We have a Deacon

Ryan was ordained a deacon on Sunday.  Katie and I skipped out of our classes to be there as Chris and the young men leaders and bishopric gave him the priesthood. 

Ryan is such a good kid.  He has such a desire to be righteous and make good choices.  He is a great example for his younger siblings (and for his mother) and we are so glad he is our oldest.  We are impressed by his testimony and excited about the kind of young man he is becoming. 

Congratulations, Ryan.  

We love you.  

Here we are outside our new church building downtown Heidelberg.  Can you read what that sign says?  Our ward is an entirely English speaking military American ward but we share the building with a German ward.  Church at 9:30am.

The church building is really pretty.  It's very white inside... white tile floors, white walls and lots of natural light streaming in through tall windows... especially in the baptistry.  It's beautiful.  

Now that we have a 12 year  it feels like we've just entered the next PHASE of parenting... The youth program phase.   And this phase is a long one. We'll be having kids go to youth night activities for the next 17 years straight.  Whoa.

Luke-isms at two and a half.

I just love this kid.  He has an infectious smile.  He really just wants to be happy.  When he's sad he says, "I WANT TO BE HAPPY!" and if he "wants to be happy" then nothing else can take place until we fix it.  ALWAYS we look around to 'find' Luke's happy face.  While we are 'looking' he quickly wipes his tears away and adds the cheeziest smile.  "Ah, there it is!" we say, and he giggles.  And then on we go. We've done it over and over for months now.  It's impressive really,  his desire to be happy.  ...He loves to have his picture taken so he can smile.  And so he can see the picture on my camera and say 'I like it.'    He says 'lip lops' instead of flip-flops.   He sits on the potty and tries to go and says 'It's not working!' or 'It's working!!' with lots of enthusiasm.  He LOVES apple juice... that's because we held an intervention and took him off chocolate milk cold turkey.  It was brutal but he did it (except for uncle rob giving him some on vacation without knowledge of his addiction) only now he is addicted to apple juice. When we hand him a cup he asks "Is it apple juice, Mommy?" and when we say yes he inhales with excitement  and beams a cute cheezy closed mouth smile. Just recently he has started drinking plain milk... only after the 'milk makes your muscles big and strong' talk.  Now he drinks and immediately looks down trying to see instant results.  He is practicing flexing his muscles a lot these days.  When Luke sees Matthew with a sippy cup then he says "Mafhew wants to share!"  He is the very first one awake every morning -- even this adorable face is not so endearing when he picks my side of the bed to run to every quiet morning.  He can't say K's so Katie is Datie and drink is dreet.  He can't say Q's either so quack is 'dat'.  We love to hear his little words.  He surprises us with what he hears and remembers... yesterday Ryan was climbing on top of the slide and Luke said, "Ya-ya, bad example!"   We've had some close calls with Oh my gosh sounding like something else so we instructed everyone to say Oh my goodness.  The other day when I said oh, my gosh.  He said, "No mom, we say Oh my doodness, not oh my dosh."  He loves going to church but is NOT quiet.  He loves nursery.  When we put him in bed he says "I love you too Daddy" or "I love you too Mommy".  He loves to jump.  He doesn't want to hold hands and often says 'I wat by myself!'  When we pass by or arrive at a park he says "Ders a dart!" or "Ders anoder dart!" (There are a lot of parks here.)  He is usually really cute with Matthew, but occasionally can't resist just pushing him over.   He's our worst eater.  He is very ticklish and so fun to play with.  Whenever he meets someone new he holds up two fingers and says "I'm two!"  When we ask him what his name is he says slowly "Lutey Delmar Shohnson".

This is why we moved here...

We woke up Saturday morning with the urge to go explore.  This is why we moved here.  Endless places to spend a Saturday.  We headed back down to the Hauptstrasse, this time parking at the other end.  This end seemed less commercial and more authentic.  Many more restaurants and the streets lined with outdoor tables.  We sure came at the right time of year.  It is sunny and gorgeous and everyone is out to enjoy the weather.

Ryan wanted a picture of just the three of us.

The kids in the first of many cobblestone courtyards.  The Heidelberg castle in the background.

Hauptstrasse courtyard and Heidelberg Castle

"We are totally coming back here for my birthday", says Katie.

