Hines Family Joy: 3/25/12

Soooo today, the fam gathered up and went to the next village over for the Ostermarket. Which just means Easter Market. I was pretty excited to go see all the neat things, and buy a couple cutsie German Easter things. Not the case! There was a total of ONE Easter themed booth!! The rest were tents and tents full of clothes, purses, jewelry and scarves. We weren't real thrilled! However, they had a little kiddie roller coaster and the kids loved that! We also tried out our first German Crepe with banana and Nutella inside. It was pretty good! The kids also saw the Creepy Easter Bunny on the way out, and they got Easter Eggs from him. A real egg! Dyed all pretty and all. So they thought that was pretty cool.

We came home and played catch with Austin, while Sydney ~~moved all the rocks out of the rock bed~~ "worked". That's what she said anyways.

Afterwards, we made the kids go clean up their playroom. It was about a 15 minute job, and it took them exactly 2 hours. ;o) At one point, Sydney even came down and told on herself, saying "I'm not helping Bubba clean up". So that was pretty funny! Between the two of them, they definitely keep us laughing!

On another note, we have some news. We weren't exactly expecting it, however, we've decided it will be the best for our family here in Germany. We've decided to put our name back on the Base Housing list. Our current house now, we absolutely love. We love the house. However, it is about a half our away from base, which, already is proving to be a lot. The gas alone between our two vehicles is killer, it's about $4.15 a gallon right now here. Although- I am very thankful we don't pay German gas prices- they're paying over $9 a gallon.

Another reason, our biggest reason, is the kids. Austin will be starting Kindergarten this coming year, and will have to ride the bus quite a ways both ways. I'm really just not comfortable with that at his age. Another, the biggest reason, with the kids, is that there are literally NO American kids around here. The one German boy across the street doesn't speak any English what so ever, and just stares blankly at Austin when he tries to interact with him. I feel bad for him, he's so bored, and asks all the time why the boy won't play with him, and why he isn't making any friends here. On base, everywhere you look there are kids running around, playgrounds galore, etc. There isn't a play area in our town, nor the neighboring town that we have found so far.

With not having Americans around us, it's lonely. Very lonely. I love how beautiful it is here, seeing all the German homes, being immersed in the culture- but it boils down to the kids and I being home alone all day from 5am to about 5:30 or 6:00pm when Bryant comes home. Dinner time, bed time. It's just lonely.

So, we will be putting our name on the housing list tomorrow, and hope and pray for the best. I know we will go where we need to be, but we are praying we end up in a town home. They are duplex style, like we had in Mountain Home, however, units are in high demand, and not many are available. So it is possible we will be in Stairwell type housing. I'll definitely keep you up to date on this, just maybe pray or cross your fingers or whatever you wanna do for us, that we get to the top of the waiting list quickly! One of my friends was called within 2 weeks of putting their name on the wait list, however, we've heard of it taking up to 3-6 months. I just want to be settled. And enjoy this amazing country!!!

ANOTHER bit of SUPER exciting news that we have is................

We booked our trip to Garmish Germany for Thanksgiving this year!!!!! We are incredibly excited, and cannot wait. Of course we hope to travel between now and then, but still!! There is a military resort there that we will be staying at: http://www.edelweisslodgeandresort.com/home.html

So you can go check it out if you'd like! We are going with another family, possibly two. It is going to be such a blast. Right at the base of the Swiss Alps- who can argue with that?! Definitely not this girl!