Grammy's Coming to Town!

In exactly one week, Grammy will be here for two weeks! We are THRILLED! Everyday around 11:30am (our time) and 5:30am (EST) we talk to my Mom on Skype. Savannah knows who she is and gets very excited every time she sees her face and hears her voice. This will be my Mom's first visit to Europe, "Biggest vacation of her life" I believe she said last week! We have lots of things planned, but most importantly spending as much time together is what I'm most excited about.

We will be visiting Brussels, Belgium Saturday, July 2nd through Monday, July 4th and staying at a vacation rental right in the Grand Place, the heart of Brussels. There is supposed to be a spectacular light show every night at the Grand Place!

We will also take Grammy to a few well-know castles within driving distance and enjoy shopping in the little towns. We'll visit the Rhine River which is about 10 minutes away and enjoy lunch at the Biebrich Palace. We'll show her our soon to be old house and take her on the walk/hike we do every day and look at the unbelievable view we had. Bring good walking shoes Mom! :)

We'll take her to the famous Farmer's Market in Downtown Wiesbaden on Saturday morning and make her try Bratwurst with Curry and Pommes aka french fries! We'll enjoy Savannah's favorite gelato several times so she can try lots of different flavors. We'll visit the pool a few days too. There is a really nice indoor pool just in case the weather doesn't cooperate! I'll introduce her to all our wonderful friends and their children. I'll take her to the Commissary, not that it will be that exciting but she can see where we grocery shop sometimes! :) We'll take her to Italian alley in Downtown Wiesbaden and enjoy delicious pizza and pasta dishes. We'll visit her ancestors winery, the Pfanabecker Winery, about 45 minutes away. Riesling is popular here, this is perfect because she really enjoys this type of wine! I'll teach her the few German phrases I know and have her practice! We'll get fresh chocolate croissants and pretzels at the bakery. Savannah will show her all her tricks. The latest is her dancing to Beyonce's new song, "Run the World"! Absolutely precious. The second the music starts she runs to her "stage" our ottoman, climbs on top and starts bouncing. And if there is anything in her way or one top of the ottoman it gets thrown to the side with no reservation.

We're ready for you Mom!!! I LOVE YOU and can't wait to hug you!!!
XOXOXO
Elizabeth

Savannah's Show!

Bite-sized

In Germany or maybe all of Europe everything is smaller, from the cars to the kitchen sink! All things are done in moderation and conserving energy is key; using less is more is the motto. Even our trash can is small so we have to take our extra trash bags to a dumpster on Base because they won’t all fit and you can’t pile them up next to the trash can like at home. The trash men won’t take them if they aren’t in the can and you will get fined. Hotel rooms are small. Our hotel room in Paris was lovely and cozy just a bit small. The lawn mower looks like a toy for Savannah that plugs into the electrical outlet. Our kitchen sink is unbelievable small with no garbage disposal, which I don’t think exist in Germany. I was literally shocked when I realized this! The refrigerator only fits food for a few days, which is nice because everything you buy is always super fresh and this makes for delicious meals. Although cooking in the small kitchen is different from cooking in a big American kitchen. The ovens are very tiny, I'm still trying to figure out how I’m going cook Thanksgiving dinner! Washer and dryers are very compact and take an extremely LONG time. For example, it takes about 5 hours to dry one load of laundry. This is no exaggeration, I promise. This is why all our friends take their laundry to the Base once a week and do like 7 loads at once using the American laundry machines. Right now we have an American washer and dryer but when we move we’ll have a German washer and dryer. Yikes! 

Seems like the only thing that is super-sized here is BEER! :) Something Rocky has enjoyed!

I have seen some of the smallest cars here too. One was so small it looked like the caboose that belongs on a child's train ride at the mall! This is also not an exaggeration.

There are no super big grocery stores like Giant or Safeway. They are all very small, like Trader Joe sized. I love this part about Germany. Big grocery stores are overwhelming to me, so our grocery, the Rewe is perfect and completely manageable. I have only seen one “all-in-one” store here, the Real, aka Wal-mart. They did build a Wal-mart here but it failed and went of business. There is a specific store for everything it seems.

Germany is very eco-friendly and energy conscious. They recently decided that all of their nuclear power plants will be shutdown by 2022. Renewable energy like wind and solar power is the future.

Gas is measured in liters not gallons, centimeters are used instead of inches, mileage is calculated in kilometers, and the temperature is read in Celsius not Fahrenheit. We’ve learned a few tricks to do the conversions faster.

We’ve been here a little over four months. Some days I love it and other days are more challenging. Everything is different from home, luckily we have access to the Base and that keeps us grounded. We’ve thankfully made great friends that we can trust and count on. That’s all for now!

Chow! XO

Elizabeth

Summer Vacation is Booked!

We are headed to the Canary Islands with our good friends Dieter, Tia and their two children Joseph who is four and Benjamin who is two. Our vacation will span 10 days over Labor Day weekend. The Canaries as they are called are a group of Spanish islands located off the coast of Africa, which is about a four hour flight. We will be staying on the Tenerife Island and renting the El Veril Del Duque villa with a pool and both sea and mountain views. We'll have our own kitchen and have more space rather than staying in a hotel.

I'm so excited to put my toes in the sand and see Savannah enjoy the beach!