Megan, Luke and Emily wanted to climb the few stairs in every doorway as we walked down the street.

The second courtyard was a busy marketplace... likely here just on Saturdays.
Indivdual carts and trucks full of fresh fish, meat, fruit and stinky cheese lined the outside.

Fresh flowers

We sat down right in the middle of the market and enjoyed our own 'brought from home' lunch of bread and apples while enjoying the view all around us.  The kids teased some pigeons and gave them far too much to eat.

The center of the courtyard with views of the castle behind.

After lunch we walked down a side street towards the 'Old Bridge' over River Neckar. 

The boys with the 'bridge monkey' near the bridge gate.  The River Neckar in the background.

Matthew couldn't figure out what Dad was doing.

The 'Old Bridge'... mostly pedestrian.

I don't know if you can see it, but the side of the bridge is labeled with the dates and when water rose to that height.  VERY old dates.

Ryan and Megan on the bridge with the castle in the background.

Katie and I on the bridge.

View of the Heidelberg castle from the Old Bridge

My girls on the bridge

Heading on the bridge back towards the bridge gate and the Haulpstrasse

After a couple hours we headed back home, took a quick nap and then walked over to the PHV (Patrick Henry Village -- that's the name of this base) Movie Theater.  The theater is $4.50 for adults and $2.50 for kids.  The movies are new releases but since there is only one big theater you have to look on the schedule to see what is being played. (Oh, the seats are WAY better than the Ft. Lewis theater but it's not stadium seating).   Toy Story 3 was playing at 4:00 so we made sure to get there by 3:30 since we figured half the base would be there.  The movie was really good.  We loved it.   A fun Saturday.

First time on the Hauptstrasse

Thursday we finally went downtown to check out the infamous 'Hauptstrasse'...  A pedestrian only cobblestone street right below the Heidelberg castle full of fun shopping, bakeries and restaurants.

First order of business... lunch.  We decided on a quick bakery instead of a long German restaurant.  The kids were all excited to try something new.  Ryan and I picked tomato and mozarella sandwiches, Katie picked a cheese dipped pretzel, Emily picked a cheese pizza kind of bread  and Chris picked something I can't even pronounce but it was good.  Then we got a few donuts and a cookie cake thingy to go.

It was a hot day so we didn't walk the entire street.  Instead we stopped for gelati and then turned back to spend some more time in the big sports store at the beginning of the street.  (I can not wait to check out this street on a date night!)

Birthday Bowling

Ryan has been asking to go bowling for months and months and months... so with a bowling alley literally across the street, and a boy turning 12, it was only natural that we celebrate at the bowling alley.  Chris was home early so we headed over for the Wednesday lunch combo special.  Two games and shoe rentals free with each lunch combo purchase.   Dad, Ryan and I bowled on one lane and the girls bowled on another.  We had a great time and definitely need to go back soon to improve our game!  

Matthew just sat in his stroller the whole time snacking on french fries and pickles.

When we got back home Ryan opened his presents... the Wii game he has been wanting,  a book about the Priesthood by John Bytheway, a deck of cards and a book about card tricks, 'squishy bowls' for camping, a big pack of Skittles, Goalie gloves, a new deck of Rook cards, cribbage and the promise that we would check out the big sports store and get a German soccer ball and jersey.  He definitely felt spoiled.    No cake.  No candles.  That's the way it goes sometimes.  Good thing he is so easy going.  No big deal.  

Happy Birthday, Ryan.  
We are so lucky to have you in our family.

The long story about housing...

MONDAY:

Chris wasn't scheduled to start his official in-processing until Wednesday but in normal Chris 'gung-ho' fashion, Chris was at the housing briefing at 8:00am on Monday morning.  The earlier we get going, the more time we'll have to look at houses, right?  Plus, we LOVE looking at houses.  LOVE it.  We're anxious and excited to check out places we could live for the next three years.  

At the Monday morning briefing, Chris is assigned a housing counselor... a large gruff German woman with fiery red hair.  She gets Chris' information and begins looking through the database of 'suitable off post housing' and flags anything that Chris might be interested in... which at this point means homes (rowhouses, duplexs and houses) that could possibly fit a family of 8.  As Chris views the few pictures over the counselor's shoulder she asks, "Do you like it? I don't want you to get in trouble with your wife?"  Chris thinks, "Why would I get in trouble with my wife?" but soon realizes that she is trying to make selections and appointments to view properties. He then said, "I think I need to come back with my wife." and they scheduled an another appointment for 3:00 that afternoon.  Chris left feeling quite discouraged with the short list of possibles (only 4) and frustrated that the system is not better set up.  

