Saying Goodbye

4 years ago we packed up and moved from Washington State to Germany.  It was an adventure we were looking forward to and boarded the plane full of excitement and a little bit of anxiety (traveling with a 15 month old, 3 month old and 2 cats adds a tiny touch of stress!). 

We made it and settled into our home and routines.  We were able to travel to some of Europe’s most beautiful cities and stunning countrysides.  We watched our daughters grow from babies to sweet, beautiful little ladies.  My hair has added a gray strand (or maybe 2), I went from my 20’s into the 30’s.  JG jumped into his 40’s.  We struggled as a couple and as parents.  I like to think we ended this 4 year assignment ahead of the game.  At a better point in our lives.  Maybe we all grew up a bit. 

We moved out of our home yesterday and walking away was a little bittersweet.  My girls grew up here.  All of their earliest memories will have taken place here.  They are excited to move back to the United States even though they have no idea how different life will be there.  I am happy they are embracing this time with joy rather than fear.  I wouldn’t blame if they were scared as this is a huge move for a 4 & 5 year old.  Yet, they act like they have done this a dozen times already. 

I have a huge mix of emotions as I type this.  I have loved this assignment, for the most part, and being able to live in Europe was something JG and I wanted to do.  I will miss many things about Germany but I am ready to get back to the USA!  I have grown to appreciate the slower pace of life here and I will imagine that I will miss this sooner than I expected. 

My 5 year old will start kindergarten in August so this move comes at the most perfect time.  We are ending one chapter in our lives and beginning a new, exciting one for our family.  I am looking forward to the future but will embrace these memories for the rest of my life.

A Photo is Worth a Three Words

 

Not everyone is happy to have the US military taking up residence in their community.  We have been fortunate and our neighbors have been friendly but we live further away from the post.  Signs like these tend to pop up around the small towns located just outside the post.  There have been many “Army Go Home” signs but they are not usually spray painted onto homes.

My dad commented that it was a good thing we are Air Force!  I giggled and agreed.

“Leafing” Memories Behind Blog Hop

Good morning!  Thanks for swinging by my home in cyber space as you hop along to some of my peeps’ blogs for the Leafing Memories Behind Blog Hop.  You should have arrived here from Amanda’s blog Love Joy Paper.  The theme for this hop was leaves and I knew the photos I wanted to use right away. 

We took a trip up to Dresden, Germany last fall and we found this small but beautiful courtyard in front of an old church.  The trees were a fantastic yellow and there were huge leaves all over the ground.  The girls played with the leaves while JG went up into the church.  They had so much fun!
I just purchased some Bazzill Two Scoops Cardstock in various colors to include the “Moose Tracks” (rich brown color) recently and was excited to try it out.  I lightly sanded it to expose the vanilla color beneath the brown. I didn’t add a big title because I liked the title on the journaling card so I left it at that.

Here is a list of supplies that I used for this LO:
Bazzill Basics Cardstock in Apricot
Bazzill Basics Two Scoops Cardstock in Moose Tracks
Bella Blvd Finally Fall “At the Patch” and “Cute Cuts”
Cosmo Cricket 2” Glüber for the base of my ribbon flower
American Crafts ribbon – Brown
Maya Road ribbon – Pink
Stampin’ Up! Early Espresso Ink

Here is a photo of the church so you can see why we loved this little spot.  I loved the contrast between the colors of the leaves, the blue sky with wispy clouds and the gorgeous church steeple.  I love the fall and the opportunities for getting some stunning photos! 


Thanks for hopping over today!  If you want to win some yummy German cookies and chocolate become a follower and leave me a comment telling me your favorite fall drink and I will pick a winner Sunday at 12 PST.  I love apple cider but it is hard to come by here.  I cannot wait to be back in the USA next fall so I can get some fresh cider because I really miss it!

Next stop is Ashley’s blog, Ashley’s Paper Doll.  She is über talented and I bet she has an amazing project to share with you.  If you want to join in on the fun you can create your own leafy project and link it to Amanda’s blog to win a prize of your own.

Enjoy hopping along and I hope you have a great weekend!

Wild Park

We have had a nice stretch of warmish weather so far this month so we decided to take the girlies to the Wild Park in Bad Mergentheim on Saturday.  We had a fantastic time walking around the easy to navigate park.  The girls were getting grumpy just as we left though as it was quite a bit of walking for them. 

One thing I adore about parks and zoos here is the abundance of petting zoo's!  Lolo loves petting all the animals and it is one time she is braver than Aubrey.  Aubrey tends to shy away from the animals unless they are much smaller than her.  I always have a hard time getting Lolo to leave the animals and by the time she has pet everything she possibly can Aubrey has usually wandered off with her daddy. 

