School is back in session!! Ty is a freshman in high school and Lily is a Middle Schooler – 6th grade. Ty had to change to the larger campus – FIS Oberursel, and is settling in well, making new friends, and playing Rugby. Lily remains at FIS Wiesbaden and is loving the extra benefits of being in Middle School. She also decided to try playing fußball (soccer). Both are still playing club baseball and softball.

One of the best things about Germany is that there is almost always a festival somewhere to go check out. We went to Sommernacht Fest in Bad Soden with some friends. This was HUGE, and was shockingly set up for 1 day only. There were at least 3 music stages, tons of food and drink stands, people walking on stilts, craft booths. Sehr gut!

Paris for the weekend? Sounds great to me! We were given the BEST advice to visit the city in between the Olympics and the Para Olympics. Many local Parisians left the city during the Olympics, and most of the tourists were going to be there for the actual Olympics. This timing was ideal because it was basically empty of crowds. The Metro (subway) was at most half-full, we didn’t have to wait for restaurants or attractions. We were able to fully enjoy the beauty of the city without all of the people.

The first day we wandered around on our own and found the Eiffel Tower. Day 2 we hired a tour guide to hit all of the Must See spots, then took a super quick walk through the Louvre to find the Mona Lisa. Day 3 was an early lunch before catching the train back to Frankfurt.

Food. I am ashamed to admit that our foodie game was lacking this trip. Lily and I were pretty well exhausted both nights when we got back to the hotel. The first night we ordered room service. I skipped dinner the second night and the boys found a good steakhouse. I cannot believe I didn’t even have butter! On our walking tour day, the guide took us to a random sushi restaurant that had some fried/cooked sushi. We ate it but weren’t really big fans of it. So we kind of had a food fail. Although Lily would give the Ham & Cheese Croques 5 stars. She basically ate it every meal. And the parmesan french fries (not called french fries there, because obviously we were in France) were amazing.

It was a fantastic weekend in Paris. I would 100% go back and do a couple things differently. I would make dinner reservations and force myself to get dressed up and go. And I would shop. Now I feel confident navigating the Metro.
C’était un week-end fantastique!!

We had a whirlwind 3 week visit to the USA at the end of the summer. Here’s a recap!

Jay is pretty much the father of the year. We landed in Moline, ate Navajo Tacos with Memaw and Papa (yum), and then Jay and Ty hopped in the truck and drove 2.5 hours to Des Moines so that Ty could play baseball with his buddies in the last day of the State Championship. Ty has played baseball with some of these boys for many years, and while he has found a great team in Germany to play ball with, he was missing his Royals family. Ty pitched a victory in the semi-finals which allowed them to advance to the championship game – which they WON!!!!! Such a great memory for Ty and Jay.

Next on the USA checklist was a roadtrip to Montana with my parents to go to my Auntie Shell’s funeral. The drive from Bettendorf to Bozeman, according to Google Maps, is 18 hours, one-way. We rented a suburban and piled in (along with 8 dozen ears of sweet corn). Jay assumed the Super Trucker role and over the next 5 days he logged most of the 46 driving hours.

The funeral was difficult. I have shared previously about how much my aunt meant to me. During the funeral, my niece Oakleigh was sitting on my lap giving me good snuggles, which was what I needed to get through the service. But after everyone left the funeral home, I stopped and watched the slideshow for a few more minutes and broke down when I saw a picture of her and I at my wedding. The graveside service was also heartbreaking, but she is resting now in a beautiful location under a tree near the mountains. The time that I spent with my Montana family after the ceremony was beautiful. We cried, we laughed, we celebrated the adventurous life of Auntie Shell. I wish she could have been with us in the garage, laughing along. She would have loved it.

I have been friends with Courtney since 4th grade. She’s one of my favorite humans. We don’t get to see each other often enough, but when we do, it fills my soul. Court spent a weekend with us and we visited the shaman to find out her spirit animal. She’s a bluebird, which is a sign of happiness. She has the most lighthearted and fun personality. We can be silly, serious, and sad together. I was so glad we got to spend so much time together!

Look out!!!! Ty got his drivers’ permit!!! I got approved to be a proctor for an online exam before we flew back to the US, which Ty passed. We made an appointment at the DMV and he got his permit. He won’t be able to drive in Germany (have to be 18), but it was fun for him to drive around the Quad Cities. He did great!

The Iowa State Fair. My family is a HUGE fan of the Iowa State Fair. We go every year, usually several times. We only had time for 1 day, so we packed in a lot in a short amount of time. We saw family and friends, ate our favorite foods, drank lemonade, shopped at Western Edge, and took our annual family photo at Stockmans. A good time was had by all… 🙂

As we wrapped up our time in the USA, my social battery was about drained, we were all exhausted, our bellies were satisfied, sad about leaving our friends and family, anxious about the new routines awaiting us in Germany, and looking forward to snuggling Kaycee. To everyone that carved time out of their busy schedules to meet up with us, thank you. We needed a reboot, and you all gave us that.

And finally, Kaycee. We are so lucky to have been introduced to Vivalda, who might be Kaycee’s best friend. She spent 3 weeks at our house taking care of Kaycee. He gets spoiled rotten by her, but it’s OK – as long as he is a happy pup!!

Until next summer, peace out America!

Lily’s big birthday present this year was 2 tickets to see Taylor Swift in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. To say she was excited would be a major understatement. She had a plan – get her nails done, braid blue into her hair, make a ton of friendship bracelets, and go shopping for an outfit. She knew that she wanted to put together an outfit from the Reputation era (I didn’t know this was a thing), and she loved what she found. I think she looked pretty stinking cute.

Jay drove us all to Gelsenkirchen, including Ty’s friend Garry who is a Swiftie. We arrived in town early enough to grab some lunch before heading to the stadium. The people watching at a Taylor Swift concert is fantastic. Pretty much everyone was dressed up as one of her album themes (or in a Kelsey jersey). Lily traded several bracelets with people. We arrived at the stadium entrance about an hour before they opened the gate, but then were one of the first people inside. We went to the bathroom (the lines were crazy long all night – both the women’s and the men’s (full of women)), then hit up the merch booth to get some swag.

The opening act was good, but I wasn’t familiar with them and can’t remember their name… And then the countdown time to Taylor started. Lily was SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!! Watching her in that moment is going to forever be in my top 10 mother/daughter moments. I mean, I knew she was excited, but I wasn’t expecting her to be THAT excited. It was adorable.

I am not a Swiftie, but I have always liked her music. I saw her open for someone at The Mark in the Quad Cities many years ago, back in the old Tim McGraw days. She made an impression on me then – hard for an opening act to do. But this concert, with her front and center, was incredible. The entertainment factor was off the charts. She managed to capture the attention of 50,000 people for over 3 hours. Her creativity, energy, use of LED bracelets, dancers, costumes….all genius. I have a new respect for her.

As the concert came to a close and we walked back to our meeting point to catch our ride to our Air BNB, Lily was tired, the crash after the adrenaline rush. But she crashed with a giant smile on her face. I almost didn’t fork over the cash to buy the tickets, because let’s be honest, they were stupid expensive. But given the chance to do it all over again, I 100% would. If you have the opportunity to see TS live, take it.