I left the kids at our hotel suite and headed on the shuttle over to the other base to meet up with Chris for our 3:00 appointment.  We met up with Frau Doerner and she began to explain the process to me with new details that Chris had not yet understood.  We were to pick three houses on the list which we would then make appointments for to go look out.  Out of those three we were to pick one to live in, and had 24 hours to decide.  That's it.  That's the process.  Chris was so hot he couldn't even speak.  We asked questions to clarify but she just responded with 'these are not my rules' and 'you already signed a statement saying you agreed to this' and then showed where Chris had initialed next to the statement: "I will lose my residence in Army Temporary Lodging if I decline suitable housing arrangements."  Chris just thought that WE would get to pick what was 'suitable' for our family.  We've been in the country for 4 days now, have no vehicle, know nothing about these cities or neighborhoods and are supposed to pick 3 possible houses (out of a large selection of 4!) based on a few crappy pictures over the shoulder of the lady who is now frustrated that we're even here.  

I thought the whole thing was just comical and couldn't help a wide smile.  Chris mumbled "I don't know why you're smiling... this is NOT funny."  ... which only made me smile more.  

We got our area map out on the desk and began looking at each option on the computer.  Almost all homes here are 3 floors with a basement.  A small kitchen, dining room and family room on the main floor.  Two or three bedrooms on the next floor with one shared bathroom, (no bedrooms have their own bathroom) and an attic with possible usable space on the top floor.  The basement typically has a storage area, a washer/dryer room and a 'hobbyroom' which is their term for a family room or bonus room.  Walls are painted cement.  Floors are usually tile, sometimes carpet in bedrooms.  German kitchens tend to be very small, sometimes referred to as a 'one butt kitchen' meaning only one person can fit in at a time.  Fridges and freezers are tiny.  A backyard, if there is one, is called a 'garden' and is very small.  A small garage is a luxury. Are you getting the 'small' theme?   The square footage... actually in meters of course, is listed but never includes the hobbyroom even if it is finished, and sometimes doesn't include any finished attic space.  Attic space may or may not be counted as a room... so trying to compare sizes of houses was a little guesswork.    The phrase "A picture's worth a 1000 words" came to mind as I leaned over her shoulder trying to glean a 1000 words worth of detail out of each photo as she quickly flashed through them.  I constantly had to tell her to 'go back to the last one' so I could note an archway, or ugly tile, or make sense of how rooms fit together.  We took a few quick notes on each home, asked her to tell us about the town, found the town on the map, tried to figure out how far away from work and school it would be, and talked pros and cons at super speed.  

Like I said, we LOVE this kind of stuff.  We love pro and con lists, and making a spreadsheet, figuring out which kids would sleep where, picking a city and a neighborhood and measuring which 'master' bedroom would actually fit the King Bed that we brought.   But this is not the process.  The process is quick and outright comical. AND the process states that once we have seen our choices we have 24 hours to pick one.  Twenty-four hours!    

So, we picked our three and Frau Doerner called to set up appointments for us for the next day.  We walked away now both feeling discouraged and overwhelmed.  On the shuttle home I kept thinking... 'I brought too much stuff.'  

We got home at 6:00 and happened to find an email from Mindy, super cute family in our new ward, who was wishing us luck with apartment finding and said she would be more than happy to drive us around to different areas or watch our kids for us.  It was exactly what we needed.  We ate dinner and then gave her a call.  We left the four big kids at home and had Mindy pick us up with the little boys to drive us all around.  We started by looking through her adorable rowhouse.  Then we plugged in our three possible addresses into her GPS and wandered from town to town with her highly appreciated commentary.  Not only that, but she took us to another family in the ward who are moving to give us another housing option, gave us freshly baked cookies, and let us borrow her husband's car so we could get to our appointments in the morning.   By the end of the night we were feeling a little less discouraged and so grateful for new friends.

