We Got a House!

Well that didn't take long!

We have only been in our temporary house for a week!  Some people are in their temporary housing for months before they find a place.  We went into the housing office on Friday and the woman who works there, Heidi, said, "I have a place and you MUST take it because it is the best house we have in the system.  You will LOVE it."  Ok.  It's totally against our better judgement to take the first (and only!) house we look at... but for real.  This place is sweet.

First... it's a sign.  My second favorite flower in the world (blue dendrobiums are tops!) are hydrangea.  And look!  My very own and my very first hydrangea bush! 

The kiddos found a swingset in the backyard.  Immediate joy.

DUUUUUDE.  What.  Look at this kitchen. 

This is the biggest kitchen I've ever had.  Maybe this whole "learning to be a cook" thing won't be so bad!

Outside, Todd found that we have hand pump wells!  Isn't that cute?  I don't know why, but I find that extremely funny!  There are two of them on the property.  Dietmar (our landlord) said they really only should be used for watering the lawn and such. I don't think I've ever seen a working pump, much less my kiddos. 

Look at these beautiful windows in my pantry.  Sadly, they are in my pantry.  But wait, I have a pantry!?! 

The rental car in the driveway (and Dietmar's Jeep in the background ha ha).  I have a big driveway, and even a garage underneath! 

Our living room.  Complete with ficus tree (left), large storage piece (center) and stone fireplace (right).  Sweet.

Our back patio.  It's so... German! 

The front door might be my favorite part. I just love rounded doorways.

The babes in front of our house.  Now if only our HHG would arrive so we could finally make this a home!  Thankfully... that's what temporary Army furniture is for!

Not QUITE sure how I'm going to use this oven, however, I know I'm going to require some competence.

Afterward, we went out to dinner.  We found a little pizza place in Grafenwöhr and had a nice dinner.  But afterward, it's apparently customary for the staff to bring you shots of some kind of after dinner aperitif.  Usually that would be amaretto (seen above) or Limoncello.  OK!  I won't say no to free alcohol!  Thank you very much, Germany!

Grant Lost His First Tooth!

Here I am again. Mom of the year.  I picked Grant up from school (current school:  Netzaberg Elementary) and his teacher, Mr. Keough greeted me at the door with a little baggie. What?  Inside that tiny baggie was a tiny tooth, belonging to my 5-year-old. 

I. Did. Not. Even. Know. It. Was. Loose.

Oh.  Wow buddy!  You lost a tooth! 

He went on to lose two more after this in the coming weeks!  But seriously folks, isn't he the cutest?  Can't wait til he doesn't have any top front teeth!

Nuremberg, Germany

Our very first adventure!

Nuremberg is only about 45-50 minutes away from us, so we decided to venture out and check out the nearest big city to us.  It's Germany's 14th largest city (ha!) but of course, it's famous for the Nuremberg Trials after World War II for crimes against humanity.  Even though the city was first mentioned in 1050, it was severely damaged in WWII, and unfortunately, a lot had to be rebuilt. 

But it's Germany.  And we live here. And there's beer. 

First, we made our way to the main square, the Hauptmarkt.  Just off the square, which had a sort of farmer's market going on, is Die Frauenkirche, which was built in the 1350s.  It has a neat Männleinlaufen (mechanical clock) that rings at noon outside.  I love pretty stained glass!

More beer, you say?  Ok!  It was kind of chilly so we got some hot crepes with Nutella and bananas to go with that. 

Next we made our way up to the Nuremberg Castle (or the Kaiserberg Nuremberg). 

It's super steep going up there, and of course, all three of my children felt the need to give me a heart attack and play on the super high rocks.

Alas, we made it to the castle and no one fell off of the rocks.  Natalie looks thrilled to be there.

Goofballs up near the gate of the castle.

We went up to the top of the tower and I caught this cute pic of Grant looking out over Nuremberg.

Triple Willy?  I'd rather not! Thanks though!  This was in the bathroom at the castle.  Because who DOESN'T take pictures of the toilet paper roll in medieval castles!?!  Right!?!

Looking down from the tower.  I love the wood framed houses here - it's so German!

Doin' 190 kilometers per hour (118 mph!) on the Autobahn in the rental car!

 Bliss.  Lebkuchen (gingerbread) from Nuremberg and a nice tasty beer.  Can't wait to go back because there's so much more to see!

Germany vs. America

Yeah.  This.  This is German television, where you can drink and act crazy and rub your cohosts head.  Or you can wear lederhosen as you do the weather.

Hawt.

Your hair is silky smooth.

There's a lot going on here.  A LOT.

The Griswolds Uncomfortable Lunch

Stop me if you're heard this one before... a family of four walks into a restaurant, gets stared at by the handful of patrons and the staff behind the counter, asks to see a menu and the reply in return is, "What is it that you want?" 

Todd:  "Food?" 

Guy behind the counter comes out from behind the counter:  "Ummmm...." 

Todd:  "Do you have a menu or something?"

Guy now in front of the counter:  "Do you want something hot or something cold?"

Of course, this exchange was only partially in English.  And you have to understand that there were many uncomfortable pauses going on in between all of this.  Finally we told him we wanted something heiss... or hot.  He doesn't bring us a menu, instead he just asks us if we would be interested in some pork with some spätzl, which is like a Germany noodle.  Sure.  Sounds great.  We're starving, bring us whatever.

Naturally the kids didn't like it so much, but Todd and I gobbled it up so fast that we didn't even take a picture.  Dietmar, our new landlord who had just met us at our new house in Auerbach, Germany had recommended this place for the cake, so we couldn't leave without cake.

Oh. My. Word.

