Pictures have arrived!

Long overdue, I know.  But here they are!! 

As we go into our second month in Germany- I feel like we are starting to settle in some.  We found a house off base, it's about a 25 minute drive to work for Bry, but he's okay with that.  It's a little further out than we'd planned, however, the house is amazing.  Here in Germany, usually the rent contract is on a month to month basis.  So, in a year, if we decide that it's just too far for us, we can always move in closer to base.  We wanted to submerse ourselves in Germany, in the culture and see how we liked it.  So far, so good.  Our home (pictures of the house are at the very end of blog) is adorable.  And huge.  So much bigger than what we could afford in the states- which is polar opposite of what we had been told about housing here.  We live on a side street, so the only traffic is the cars that belong to the homes- which are 3 other homes besides ours on our street.  Kind of like a dead-end cul-de-sac if you will.  There's a walking trail literally one block from our front door, and so that is awesome.  We have went on a couple walks- but it's been so cold that we haven't done more.  Cannot wait for Spring when we can go a few times a week. 

The kids have been doing great.  Aside from a few issues that we sort of expected (listening, testing, etc) they have adjusted pretty well.  They love our house, and are use to it I think now.  Petey hasn't adjusted as well as I expected he would.  He's still pretty whiny and paces a lot.  I've noticed just in the past week that he's started settling down some and is a little less high strung during the day- so hopefully he will chill out.

Bryant has been super busy at work.  The first couple weeks we were here, he only had to go in a handful of times- but was off for the majority of the first 2 weeks.  Since he's been back, he's been putting in a lot of hours.  He likes the shop he is in, but says it is very very disorganized and lacking any real leadership.  It's a large shop, with almost 20 people working in it.  It's the biggest shop he's been in so far, and he is use to max 7 people- so it is an adjustment for him. 

I've caught a cold.... second since we've been in Germany.  I am hoping the kids don't catch it this time, but I guess turn about is fair play (haha).  I caught it from them last time.  I'm really liking the house, and the area.  I'm not real fond of how far it is from base- remember- we haven't lived off base in a LONG time.  So getting use to living off base, in another country is a bit of a challenge.  I have been to the German market a few times- and have only ran into a problem one time when looking for paper plates.  No one there spoke English.  They had no idea what I was asking for, and I had no idea what they were telling me.  So they kept showing me tortillas.  We finally got it figured out- if you are good at the game Charades- you'd be a pro here in Germany. 

I'm having a hard time adjusting to being here though as well.  I'm pretty homesick, and craving familiarity and comfort.  You can't just run down to your local Target or Fred Meyer, and everything off base is priced in Euro.  If I pull 40euro out of the ATM, we get charged almost 55 American dollars. 

I can't just call my family or friends whenever I want to, it's a large time difference so that's been hard as well.  I know once our things get here (MARCH 5TH! yay!!) things will be easier, I will have my "stuff" back, and things to do.  The weather has been pretty crummy, so I have been in the house with not much to do. 

Anyway- enough of that pity party! 

A couple weekends ago, we went with some friends to try our hand at Indian food.  A first time for both of us- and we LOVED it.  The kids enjoyed it as well- which was shocking to us since they haven't been liking much here yet.  (even American food- so they're just being picky!)  It's definitely a place we will take family, and a place we will return to.  Last weekend, was our friends daughters birthday, and she chose Mexican for her dinner.  We went to a place off base called Cantina's.  NOT what we were use to, but it was good.  The chips and salsa, in Bryant and my opinion, was definitely the best part- they were GOOD. 

Other then that, we have tried one German restaurant with those same friends in their town of Weilerbach. (All w's are pronounced as a V) It was delicious!!  We were very thrilled that our first German meal was amazing- so we are anxious to try more.

 This is a little pond in a park in the town of Weilerbach, which is where some of our friends live.

A zipline in that same park.  Kids loved it.