TUESDAY:

At 11:00am Chris, Megan, Matthew and I were standing in front of option #1.  City: Nussloch

Distance from work: 11 mins    From school and commisary:  14 mins      From church: 21 mins
Cost: $65-75 more a month than our housing allotment.         The inside was nice... a good sized kitchen, small dining/family room area, small garage, small yard not fenced in, 4 bedrooms: 3 of them small... (couldn't tell which one was the master) and 1 large attic bedroom that could fit multiple kids.  2 and 1/2 decent bathrooms.  The outside wasn't great.  Located right between a Ford dealership and a doctor's office... kind of busy road, German kindergarden right across the street.  Old neighborhood.  Not well kept up.  Local park not great... broken glass everywhere.       ***So, basically the inside was ok,  the neighborhood wasn't great, but it was the closest to work, school and church.

In the afternoon another great gal from the ward brought over her Honda pilot for us to borrow until our van got here.  The whole family piled in and we headed down to look at option #2.   City: Rauenberg

Distance from work: 17 mins           From school and commisary:  17 mins       From church:  21 mins
Cost: exactly our housing allotment.         Chris and I left the kids in the van while we went in for the first look around.  Within about ten seconds I was anxious to leave.  Nope, this was not the house for us.  The kitchen was newly renovated but everything else about the house was old and dated.  Weird tiles in the bathroom, orange thick glass in the windows, orange carpet in a bedroom, unfinished hobby room with no plugs, weird layout.  (Now I'm wishing I had snapped a few pictures just to show how 'neat' it was.) They had definitely chosen their website pictures carefully so as not to highlight any of this.  When we walked out Chris let the kids in  to run through it.  I waited outside with sleeping Matthew while the kids yelled 'hi mom' from the upstairs windows. When they got down I asked what they thought and they all yelled, "AWESOME!"  It made me laugh.  Back in the van I asked, "What about that ugly stained glass and moldy green tile?"  They told me they weren't looking at things like that.  They just loved that it had four floors and a cool slanted roof on top.   The outside was again on two semi-busy roads.  The yard was big enough for a trampoline but had NO fence. I wouldn't have been able to let the little boys outside and the trampoline would have been completely out of place.  Really tight roads.  Not a good front door area.  Just not a good location at all.  Again, how do you even know these things from a few pictures on a non-accessible website?

We had just left messages with the landlord of option #3 and by this time still hadn't heard from them.  We decided to drive down to the town again to check out the area with the whole family.  The town is called St. Leon.  It's really a cute quaint German town and just driving through it makes me very happy.  It's about 25 minutes away from work, schools and church.   The neighborhood is the nicest one we've seen so far.  There is a cute park a block away.  The duplex is located on a dead end brick street... which means that the pedestrians (children on bikes etc.) have the right of way.  At the end of the road you can see green fields and distance green hills.  There are bike trails starting from the end of the street.  It's pituresque and I just adore it.    We are so anxious to see inside.  Please, please, please let it be do-able!!

WEDNESDAY:

After chatting with the owner's daughter on the phone, we set up an appointment for 5:30pm to view the home.  Option #3   City: St. Leon    Distance from work: 26 mins     From schools and commisary: 22 minutes    From church: 26 mins     Cost: $125 more per month than our housing allotment


It took about 10 seconds for us to decide that this is our house.  Chris and I grinned at each other a lot as we walked from room to room. 

The owners live in Ireland now but built this duplex to live in.  They raised their daughter in the united states so the home has a lot more american styles to it than you usually find here.  The kitchen is American sized... lots of room, lots of counter tops and cabinets.  The fridge is still small but not the smallest we've seen.  We'll be given another fridge from the military to stay downstairs.  Connected to the kitchen is  dining room and then a large living room... room for our piano so that's good.  Upstairs is a large master bedroom, a big bathroom, and two other small rooms. The top floor is one large open room with a bathroom.  It's like the attic so the roof is slanted and the ceilings are all dark wood.  It looks so cool.  All the kids want to sleep up there and there is definitely room for them.  They could fit all their beds up there easily.  We'll have to try and figure out who will be where... maybe the two little boys get their own rooms on our floor and the four big kids up there?  We'll see.  The basement has the laundry room (with hot and cold water hook ups so we get an American washer and dryer... that is big because usually you get just cold water.  The European washers are much smaller and take twice as long to do each load.  Can you imagine how much I would be doing laundry?   Then there are two storage rooms and one good sized hobbyroom.  The backyard is closed off and private which is rare and nice.  I'll totally be able to send the boys out to play and set up our trampoline and maybe have a small table and chairs.  It has one garage which we will use for our bikes and two spaces to park our vehicles out front.  After looking through the whole thing with the owner's daughter, we left to go on a walk with the kids.  When Chris and I just looked at each other, I started to cry.    It's our home and we feel very blessed.  And that's the whole story.

 our home

Our home is on the very left.  This shows the pedestrian street for kids to 

ride bikes and the bike trails and view from the dead end.