I'm not being dramatic when I say this is literally the best cake I have ever eaten.  Made of Elderberry, it was divine.  Natalie LOVED it.  It tasted like candy and flowers.  Can't wait to go back!  And hint hint family members... I'd like this cake for my upcoming birthday!

We're Back! With Big News!

Where oh where have you been, Baileys!?!

Well, to make a long story short, we moved to Germany!

For those who wish to read the slightly longer (!) version, keep reading.  Back (way back!) in the spring of 2014, Todd saw a job in Vicenza, Italy for a contracts attorney.  He applied for it, and while he was a finalist for the job, he didn't get it.  But when he got the phone call telling him he didn't get the job in October 2014, he was told about a job in Grafenwoehr, Germany that would be advertising soon.  So that finally happened in late December 2014.  He applied for a job, and not surprising, got an interview in February.  But then we waited.  And we waited.  But no one called to tell him he DIDN'T get the job.  Of course, no news is good news, right?  Well... finally in mid May, he got a call and they asked him if he was still interested in the job.  Of COURSE he's still interested.  He got a verbal offer in June, and on a whim, decided to ask for total student loan repayment.  Well, that took another few weeks, but in the end, we are glad he asked because he got it!  But the back and forth took FOREVER, so he finally got all of the details finalized at the end August/first week of September and we had three short weeks to get everything packed and ready to go.  This means the kids had to start school at Memorial again this year.  First day of school for my babies- kindergarten and third grade!

Brother and sister, hand in hand.

Obligatory picture in front of the school and of course, one in front of the house, below.

In addition to arranging the movers, we sold some stuff on Craigslist.  We got a temporary storage for some of our appliances which wouldn't convert in Germany.  We had to order medical records, school records, and get flu shots.  Todd had to drive down to Baltimore to deliver Harry Highlander so they could put it on a boat and ship it to Bremerhaven.  I had to give Sally Civic to our niece Madison. We had to cancel utilities, and insurance and all kind of other mundane tasks that have to be done when you move.

I also had to quit my job.  I wasn't really sure how I would feel about this.  I've always been a working mom, something I'm proud of.  I started from nothing in the world of floodplain management, and worked my way up and I felt like I was doing a pretty darn good job and was one of the best in my field.  Not to toot my own horn, but I really enjoyed my job with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  It really made me sad to leave.  I'm really, really hoping that there's a spot for me in the floodplain management world when we return.

Boy, do they know me or what!  WSP group of DCR knows I love me some cake!!!  Meanwhile, my boss Rich also retired earlier in the year, which made the decision somewhat easier.  He was an amazing boss... one I'm so thankful to have worked for. 

We also decided to hit up a few awesome late summer concerts before we moved!  First, Scars on 45 and Saint Motel up in Newburyport.

Sponsored by our favorite radio station!

This is the second time we had met the band... and Natalie declared, "Scars on 45 is my favorite band!"

Plus, we had a date night out and got to see Death Cab for Cutie in Boston.  Awesome show... ended with Transatlanticism!  SO SO GOOD!

Meanwhile, my nephew and Godson James was baptized the second weekend of September, so I went down to Florida for a few days for that.  It was really good to see a lot of people one more time before we moved overseas. 

Not only that, but I got to see Big Papi hit his 500th career homerun down at the Trop!  WHAT?  How awesome was that!  Not only that, but back in 1992, the original four Griswolds went on a weekend trip to San Francisco to see the Giants play in what might have been their second to last game at Candlestick Park.  At the time, they were thinking about selling the team to Tampa Bay (in the end, of course, they didn't).  Back in 1992 when we were out on the west coast that day watching the game, the St. Petersburg Times interviewed us (along with a couple of Tampa TV stations), and we decided to recreate the picture from that day. SO HILARIOUS!!!!

I mean, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Sunset at my parents house.  So beautiful.

My niece Greta discovered Croco.  No Greta, I love you but you must give him back! 

My brother's little cute family and my parents at James' baptism.

A few days before our departure date, the movers came and took our stuff. It was a long process and I pretty much did it all by myself since Todd had to work right up until the end. 

Most of our belongings out in the driveway.

Packing it all up.

After most of the stuff was gone, the kids came home from school on their last day and played with their tablets on the living room floor. I don't know why, but this picture made me really sad.

We went down to Plymouth for a couple of days to spend time with Todd's family before we left.  Literally, leaving his family is by far the hardest thing we have had to deal with in moving to Germany.  It's so wonderful to have his big, happy, fun family so close to us.  Two nights before we left, we went into Boston and stayed at the Hilton at Logan airport.  We spent the day before we left tooling around Boston, seeing some last minute sights and relaxing.

Natalie sang Grant to sleep that night.  It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen her do with him.  She's a sweet, sweet girl... but when it comes to her brother, her favorite saying is, "I don't like him!"

Hanging out at the Charles River Dam, playing some tunes on the bridge piano, and enjoying the sun.  The Zakim Bridge and the Garden are in the background.  My favorite city.

Finally on September 21, we departed from Boston to Frankfurt!

Nat and Todd trying to check in our 10 bags.  Yes.  10 bags.  To be fair, we did not have any Unaccompanied Baggage.  We put everything on the plane!

And they weren't exactly small bags, either!

 

Hey!  Who was at the airport with us?  Aunt Betty!  She was off on another one of her adventures... heading to England this time.  One Bailey to London, the other four to Frankfurt.

Natalie is super excited.  She was also a bit sad and nostalgic as we headed down the jetway.

Thankfully, they both slept on the plane without me having to drug them.  No seriously.  I mean, I had to drug myself, but not them.

Finally... Frankfurt!

After another short flight to Nuremberg, we finally were greeted by Randy, one of Todd's coworkers who picked us up at the airport and brought us to our temporary home in Eschenbach.

Welp, the kids liked it!

Jet lag.  The struggle (!!) is real.