TEN!!!

Well, Corben is 10.  How about that?  He's been alive for 1 decade.  It's crazy crazy crazy to think that ten years ago he was a teeny tiny little baby wearing preemie diapers and clothes, and screaming and crying all the time.  Now he's still wearing teeny tiny clothes (size 7 and 8) and he doesn't scream and cry quite as much..... :)

Really, we're so excited for him.  He got a brand new bed.... queen sized for his room.  We wanted him to feel a little more grown up, and he needed a new bed anyway, so why not get him something nice?  He got to take treats to school, which never happens, because usually spring break falls the same week as his birthday.  So this was a super special school day for him.

This year Corben requested a "Strawberry LONG cake"  He wanted a giant strawberry shortcake instead of regular cake.  I was more than happy to comply, seeing how I don't have any of my cake stuff sitting around.

Some day we'll get pictures of how excited the kids actually are about their gifts.  Corben was practically bouncing off the walls.  He got a Nintendo 3DS XL and two games to go with it.  He immediately started putting it to good use, and has been sharing with Tayzia, who is surprisingly good at Mario Kart.

Happy birthday Kiddo!  We love you so much.

The Waiting Game

We've moved into our house, we got our van that we shipped, and normally at this point, I'd post some pictures of the house in all it's glory.  However, we still don't have our STUFF.  Our household goods stuff.  We're waiting and waiting, and I'm starting to wait very impatiently.  Our mandatory deliver date, has come and gone, and we still have no idea where our stuff is.  I don't want to put up pictures of the house until we have our things in them where we want them.  I think that makes all the difference, showing off our home, as our home, not just an empty shell with government (dental office style) furniture.


Since I can't post any of that, I'll post some other stuff!

This is the gorgeous new carpet we got for our living room.  We have some carpets coming, but they are going in our office, and bedroom, and we needed something to break up the wood flooring in our living room.  (a note on our wood flooring, in all the house we have what looks like the pergo sp? flooring, but our living and dining room are actual wood floor pieces that were shipped in from a home that is older than ours.  So while it isn't brand new looking, it has history, it's beautiful with all of it's imperfections, and we have to be careful with it, hence the need for a large rug.)  It's not easy picking out a rug, if you haven't done it before.  We have a couch on order, and it's Mocha colored, and our LL painted several walls in the home yellow.  We had to find something that would mesh with both of these things, and we feel this will.  The lighter portion is yellowish gold in the sunlight, there's the burgundy color, and then inside that is what looks to be a nice mocha brown, so hopefully it will coordinate!

I fell down the stairs.  Anyone who really knows me, knows I'm pretty accident prone.  For example, as a junior in high school, I broke the middle toe, of this same foot.  I was kicking my leg back and forth (warming up for a dance rehearsal I was about to go to) and I accidentally kicked it into an old piece of furniture in our house.  It bruised up just like this.  (funny thing, that dance rehearsal was the very FIRST time I ever met Tim.  I thought he was funny looking and kind of rude, and he thought I was a wimpy complainer, since I was complaining about my injured foot during practice.... good thing we met again a year later and actually liked each other huh?)  Also, this same foot, toe next to the pinky toe, is the toe that I nearly ripped off during a dance concert in Salt Lake.  I ended up with 9 stitches from front to back.  If you look closely, you can still see the scar from those stitches.  (hey, Tim was with me for that too..... interesting.)  This is also the same foot that I tore the ligaments in my ankle, and have sprained several times since.  Needless to say, I'm accident prone.  I slipped down the bottom three stairs, jammed my toes, banged my elbows and calf.  I think I only sprained it this time, because I can actually walk around, and if I had to, I think I could dance.  I like to take pictures of my ugly battle wounds... it makes me feel like I lead an interesting life.

I think I need to go out and take some pictures so I can add some more fun things to this blog.  I live in Germany!  I need to LIVE it!

Bonn and Koln

For our very first excursion in Germany, we set off toward Bonn.  Bonn is a city about 2.5 hours north of us.  Bonn used to be the Capitol of West Germany, but was replaced as Capitol by Berlin in 1990.  Bonn is also home to the University of Bonn.  (part of the University is housed in an old palace!  We drove by, but I wasn't able to get a good picture).  We met up with Fabi, who lives in Bonn, and he took us around the city, and to one of his favorite Italian restaurants.  (We don't do a lot of adventurous foods when we have the kiddos with us.) and then to the HARIBO shop.

The HARIBO shop has gummies as far as the eye can see, and many of them are not available in the states, so we all decided to walk and choose some that we've never seen before.

That is when we came across these.............

They also had some rides, little outside of the grocery store style rides.... my kids loved those more than the gummies!

Walking around, outside the train station in Bonn

On the train heading to Koln (Cologne)

We hopped on the train to Koln, so we could see this..... The Dome of Koln  (It's also called the Dome of Cologne...)  Isn't it gorgeous?  