This is the view from our bike path at the end of our road... taken right after we went through the house.

**We'll sign the lease next Thursday morning and might move in soon after that.  Our first 1200 pounds is here but no word on our big shipment.  The army will deliver temporary beds and tables and couches until it arrives.

Traditional Father's Day Questions

The kids and I enjoyed our afternoon answering our annual Father's Day Questions while Chris took a Father's Day nap... especially needed this year since Matthew wants to be awake for several hours in the middle of the night as he transitions to German time.  Introducing Luke's first Father's Day answers...  and Ryan begged me to answer as well.  After we all answered then we read each others and then last years too.  Too funny.  Click here for last years answers!  

What does Dad do at work?

Luke says… Daddy do at work.  Daddy’s a doctor and mommy shopping.

Megan says… He is a 'Realogis' and he works at work in Georgia.  But now we live in Germany so now he’s going to work at a new one.  Oh, he loves his work.
Emily says… He, um…  checks inside bodies.  That’s it.

Katie says… He looks inside people’s bodies on the computer and makes sure people are not alone in the room. He told me that once.  He listens to his iPod. 

Ryan says… He looks at x-rays of people’s bones.  He looks for fractures and does lots of surgeries and says he loves reaching into people’s bodies.  He gets happy when his family comes to visit him.

Lisa says... He's a Radiologist but is no longer the Chief.  Yeah!!!!  His schedule and duties in Germany will be much lighter.  There are only two Radiologists here in Heidelberg instead of 8 in Georgia so the whole department is much smaller.  Hopefully he'll be able to add 'vacation planning' to his work to do list.

What does Dad do at home?

Luke says… He plays wif Ya-ya (Ryan)
Megan says…  He tickles the kids.  He kisses Mommy.  He helps gets the boys a drink.  He loves everybody.  He does lots of things.  He tucks us in bed.  The boys cry when they are going to bed.  We love our family.    He works on his computer.   He calls somebody on the phone.    Hmmmm, I’m thinking about it.   We love him.

Emily says… He plays Ticket to Ride with us.  He tickles us.  He plays with us.

Katie says... He watches football, basketball, and soccer on TV.    When Mom’s away he surprises her by cleaning the house.  He checks his email and stuff… I don’t know what else he does on the computer, but he’s always on the computer.  He drinks Diet Mt. Dew.   He reads scriptures.

Ryan says… He plays board games with me, Mom and Katie like Ticket to Ride and Monopoly.  He loves watching movies for his wife including TV shows.  He loves to help Mom out with cleaning just because it makes mom happy.  He loves to tickle all the kids.  He loves to play soccer and football with us in the backyard.  He works on his laptop and looks up BYU and soccer info.  He asks me to get him a drink at the beginning of every movie  (and I do it without question.)  That’s just how he is.
Lisa says... He gets dressed into his comfy BYU shirts or Nike shirts and shorts.  He takes care of the little boys.  He plays outside with the kids.  He helps do the dishes.  He listens to me talk non-stop.  

  

What are Dad’s favorite sports?

Luke says… BYU. BYU.

Megan says… Soccer.  Football.  Baseball.  Tennis.  Does he like Tennis?  Ya!!  Does he play Tennis?  NO!!!

Emily says… Football, basketball, soccer, golf

Katie says… Well, all of the sports are his favorite but I’ll try to list them in order… To play he likes golfing, and then soccer and then basketball.  He likes to play football too.  To watch he likes football first, then basketball, soccer and golfing.  I can’t really put them in order.  They are all in first place.

Ryan says… Football, soccer and basketball.  He loves watching them on TV and playing them with me.