 Sydney's turn.  That is Mike with her, one of Bryant's good friends. (We were stationed with this family at Shaw AFB in South Carolina.)

 First German coffee from a Bakerei- it was delish!

 The kids waiting on breakfast one morning a few days after we arrived.  This was in our TLF kitchen. (Temporary Living Facility provided by the military)

 Driving through roads of Germany. 

 This sign means Exit.

 This is 20 euro.  Their money is all different colors depending on the amount.  Also- they have coins for 2euro and 1euro.  Weird!  If you pay for something with a 5euro bill and it only cost 1euro, you will get two 2 euro coins back. 

 We got this sign shortly after we got here.  LOVE LOVE it!

 We took a trip to Rothenburg ODT, Germany.  This was our group. It was a blast, and SUCH a beautiful place.  We will definitely return there once it warms up. It was freezing this day.  It's about a 2.5 hour drive from us.  Following pictures are from Rothenburg.  The city is surrounded by a stone wall from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when.  There were even bowman's points and such that they used.  It was unreal to see, and even harder to imagine it in use.

 This is the entrance to the city.(above)

 These pasteries are called "Shneederballen" (no idea how to spell it) but they are famous for these.  We all tried them, and were NOT impressed.  No flavor actually.  They are basically a pie dough rolled in a cool way, and then cooked and topped with chocolate, sugar, ect.  Not impressed!

 This was amazing.  I'm assuming it's the center of town.  I believe it was 5 o'clock and the bells started chiming and little "people" popped out of the windows.  It was like a real life coo-coo clock!

 This is a picture outside our window at our home. 

 Picture (zoomed in) of our town from our 2nd story window

 On a walk on the walking path I wrote about above.

 There was another dog playing and Petey would NOT look at me!

 Our home! (not our cars)

 Side of home

Back of home.  It's a duplex home- but you'd never know it.  We never hear our neighbors, ever.  So that's very nice.  I guess it helps they are a quiet couple- maybe they hear us?? haha!!

Anyway- that's our life so far!  Check back soon for more updates!

xoxo

k.

All about Germany

Guten Tag!

We are in Germany!  I know I am late getting this out, and I apologize for that!!

We headed out from East Wenatchee airport on the morning of the 9th.  From the get-go, we had issues.  This one was for Petey- and it took awhile, and a few hundred dollars, but finally got that straightened out.  With everything else that had happened with our move, I am pretty sure this just set us over the edge. 

The good-bye that morning and the evening before were so, so hard.  You know the feeling you sometimes get when you think your heart can't possibly hurt anymore?  Times that by a million.  Yeah, it was pretty hard.  Living for the past year in my hometown was probably the biggest blessing out of the entire year.  I grew closer to a lot of family, and I am so incredibly thankful for that.  As much as I disliked the time Bryant and I had to spend apart, I don't believe I would change that year.  I gained a closer relationship with a lot of people that under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have been able to do. 

ANYWAY!.............  We made it to Baltimore that evening around 11pm, and checked into our hotel.  Which, we promptly ordered pizza =)  We were starving!  Didn't end up in bed until 2am- and Bryant and Austin didn't wake until 11:30, and Sydney and I until noon!  WOWZA!  (although, that is 9am Washington time!)

We had time to all get cleaned up for the day, took the shuttle to lunch, back to the hotel to pack, and off to the airport we went.  We had about a 3 1/2 hour wait, but then we finally boarded the plane to Germany. 

And let me tell you- the plane was so freaking huge!!!! I freaked- and Bryant laughed at me.  I have never seen something that big in my life- and honestly- have no idea how it flies.  But it does- and I was shocked at how smooth of a ride it was.  It was the smoothest plane ride I've ever been on.  Whew!

So we made it into Ramstein Air Base, and then had to wait for two hours to get our luggage with someones stinky dogs.  Like- so stinky that we were gagging- NO LIE.

