Anna Larabee Williams

I know it has been a LONG LONG time since I last posted blog entry, pictures, etc. etc., so I have decided to do a couple blog entries. First and foremost, it is to tell about our new "bundle of joy" named Anna Larabee! She was born January 3, 2008 at 3:48 p.m. at St. Joseph's Hospital in Bloomington / Normal, IL. Today is her 7th month birthday, and she sure is growing a lot!!! Anna is a very happy baby, who has been pretty easy to get along with for the most part. She is a quick learner, very alert and attentive, generally happy, smiley, and loves Zoey and pretty much most everyone she meets! We have traveled with her a lot both before and after she was born. Before she was born, she traveled in Sarah's belly to Germany for Martina and Jochen's wedding (Sarah's cousin on the Steininger side), Rome in Italy, a library conference in Washington D.C., a library conference in Monterrey, CA, and Door County in Wisconsin. Since she's been born, she's traveled to Indiana to visit family a number of times, spent a few days in a hotel with me while Sarah was attending a library conference in Ohio, spent time with us in Ithaca, NY while visiting Sarah's friend Tomek from Poland, and spent time with both sets of her grandparents for a week while Sarah and I were out in Wyoming spending Tomek's last few days in the US sightseeing in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park.

Anna definitely has changed Sarah and I's life for the better. We really enjoy her smiling face, watching her grow, spending time with her playing, reading to her, and talking to and seeing her grandparents on a webcam over Skype. Since we don't live within a short driving distance of most of our family, we have grown to use Skype a lot more often so they can see Anna's smiling face on a more regular basis!!! Other changes are that Sarah had to sell her Chevrolet Cavalier in favor for a Toyota Prius, because having a baby with a 2-door car wasn't our choice of a good time. :)

If you would like to see more pictures of Anna, below are a bunch of links to my Picasa web albums. Feel free to check back often as I am posting new pictures often of Anna.

My Picasa Web Albums

Baby Williams's Nursery -- 12/07
Anna Larabee's Birth -- 01/03/08
Anna's First Stroller Ride -- 01/07/08
Misc Anna Pictures -- 01/08
Anna's First Trip to Waldron -- 01/27/08
Anna's First Valentine's Day -- 02/14/08
Misc Anna Pictures -- 03/08
Anna's Baptism -- 04/06/08
Sarah's 1st Mother's Day -- 05/09/08
Misc Anna Pictures -- 05/08
Misc Anna Pictures -- 06/08
Misc Anna Pictures -- 07/08
Misc Anna Pictures -- 08/08

Fun times in New York City!!!

For a fun "weekend trip," I decided to take Sarah to New York City. The timing just so happened to also coincide with her birthday and Valentine's day, which was a big plus!!! We had a great time! We went to go see the Broadway musical Hairspray at the Neil Simon Theatre. To see a musical on Broadway in NYC was absolutely amazing. The performers were definitely top notch and very high energy! It was almost like a "rock concert" in the energy level of the show. On Saturday afternoon, we took a trip to the southern part of Manhattan. We stopped to see the progress of the new construction where Ground Zero was. Seeing that for the second time for me wasn't as sobering as the first time I went their with my best friend, Chuck. The first time I went there, a lot of the buildings were still damaged and you could see the effects of the twin towers falling. But seeing the pictures of what it was like on 9/11/2001, is still very inspiring. Later that afternoon we took a boat trip to get a closer view of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, and New York City in general. It was definitely cold and a wee bit windy, but we had fun nonetheless!!

On our first day in NYC, Sarah and I went down to Times Square. We walked around quite a lot, and it was funny to hear Sarah say that she "wasn't impressed with it." Having been to Times Square on my first trip to NYC with Chuck, I knew she was in for a treat once the sun went down, and Times Square turns into something completely different. Once you see all of the signs, the billboards, the huge TV screens at night, its awe-inspiring!! While we were down in that general area, there was an area where the Oscars were put on display, where I got to hold one and get my picture taken with a real Oscar!!! Damn they are heavy too! Too bad I couldn't take that home for a "souvenir" ;). We also got to tour NBC studios while we were in the Rockefeller Center area. I always love seeing the inner-workings of a TV studio. Its amazing to see all the hundreds of lights, which remove any shadows from anyone that camera is filming. I just wish we would have gotten there earlier on Thursday, so we could have gotten the opportunity to go to a taping of Letterman or Conan. I have been to two live show recordings so far in my life, and they are a lot of fun!

