Ghostly figure

Last week I went for a walk to find an address for a friend who is hoping to move, and take a picture of a house for her. I pulled out my camera and noticed that there was only 1 bar of battery power left. I thought "oh great, I bet my battery dies before I even get 1 shot." Well the picture took and this is what I saw.

Lots of times, when I take pictures in the dark I'll see tiny round dust looking orbs, but this is nothing compared to those. I wanted to see if I could capture the "thing" again so I quickly took one more picture. This is what I saw. NOTHING not even one dust orb. The pictures were literally 2 seconds apart.

When I got home (there were 2 battery bars. . . ) I copied the first picture and tried goofing around with exposure/shadows and heightened some features. This is what happened. The porch light from the neighbor house really brings the "eye" to life, I can even see a nose, mouth, ear and Einstein hair.

Do you think I captured a picture of a ghost or have I just been watching too may Ghost Hunters and TAPS paranormal tv shows? Could the ghost have been drawing power from my camera battery (since there was only 1 bar when I was outside and 2 bars after returning home?) I seriously think it's a ghost! SPOOKY

Brugge Belgium/Lille France Christmas Markets

We really wanted to experience a Christmas Market this year. Having been stationed in Germany for 4 years, we grew to love them and now being in England we have missed that part of the season. Brugge is only a couple of hours away so off we went, first on the Dover ferry, then straight up to Belgium. Ava absolutely LOVES "going on the boat!" She gets so excited, so we didn't tell her about our trip until just a few hours before we left.

We quickly checked into our hotel http://www.hotelolympia.be/ (the same one we stayed in 3 years ago) and walked down town. It was cold but we were headed to the Ice Sculpture Festival, so things were about to get a lot colder. The sculptures are all indoors, with the temperature kept at -6C/20F. This year’s theme was Around the World.

Literally freezing out butts off

The Russian sculpture was my favorite

There was an ice slide that went around the side of the building. I went first and found out the hard way that you need 2 carpets (one for your butt and one for your feet) so my ride was a lot slower than Davids. Ava was a bum and stayed in the stroller.

After leaving the Ice Festival we toured the city and enjoyed all the Christmas lights. Europe has a different way of celebrating Christmas and I love it! There isn't as much commercialism, more family and friends, good time celebrating.

They cut lots of real pine trees and decorate them with lights. These trees were surrounding an ice rink. In the middle of the rink was a huge light tree, made entirely of blue lights. It was beautiful. Brugge is defiantly a fun Christmas place.

They outlined all the building tops with rope lights. It makes them look like Gingerbread houses. Ava loved it all; from a little child's eyes this must be magical.

It was cold enough to see your breath, so Dave and Ava made smoke rings in the air.

We ate a lot! Warm Belgium waffles with cream, caramel, and chocolate. Foot long brats in begets, and gooey cheesy potatoes cooked in the biggest cast iron frying pan you will ever see.

The next day we headed back and stopped in Lille France. They also had a beautiful Christmas Market.

We really wanted to take a ride on the Ferris wheel but Ava absolutely had a fit. There was no way she was going to let us ride.

We ate treats treats and more treats, after all Christmas only happens once a year!

Brugge and Lille were a blast and we saw a lot in 2 days. Ava was so tired she fell asleep on the ferry and slept all the way home.

We've moved again!

WE'VE MOVED!

I know, to normal people who live in a house for more than 2 years at a time this might sound crazy, but to MILITARY families, like us, this is a fact of life. You PCS (permanent change of station) to a new base somewhere around the world, then you’re put in TLF (temporary living facilities) and you have from 1-2 weeks to find a house. You try as hard as you can to find a house that's big enough, nice enough, will take pets, has a yard with grass, isn't too far from base and the most important of all, one that you can afford! This is very tricky since don't forget you only have 2 weeks, and it might just be November (when there aren't a lot of houses, and yards don't look the best.) This is how we got stuck in the RED LODGE house. It was nice and newish, but way too small and a distance from the base.

Since the day our household goods were dropped off I knew I didn't want to stay in Red Lodge for our entire 3 years in England. We would be moving ourselves the minute our 1 year let was up, because once you choose a house the military will only pay to move you on base, not to another home off base. In November our year was up we started looking. Things were supposed to be slow and with no pressure, but after looking at a few homes and watching them fly off the market we decided to jump at this home in Mildenhall village. It's older but with more space, it had a terrible kitchen and parking for only 1 car but heck it was 2 minutes from base

Now I know this is a little unfair but the before pictures of our kitchen are from when we originally toured the house. The family knew we were coming over and had time to clean but didn't. The entire house was a hoarding mess but we had to see through the clutter. The kitchen was ugly, old, greasy, broken, burnt, and falling apart in some areas. Dave said he would clean it up nice for me but I thought the Landlord could give me a better offer. I called him and asked if I could paint the cupboards. He did me one better and promised a new kitchen while we were gone on Christmas holidays. We were away for 3 weeks and this:

Turned into this:

Now the kitchen looks so good and I'm proud to have friends over. I actually want to hang out in it. I told Kevin (landlord) that I loved the new kitchen and would take excellent care of it. That I was extremely lucky to live in his house and that he did a great job. A little sucking up, just in case he really does think about raising the rent!

Church Christmas Party

Ava and I went to our Ward Christmas Party together, without Dave (since he had to work.) They had a "Around the World" theme and people were asked to bring main dishes from other countries. I had no idea what to bring (I don't do that much ethnic cooking other than a little Chinese) but I remembered a dish that we always ate as kids every Christmas, Cabbage Rolls! Either my Grandma or Aunt Cheryl/Lill would make them for the entire family. I tried once about 5 years ago to make them but it didn't go well. This year however; I found a new recipe online for Crock Pot Cabbage Rolls. This recipe (with a few tweaks of my own) was delicious, and I didn't even turn on the oven. They were a hit!

Ava all ready to go

Sitting down and waiting to eat

I forgot to take a picture of my Cabbage Rolls but this is what they look like

There was classic church talent, skits, songs, and more songs

All Ava was interested in was the TREE

This party was one of the most organized church Christmas party I have ever been to. We ate, had a short program, visited Santa, filled treat bags for the entire Suffolk zone Missionaries and cleared all table and chairs in 2 hours! That's my kind of party.

Ava has never sat on Santa's knee before. She always gets scared and clamps to your body whenever she gets sight of Santa, but this time I told her that "Big girls aren't scared, and that if she sat on Santa's knee and let me take a picture, she would get a treat." She believed me enough to get in line, but had to be reminded a few times just to stay in line. When it was finally her turn I had the camera ready (since I knew she would be lighting fast) I only had time for 3 pictures but the 3rd is my favorite. It's too bad a little cash couldn't have been spent on a real good looking Santa suite.

MEMORIES IN THE MAKING: FIRST TIME EVER TALKING TO SANTA

Check out her eyes! She can't believe it, her mama was right and she did get a treat from Santa. After that all she could talk about was how Santa came to church and gave her a purple candy cane. Such a Sweet Heart, maybe next year she won't be so scared.