Bryant's sponsors (people from his shop) met us there, as well as our friends Brian and Melissa Hammond.  They brought us a bag of food items, as well as beer and wine to tide us over for a couple days until we could grocery shop.  Let me tell ya, it saved our butts!

The time change was huge.  9 hours isn't something to shrug about!  It took us about 4 days to switch around- and it was rough =)  The kids were up the first morning at 3am (as well as being up through the night ever 45 minutes or so) and the next morning at 5am.  Each morning continued to get better, and we were finally on schedule- although for the first full week and a half we crashed pretty hard around 8 or 9pm. 

Since we have been here- we have been to the BX (actually a HUGE mall in all honesty with tons of shops, and the Exchange itself is ridiculously huge) a handful of times, the commissary a few times, to a couple different towns (Obernheim-Kirchenarnbach which the Hammonds live in, as well as Weilerbach which the Swetmons live in to name a couple) ate a German meal finally last night, and we found a house off base in the town of Brucken Pflaz!  That is VERY exciting for us- as we found out the hard way that we did NOT want to live in the stairwell apartments (which is what we are in right now in TLF) and that the townhomes on base are a mere 1100 square feet.  We have too much furniture for that- but could have made it work if we had to.  Anyhow, we found a house, the town is about 22 minutes away from base, and is amazing!  It's 3 stories, with a garage (which is not common around here) and over 1900 square feet.  With 4 bedrooms, 1.75 bathrooms, and the top floor is a HUGE open studio room.  It's really an awesome house, and by others we have seen, it's fairly rare to find something like this so quick.  So we are incredibly lucky- and possibly one of the only things that has went right for us for this entire move!  Anyhow- our landlords seem to be great people, and also know some English which is a plus.  We move in on the 31st, and it cannot come soon enough!

The weather here has been pretty cruddy lately.  When we first got here- it was just fine- 30's and 40's and we even got to take a few walks around base.  But for the past 4 or 5 days it's rained.  Every day.  All day.  Even as we speak, it's raining so hard that it sounds like the tub is going full blast in the bathroom down the hall!!

Pictures will come tomorrow (I know, I'm sorry!!!) because for some reason it will not let me upload more than 1 at a time- and I'm sorry, I do NOT have enough patience for that! hehe!

xoxo
k. 

192 hours

That's all that's left of our time here in the States.  It all is coming down to these 192 hours.  And yes, that would be PLENTY of time for us if our bodies didn't require sleep, but they do.  They do, so we must.

It already feels like we don't have enough time in our days to see who we need to see.  To try to make those we love and care about happy.  Some don't understand that we are trying. But it is hard to get everything done, and see everyone.  Not only see everyone, but spend quality time with each and every person.  We are truly truly sorry if we didn't get to see you, or spend the time with you that we wished we could have.  There's just so much on our plates right now- moving to another country that we know nothing about, with two small children, away from our families- it's a lot to handle and a lot to take in.  It's very very scary. 

Enough of that! 

It's the NEW YEAR!!!  January 1st.... almost January 2nd!  The past year flew by in retrospect.  My husband was gone for the entire thing- and we made it.  And it feels so so wonderful to say that.  We made it!  Other people sometimes aren't as lucky, but we were.  I thank God for that every day.  It wasn't easy, it was hard.  It was very hard, but we stuck with it, and stuck by each other and here we are.  192 hours away from starting a new adventure together.  Awesome right??

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that we're still here, I'm still kickin.... the blog will be back in action with being away from family again, so make sure to check back often. 

I cannot wait to share all our adventures with everyone- there will be so much to do and so much to see in Germany! 

Until next time friends.....

xoxo.

k.

September, October & November

September was a great month.  I am so thankful I take pictures, because as I sat here trying to remember what went on in September, I couldn't think of a dang thing.  I went through my pictures, and everything came back in an instant. 

Austin started Karate in September.  He LOVED it- had a great time.  One of his friends was in his class as well, and they were glued at the hip.

