I can’t believe I forgot to mention this in the last blog post, but last week I had to go to a school meeting about HIGH SCHOOL ORIENTATION for Ty. How is this possible? My baby….

This week I was able to spend a couple days with my team in Luxembourg. After working in my home office for 3 months, it was so nice to be able to interact with my coworkers in person. March 8 was International Women’s Day, and my male coworkers gave me a flower to celebrate the occasion.
There is a dog park next to the baseball/softball fields. On Thursday we arrived a little early so we let Kaycee run around with the other dogs. He LOVED it. Speaking of Kaycee – he has been dealing with some redness/itchiness for a while. This usually happens in the winter, but seems particularly bad this year. We made him a vet appointment and are trying a few things – new food, pills, and shampoo. Poor pup.
Friday night Jay and I decided to go sit outside the German restaurant on the Hauptstraße (basically in our front yard) and have a beer. I could not have hoped for a better location for us to live and experience Germany. Jay and I have had more meals together, just the two of us, since we have been here than we have in years. The kids often just want to stay home and relax, and we are only a block (at most) away from them. It’s perfect.
So we were driving along and noticed these Frog Crossing signs. Um…. really? So we did a little research and learned that from January through April frogs migrate and there can be hundreds or thousands that follow a path, involving crossing a road. I learned that there are companies that make frog fences to put alongside a road, and sometimes there is even a person who is responsible for the frogs’ safe crossing.
That is really what it looks like it is. A cigarette vending machine. Jay has seen a few of them on walks – this is the first one I have seen. How do they ensure that you are old enough to buy them? I vividly remember a time in my childhood – I was probably 6 years old – when my dad (Rick, not Steven) sent me to the gas station to buy him a pack of cigarettes. Of course they would not give them to me. I was a CHILD!!! If only there had been a cigarette vending machine and no gas station attendant to prevent me from fulfilling my mission.
The kids were both feeling pretty lazy on Sunday morning, so Jay, Kaycee, and I were on our own for our Sunday hike. We had left some things at Kovar’s house so we walked there and back to get our things. The path to their house was just OK. It was wooded, but most went alongside a road so it wasn’t super peaceful. And it was raining and muddy. But the path back home was really nice. It was mostly on a gravel road so not as muddy – but we only came across a couple other hikers. There was a stream and a pond halfway back, the sun came out for a bit, birds were chirping. It was beautiful.

We booked Kirk & Sherry’s flights to Germany!! They will be here in November. Yay!!!!!!

This week is the start of Spring Break for the kids – 2 whole weeks of no school!! We are headed to Tenerife, Canary Islands on Wednesday for 8 days of sunshine. There is very little historical significance on this trip – we just needed a beach vacation after the major life changes we have had over the past few months.