Lisa says... To watch: Definitely BYU football.  The boy's addicted.  Majors Golf.  World Cup Soccer.  College basketball.  To play:  golf, backyard football, backyard soccer -- nothing else because of his hips and back.

What does Dad do after you go to bed?

Luke says… he goes aleep. (asleep)

Megan says… watches a movie.  Hmm, let me think.  He kisses mom.  He loves mom.  He eats spicy gummy bears [cinnamon bears] while he’s watching a movie with mom.

Emily says… Watches movies with Mom and talks.  I don’t know what he talks about.  He stays up really late.  He checks on us in bed.  He watches football.  He reads.

Katie says… Ohhh, this is so easy.  He eats popcorn and ice cream and watches movies and TV with Mom.  Sometimes not with mom.  He drinks diet Mt. Dew. 

Ryan says… Watch TV shows and sometimes movies with Mom and kisses her.  I think he reads until midnight and sometimes he works on his laptop and listens to his iPod.

Lisa says... Well, the kids seem to have it right.  We relax and watch something usually. He listens to me  talk while catching up on Cougar Fan. Then we say couple prayer, individual prayers and Chris reads his Book of Mormon in bed and then another book until he finally turns off the lamp between 12:30 and 1:00. 

What does Dad like to eat?

Luke says… hot dogs and samich (sandwich)

Megan says… He likes to eat everything.  I don’t know, YOU know!  Spaghetti? Pineapples.  He loves strawberries, he loves watermelon.  I’m doing all the favorite foods I like.  He loves apples.  He really does love apples.  He loves milk.

Emily says…  Spaghetti, that’s what we’re having for dinner tonight, and he likes everything else.

Katie says… Oooo, he likes anything Mom makes him.  He’s favorite food is lasagna.  And he likes to drink Diet Mt. Dew.

Ryan says… Spaghetti, and whatever else Mom makes for him.  That’s just the truth.  He thinks snake is quite tasty?! 

Lisa says... spicy food.  He loves the Spicy Curry Chicken at our favorite Thai place in Columbus.  He also loves the spicy chicken at Sam's Club.  He loves lasagna.  He loves kettle corn and diet Mt. dew.     Generally he's easy to please and quite easy to cook for, thank goodness.

What does Dad do at church?

Luke says… play blocks.

Megan says… He does primary.  He goes to Sacrament.  He loves his class with men.   He listens.  Ok, that’s all.

Emily says… He gets his suit on for church.  He sits with us.  He listens quietly. 

Katie says…  He used to sit up at the front and conduct.  Now he sits with us and Mom’s probably really happy because he gets one boy and she gets the other and it’s way easier for her.  So they both get half of the trouble.  He holds Matthew and gets him to fall asleep in his arms.  It’s so cute.

Ryan says… NOW he sits with the family (he used to sit up front).  He takes care of Matthew (lucky mom) and he grins down at me when I smile up at him. Especially since today is Father’s Day.

Lisa says... We are quite enjoying him sitting with us these days.  For the past three weeks he has held Matthew and usually has him during all three meetings.  He changes the boys pants, and takes Luke to nursery.  Today he stayed in the nursery to help since they didn't have enough leaders.  Matthew loved it.  

Does Dad like cleaning?

Luke says… Yah!

Megan says… No sir ree. Does Mom like cleaning?  Yes sir ree.  Does Megan like cleaning?  No sir ree.

Emily says… No, he doesn’t like cleaning.

Katie says… No, but he has to.

Ryan says… No, not at all, but he still does it for his wife.

Lisa says... The kids used to answer YES all the time which I thought was hilarious, but they have since learned... although they do think I like it.  Chris always helps out with the dishes and folding laundry and other things when necessary. 

Who does Dad love?

Luke says… Mommy and Ya-Ya (Ryan) and Dadie (Katie) and Me-den (Megan) and Ludey (Lukey) and Mashew (Matthew) and El-la-lee (Emily)

Megan says… Mom, Ryan, Matthew, Megan, Katie, Lukey, Emily and the Starbucks and Jesus and the Chuggs, the Moons, the Grahams and Grandma and Grandpa.  He loves sounds.  Hee hee hee.  I hope Dad doesn’t hear this.    He loves EVERY one.

Emily says… Mom.  Um, He loves his family.  He kisses Mom.  He loves all the girls in the family.  He hugs and kisses me.  He loves all the boys in the family.