I was able to snap a few photos that I love as most of the animals were out and about.  There were only a couple of creatures that decided to hide while we searched their enclosures for the slightest movement of the animal.  Here are my favorite photos from the afternoon....

What did you do this weekend?  How's the weather in your neck of the woods?  I know many of you have had a long, hard winter and I hope it comes to an end soon. 

Have a great Monday!

Schloss Lichtenstein

We visited Schloss Lichtenstein in early September.  The weather was gorgeous and the castle was stunning.  It is small but definitely a sight to see as it sits high atop a hill overlooking a beautiful valley.  We paid a small admission fee of 2 euros for each adult to walk the castle grounds freely.  You definitely need a car to get here but the view is amazing and worth the quick stop.

If you are would like more information about the castle such as its history or prices for tours you can click on the link above.  It will take you directly to the official website that is in German and English.



Yikes! Neglected Blog!

Geez, time is getting away from me!  It has been a busy month around here.  We had to do some scheduling for James to head back to the States from some training in the next couple of months, we went back to Aubrey's favorite mountain hotel...The Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmish-Partenkirchen, Germany for four days and then took a day trip to the Nuremberg Zoo and a mini driving tour around Franconia.  This week has been spent tending to sick babies...Lolo first and now Aubrey.  Lots of tissues and hugs are being handed out along with homemade chicken noodle soup. 

Here are a few photos from this month...

Aubrey trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue, just like "Charlie Brown"; Candles from the Andechs Monestary; A fountain head from Hall, Austria;  A glass of beer from a lunch in Innsbruck, Austria; Truffles (most delicious) from the Dallmayer store in Munich and Lolo waiting for Daddy outside of Dallmayer.

February is my 2 year blogiversary so I am thinking of a few ways to celebrate!  Thanks for taking the time to stop by. 



Where Did December Go?

December just flew by for me!  We were super busy trying to visit as many Christmas markets as possible since James will be deployed again for the holidays in 2011.  So we made the most of the time we had and spent as much time together as we could possibly stand :-)  We went to Esslingen and Ludwigsburg, both near Stuttgart, at the beginning of the month.  Followed by a weekend trip to Oberkirch, a small town near the French border, so we could drive to the Strasbourg, France to see the city and their Noel market.  Finally we returned to Prague to check out the  market there as well.  Prague still remains one of my favorite cities even though the market was smaller than we expected it to be.  The city itself is romantic, has gorgeous architecture and easy to get around, either by foot or by using public transporation.

Esslingen, Germany

Ludwigsburg, Germany

Strasbourg, France

Prague, Czech Republic

The weather was cold and snowy all month with a record 32 inches of snow in Ansbach in just December!  I generally don't mind the snow too much because I don't have to drive in it every day but 32 inches is a crazy amount of snow.  The snow banks at the end of our driveway are insanely high and James and I were concerned that we were running out of places to put all the snow as we shoveled the driveway. 

Our Christmas was perfect this year because James was home!  Aubrey loved all things Christmas and especially the music with Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer being her favorites.  Lolo was excited but she most loved making cookies for Santa and sprinkling some reindeer "food" in the snow on Christmas Eve. 



That is our December in a nutshell.  Today will be spent packing up Christmas until next December and getting my house back in order.  I had plans to take it all down this weekend but the pleas of Aubrey convinced me to wait.  I told her it was time to pack up the tree and she said "but I'll be sad" and it just broke this mommy's heart!  I am such a sucker!  She seems to be ready for it to be packed away now so off I go. 

Happy New Year and best wishes for a happy, safe and prosperous 2011! 

Fall Colors

Over Columbus Day weekend we went to Dresden for 3 nights. Dresden is a lovely city located along the banks of the Elbe River. I am not going to make this a long post but just wanted share some photos of the beautiful fall foliage.

I have plans on posting the last couple Halloween projects this week as long as Blogger cooperates with me. I planned on posting these photos earlier in the week but I did not have the patience to mess with the blog settings to fix the problem.

I hope you had a great weekend and a chance to enjoy the weather in your neck of the woods.

Berlin - Part 3

Berlin is a great city to spend a few days touring.  There is plenty of diverse sites to keep you busy and satisfy any sightseeing desires you might have.  There is a lot of WWII sites but just as many amazing museums to see as well.  We had a fantastic time (in spite of the 90+ degree temps) and enjoyed walking all over the city.  We did spend a fair amount of time visiting WWII sites as we felt it was important to share such a sad, yet important part of recent history with my 14 year old step son. 

The American soldier portrait stands in front of Checkpoint Charlie.

Not too far from our hotel is this amazing part of the Berlin Wall that was not torn down.  It was instead turned into an fantastic work of art.  Artists from all over the world came to Berlin to paint beautiful and interesting murals along this stretch.  Even while walking along this outdoor art gallery and admiring all the paintings I couldn't help but wonder what was on the other side of the wall.  I cannot imagine how terrible it must have been to be separated from loved ones for such a long time. 