On our last day, we had a very nice stroll through Central Park on our way to the Museum of Natural History. I definitely would love to back to NYC in the spring time, when it is warmer, and NO SNOW!!! But, NYC is always tons of fun, and I will definitely go back often!

Here is the link to our NYC Photos:
02-2007 -- NYC Trip Photos

Pictures from our trip to Poland

I know its quite a bit delayed, but I am finally posting the pictures Sarah, Tomek, and I took while we were visiting Poland from December 27, 2006 - January 6, 2007. Sarah and I definitely had a wonderful time! I still can not believe how we lucked out with the weather. It was very nice for Poland for the wintertime!!! The temperature was in the mid to upper 30's (in Fahrenheit) most of the time. We did get snow while we were in Jadlowa (Tomek's home town), which was a beautiful surprise. We fortunately didn't get too much, so it didn't make travel *too* difficult.

The trip was tons of fun. It was definitely the perfect way to celebrate Sarah's accomplishment of getting her second Master's degree. It will definitely be a change for the better for Sarah not to have to worry about homework, classes, group work, etc. She can now just focus on work and doing things for herself again. No more undergraduates and graduate students in groups to deal with...no more working until late doing homework...I know she's excited to have her *life back* so she can do more *fun things* during the week again, not just on Saturday, and sometimes Sunday.

I hope there are many more years ahead of us where we have opportunities like we had in 2006 to be able to visit Europe not only once in a year....but TWICE!!! :)

Here is the link to the album:
01-2007 -- Poland Trip Pictures

Happy New Year 2007!

Sarah and I had an eventful evening while enjoying the New Year's Celebration in Krakow at the old town marketplace. There were many, many people watching the free concert (I would guess approximately 100,000-125,000 people in the market square), which had various types of music, from European dance music, to rock, to pop...but most songs were song in Polish. I think we were one of very few people that did not speak much Polish at all!! Eventhough we couldn't understand the announcers or singers, it did not dampen our spirits at all. We ate Kebab's (for the English speakers, they are Greek Gyros) on the street before walking over to the concert. For the first hour or so of the concert, we were enjoying watching the bands in "relative comfort and space," but as the night grew nearer to midnight, the people grew rowdier and the area around us became much more crowded. We then decided to leave the concert, and make our way over to the other side of the Sukiennice (the cloth hall in the middle of the market square), where the crowds were much more sparse. During the final few seconds of year 2006, Sarah enjoyed them by yelling out, "Szesc, piec, cztery, trzy, dwa, jeden!" (The countdown of the final six seconds of 2006 in Polish!) At the crack of 12 midnight, the fireworks show ensued!!! It was a spectacular display of fireworks that lasted about 5-7 minutes. The crowd roared, and many bottles of champagne were consumed by those around us.

It was a lot of fun to take part in an event like the New Year's celebration in another country. It is interesting to see the similarities and differences that our two cultures have.

Happy New Year's 2007! I hope this year brings all of you happiness and good health!

Dzien Dobry (Hello!!) from Poland!

Well, since Sarah is done with her 2nd Master's Degree, we have taken a trip to Poland to celebrate. This is my second time visiting Poland, and Sarah's third. It has been nearly six years since either of us have been back here, but it is as beautiful and fun as ever. We flew from Indianapolis, IN late Tuesday night, December 26, 2006, and arrived to the Balice airport outside of Krakow, about 1:30 PM Krakow time. After going through customs, we met our "travel agent" Tomek Warzecha. Sarah met Tomek during her first visit to Poland when she was studying abroad during the time she was at Purdue. Our first four days (Wednesday - Saturday) were spent at his home town of Jadlowa. It is a small village in a rural area of Poland that is about 120km east of Krakow.

We had a wonderful time spending a lot of time with Tomek, his neice Ola (short for Alexandria), his mother Maria, and his Siamese cat Zyza. We ate many wonderful meals prepared by both Tomek and his mother Maria. Home-cooked Polish food is the best!!! On Thursday, we took a trip and climbed to the top of a mount that had a church and very large cross at the top. It was a beautiful day, and we could see the Polish countryside very well. Later that night, I sat and spent time with Ola, Tomek's neice, helping her learn more English, while she helped me brush up my Polish! Unfortunately, neither of us remembered much of either language the next day ;). On Friday, we walked around in the snow that fell the night before, and took a trip to the nearby village of Jadlowa. It is a quaint village, but has a warm, inviting appeal. We walked to visit the nearby churches, shops, and to visit Tomek's brother Frank's home. It was a beautiful home. It is amazing to think that most people that live away from the larger cities in Poland build their homes mostly by themselves!

