Adjusting

I am really surprised at how well we are adjusting to life here. Not that I thought we wouldn't, just so much has changed. If you told me before I got here that I would be ok with giving up my IPhone (which I was so addicted to) and not having a TV in our bedroom (which I needed to be on so I could fall asleep) I wouldn't have believed you. Also, I hate to admit it, but we didn't recycle hardly at all before. Awful I know! Now we have to and I can not believe the amount of stuff we should have been recycling. Our regular garbage only gets picked up every two weeks.

Now I do miss chick-fil-a, Target, and being able to pick up my phone and make a call without trying to figure out the time difference.

But for the most part our house feels like home. Brian and I even went out this past Saturday to the Base's Oktoberfest. We are lucky enough to have great British neighbors with a college-aged daughter willing to babysit.

Luckily the girls seem to be adjusting just as well.

Hoensbroek Castle

About 20 minutes away from our house is Hoensbroek Castle in the Netherlands. Carolyn has been excited to see a castle so we decided to check it out. We had a good time. We were able to climb to the top of the tower that is on the right of this picture which was pretty cool.

They also had a sand sculpting festival that was going on there as well.

I was impressed.

However Carolyn was most impressed by the cardboard castle in the dungeon of the castle and

the ducks in the moat. Go figure.

Our friend Brian Moone just moved here about a week ago. The Moone's were in Oklahoma with us and also have two girls. We were thrilled when they got the assignment to Germany too. Brian's wife Katy and girls will be joining him in November. The two Brians have a special relationship as you can see.

I am loving the fact that when we wake up on the weekend we have an endless supply of places to go and things to see. Even if we do have a few tantrums meltdowns along the way. From Brian not the girls of course.

Our House

It feels wonderful to be in our house!! Carolyn was so excited when our stuff started coming off the truck. They brought all of our stuff up by a pulley system and brought it in through our window. It was quite entertaining for Carolyn. We are slowly getting all of our boxes unpacked. Most of the rooms are done except for our room and the basement. Here is the front of the house.

We have a little terrace off the back of our house and this is the view from it. The trees in the background of this picture are the Netherlands border. Our movers told us that this actually used to be part of the Netherlands before WWII.

I love the railing for our front staircase. Upstairs are our three bedrooms and a bathroom. We have a finished basement that is going to be our guest room/ Brian's man room.

Our den.

Dining Room

The kitchen. The cabinet to the left is actually the refrigerator. Thankfully the army base here provides an American refrigerator for you because the ones here are very small.

My favorite part of our house is the winter garden. It is right off of our kitchen and for right now it is the girls play room. Eventually we want to get some adult furniture out there so it can be half a room for them and for us.

Another view of it. They are still doing work on our backyard so it doesn't look that great right now.

I tried to get a picture of the girls this morning but they were too enthralled with the fact that we finally got our satellite working yesterday and they were watching cartoons. They have watched movies but it had been a while for cartoons.

City Hotel

Tonight is our last night at the City Hotel. Woo Hoo! I think the person most excited should be Sidney since she finally will get to sleep in something other than a pack-n-play tomorrow night. Our internet and phone service will not be set up until the 14th, we'll have no communication with the states until then. But we did get our AFN (armed forces network) satellite box and we are hoping that they are going to show the Gamecocks on Saturday. Brian has this theory that since we are on another continent we will most definitely beat Georgia.

Even though I am doing a dance that we are leaving tomorrow, these are some of the things I will want to remember when I look back on our time here:

Carolyn having gelato for the first time and walking to get it about every other night. Watching her try the staples of Chocolate and Strawberry and then seeing her branch out to Pistachio (Brian's favorite), Tiramisu (or tiramasoup as she calls it), and Stracciatella (my favorite).

Seeing Sidney just be her normal happy little self no matter what situation we put her in. Even through cutting three teeth while we were here, she was always happy as long as she had her belly full and her white lamb lovey in her hand.

Getting my husband to watch shows like Friends, Gilmore Girls, Glee, and One Tree Hill because they were the only thing showing on the one English speaking channel. He probably won't admit it but he is now a fan of Glee. :)

The fact that Brian has done all of our laundry since we have gotten here. Because the laundry room is in this dark basement dungeon looking place and I got freaked out when I went down there by myself. He has just done it no complaints...it's the little things.

The Italian restaurant that we went to the first night we were here and went back to several times after that. The waiters spoke zero English but were so nice. Carolyn thought she was hot stuff because they brought a wine glass out with her apple juice. We went there last night, and after looking some things up on Google translate, I was finally brave enough to order something other than a pizza.

Finally, the realization that we had the other night: that even if we can't communicate with everyone, the people that take the time to communicate with us are so interesting and nice. The people that have zero interest in communicating with us...well I probably wouldn't want to talk to them even if they did speak English. :)

Optimism

"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier." - Gen. Colin Powell

This is Brian's all time favorite quote. We even had it posted on a board in our room in OKC to remind us. So in an effort to remember this quote and to be optimistic, these are some of the positive things that have been happening:

First, I passed my driving test on Friday. YAY! I finally got to drive our new car and I have actually been enjoying driving here. Not as scary as I once thought it would be.

Next, we get to move into our house on the 9th and all our stuff is here. So in 3 days I get to sleep on my bed. Words can not describe how excited I am about that. It has been a long 3 months.

Then, we have been very fortunate to meet some great people here. They have helped make the transition into life here a lot easier. One of the couples here invited us to a birthday party for their son yesterday. We are not normally ones to bring the drama with us, but oh did we do it last night. Most of the doors in Germany have skeleton keys that you turn to lock the door. So Carolyn goes to use the bathroom and manages to lock herself in for about 30 - 40 minutes. Nothing says party like trying to get a screaming 3 year old out of a locked bathroom. Although I was probably the most embarrassed I have been in a LONG time, I think there are good things that can come out of this. A) I am removing all keys from all of our doors in the new house so this will not happen. I can only imagine how I would have reacted if this had happened when I was at home by myself with the girls. B) I am claustrophobic so the thought of being locked in any room would freak me out. My reaction didn't help the situation. All I could see is my baby upset and how this experience was going to scar her somehow, but when they finally busted the door open she was not phased at all. The only thing she was worried about was that she might have missed the cake. She hasn't even brought it up again. I, needless to say, had a hard time sleeping last night because of this. Oh and I forgot to mention that during all of this I slammed Sidney's fingers in another door. So, I am very optimistic that this will never happen again!!!

And finally the last positive thing that we have going on is that 6 years ago yesterday Brian and I got married. I love our family and the life we have created. Drama and all.