Katie says… Well, who doesn’t he love?  Mostly mom.  And then me and then everybody else.

Ryan says… His wife, his parents, and all of his kids, especially me.

Lisa says... I know that Chris loves me, but I am especially happy to learn that all my kids know it without a doubt as well. (They are never allowed to see each other's answers until the end)  Christopher, I love you.  The kids love you.  You are an amazing husband and father.  Happy Father's Day! Know that you are LOVED.

How we got here... and other random details.

I have lots of vacation pictures to catch up on (which I'll do soon) but I think I'll go out of order for the next little while because...

We are here.  In Germany.  Finally.

We woke up on Wednesday morning in our Atlanta Hotel beaming with excitement.  Emily said, "Mom, this is the day I've waited for forever."    We swam in the hotel pool and then got ready and checked out.  We took all of our baggage back on the skytrain to the airport and picked a corner to sit and wait while Chris went to see  if we could check in our baggage.  Since no one was even at the counter yet, we pulled all of our luggage outside of Atlanta Bread and took turns standing by it as we ordered and ate our lunch.   There is no doubt that people 'noticed' us.  We are just too big a group with just too much luggage to go unnoticed.  We got lots of interesting compliments like "your children seem so educated" and lots of comments like "you've got your hands full" or "you've got your own platoon" (coming from a military guy) but my favorite came while eating in Atlanta Bread.  Chris ordered the food while I played with Luke and the girls sat around the luggage reading.  Then we split up to eat since there wasn't a table big enough.  When I filled up a drink for Chris, handed it to him and walked to my own table I heard one lady whisper to another lady, "that's the mom" and it made me smile.  Yep, this 'platoon' is mine.  How proud I am to tell people that 'yes, they are all mine' and answer 'six' before they go to all the trouble of counting.  Traveling with 8 people is not a piece of cake, but it's not bad either.  

After lunch we went and checked in getting rid of two thirds of our luggage.   With three hours until we could board we headed up to the USO.  Finally at 4:30 we headed through security and found our gate.  It had already been a long day of waiting and the kids were so excited to finally be getting on the airplane.

We were among the first on the plane.   The plane had two seats, aisle, four seats, aisle and two seats.

We sat:

Luke, Dad

Matthew, Mom, aisle, Katie, Ryan

Emily, Megan

Luke and Matthew were asleep before we even took off.  Both hadn't had a nap yet and were just waiting to be strapped down so that their busy bodies could relax.

  

We flew Lufthansa and were very impressed.  The kids were amazed with this airplane's features.  Each chair had it's own TV with 18 different movies to choose from.  The chair reclined further than other planes and had a little cup holder so you didn't have to have your whole tray down.  The first thing the stewardesses did was to go up and down the aisles giving packages of toys, pencils, crayons, and a pack of cards to each of the kids.   The kids didn't even open their backpacks once.  No coloring pages. No crayons.  No expensive Leapsters bought especially for this big flight.  Nothing.  Just headphones and individual movies. 

After our initial drink and snack they served dinner.  Beef, mashed potatoes, carrots & gravy, salad, roll, cheese, and brownie.  Is it unusual to want the recipe of your on flight meal?  Maybe I was just hungry but it was delish.  The kids ordered pasta and loved it too.

Most of us chose to watch Alice in Wonderland, which we enjoyed.  The kids watched a few until we finally realized we only had 3 1/2 hours left and forced them to turn off their TV's and get some sleep.  I slept too.  Chris tried but couldn't fall asleep even with his extra leg room.  Two hours later they were serving breakfast.

As we descended we could see lots of clouds, rain and green fields everywhere.  We landed and stopped but not at a gate.  Instead they rolled a staircase to the door and we got out, and boarded a bus to the airport... in the rain.  The kids and I squished on the first bus like sardines, and Chris grabbing the two carseats and stroller was left to get on the second bus.  The Frankfurt airport didn't look like an American airport but I don't really know how to describe it.  Most signs were in German and English and everybody we asked questions of spoke English, thank goodness.   We are learning that Germany doesn't have too many elevators so it's not really double stroller friendly.  We went in search of a way to get down to baggage claim, found an elevator and then ended up passing the baggage claim and sending Chris and the big kids to go back and get our luggage.  

