I know! It’s been a while since I posted anything. I was waiting for there to be something new and exciting to share, but we pretty much have had a normal couple of weeks. Lots of softball and baseball, dog walks, gym time, school stuff, and work.

The factory workers wear these pants, and Jay had to get a pair for himself. They might be his new favorite pants.

I don’t have the official certificate yet, but I completed the A1 German exam and passed!!! That is the first level, there is so much more to learn, but my vocabulary is growing, my confidence is (slowly) increasing. I could read, write, listen, and speak basic German.

On the work front, I was able to visit out operations in Windhagen, Germany. It was great to kick off an exciting project. Jay traveled to a few different cities in Poland.

That’s all I have to share for now. Gutes Wochenende!! Have a good weekend!

Our last day in Tenerife was probably the best weather. We took advantage of it and soaked in the sunshine. We wandered along the coast and found this huge area full of rock stacks. It was kind of incredible to see how many had been built. We all added to it. 🙂

All in all, the Canary Islands did not disappoint. We all needed a wind-down, relaxing, forget-what-day-it-is vacation, and we got it. The island was very clean, I felt safe everywhere we went, the food was great, shopping was fun, adventures were memorable. We had planned on doing more outings (water park, zoo, etc) but really didn’t need those entertainment options. And now, back to normal life….

Spring Break 2024 is over, the kids went back to school, and Jay and I turned our computers back on. Wah wah.

This post summarizes how we spent Monday and Tuesday. The theme seemed to be Feet.

Ty had a pretty nasty sunburn from Sunday so he wanted to stay out of the sun on Monday. We headed down by where Jay and I had dinner the night before.

Lily, Jay and I explored the beach area.

It kind of felt like hot tub bubbles. Of course this was an impulse decision that involved zero research, so when we were sitting at lunch waiting for our food, I picked up my phone and said I wanted to read all about the positive health effects of these little fish. Jay said “you don’t want to do that.” Uh oh. Let’s hope we don’t end up with any weird diseases from that 20 minute experience….

We were all pretty hungry after the hike, so we tried a late lunch at a Tex Mex restaurant. Let me be clear. Spanish food does not equal Mexican food. The chips and “guacamole cream” were similar. That’s about where it ends. They did this weird thing where they put pomegranate seeds on every dish. Nachos, burritos, everything. and they didn’t put a lime in the margarita. I think we need to stop trying and just wait for Mexican food when we visit home.

Easter Sunday. Or as Cousin Jessi says “the day that Jesus failed at the whole YOLO thing.” Daylight savings hit us up overnight, so our already late sleeping schedule got extended by an hour. By the time we got the kids up and ready, it was around 11:00, too late to go to Lori Park as planned. No problema, we will do something else. We missed breakfast, so we decided to find a seaside restaurant for lunch. Jay literally looked at Google Maps and said “let’s go here”. “Here” was Restaurante Panorama. The whole time we have been on the island, we have been surrounded by tourists. Not this morning. We found a local hangout along a black sand beach. We had a delicious lunch then wandered along the beach, inspecting every tide pool along the way. We saw tons of snails, some crabs – even a spider crab with super long legs, dead crabshells (remains of a bird’s lunch), little tiny shrimp looking things, and fish. Ty could spend all day exploring tide pools.

Let’s talk about bananas for a minute. All along the coastline there are huge fields covered in these tan nets. Underneath are banana plants. So. Many. Banana fields. 150,000 metric tons of bananas are shipped from Tenerife annually, with 90% going to Europe. The soil is great for growing bananas with high potassium and phosphorus content.

Lots to fill you all in on! It was a pretty normal week last week, except for 2 highlights.

#1 Dumpster Diving. I finally worked up the nerve to grab something from the street on bulk trash day. The restaurant in our front yard pitched a bunch of dishes and glasses. I should have grabbed the whole box of the beer glasses, but I panicked. Lily brought home a broken clock that she is planning on displaying her artwork in.

#2. Uncle Brian came through with Lily’s search for someone at Kraft Mac & Cheese. Her persuasive letter (and dramatic reading of it) resulted in a giant box of Mac and Cheese being delivered to Königstein. This girl’s day/week/month/year was MADE!!!

The kids have a 2 week spring break on either side of Easter Sunday. We decided that we needed some Vitamin Sea and boarded our 4.5 hour direct flight to Tenerife, Canary Islands.

The first full day was spent at the resort. It was warm (~70 degrees Fahrenheit) but the breeze is a little chilly, so the chances of me getting in the water are slim. Lily and Jay did a little swimming. Ty and I just chilled poolside.

On Friday we split up for the afternoon. Jay and Ty did an afternoon beach ATV tour (Ultimate Buggies) and had a great time! Lily and I opted for the spa. She has never had a professional massage so we booked a 30 minute couples massage.

