Drum roll, please...

Yesterday was the 20th week mark in my pregnancy, so I am now half way done! Well, as long as the little one doesn't come after the May 4th due date :) In addition to this milestone, we also had our last doctor's appointment here in Germany. Unlike last time, thankfully Baby Myers decided to cooperate, so we were able to find out the gender. We are happy to announce...

IT'S A BOY!!!

We would have been happy either way, but it is definitely exciting to know. Unfortunately we didn't get a great sonogram picture like at our last appointments, but of course we wanted to share the news. We appreciate all your support and prayers as we continue to prepare for the baby and for the big move back to the States, which is occurring in two weeks! I am hoping to get some more blogging done before that, but just in case, I would like to go ahead and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Until next time, God bless!

Frankfurt Baby Shower

My wonderful Frankfurt friends threw me a baby shower last night at our neighborhood restaurant, the Fieldhouse. It was such a nice evening, with dinner, yummy cake, and lots of laughter.

I got some adorable gifts, like some of the cutest onesies ever, including one with "Soccer" written out in rhinestones and one with "Stinky" written across the bottom! And my friend, Jen, crocheted a beautiful baby blanket that is sure to become our little one's favorite. Plus all the ladies chipped in on a gift card that I can use to go shopping back in the States! It was all sooo sweet of them, and I am going to miss them all so much!

Well, of course, I am still behind on my posts. And since we had a great trip to Israel over the week of Thanksgiving, that has now been added to the list as well! With all the moving preparations and holiday festivities going on right now, it looks like I will still be blogging about our fun European excursions even after I move back to the States... oh well, it will keep the adventure alive :) As always, thanks for stopping by and please check back again soon!

Our stubborn little one

At our monthly doctor's appointment this past Wednesday, we were really hoping to find out the baby's gender... being the planner that I am, needless to say I am dying to find out! And even though I am just over 16 weeks, my German ob/gyn was quite convinced she would be able to determine the sex. Well, it turns out that our little one is just as stubborn as its parents... throughout the ultrasound, the baby was sitting with their legs crossed "Indian style," covering up the very area we needed to see! So we didn't find out this time, but hopefully we will find out next month. Still, we have good news to report, which is that the baby looks healthy and is continuing to grow all the time, and that is all we can really ask for. Please enjoy the most recent sonogram below :)

A fun-filled weekend!

I just thought I would write a quick post to share about the awesome weekend we just had. To start off, I am feeling much better these days so that is something in itself to celebrate! I still have bad moments from time to time, but it seems that I've "turned the corner" so to speak... thank you God!

I especially needed to have my energy back for this weekend because my JV soccer team was playing in the season championship here in Frankfurt. Our Varsity team was in Cairo playing in their championship tournament as well... if only they weren't held on the same weekend, I would have loved to go to Cairo... hopefully someday! Back to Frankfurt though... in order to win the tournament, we had to play 5 games in 2 days, and my team was the only one to play the entire time without subs! They played their hearts out, squeezed through on penalty kicks in the semi-finals, and then... we won 1-0 in the finals!!! Needless to say, I am soooo proud of my team, and the girls are thrilled. Below is a picture from the awards ceremony....

For my very last game as soccer coach at the Frankfurt International School, it was wonderful to end with such a victory. I am going to miss the girls and the Varsity coach, Ashley, so much, but I am very grateful for the coaching experience I've had over here. Now I am just hoping I will find a coaching job in San Diego... all in due time hopefully :)

The other fun event we had this weekend was the annual USMC Birthday Ball. For the past two years, we've been able to travel to some great places for the ball, including London, Bern, and Luxembourg, but this year we decided to just stay in Frankfurt. I am so glad we did because many of our friends attended the Frankfurt ball as well, which made for a really fun night.

As soon as I was done with the soccer championship on Saturday afternoon, I rushed home to get ready for the ball. Before long, we found ourselves at the Frankfurt Hilton. As we walked in, we were greeted by a group of friends... and their very first comment was "Look at that baby bump!" Yes, the baby bump has finally started to peek out :) In addition to taking photos of the baby bump's debut, of course we got pictures of "Mommy and Daddy to be" and a bunch with our friends as well. Overall, it was a great night... good food, dancing, time with friends... it was a very nice way to spend our final USMC ball while living over in Europe.

Well, that pretty much sums up our fun-filled weekend! Of course, I am still behind on posts about previous trips... plus we have another doctor's appointment this week, so I should have a new baby update posted shortly so please check back soon! Until then....

Baby update... plus more exciting news!

Since today is the first day of my second trimester, I thought it was about time I posted a baby update on the blog. Last Wednesday, I had another doctor's appointment, and I was very happy to hear the baby is doing perfectly. Despite the constant "morning" sickness that has plagued me for almost 2 months now, the baby is growing like crazy. I was thrilled to see the little one on a sonogram... its profile was clearly defined and it was even waving its hand like it was saying "Hi Mommy" :) Amazing!

