Our Adventures

Well...Last Saturday morning (Europe time) we set out to travel around Europe for a few days before returning home to the States. We rented a Volkswagon "minibus" to take us around Europe. We visited a castle in Germany called "The Eltz Castle." Believe it or not, there is still a family that lives there.

Next, we traveled to Paris, France to see lots of beautiful sights, and boy did we. Here are pictures of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. As soon as we found a hotel in Paris, we traveled on the subway system for 1.50 Euros each, very cheap. The subway took us right outside of these places. We saw the Eiffel Tower Saturday night, then on Sunday morning we visited Notre Dame. They were holding a church service while we were there, so that was interesting.

We also drove around The Arc of Triumph. This is a big turn-about with about five lanes traveling around it with no lines! It was absolutely crazy! Underneath The Arc is a memorial for the unknown soldiers of France. There were interesting sites of the Lueve, golden bridges, huge buildings, and lots more.

Then, we traveled to Normandy Sunday afternoon where WWII took place. What an interesting area along the Utah and Omaha Beaches. You can still see the area where the bombs hit along the beach. There are still remains of where the arsenal was kept along with tunnels underground for the men fighting. Jacob loved seeing that area as he is a big history buff.

Lastly, Sunday night we traveled through Brussels to the Netherlands where we were flying out of Amsterdam, Netherlands on Monday.

We had a great trip and hope we can return again someday. We hope you enjoy our pictures.

PARIS BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so we've decided to make the best out of an unexpected situation. Tomorrow we leave to visit an old German castle on route to Paris where Jacob and I will spend Saturday night and Sunday morning. Then on our way to Amsterdam to catch our flight back we will stop by Normandy Beach and the site of the D-Day invasion. Our flight back is set for Monday morning to arrive in Kalispell MT late Monday night. We will fly back to Green Bay on Friday the 13th!?!?!?!?

Coming Back to the States

I am writing today with a sad heart. After Jacob's two try-outs this week and the four try-outs earlier, we have not received any feedback on teams wanting to sign him right now. They say he is very talented and athletic but "raw" meaning him not playing high school basketball has caught up with him. Also, the teams say they don't want to invest in him because he's already 27. If he were younger, this would be a different story. With the teams that would pick him up, the pay would not be enough for us to stay here and live comfortably. So, after a long sleepless night, we have decided to come back home to the states.

This does not mean things are for sure over, it just means that teams may not make a decision on Jacob until mid to late August. If the right offer presented itself, we would come back in a heartbeat.

We are both extremely happy that we came. Jacob is happy with his performance at his try-outs as he gave 100%. We liked living in Germany as we became cultured fast. Very few people speak English, so that was a treat when trying to eat out. We met some great people and will always remember them.

Today Jacob has a workout in Bohn, Germany, a top league. He left at 3pm to show them his skills. Hopefully this is a successful trip as they are in need of a big man. He also has a workout tomorrow through Thursday with a team about 2 hours from here. They are also in need of a big man in the top league. Please pray that everything works out for him and without an injury.

A lot of you are asking in e-mails what it is I do while Jacob works out. Well...a lot of times I go work out, read, go to the internet cafe to keep you all updated on our lives, play computer games, do dishes if needed, do laundry if needed, or sometimes I go watch him workout. I for sure keep myself busy.

We also just got informed that we need to move out of our apartment now as the school needs it next week for a bunch of kids moving in. So, we will be moving again to probably a hotel in Düsseldorf. We will keep you updated on everything going on.

Happy Belated Birthday to Jacob's sister and my sister-in-law Darcy! Hope you had a great day!

Living in Germany

Jacob and I arrived in Hilden, Germany on June 8th. Here is where we live and Jacob works out every day with a trainer. He took part in a Pro-Exposure Camp from June 22-24 where scouts from different teams in Germany could look at him. We are expecting to here back next week from these teams.

This last weekend we traveled to Düsseldorf. First we took the train from Hilden to Düsseldorf. Then we found a taxi to take us from the train station to the city center where we took a boat ride on the Rhien. Here is a picture of us on our boat ride.

Here are just a few random pictures from our trips around Germany.

Iran

As most of you probably already know, Jacob's first experince traveling abroad took him to the Middle East for a professional basketball tournament in Tehran, Iran (a city of about 20 million people).

Jacob played for Al Rayyan, a team from the country of Qatar. The tournament was called "The Asia Cup" with teams from Syria, Lebanon, Philippines, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, India, and Iran. After losing a close game to Iran in the semi-finals, they finished third by beating Kazakhstan.

He stayed at an international hotel in Tehran with over 30 flags in front, the US flag failed to make the cut.