That's Uncle Donk to you.

Don and I are Aunt and Uncle to another cutie I would like to introduce you to. This is Katie, daughter of Dons' sister Karin and her husband David. We met her for the first time last May when we took our first trip back to the states we called the Don and Robin Across America Tour....12 different airplanes in 30 days! We also paid homage to our favorite burrito places while in California. Hmmm...I'm am hungry just thinking about Taqueria Vallartas in Santa Cruz!




Katie is almost 2 1/2 now. She loved her Uncle "Donk". Since she was a newborn I have been blown away at how much she looks like Don. Sometimes it feels like I am looking at what our daughter might look like!
She loves music and according to her Mom she will make her way down the aisle at and join the worship team at church on Sunday mornings. She even has her own microphone!

It is really hard being so far from family, we have missed out on some important events, like our sisters having children. We look forward to coming back to the states and being a part of our families lives again...only 2 years to go!.

robin

A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, everyone knows it’s Slinky!

Today for lunch I went to a nearby mall. One thing I will miss about working for the Army is that I have a Starbucks 10 minutes away. This is a true luxury since Don and I have driven over an hour just to go to a Starbucks!

Enough about Starbucks. What I did want to tell you about is a funny thing I saw while I was enjoying my tall Caramel Macchiato (see, I can't stop talking about it) and window shopping. One thing that I do appreciate about the German culture is that they can find the simplest things amusing. Sometimes I think that I am in a time warp...I can pass right by and not think twice about it because I have seen it before, or it's just not that impressive!

I am sure that most of you remember the Slinky Toy. I found a picture just in case you aren't sure what I am talking about. In the mall today they had a number of different "discovery center" type of hands on displays. I am not sure if I noticed the slinky or the people first, but I came across a group of older people, probably 70 and above that were crowded around this display. It was a slinky, about 12 feet long and it was hanging from wires. Basically you would move this handle at one end and watch this slinky bounce around...you know, like slinkys always do. What was so amusing was watching this group of people laugh and point like it was this amazing and hilarious invention. I stopped and watched them and giggled when I heard them say (insert German accent here)"Ya! das ist gut! ha! ha! ha! ya! ya! ya! gut! gut!" This was more fun than the slinky!

I named this blog Simple Things for a reason. I really believe that it is the simple things that make life enjoyable. I may not have noticed the giant slinky, but I am so glad that I am not so busy and preoccuppied that I miss out on people enjoying life!

Tschuss!

robin

Remember this song on t.v.?

What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, everyone knows it’s Slinky!
It’s Slinky, it’s slinky, for fun it’s the best of a toy
It’s Slinky, its Slinky, it’s fun for a girl and boy
Everyone wants a Slinky; you ought to get a Slinky…..