These were just a few of our favorite murals, there is no way I could add all the photos we had taken on this part of our trip.  I don't know the artists that painted these but I would share the info if I had it.

I hope this short series of posts inspires you to want to visit Berlin.  This is a vibrant, youthful city with so much to offer its visitors.  If you want to read my previous post from July 2009 please click here.

Berlin - Part 2

We visited the cupola located on top of the Reichstag Building.  It was an wonderful 360 degree look at Berlin.  As you make your way to the top of the cupola you get a decent history of Berlin and surrounding architecture, thanks to the headsets we were given on our way in.  The views were pretty amazing, inside and out.  It is an easy stroll to the top, even with strollers. 

This ginormous set of mirrors in the middle of the dome reflects light into the chambers located below.  The first photo is from the base looking up and the second one is looking down from the top.

In the first photo you can see rows of  stone rectangles with the Reichstag building in the distance.  We noticed this on our stroll in the dome.  It is a Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  It is rows and rows of stone, all of varied sizes but lined up in straight rows.  This is just past the Brandenburg Gate and certainly worthy of a stop. 

The last photo for today is of the Ampelmann, the cutest crosswalk dude ever. 

Berlin....Part 1

We visited Berlin for the second time and this time we actually had time to visit sites!  Last year we underestimated how long it would take for us to wander through the zoo and the surrounding area.   With  no need to return there we focused on the Pergamon Museum and the surrounding area on our first day. 

Here are a few of my favorite photos of the amazing art located inside the Pergamon Museum.  I love museums where you can take photos!  So many castles don't allow photographs to be taken of the interiors and that always disappoints me.  Anyways, I took a ton of photos at the museum but it would take me days to post more than a few due to the crazy slow internet connection we have.

A frieze featuring the Goddess Athena from the Pergamon Altar.

The Market Gate of Miletus

A portion of the famed Ishtar Gate.

The Berlin Dom is near the museum and I loved the green colored dome against the blue sky.  Unfortunately for us there was a service being held at the time we wanted to tour so we didn't get a chance to see the interior. 

I love this mosaic from the Berlin Dom.

Finally, I will leave you with this little gem.............This gentleman was having his stag party and offered James a beer.  James asked if he would take a photo with me and for a meager 50 euro cents he humored us.  All the red writing on his torso are girls names. 

I hope this last picture doesn't scare you away from my blog permanently!  My next post will have some photos of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and the amazing Reichstadt building.

More Interesting Observations...Part Zwei

We have been in Germany for two years now and I decided to add to my list of observations since moving overseas. 

1.  You can not turn right on red unless you have an arrow allowing you to.  These green arrows are few and far between.  This one drives my husband particularly mad. 

2.  Cows really do wear bells in Bavaria!  Not just a couple of cows sport the jingling bells but entire fields of cows wear them.

3.  You have to pay to use many public toilets, especially along the autobahn, train stations and subways. 

Many public toilets do not have seats.  At least most of the restrooms that you have to pay to use are clean.  It makes it worth the 50 euro cents to use it.  I always have lots of change in my purse!

4.  Everything is closed on Sundays except for some restaurants and museums.  Since we don't visit a ton of museums (have you tried to do that with 2 screaming toddlers?) sightseeing on Sundays can sometimes suck. 

5.  German food = Good!  If you like pork that is and it just so happens to be that I do. 

6.  Kirchwasser is a deceiving name for paint thinner....the literal translation is cherry water and it is really cherry schnapps.  But I think it might double as a cheap paint thinner.  Lesson learned!  I do not like kirchwasser.

7. When we travel I generally try to remember to bring along sippy cups for the girls because even though you order drinks for children they are served in glass glasses and without straws.  This becomes extremely frustrating for the girls because they are thristy and want to drink and equally frustrating for JG and I because we don't want them to drop the glass or spill their drinks.  Apple juice generally costs as much or more than a beer!  By the way...by the end of this meal Lolo's glass was shattered on the ground.

8.  I have seen more super expensive cars in our 2 years here than I have seen in my entire life.  While in Munich we saw an Aston Martin.  Near the German/Holland border we saw a Rolls Royce.  Driving home last weekend we were passed by a Lamborghini.   We have seen some Ferrari's and lets not forget the Porsche's we see every single time we drive to Stuttgart, or the high end BMW's, Mercedes' or Audi's we see on the autobahn.  This leads me to my next observation...

9.  The German's have not become better drivers in the past year.

10.  Our internet is still just above dial up.  It took me 5 hours every week to download my episodes of Grey's Anatomy from iTunes.  5 hours x 23 episodes = 115 hours of downloading for 17 hours worth of television.  Craziness!