With the first trimester behind me, I've been told that I should start feeling better any day now. Things have improved a little bit, but I do hope that the "good days" increase exponentially in the near future. In the meantime, I am just taking it day by day... I know in the end it will all be worth it! And hopefully next month, we will find out the sex of the baby... we will see!

So in addition to the baby excitement, we also received some more very big news... we recently found out we are moving back to San Diego... in January!!! This is quite a bit earlier than we thought we'd be moving, but the timing is going to work out very well... we feel incredibly blessed. Daniel is actually heading to 10 weeks of training in Virginia Beach shortly after New Years, and while he is there, I will be back in California. I will be splitting my time between the San Francisco Bay area, to visit with my parents, and San Diego, for doctor visits and to start getting settled in... then Daniel will be joining me at the end of March. That will give us a little over a month to get all ready for the baby to arrive!

We are very excited about returning to San Diego... we still have many friends in the area as well as my brother. Plus it will be much easier for family to fly in for a visit since they won't have to cross the Atlantic! We also look forward to being in our condo again. One more huge positive of moving back in January... I will be giving birth in the States! I must admit that I wasn't too keen on the idea of having the baby at a German hospital... it will be so great to be at a hospital where English is the first language :)

Despite our excitement about returning to the States, we will also miss Germany! We've had an incredible two and half years here. We have made many wonderful friends, who we will miss dearly, and we have visited some unbelievable places. It has been an experience of a lifetime. Now, we just have to make the most of our last two months over here... and then, before long, we will be back in the good ole US of A!

As always, thanks so much for stopping by. Not surprisingly, I am still a bit behind on posts, so please check back soon to read about our summer trips to Croatia and Bavaria... plus more baby updates! Until then, God bless!

Exciting News!!!!!

In the last few years, it seems that every time we start off by saying that we have exciting news, most people automatically guess, "Are you pregnant?!" Well, this time those guesses are correct... yep, that's right... I'M PREGNANT!!!!!

After 7 happy years of marriage, Daniel and I finally took the plunge and started down the path toward parenthood! We'd like to introduce tiny little Baby Myers, due May 4, 2011.

Needless to say, we are thrilled. We'd definitely appreciate your prayers that the entire pregnancy will go well, especially the rest of the first trimester. Honestly, I am hoping that the next month flies by because I have been pretty overwhelmed with morning sickness, which they really should call all day, everyday sickness! Other than that though, everything is great.

I will be posting any news on the baby front here on the blog, so please stay tuned for updates. Plus, I still have a few trips from the summer to catch up on, like Croatia and Bavaria... with all the baby excitement and with soccer season in full swing, I have been a little preoccupied, but I promise to blog about those excursions soon too!

As always, thanks for stopping by, and also thanks so much for all your prayers and support! Until next time, God bless!

Beautiful Cape Town

Since soccer season starts tomorrow and things will get quite a bit busier then, I wanted to go ahead and post about "Part 3" of our South African adventure... Cape Town! Although this will wrap up my blogging about our World Cup trip, I'm still not all caught up on the blog yet... I know, I know... it seems like I'm always behind! Unlike last year though, I promise to keep blogging during soccer season, so I will get posts up about our time in Croatia and Bavaria soon. But for now, let's get back to Africa....

On Thursday, June 24th, we took a short flight west from Johannesburg to Cape Town. After getting our rental car, driving 20 minutes outside the city to the apartment we rented, and grabbing a delicious dinner at a cafe down the hill, we were pretty beat and crashed for the night. Friday morning we woke up refreshed and ready to check out Cape Town, so we grabbed some pastries at a local bakery and headed to the downtown waterfront. Despite a blanket of fog that was slowly trying to dissipate, we both really liked the vibe of the area with its neat shops and restaurants lining the piers. It actually reminded me of San Francisco, so it made me a bit homesick for California!

With the World Cup still going strong, there was a FIFA Fan tent right on the waterfront, and there they had a "kicking speed" contest, so of course Daniel and I had to give it a go. Not surprisingly, Daniel smoked it at 93 km/h! As for me, I was the only girl in line, and all the men looked a bit surprised when I stepped up to take a turn. I shocked them even more when I kicked the ball 91.8 km/h, which happened to be the new female record! I was pretty stoked... I even won a little soccer ball. They didn't have a marker to change the scores right then, but I know in my heart that I was Number 1 :)

Before we leaving the Victoria & Alfred waterfront, we did some souvenir shopping, including at a very American looking mall... Cape Town is actually the most American-like city I have seen outside of the States, which made us both feel quite at home. With the haze burning off, we could finally see Table Mountain looming behind the city, and after grabbing some lunch, we decided to go check out the view from atop it.

