fall German countryside

views on the drive home-a little foggy

Fall is here! The colors are breathtaking!

Ready for a Halloween party with our American neighbors and then on to trick or treating on base. Some of the German children trick or treat as well. We had 1 group of german children come to our house. Germans do enjoy Halloween costumes and pumpkins but they recognize it as an American holiday. Jackson's German preschool went for a walk in the woods for a "ghost hunt." The teachers had hung little stuffed ghosts from tree limbs in the woods behind the school and the children got to find them and take a picnic lunch there.

It is beginning to look like fall! My favorite season of the year! The tips of the leaves hint at red, gold, and brown--after 6 years of south Texas, Fall is finally here!

Rhine River Cruise

The beautiful gardens of Germany. This one as we wait for our boat.

Inside Castle Reichenstein

Potty training-european style!

New to Germany

We have arrived in Germany! After about a week of jetlag, our bodies finally adjusted. The household goods arrived and unpacking began, we passed our German driving exam, and tackled the autobann. Thank goodness for GPS. It is pretty fun to hear your 2 1/2 year old repeat the GPS voice say "turn left." The girls can mimic an accurate British acccent. We have great neighbors...one being an american family with 3 little boys, the others being the heard of cows that roam through the field behind our house. We have other neighbors, but are German, so we wave and say "Hallo" or "Gutentagg" (hello or good day). The children really want a dog, but right now they are happy to have "Lickey-lick, Stripey, and other cows they have identified and named. The girls are convinced there are a pair of sister cows. We are hoping the children will still be able to eat beef after falling in love with these animals. They are fortuately dairy cows, so should be around for awhile. The highlight of having "pet" cows is feeding them apples from our hands. There are two apple trees and a plum tree on the property we are renting. Our landlords, Gudren and Werner, couldn't be more wonderful and are very attentive.

So...

Recent Challenges: German cable guys

I am learning: public bathrooms are called water closets "WC" and cost money to use= .50 eruo a piece to the attendant. Flush one for free for us! Some places like restaurants have a toilleten you can use while you are there.

American Moment: As we were traveling in Luxembourg, we realized we turned onto a bike road. We found ourselves surrounded with pedestrians on a road barely wider than our large Honda Oddesy. As if driving a large minivan did not announce that we were American, this manuver definately screamed it. We had to back ourselves back out the way we entered against the crowd of people now standing around staring at us.

Current travels: Kusel (castle) Lichtenstein, Trier, Luxembourg

Loves: the fresh air from ALL the windows that open, rolling countryside, people of all ages on their bikes, and chocolates.

Dislikes: the flies that come in the house from all of the open windows

Summertime fun back home!

We greet Andrew in the driveway on his last day of residency!!

Graduation Day

That smile says it all!

Germany...hmmmm

So how does one move a family of 5 overseas? It doesn't happen overnight...

It all started with a dreamy idea of a smiling family traveling through Europe every weekend and enjoying the simple German life. A few months later, we are told we will be going to Landstuhl. We are elated, still blissfully looking forward to our move. Then came a little reality. We have to get there first. OK so where do we start? Houses are smaller, different language, our electrical appliances wouldn't work there, currency, weather, different time zone, and so on. That lands us to the following preparation timeline that began around January...purge the house, complete any major health procedures needed (my hernia repair), yard sale, get passports, get EFMP clearance that no one would need services that couldn't be provided over there, government passports, home repairs and prepare for market, more paperwork, assessments for movers, more paperwork, sale of home, sigh of relief, visit family, more house purging, 5 days of movers (hold baggage 1st shipment of goods, household goods (furniture & rest of belongings), storage), round up air mattresses and other necessities from friends to hang out in the empty house a few weeks, drop off car to be shipped overseas, visit friends one last time, fly out!