Sorry it's been so long since I've updated...Nick's laptop crashed the evening that I made this page. I have added new pictures. They are pretty random, a few here and there. Well, we haven't really been up to much lately. We finally recieved all of our household goods. We got them on Tuesday the 26th, of May. So, since then we have been really busy unpacking and putting things away. As of right now, I feel like I am in the last phase, just putting the finishing touches on the house, however, we still have all the furniture the Army let us use until our stuff got here. I would like to walk though the house and put the video on here, but I really want everything to be put away before I do!
Last weekend we were pretty busy. We decided to go to Ikea, an awesome home furnishing store here. They have them in the states too. Anyways, we wanted to go to Ragensburg, about 45 minutes North of here. Nick had mentioned our plans to a couple that we met on our way here. They decided that they wanted to go also, so we made plans to meet at the Rewe, a grocery store outside post. We decided we would follow them, seeing as they have a GPS. The evening before our neighbors gave us directions, he is a soldier and this is his second tour here in Germany, and his wife is German. She actually grew up here in Vilseck! Anyways, we met our friends around 9:30 in the morning and they typed in Regensburg into their GPS. We set off and imediately Nick was excited, because we would have to eventually get on the autobahn. About an hour into our 45 minute drive, we pulled off to a store to grab some food and drinks, and clean Kaleb up after he tossed his cookies on his white t-shirt. I got him all cleaned up and Nick took Nate in to potty and got some doughnuts for the boys, all that throwing up made Kaleb quite hungry. Nick asked our friends how far we were away, and they told us not far, about 5 miles. Nick said it shouldn't be taking this long and they told us that she had chosen the scenic route. Well it definately was scenic. We pulled off and started back on our way. Not long after we begin driving again we took a couple of turns and came to a dirt road. The Bell's (our friends), proceeded, and Nick stopped. He had just washed the car and waxed his tires that morning...they turned around and rolled down the window and told us they didn't think that road was a good idea. Nick agreed and asked that the GPS said. They told us that we were only 3 miles away and we turned to take a real street through the town, instead of the dirt road through the woods. We didn't get far before we seen a sign for Regensburg. We came up to a town on the side of a mountain, the road down into the "city" was about a 40% downgrade!!! We drove up and down the narrow road and asked 2 people where the "city" was....neither spoke a word of English. All there was in the town were a couple of houses that lined the steep road down to a hotel parking lot, and dead end. We asked one more person for directions, thankfully he spoke a little Englished. He laughed a little and told us we were in Regensburg, a village with about 4 houses, and about 150 km from Ragensburg, our destination! He said we were only about 40 km to Nuernberg. We dorve back up to the top of the hill and told our friends what the guy had told us. They were trying to type Nuernberg into their GPS, when Nick said just follow me. He told them to find the Ikea in Nuernberg, and he' would just get us there.
So we headed out of that quaint little village, Nick found our way out and got us all the way to Ikea without a GPS!! He stopped once and asked a taxi driver where Ikea was. Then we pulled a u-ie, and headed towards the autobahn. He was just tickled to death to have to get on the autobahn. We finally got to it, and we had been driving for about 15 minutes and he said, "we really should have found our exit by now." So at the next exit he decided to just get off and see what was there, as we took the exit, the very first sign we seen was for Ikea! I'll tell you what, Nick can be an idiot at times, but he sure does have a good sense of direction!
When we finally got into Ikea, it was awesome!! I loved every minute of it. I think we were there for about 3 hours. There was a little cafe inside that had really good food in it. We had lunch there. Then, we shopped some more. We got a bookshelf, a coffee table, a floor lamp, a table and 2 stools for the boys, and a bunch of little nic-naks for our bookshelf. They best part about shopping on the economy, we get a 19% tax relief.
Before we were even done shopping our friends left. They wanted to see the town, but we were way to into the shopping! We ended up leaving Nuernberg after Ikea, maingly because our car was full and the kids had fallen asleep before we hit the downtown area. We got back on the autobahn, and without directions Nick got us to Amberg. We stopped there for gas, and went to the Real so that I could get a vacuum that will work here. We got the kids McDonalds and headed home.