I LOVE the ceilings!  I wasn't able to get a great picture, but there's a golden sarcophagus here that is said to house the 3 wise men, as in THE 3 wise men!  That area of the church was blocked off this time, but I know we'll be going back.  When the weather is warmer, we're going to climb to the top of the Dome.  Fabi says it takes about 30 or so minutes to climb it....... yeah.

For a small donation, the kids were allowed to light candles.  I think they enjoyed lighting them, though none of us are really sure what exactly we light the candles for.  

We had such a good time.  It was really cold though, and when we left it started to snow pretty hard.  It took us a long time to get home, because they didn't plow the roads.  It was a little scary.  I can't wait to go back out and see more of Germany!

Some Favorites

I know, that in a week, I'll be adding even more things that I'm loving about Germany, but I thought, since we just got our Internet today, that I'd add a few things, that I love.

If you haven't ever taken German, then I'll tell you, this is pronounced Ows-fart.  That's right.... FART. My kids laugh and giggle every time we take the Ausfahrt.  (Ausfahrt is exit).  Oh, and Einfahrt, is entrance.  (Ei makes and I sound, and ie makes and E sound.)

Haribo, and Trolli are EVERYWHERE, and there's a gazillion different kinds.  Every time we go to the BX we go to the Haribo/Trolli section and try new gummies.  Corben picked up a some that looked like dog treats last night.  I think they're full of black licorice.... yuck.  There's a Haribo factory out here somewhere, we'll be going!

Kinder chocolates.  These guys are the makers of the Kinder Eggs, and the Happy Hippos that my kids love to eat.  I haven't tried much else, but I plan to because, hey, why not?

Okay, the outlets, well I can't say I LOVE them, I just thought I'd put them in here to vent some frustration.  The outlets here are 220 voltage.  If you look on the plugs of your electrical appliances, it will tell you the voltage.  If it says 110-220/250 then you can use a small adapter and plug your stuff in.  If it doesn't, then you can't use it without a transformer.  Those things are big, and heavy, and obnoxious, oh, and expensive.  To give you an idea, without a transformer, I can't use one single kitchen item that I shipped ahead.  My crock pots, mixers, popcorn poppers, waffle maker, none of it.  Only one curling iron out of all my hair things was adapter appropriate.  I had to get a new blow dryer.  The new clippers I just spent a fortune on, don't work here.  Now, the good thing is, I can get new appliances at the thrift shop and through yard sales from people moving, and it won't cost too much.  However, I hate the thought of getting new things, that I won't be able to use when we eventually move back to the states. 

The villages.  The little villages and towns, all over the place, are exactly what I'd pictured little European towns to be.  Most of the little ones are circular, with windy streets, and cute little houses and buildings, and a church close to the center.  I hear church bells every now and then when we're driving through one or another.  The streets are teeny tiny, and built for European cars, it sort of reminds me of Okinawan streets, but I was driving an Okinawan vehicle, this time around, I definitely feel like I'm driving a monster truck on a sidewalk!  It's so great though, I'm so happy to be here.  I can't wait for the exploring to begin.

The New Van

Isn't she purdy?  It's not the greatest shot.  This is the pic I took when we went to the place to pick it up.  It doesn't even have it's plates on it yet.... (well it does now, I took this a few days ago!)

So this is a 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan.  We thought about getting a Honda again, but Tim really liked what this had to offer.  It has remote start, which is great in winter time, it has remote doors and back, video system, USB plug in, and a whole bunch of other features that I don't really care about.  I'm just happy that it fits us all.  We've been driving around a 5 seater, which meant that we could only go out and do things while the big kids were in school!

So we chose to buy new, because 1st, all the used cars here, were not much less than new.  Seriously, anything that looked even remotely nice, was at LEAST 18,000.  It's not like Okinawa.  We were also looking for a large vehicle, and there aren't to many of those around here.  In the long run, with the winter weather, and the traveling we plan to do while we're here, we wanted to make sure that the van we're driving is up to the task.  So what about our red van?  Well, it's on it's way here, should be here in a month or two.  When it's time to leave, we'll pay to ship it back to the states.  We don't owe anything on the red van.  It's ours outright, and it doesn't make sense to get rid of it, and get something else, that we'll have to make payments on.  Instead, we'll set aside the money, so when we finally get back to the states, we'll be prepared.  The AF will ship one, and we will ship the other.

So do we like it?  Well yes, and no.  It's big.  It feels bigger than the Honda.  I personally don't like the way it takes corners.  I feel like the turn radius is really bad.  The roads here are small, and having a car that can take a tight turn is really nice.  When the Honda gets here, I'm sure I'll have a chance to really compare the two.  However, I LOVE the onboard movie system ( the kids love it too!)  It has been a life saver while I've had to wait in the car while Tim runs into the housing office, this office, that office, running errands that would bore the kids to tears.  The heater is great!  It has a dark interior, which makes me happy.  It fits us all, and it has a TON of storage that our Honda does not have.  It's a good purchase, and we will definitely get some great use out of it!