20 minutes later, with all of our luggage, we headed to the USO to make contact with the military who would help us get to the right bus.  What we thought would be a simple procedure ended up being so inefficient and time consuming.  First we gathered for a short briefing with three other families inprocessing to different locations in Germany.  Then they caravanned us upstairs to the 'holding room' where our luggage sat by the big Heidelberg sign.  From there we could sign out and walk around and get something to eat until our bus was ready to leave at 1:30.

Our nine hour flight had got us into Heidelberg at 10:00am (4:00am Georgia time -- 2:00am Utah time which is really what our bodies were used to).  By the time we got our luggage and had been led to the 'holding room' it was 12:20.   Since most of us got only a few hours of sleep (Chris didn't get any) we were EXHAUSTED, whiney, weak, and shaky and just the thought that we had to 'hang out' in another location to WAIT was more than we could take.  Chris, (again the one with no sleep) took Katie, Emily, Megan and Matthew to the market in the airport to get some lunch.  Ryan kept an eye on Luke who was running around crazy, and I cuddled up on two chairs with a jacket over my eyes to sleep.    An hour and a half later, after another 'briefing' at 1:30 we caravanned through the airport to our buses.  That sounds easy enough but it took FOREVER and was so frustrating.  Finally we were outside in line for our bus.  

The bus was nice and we had most of it to ourselves.  Best part... a bathroom on the bus.  We were on the bus for about an hour.  We loved looking out the windows and enjoying the scenery.  Green fields, cute quaint houses from a distance.  Lots of green.  We slept until they asked us for our ID to get on base. 

We were dropped off outside of the Guest House here on Patrick Henry Village at almost 4:30.  There are several small bases around Heidelberg instead of one large base.  Where we are is close to the bowling alley, movie theater, the Middle School and a huge park... and a 20 minute walk to the commissary.  Our 4 room hotel situation is better than we expected.   All four rooms are connected.  The first is two twin beds with small fridge, TV, desk, wall of closets and bathroom (Ryan and Katie and Luke).  The second room is a living room area with TV and a small kitchen (smaller than our laundry room in Georgia but bigger than I expected -- it has two burners, a mini fridge, microwave and pots and pans etc. for us to use.  The third has a double bed, desk, TV, cabinets and bathroom, (Emily and Megan) and the fourth room exactly like the third but with another fridge now known as the 'diet mountain dew' fridge (Chris and I and Matthew).  It is going to be great.

Carol, our military sponsor, and other Radiologist here, met us and helped us walk over our luggage to our rooms, handed us a bag full of food and treats and helped us get dinner.  

By 7:00pm we felt like we couldn't even stand up.  Our legs were shaky and it seemed like the hotel was moving back and forth.    So weird.   After going through our luggage to find pjs and putting all the kids in bed we climbed in bed at 7:30 (1:30pm Georgia time -- 11:30 Utah time)  and most of us slept most of 14 hours.  Katie had a hard time sleeping because Luke apparently had a hard time sleeping.  At 1:30am she tried to climb in bed with the other girls who were apparently already awake and talking in bed.  At 2:00 Matthew woke up and wanted to talk so Chris who couldn't get back to sleep after telling the girls to go back to bed, decided to get up and watch the final Basketball game with Matthew.  They came to bed again later and we all slept till 9:00.  Emily and Megan slept till 11:00.  Even with all the sleep I still feel a little wobbly today but feel like we have effectively switched over to Germany time... hopefully without any more crazy nights.  We'll see.

So much more to see this weekend... Time to head to the huge park.

Golfing at Dixie Red Hills

The thing Chris loves most about St. George is the golf.  He loves multiple golf courses there and has traveled there several times lately for Guilt Free Guys trips with his friends.  But his love of golfing here started when his family would come golfing here when he was just a boy.  Dixie Red Hills Golf Course.  Just 9 holes nestled at the foot of of the St. George red cliffs.  

On our last day in St. George, Chris, Grandpa and Ryan decided to play another 9 and I thought I'd come along for the ride.   It was a scorching 100 degrees that afternoon but in the shade of the cart it was a perfectly wonderful way to spend the afternoon.  I took pictures, quietly cheered on my boys, enjoyed the quiet beauty of the golf course, got driven around by my cute husband and even golfed a couple holes.  A great afternoon!