The next day we got up and decided to go to Mega Play, the best place in the world for kids, and parents! A friend told us about it so we took the kids. It was soo much fun! It is like a giant indoor playground, only it's big enough for adults! Everything i padded, super safe and soo much fun. They have a huge yellow slide that the boys loved, 6 trampolines, a moonbounce, a basketball court, a toddler area with a ball pit, and tons or tricycles. Some of the tricycles are kid sized and some are big enough for adults! We had so much fun! Nick wants to make it a Sunday ritual. We decided to start a reward system for the boys. When I asked them to do something, like clean up their toys for example, if they do, they get a sticker. At the end of the week, if they have 10 stickers we will take them to MegaPlay or the scwimmbad.
Well make sure to check out our new pictures. We'll keep you updated. We miss everyone, I love reading your messages, so if you stop by to read the journals, or check out the pictures, leave us a message! Love you all!!!
After a long trip to St. Louis, a trip to the Zoo, and countless hours waiting for and on an airplane, WE FINALLY made it to Germany. Only we were stuck in Frankfurt for the night....although that was an experience I'll never forget. We waited and waited and then waited some more, then we finally got a room. By then we were all exhausted, jet lagged, hungry, and curious. Not to mention we needed a shower! We went up to our room and showered and the boys finally got to run free, a little bit anyways. Nick headed down to the McDonalds which was right outside the door. Our hotel, the Sheredon Frankfurt, was attached to the airport. When Nick got back we all sat down for our first offical "meal" in Germany. The boys had chicken nuggets and fries, Nick and I both had a "Royale Burger", their version of a quarter pouder. A few little differences stuck out as we ate our meal. First of all the ketchup packets were huge!! Secondly, there was no ice in our drinks, apparently you have to pay extra for that. Well it wasn't too much different from our McDonald's, the taste was just a bit different, but not bad. After we ate I put in a video for the boys and we tried to stay awake for as long as possible. However, I think that Nick fell asleep before he even laid down on the bed, haha. After less than an hour the boys and myself were fast asleep. We woke up a few hours later and got dressed to walk down to the market, which was in the "basement" of our hotel. We got a sausage hot-dog like sandwich, some chips, drinks, chocolate milk of course, and some chocolate! Everything was pretty good, except the chips, which were like cheese balls, only they tasted like cheese flavored Cap'n Cruch!! We went back to sleep soon after we ate, because we had to wake up early so we could make the 3 hour bus ride to Vilseck.
In the middle of the night Nick woke up and couldn't sleep, so he went and worked out....it was around 2:30 am. Come to find out, another soldier done the same thing, except he took his dog for a walk. When we woke up in the morning, we got ready, packed up and headed down to the market for breakfast. We got some bananas, yogurt, and milk and ate in the lobby of the hotel. We waited some more, for Nick's breifing to begin. Once we went up stairs for his briefing, there was a famliy room where the kids could play! It was filled with dvds and toys. When that was finally over we got on the bus and headed to Vilseck. The ride was beautiful!! I got a few pictures....check them out! Half way to Vilseck we stopped off and ate at another McDonalds. The nicest one I've ever seen, but I didn't get pictures! OOOPS sorry, the kids were so full of energy I just couldn't focus on anything else. We ate and then headed off to Vilseck!!
When we got to Vilseck we had to go to yet another briefing. Thankfully that one didn't last long. We headed to the Kristall Inn, which became our home for the next week. Nick had in-processing everyday while we were there, but it wasn't too bad staying there becase there was tv. There were American channels and also German. The boys watched Spongebob in German once....they were very into it too. After one week, and one day we left the Kristall Inn and moved into our home. We do live off-post, but we are in government housing, so there are alot of soldiers around us. Our neighborhood is soo cute! The ride from post to our house was amazing. Everything is so clean and pretty! The first few times we drove I just couldn't wipe the smile off my face!
We are slowing getting settled in. Nick has brought us home some German food, I'm not sure what it was, but it was pretty good. Also, we visited Amberg, a larger city about 15 minutes from here. While we were there I had chicken and pomme frittes, or french fries. It was alot like a rotissare chicken, but it was soooo delicious!!
Well I will keep you updated on our adventures! Stop by often and keep in touch! We miss all of you!!