We made our way down the (very) curvy road to Playas del las Americas. We ate a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (I know, it’s so American of us). I had a salad, with RANCH DRESSING. OMG it was delicious. I almost asked for some in a cup to drink straight up. We shopped a bit and got Ty some nice outfits for dinners at the resort.

Buenos noches!

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….

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.

Remember last week when I shared a picture of the flowers in Lily’s room? Apparently double-sided tape isn’t going to work.

I saw a couple vehicles that I made me scratch my head this week and say “what the heck is that?”.

Speaking of 16-year-olds driving… Ty turns 14 in May, but Germans cannot get a learner’s permit at 14. At 16 they can drive a restricted motorcycle, 17 they can drive a car with a guardian, 18 is unrestricted driving. We are thinking we will get Ty’s permit when we go home this summer, but he won’t be able to use it in Germany. He also won’t be able to take drivers’ education until we return to the US.

Now let’s talk about drinking ages. At 14, Germans can consume alcoholic beverages with adult supervision. Germans can buy “soft” alcohol and wine at 16. They can buy all the booze at 18. They can drink before they can drive. Maybe it isn’t such a terrible approach – they learn their limits long before they get behind the wheel.

One of the school moms, Shane, had a birthday last week and somehow convinced me to go with a bunch of people to an actual club on Friday night. I figured I would pick something to wear that was in my closet, but Jay ran across the street to the men’s clothing store and came home with a sweet jacket and shirt, so I decided I better at least make an effort with my outfit. Friday after work I ran to all of the shops in Königstein and was able to piece together a cute little outfit. I found these sweet Jimmy Choo’s at a secondhand store – the only pair and they fit perfectly. It was a sign. I had to buy them. My Cinderella Sneakers…

We met for dinner at 8:00 PM (my bedtime) at Brauhaus Castel in Wiesbaden. Schnitzel and beer was consumed. Lots of beer. Lots of laughs. It was a great way to start the evening.

We arrived at the club – Euro Palace – a little after 10:00. I figured I would be the oldest person there, but surprisingly there were a lot of older people dancing when we arrived. This place was HUGE. There were 4-5 different rooms with dancefloors, and several other little bar spaces.

On Saturday, Jay, Ty, and Lily spent some time at the ballfield. Ty had practice then his team helped with fieldwork. We had made a facial appointment for Ty several weeks ago, but he is getting treatments by a dermatologist now so I went to the facial appointment instead. The shop is 1/2 a block away and the lady that owns the shop is super sweet. It’s been a long time since I got a proper facial, so I took advantage of the reserved time. I don’t think I mentioned that when I went to the super expensive hair salon, they didn’t do brow/lip waxing, so I was in desperate need of some hair removal. It just so happens that the facial lady does permanent hair removal treatments. Yes, please!!! I did my first session on Saturday. Every 6 weeks I go back for another treatment, for approximately 5-7 sessions. And then I never have to wax again. I am quite excited about this. Lily, who has recently developed a passion for plucking hairs, is not so excited that I am eliminating her job. 🙂

I learned some new things this weekend. I knew that Sundays were quiet days in Germany, but I didn’t know the extent to which that is protected. It is strictly forbidden to use any lawn equipment that makes noise on Sundays in Germany. If you need to mow the lawn, better get it done before Sunday. Glass recycling is strictly forbidden on Sundays. Apparently dropping the glass bottles into the recycling containers makes too much noise.

Jay and I walked down to our favorite pizza restaurant Sunday night. While waiting for the pizzas to cook, we drank a beer. I finished it on the walk home and chucked the empty bottle in a public trash can. And then I panicked and looked around, expecting someone to come yell at me for a) not recycling the bottle and b) making noise on a Sunday.

I make fun of the rules, but I actually like the quiet Sunday culture. We went for an easy 2 mile hike Sunday morning, then Ty’s friend, Gary, and his family had us over for lunch. Gary’s mom is Chinese and his stepdad is German. His aunt was visiting and they cooked us an amazing meal. There were probably 6 courses, all delicious. Ty tried shrimp and liked it! We were there for 5 hours on Sunday afternoon and had a great time with them.

We were able to book a couple trips. We are going to Disneyland Paris at the end of May during a 4-day weekend just after Ty’s birthday. We were thinking we would cram in a day doing the touristy things in Paris (Eiffel Tower, Louvre, etc) but decided that we would go back another time to do all of that stuff – likely when we have guests that really want to see Paris. So we’ll just hang out at Disney. It might be too long at the smaller-than-Disney World parks, but we won’t be rushed.

We also bought Lily’s birthday present – Taylor Swift tickets in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Just the two of us will go to the concert, but we will all go to Gelsenkirchen for the night.

I have other placeholders for other trips – Austria, Switzerland, Lake Como Italy, Munich, Neuschwanstein Castle, and Nuremburg, plus our trip to the US and hopefully an African Safari. So much to see and do, so little time!!!

