of junk food the other day and vomited that night which was lovely.  But, he is great.  He loves watching stuff like Star Wars, Muppets show, Turtle Power plus he finally has some cartoons he likes to watch.  It is also finally warming up a bit so we’ll be able to go outside more.

The other day we went to the Ramstein public pool that has like 3 indoor pools and 4 or 5 outdoor pools.  We were indoors of course and they have a little area just for toddlers which was really fun.  They also have like an intermediate pool that has a huge water slide on that we went down a million times.  It is funny cause I have to hold Will in my lap and once we get going fast he starts freaking out and I have to hold him tight and tell him its okay.  Then we splash in the water and he wants to do it again.  Asher is not a big fan of the pool or the tub for that matter.  He doesn’t like to be all in the water so he clings like a baby monkey to mommy.  So, that was fun.  That is pretty much what is going on with us!  talk to you folks later!