On Saturday, we made our way from Jadlowa to Krakow via train. On Saturday night, we checked into our hotel, ate dinner at a small cafe near the market square, and walked around the old town. Today, we attended mass at a very small church, St. Giles, where the mass is performed in English. After mass, we met Tomek again, where we spent a couple hours wandering around the Wawel Castle, the market place, and the Florian Gate.

Next on the agenda, since it is New Year's Eve, is to attend a New Year's Celebration in the market square. They will be ringing in the New Year 2007 with a large concert (rock music, dance music, etc), lots of firework, and just lots of fun in general!!!

See you all in the New Year!!! Happy New Year 2007!!!

Back in the U.S.A.!!!

Well, I am back here in the good old U.S. of A. After a wonderful two week trip to Germany and Austria, I had to regrettably come back to the U.S.A. so I could go back to work. It's not that I don't like working, but vacation is just more fun! ;) Fortunately, the security coming back was not that bad, and our flights (minus Rich's -- his was cancelled and had to stay another day in Germany) were on time, and we made it home safely. Since my last post from Germany, Sarah, Rich, Ev, and I traveled to see Sarah's family in Haidensäg, spent 4 days in Munich, 2 days in Rothenburg, and then flew home on Sunday.

Our time in Haidensäg was wonderful. Meeting Sarah's family in Germany was like meeting someone again that I had known for all of my life. They were very warm, caring, and open people that welcomed all of us into their homes. They fed us VERY well, we drank a lot of beer and Blutwurz, and we all just had a downright great time! I know I didn't want to leave on Monday.

After spending 3 days in Haidensag, we drove to visit more with one of Sarah's cousins in her and her husband's hometown of Deggendorf. There we learned how to play Eisstockschiessen, which is a game similar to Curling, drank tea and coffee, and watched their vacation and wedding picture DVD's.

Munich was a fun city to spend quite a bit of time in. The city has been rebuilt very well, to have a feel of old and new since the devastation from World War II. Going to see the Glockenspiel, Linderhof Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, the local churches, and shopping around town was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun NOT to have to drive from place to place. Public transportation in Europe for the most part is quite easy and convenient to use.

Rothenburg was definitely a highlight of mine during our trip. The town today stands very much as it did during the medieval times. The wall surrounding the main part of the city was still mostly intact, the buildings looked different than in other European cities I had visited, and the people had a different character about them. It was a "living dead" city. It truly survives by tourism today. After the 30-years war in the 1600's and the devestation of the plague, Rothenburg, for the lack of better terms, fell asleep to the world and didn't prosper like the surrounding cities. Its industries were gone or failing, many people were killed by disease, allowing the city to remain much as it was nearly 400 years ago. I recommend anyone to visit Rothenburg if you visit Bavaria.

Our trip was a great trip, with lots of drinking of Hefeweizen beer, good food, great company, and beautiful sights. I would love to have the chance to live in Germany for a few years if I could someday. Europe is just an amazing place, with a deep rich culture that America does not have. Now the wait is on until Sarah and I's next trip around Christmas. We are going to Poland!

To see all of the pictures that we took in Germany, please visit the following link:

2006-08 -- Germany / Austria Vacation Photos

Hello from Germany!

Well I am currently in Germany sitting in a hotel lobby using their Wifi uploading all of the wonderful pictures that we have take so far!!! Germany is incredible, well at least what I've seen of it so far. We flew from Indianapolis to Chicago, then from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. From Frankfurt, we hopped into a rental car, and drove to Heidelberg. We walked around there, saw a castle, and had dinner.....then crashed!!! The second day we headed down into the Bavarian portion of Germany and stopped for the day at a beautiful lake. From there, we drove into Austria and stayed in Salzburg for 2 days. Salzburg was a fun area. Think Mozart....Think major castles and fortresses. What else could you ask for ?!?!?!? From there, we headed to Passau, Germany, which is where I am writing from now. We arrived the last night, had dinner, and took a trip today on the Danube River. Unfortunately the weather didn't treat us well, and looking at the forecast, may not treat us well for the rest of the trip. Tomorrow we are headed up to Haidensag, which is where Sarah's family (on her father's side) is from originally. We are going to stay there for a few days, and then make our way down to Munich. After spending 4 days there, we hit our last stop of Rothenburg. Once finished there, we drive to Frankfurt and head back home!

Hopefully, if I have time, and an available internet connection, I can post more pictures soon! If not, I'll see you all when I get back!

To view the pictures we have take from Germany, going to the following link:

2006-08 -- Germany / Austria Vacation Photos

P.S. Beer is wonderbar!!!!!