...Sawyer Michael Stinchfield by unanimous vote. As you Lost fans know, Ben was once Henry, both names we considered and have now dropped after resuming our viewing of Season 3. Having said that, Sawyer is not named after Sawyer, just a name we really like.

We went to Nuremberg yesterday to visit the zoo and on the way visited some of the historic rally grounds of the National Socialists (Zeppelinfeld). I had just watched a show on iTunes (History Channel) called Lost Worlds, episode "Hitler's Supercity"and so I had some background that the Germans weren't going to have posted. For example, the lake there was going to be a 400,000 seat superstadium, and in fact became a lake over the years as it filled with runoff water. The Colosseum he had built still remains there. The zoo was nice, with a great doklphin show. Of course, Ellyn thought it was the pool and was loudly attempting to join the dolphins throughout the whole show. The kid absolutely loves water.

Just over a month or so until I leave. We have block leave starting on the 13th and we have decided we will spend 2 weeks in France. Initially we will spend a few days in Normandy, lodging in Caen, so that we can go see the D-Day landing beaches and surrounding area. Then we have some time booked at Euro Disney, staying at one of the themed park hotels (Davy Crockett Ranch). After that we stay in Paris and then we are trying to find a place in southern France, especially somewhere near Carcassonne, which is a family favorite board game of ours. Speaking of Carcassonne, it is now available on XBOX live arcade and is a very nice implementation even if it is currently missing a lot of the available expansions. Catan was also made available recently and is well implemented. Soon Puerto Rico and a few others are making their way to the XBOX live arcade as well. Anyway, if anyone has Carcassonne, I would love to play sometime.

Had some tough times in my first month of command. I am sure most of you know the story of the Soldier who was killed. I would rather leave it at that. Tragic loss, simple mistake where he went the wrong way into the line of fire. If anything, I hope it has made us a stronger organization to deal with our inevitable difficulties that lie ahead.

Anyway, have not heard from many of you...I am sure you are all very busy. Would love to talk before I head out.

Mike