German Adventures

I haven't been taking a lot of adventures, but I've taken a couple.  The first, are pictures of the stove.  They are small.  Yes we're on an American base, and yes, we're in an American TLF (temporary living facility) on the American base, but this appliance, is most definitely European.  It's teeny tiny.  The cookie sheets, and baking pans that I own, are not going to fit into this tiny thing.  I think I need to go shopping.

 Not only is the oven teeny tiny, it's also in Celsius, which is easy enough to work out, when I have a conversion chart that I can look at, but the actual bake, broil, clean, etc... yeah, not on here.  Just a series of pictures in black and red, and lines, and pictures of fans, and other fun things.  I need a translator just to figure it out!

On one of our off base adventures house hunting, we came across a little bakery/meat shop and wouldn't you know it, they were selling Kinder Eggs!  I got two for the little ones, and they really really liked them.  Davin didn't even bother to eat the chocolate, he just played with the toy!

Stay tuned for car and house hunting adventures!

Moving

Well, it finally happened.  After months of waiting, we finally had our orders and got everything scheduled.  We started, of course with movers.  We spent two days, with a couple guys going through all of our things, and packing them away, out of our sight.  We're not exactly sure for how long... it could be two months, it could be longer.  Eventually, our stuff will make it to Germany.

After everything was packed, it was time to clean.  I hate the cleaning you have to do when you leave a house.  There always seems to be so much.  This time, I just basically tried to make sure everything looked nice.  I really didn't want to stress out about it all.  So I didn't.  Over the Christmas weekend my parents helped me with some of the big things, the fridge, the oven, etc.  Then when all our stuff was out, I just had to do some quick wipe downs, and when the inspector finally came, he said the house looked great, and all we had to replace were the two sets of blinds our lovely children destroyed during a fit of childhood tantrum rage.

The day before our flight, we had our final inspection, then we hopped into the car and drove to Richfield CA where we dropped off our beloved Honda to be shipped overseas.  We picked up a rental van and drove to our hotel in San Francisco.  Up to this point, everything had been running super smooth.  We reserved the Jacuzzi suite, so the kiddos could play the night away, and were horribly dismayed to discover there was no jacuzzi in the suite.  In fact, there was no tub at all.... just a shower.  We called the front desk and the only thing they offered to do, to rectify their mistake, was to charge us for another room.... one that had a jacuzzi.  Apparently, even though we were allowed to book a jacuzzi suite online, this particular hotel did not, in fact, have a jacuzzi suite.   Yeah, we were bummed, but made the best of it.

The next morning, after a yummy continental breakfast, we packed up the van and ventured off to the San Francisco Airport.  

Because we're military, we were allowed to check in Tac at the check in counter, instead of finding the cargo area.  We were told to be there two hours prior to flight time, and we made it about 2.5 hours ahead.  Just enough time to check us all in, return the rental, and hop on the flight.   We were wrong.  It seems that Tac's reservation, was not linked to our reservation.  It took roughly an hour or so to sort all of that out and we were finally checked in...... but then Tim had to take all the carseats and dog, to the oversize baggage counter and check them there.  At this point we had an hour until flight time, and we still had possession of the rental car.  I took the kiddos and went through security and waited at the gate...... until minutes after getting there they started boarding.  Yikes!  I ended up getting on the plane with the kids.... and then crossed my fingers that Tim would make it in time... which he did, on last call for boarding.  Phew!

The flight was pretty uneventful.  It was just under 11 hours, and all the kiddos were excellent.  We had some tears on landing, from Davin, and that was it.

After getting our bags, and the dog, and the carseats, we made our way through customs, super easy, and found our shuttle that was going to drive us from Frankfurt to Ramstein.  That was where the worst part of our journey happened.  Tac had been on the plane for over 11 hours, and Tim took him to relieve himself.  To do so he had to cross a 3 lane road to a grassy area.  I had just finished telling Rylissa that she couldn't go with him when I saw a flash of pink, and watched in terror as Tayzia ran after Tim into the busy road.  I screamed, and stared knowing there wasn't anything I could do.  I watched a black car come so close to her, and I just knew that she was gone.  Yet, she wasn't.  Miraculously, every car on that road was able to stop, or avoid her.  We were being watched over, and we were so blessed that our sweet angel wasn't harmed.  I cried, the entire drive to Ramstein.  I will be haunted by that moment..... probably forever.

We finally made it, nerves fried, but in one piece to Ramstein.  We got there, ready to crash, only to find out that our room wouldn't be ready for another two hours!  I could go on and on and on about pet friendly rooms, non pet friendly rooms, ripped pants, and other annoyances, but I'll just say instead, we eventually  made it into our room, and over the course of that first week, had to change rooms 3 times.  After the first week, we finally started to feel less jet lagged, even though Davin refused to sleep through the night..... not once.  We missed church, by sleeping through two alarms, but found out it had been canceled, so it was okay.  We met some people, and have been treated so well.  People have been bending over backwards to help us, and make us feel welcome.  It's been a great journey, we're excited to be here. Now to get a car, get a house, and start making this place our home!