Welcome to the Battern Family Homestead. We welcome this opportunity to share with you some of our interests. Below, you can find out about our family, find some great places to visit in Europe, share our successes and failures in gardening, climb our family tree, and take a peek at our scrapbook.
Home is where the heart is . . .
Although my husband is retired from the Air Force, like many military families, we make our home where our head hits the pillow. While we may yearn to visit our families in San Diego, Naples, FL, and the beautiful Pacific Northwest, we make the most of wherever we land. After 8 years in Germany, home is now Omaha, Nebraska.
Our family includes my husband Dan, a retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt, myself, Lisa, a full-time mom and part-time secretary, and our four sons, Joey, Andy, Nathan and Matthew. Our family also includes a dog who thinks he's a cat, Noodles, a well-meaning Labrador, Bailey, and a sweet guinea pig named Abby.
Omaha, Nebraska . . .
A vibrant mid-west city, Omaha has something for everyone. Nestled in beautiful tree filled hills, the Omaha metro area spreads across 15 miles. We live in the suburb of Millard. Omaha offers great shopping, many world class entertainment events, a wide range of cultural attactions, great schools and universities, an expansive medical system, and so much more! .
Germany . . .
Ramstein AB is only a few miles down the road from the city of Kaiserslautern. Ramstein, Landstuhl, Vogelweh, and Sembach are just a few of the military facilities in the Kaiserslautern area. There is so much to see there ... we loved visiting Trier, Idar-Oberstein, Burg Lichtenberg, The Rheinland-Pfalz is a wonderful central location from which to visit France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and even Italy.. See our "Travel" page for additional sites of interest.
Scouting ... Fun with a purpose!
Our sons are active in Scouting. We are the proud parents of two Eagle Scouts, a Life Scout and a Second Class Scout. Here in Omaha, we are members of Troop 331. We spent several great years with Cub Scout Pack 331.
American Scouts flourish in Europe too! At Ramstein, our sons were members of Pack 232 and Troop 232 at Ramstein AB. How many other scouts can say they've camped in Switzerland, England, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Italy?
What's for Dinner?
Whole foods! Increase your veggies and reduce processed foods. I have some great ideas in my kitchen!
Scrapping!
Boxes of photos and hours of video tapes of our family has spurred me onto my newest passion, computer scrapbooking. Eventually, I hope to have all of our photos scanned and archived on CD-ROMs, from which I can create digital albums. I am also using our digital camcorder to capture stills off of our old VHS tapes. I am sure fellow scrappers can appreciate the sheer magnitude of this ambition! Visit my "Scrapping" page to see a few of my favorite layouts.
Tightwadding . . .
A firm belief that every dollar should be spent wisely has led to a life of garage "sailing", coupons, comparison shopping, gardening, canning, and frugal cooking. While it can be done alone, it is not nearly as much fun! Visit my tightwadding page for links to my favorite money saving sites and tips or browse my favorite recipes.
Gardening . . . the good, the bad, the ugly. . .
How does your garden grow? Join me for a usually humourous and possibly enlightening report on my current and past gardening efforts.
Genealogy . . .
Here's one that never seems to end. If you enjoy climbing your family tree, look here to see a list of surnames that I am working on.
Castironitis . . .
Through scouting we have developed a keen interest in cooking in Dutch Ovens or Camp Ovens. I love the information and support at dutchovencooking.
Three little Piggies ...
Our house can sometimes seem like a zoo! Currently, Abby likes to add her "wheeks" to the dogs' barking! Cavy owners will understand why I continue to post this page as a tribute to the three original Guinea Pigs we owned and loved in Germany.
Three Blind Mice ...
OK, they're really 3 lovely girl rats. Fancy pet rats are intelligent and sociable animals. They are easy to handle and are incredibly interactive compared with guinea pigs. Of our 3, two had amazing personalities, and one ... well not so much. We loved them while they were with us.
Disclaimer: While we have visited all of the sites that we have included
in our homepages, we have not reviewed every page.
Please use your own discretion when visiting sites on the internet.
If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail us.
