Randomness

Happy Birthday Vickie!!!


Random.

Random Ramblings.

Random acts of kindness.

Random facts.

Random things.

Random quotes.

Random thoughts.


Random photos...


That's what I want to post tonight. Along with some random thoughts.


Osnabruk, Germany...

This is the little town where Hillary, my daughter, lived when she studied abroad. It was her second time, living in Germany. 


When we lived in Surry, Virginia, my kids met a wonderful girl, Lily, who is from Cloppenburg, Germany. She was an exchange student at the time and because her host family had a bunch of little kids and lived way out in the country, she was at our house many nights after school and most weekends. (We lived way out in the country too but Bear and Hillary both had cars). 

We grew to love her and later, when we moved to Cape Coral, Florida, invited her sister Hanna, to come live with us for a year as an exchange student. Hanna was the PERFECT person to share a year with us and we consider her our German daughter. She calls Jerry her fake dad and me her fake mom. One of these days, I'll tell you some stories about her. They're all good. :)


Here's Hanna (a few years later) in a little shop she took us to in Detmold which is where she was living and going to school at the time...

I made an unplanned quick trip to Germany that semester because Hillary ended up having to have her gallbladder removed. But that did NOT slow her down...at all.

She took me all over Germany! Wore Me Out!

This picture was taken in front of a bar in Detmold where we had sangria or beer...or maybe both. I drank more on that two week trip than I have in the five years since or before. That's Hanna's boyfriend, Andreas, with Hillary and Hanna.

Here are the girls at a castle standing in the little cubbyholes where the sentries of old used to stand. 

I don't remember the name of this castle - I saw quite a few - but it helped me understand what all those historical novels I love to read are talking about when they had balls and dozens of people attended. 

Yes...I like romance novels.

Here's a pix from the side of the castle. People still live there but they allow tourists to go through parts of it. And yes we did.

This is where the random part comes in. I have no idea how or why Photoshop Elements has my pictures in the order they're in...

but this one is next. (I took this picture at least a year after returning from Germany) (and I'm scrolling thru in order).

Those are my kids!!! From the left - Bear, Winge, Hillary with Sophia in her tummy and Pedro. 


Aren't they beautiful?!?


Gotta show you this one of Jerry's Rat Rod. It's a 52 Ford and he did 99% of the work on it himself. It was a sad, sad, day when we sold it. NO used cars allowed into the country of Colombia. Nada.

Here's the dash...

And back to the kids. I swear it's Photoshop. I'm never this random.


This picture was taken in Tampa the first night Jerry and I met Pedro and Winge.

Jerry and my sweet, beautiful little brown eyed neice, Cissy, (who was down from Virginia visiting) are with the kids in this shot. 


It's interesting the way they all met. 

Bear moved up to Tampa that summer and crashed at Hillary's apartment because her room-mates were mostly out of town and he needed to get away from an environment where he wasn't thriving. 

Hillary was a driver for the Bull Runner, the University of South Florida's shuttle bus program - where she was also working toward her Masters.  

She met  Pedro one day (who had just come to USF to work on his PhD) when he hopped on the bus, saw that mean look in her eye (as he told me later) and was smitten. (She'd just told him to sit down and be quiet).


They didn't see each other again until they happened to meet at Salsa Club. And that's all she wrote. (For now).


Awhile later, Hillary dragged Bear to Salsa Club one night (a USF affiliated thing) where he met Winge, who was one of the organizers of the club. And that's all she wrote. (For now).


Each of my kids met their true love within a month of each other. Is that cool or what?!?


And I couldn't be happier with their choices.

This shot was taken just after the kids found out they were pregnant.

Here's one of the Yacht Club in Cape Coral. 

Photoshop - it's making me crazy.

It is one of the BEST places on earth to watch the sun set.

That picture makes me wanna go make art.


Later alligator!