Wednesday, December 18, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

















Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We have been really bad about keeping in touch and getting our Christmas cards out since moving to Germany.  So, here is an update on the Flake family for the last 2 years since leaving Coronado, California and moving to Stuttgart, Germany…

Julia is now in 7th grade, 13 years old, taller than her mother and her older sister, and has a beautiful pair of glasses that allows her see so much better!  She has learned to play the violin and is now learning how to play the piano.   Julia is in the National Junior’s Honor society and several other clubs at school.  She learned a little bit of German the first year we were here and is now taking Spanish. 

Elena, a freshman in high school is 14 years old, and not happy that her younger sister is taller than her. She is now an Army JROTC Cadet and is also the Commander of the JV Rifle Team!   There was no Navy program but she loves it!  Her daddy pinned her at her first promotion.  The pinning ceremony was way too official for mom and so now we are moving to the country, buying a farm and as many horses as Elena wants!  Just kidding! but it was surreal to see all those high school kids in a full blown military ceremony.   Our little cadet will make one bad ass Naval officer! Oops, I mean Navy Chief one day!  Either way she will be great!
Both girls have been playing soccer since we moved here and they love it!  They both love the traveling to all the cool places in Europe.  Neither of them love museums as much as mom does but they will admit that the museums have cool stuff!  Both girls love seeing pieces of history that they learned about in school. 

Lance…well the poor guy does nothing but go to work and do homework.  He is halfway done with his Masters degree and has a 4.0 GPA!  In his free time he is driving his little family around Europe.  Tired of doing all the driving he bought us all train tickets on our last trip when we went to Paris.  There was no souvenir buying for Wendy on that trip.  L  Lance reenlisted for another 4 years, which will take him to 26 years of Navy service. 

Wendy…well she is a little spoiled and having more fun than the rest of the family!  She has taken 2 different girls trips one to Venice, Italy for Carnivale and the other to Poland for shopping!  We won’t mention all the other little day trips she does while the other family members are working hard or going to school. 

This summer we all traveled to the States to see our Family.  We were all homesick and needing a little bit of America.  God Bless our Wonderful Country! We love and miss the USA!  We had big plans of seeing all of our family and friends but ran out of time and were not able to do the traveling we wanted to see the rest of you.  We met our new newest family members niece Hailey and twin nephews Ashton and Parker.  We hope to let you all know soon where we will be moving to on our next adventure!  Home is where the Navy sends us!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2014

Love,
Lance, Wendy, Elena and Julia




















Saturday, September 21, 2013

Some updated photos

 Venice, Italy
 Lake Bled, Slovenia
 Bled Castle, Slovenia
 Elena after a color run.
 Julia and Elena after soccer
 Elena thinks she is a Minion
Wendy and Julia at the Wine festival, Stuttgart, Germany

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

June 2013

June 2013


Elena driving Wendy, Julia and Matt in Nevada.

Elena, Wendy and Julia on the Mountain top.




Elena doing some bouldering in Tahoe. 

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Elena rowing on Lake Bled, Slovenia.

Right before our 10.5 mile walk in the Plitvice Lakes Croatian National Park.

Piran, Slovenia.

Coffee in the morning in Tartini Square, Piran, Slovenia.

Julia enjoying that Elena is rowing while we are on Lake Bled, Slovenia.

More photos can be seen at www.lanceflake.smugmug.com


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Cruise Photos

Hello everyone, Spring break allowed us to take a 7 day cruise in and around Greece with a stop in Croatia on the way back.  Had a great time and it seems that No one in the familygot enough of Greece when we visited there and want to go back.  Our first stop was Santorini and it was beautiful.  Especially after 2 days on the water with rough weather.

 

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Garmisch, Germany

The photos below are from our first day at Garmisch when we went sledding. The next day, Wendy, Elena and Lance took snowboarding lessons while Julia took skiing lessons. We all had a great time until we got back to the hotel and the hot tub was closed because it was icing over on the steps leading to it. I guess temperatures in the teens will do that to water. Will try to get some "Action" photos posted before too long.

Fun Weekend in the SNOW!!