 One of our great friends came to town with his wife and kids, Chad and Margo.  We went up to Leavenworth for the day, and Austin had a blast at the hat shop.  Sydney was more interested in the toy store next door.

 This is Sydney... she's not real thrilled that I am bothering her during her toy exploring.

One of the BEST parts of September for me was going to a concert with my momma, Melinda, and Chelsea.  We got to go to ZAC BROWN BAND!!!!  I guess I'd better change my songs on here so you all can here them.... one of my FAVORITE bands- so I was pretty excited to go!  Also was my FIRST trip to the Gorge.... even though I lived here for 18 years, I had never been!  

 Part of the band.  Zac is the one with the guitar.  Not much to look at, but a GREAT artist!

At the end of September, one of my very best friends, Melinda, got married to Brian.  It was a beautiful ceremony in Ohme gardens. 

In October, we were on our way to Oregon to visit Dad, Nancy, Nannie and Pa.  Also Connie and Paul at the end of the trip. 

So, Austin had his last day of Karate..... here with his "girlfriend" Carley. (Who happens to be the daughter of my childhood best friend, Amy.)

 Austin also had his last day of School here in the States for THREE YEARS!  Here he is with his wonderful teacher Noel. 

Nannie and Pa are now living with Dad and Nancy after Pa's diagnosis of cancer.  Here are Austin and Sydney camping out with Nannie and Pa watching t.v.

This is one of Austin's favorite parks.  It just so happens to be quite close to Gramps' house!  

We also went to the river.  Didn't stay long because it was FREEZING!!!

It's crazy how beautiful Fall can be!!

Nancy aka Grammie also had her 35th birthday while we were there ;o)  She chose to celebrate at the new Red Lobster in town. YUM!

And of course.... Gramps got pampered!

Arts and crafts for the kiddos!  We left Gramps and Grammie with some artwork to decorate their house for fall.

The kids were so cute one morning.  For some reason they wouldn't come out of the bedroom until their pancakes were done.  So Sydney crawled out of the pack n play and into bed with Austin.  They laid there and talked and giggled for a good 45 minutes.  It was pretty cute to see.

Then, off to Bend, OR to see Auntie Connie and Uncle Paul!

Here's Austin at the Smith Rock corn maze.  It was a Star Wars Theme, so Austin was beyond excited.

End of the day grouchiness happiness!

Zoo Train Ride.  Austin was super excited to ride on the Giraffe.  Sydney on the other hand just wanted to get out to go play in the dirt.  All.  Day.  Long.

 

Back home to Washington just in time for Halloween.  Both kids were/are sick, so it was a very low key, mellow Halloween this year.  Austin didn't even want to carve pumpkins!  Even so, they were pretty cute!  Austin was Optimus Prime, and Sydney was a Hello Kitty Witch.

We took the kids to a Halloween kiddie carnival one night for about an hour before Austin's fever returned.  Then on Halloween, I ended up having to take Sydney to the doctor and found out she came down with a double ear infection (again) along with some pretty swollen tonsils.  So she and I stayed home while Nana and Papa took Austin trick or treating.

Austin got to see his cousins on Halloween.  Tanner, Bryce, Hailey and Maddi.  Austin adores him. 

So that brings us right to November!  Time is starting to fly now.  And it's only going to go faster in the next few weeks.  43 days until Bryant returns- and we couldn't be more excited!

The movers will be here shortly to pack our stuff to ship to Germany, and I will be having to make a trip to Seattle to ship our vehicle as well.

In the middle of this month we are going to make a short trip back to Mountain Home to see some friends before we leave for Germany, so we are all excited about that.

Another biggie of this month is Sydney is going back in for surgery.  She will be getting tubes in both ears again as well as adenoid removal.  Hopefully this will be the end of our bad luck this year! ;o)

Well that's all for now!! Stay tuned. =)

xoxo

k.