At the base of Table Mountain, the sun was shining brightly so we knew we'd have a clear view from the top. We jumped on the cable car and headed up.

The panorama that greeted us at the top was absolutely breathtaking! We wandered from view point to view point taking it all in... it seemed almost heavenly. Since we've become quite the shutterbugs, needless to say we took tons of photos up there. Here are the best ones....

Before we knew it, the sun had started to go down, so we were treated to a beautiful sunset over the southern Atlantic. In the other direction, a full moon made for some neat photos too. With darkness descending, we made it back down to the base of Table Mountain, allowing us to see the city all lit up at night, and that evening we had some yummy sushi down in Cape Town... any time we are near the ocean, we always try to take advantage and eat some sushi :)

We had set aside Saturday as our day to drive around the peninsula on which Cape Town sits. First thing that morning though, Daniel walked down to Fish Hoek beach near we were staying and took some lovely photos of the sunrise.

Once we hit the road, we headed south... first stop was Boulders Beach, where a colony of African penguins live. It was really neat to observe these birds in their natural habitat... of course, we had lots of fun snapping shots of the penguins' interaction. As we were walking back to where we parked our car, we saw one of the funniest signs ever... "Warning: Please look under your vehicles for penguins"... I don't think you'll see that sign anywhere else in the world!

As we continued south, the weather turned quite nasty. By the time we made it to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve at the bottom of the peninsula, there was rain and a dense layer of clouds hovering over the landscape. Therefore, we decided we'd come back to the Cape of Good Hope the next day so we headed around to the western side of the peninsula. We drove by coastal towns and beaches, making our way to Chapman's Peak Drive... a spectacular scenic road that stretches 9 km between the towns of Noordhoek and Hout Bay. Thankfully, the sun was trying hard to break through by the time we made it to this part of the drive. We stopped several times along the route to take pictures and to take in the exceptional views... we even saw a rainbow at one point!

In Hout Bay, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant recommended in our travel guide... there we had some of the best calamari ever. It was sooo good! After finishing up our drive around the peninsula, we went to check out Cape Town's oldest winery, Groot Constantia, which was established in 1685. In addition to seeing the ground's Old Manor House and vineyards, we also did some wine tasting. While Daniel and I have come to enjoy wine since living in Europe, we definitely do not have "sophisticated palates" if you will, so we found it a bit funny during the tasting to hear how serious the wine stewards were when describing the different the wines. Compare that to us... "Well, I think these wines are pretty good" :)

Following the wine tasting, we decided to rest up for the evening since we were heading back into Cape Town to watch USA vs. Ghana in the Round of 16. That night we went to the Fan Zone right on the waterfront to catch the game on the big screen. Not surprisingly, American fans were vastly outnumbered... since Ghana was the last African team left in the World Cup by that point, all Africans were rooting them on. However, the few of us USA fans still cheered proudly for our team! Ghana was winning 1-0 by halftime, but then Landon Donovan scored the equalizer about 15 minutes into second half, which ultimately sent the game into overtime. We thought we might pull out the win, but in the end, Ghana won 2-1. Even still, I think the US had a great World Cup showing overall.

Sunday was our last day in South Africa, and the main thing on our agenda was to visit the Cape of Good Hope. We were grateful for the beautiful weather that morning as we drove south once again. Along the way, we saw some more signs you don't see everyday... this time, they were proclaiming the dangers of baboons! The funny thing is that shortly after entering the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, what did we see? Baboons! They were just hanging out near the visitors' center. Daniel kept telling me to get closer to take a picture with them... as you can see in the photo below, I heeded the signs' warnings and didn't get too close! Besides, that is what the zoom on the camera is for. Isn't the baby baboon so cute?!

After the baboon sighting, we hiked up the hill to enjoy the vista. When looking to the west, you see the promontory that is the Cape of Good Hope... the most southern point on the African continent is actually called Cape Point. While we didn't go all the way out to end of Cape Point, we visited the lighthouse located above it. There was an unusual directional marker there... it had no destinations in the southerly direction! The spot also boasted some beautiful views.

Before heading to the airport, we had just enough time to go to lunch. We picked a restaurant near the apartment we had rented... it had a great location, nestled between the harbor and the rocky coastline in the town of Kalk Bay. With one last great meal in our stomachs, we went to catch our flight. Just like our trip down to South Africa, we once again had a layover in Dubai on the way back. Then, two weeks after taking off for South Africa, we landed back in Frankfurt... and to this day, we are still overwhelmed by how amazing the entire trip was!

After reading all three posts about our South African adventure, you can see we had an absolutely incredible time down there! I don't know if another vacation will ever compare... I guess we will see! As always, thanks so much for reading... stay tuned because I promise to blog again soon. Until then, God bless!