This past week was pretty normal, so I almost didn’t publish a blog post. We didn’t really have any new crazy observations, just real life stuff. So this post is more of a diary entry.

Ty had his last basketball games on Wednesday. It was a tournament to determine the best team in the League. I couldn’t go because Lily had softball practice, but Jay said Ty played the hardest he has ever seen him play for most of 3 games. He scored lots of points – including an and 1, took a charge, played tough defense. His legs were shot the next day. It’s good for him. :). His team took 2nd place.

Saturday we spent the morning at the baseball/softball field doing spring cleanup. Moles had taken up residence in the outfield so we hauled out several wheelbarrows full of dirt. The batting cage and bubble nets were repaired and hung. Weeds were sprayed. Concession stand was cleaned. There are still 2 more weekends of cleanup planned, but a lot was done the first weekend. We are a little spoiled back home with the field maintenance. It was hard work, but kind of nice for the kids to get their hands dirty and put some sweat into the fields. It should make them appreciate it more.

Saturday night we had dinner with friends, who have access to the Military Base grocery store. We had tacos, Tostitos chips and salsa, and MARGARITAS!!!!! So good. Lots of laughs, too. 🙂

Sundays are usually our long hike day, but I wanted to get Lily’s room decorated instead.

Here’s your German Road Sign quiz of the week. See below for the answer. Speaking of road, let’s talk about some of the nuances of driving in Germany. For the most part, it’s not too terribly different than driving in Iowa. But there are some differences.

Lane paint on the street is always white. There is not a yellow line to indicate the barrier of opposite traffic flow. So sometimes I am driving down a street and I don’t know if it is 2 lanes going in the same direction or 2 lanes going in opposite direction. I just keep right.

The speed limit CONSTANTLY changes. It goes from 30 KM/HR to 100 KM/HR to 70 KM/HR without (what I have been able to determine so far) any rhyme or reason. Some speed changes make perfect sense, like when approaching an area with exits (Ausfahrts) and entrances. But other times there doesn’t seem to be any change on the road that would warrant a change in speed. And there are speed cameras all over the place, so it is important to keep an eye on the speed or you will get an unwanted letter in the mail. I usually set the adaptive cruise control that does a pretty good job of adjusting to the posted speed, but it isn’t perfect. I also have a little device called the OooNo that alerts me if there are known speed cameras – as long as someone else has flagged the location. So far, no speed tickets for me. Knock on wood.

Stop lights. You know how in the US, if there is a stop light at an intersection, the light itself is on the other side of the cross street, and there is a white line on the street that shows you where you actually need to stop. In Germany, the light itself is on this side of the cross street, so when you pull up to the intersection, you are directly underneath the light. How am I supposed to see that light change to green? Well, actually, from red to yellow to green? If there is a light on the left side of the road, you can usually see it, otherwise your neck is strained trying to look up through the top of your windshield to see the light.

Turn lanes. When approaching an intersection, if there is a designated turn late that only has the option of a left or a right turn, apparently you do not have to use your turn signal. Because obviously you are in the lane, so everyone else has to know what you are planning to do. Why would you waste energy on signaling? Works great IF everyone follows the process.

And speaking of following the process, let’s talk about pedestrian crossing. What is the single most dangerous thing someone out for a leisurely stroll is likely to face? If you guessed crossing the road and getting hit by a car, you would be correct. This fear is ingrained into Americans (or at least to me) from an early age. Stop, and look both ways, before crossing the road. Never assume the driver is paying attention, because if they are distracted by something they could hit you AND YOU COULD DIE. But in Germany, the land of rule followers, it is the expectation that drivers will stop for pedestrians if the road has the little white hashes on it, therefore people just go out into the road without stopping and looking for oncoming traffic. Often times they have their eyes glued to their phone. Or they actually run to the intersection that you are approaching so that you have to stop (#slamonbrakes) instead of walking and waiting a half second for you to pass by. That is putting a LOT of trust in the process, a process where a slight variation could result in DEATH. I’m enjoying a lot of things that are different about German life, but that is one I will not adopt. Blindly following a process rarely produces the best results.

Next topic I want to bring up is hair. I had my first German hair appointment this week. I have been going to Brian for who knows how many years, so this was a big deal for me. I got a salon recommendation from a lady who has gorgeous hair, so I felt fairly confident that they wouldn’t turn it green (unless I asked for it, which I wasn’t planning on doing). The biggest downside is that the salon is located in downtown Frankfurt. I thought that parking might be a challenge but I figured I would figure out where to park once I got there. Lesson #1: Find the location on google maps and then start directions to the nearest public parking garage before you leave your house. I made it to the salon, and quickly realized that there was nowhere to park. I had some lady road rage honk and yell at me when I pulled over to find a parking garage, which didn’t make sense because people pull off to the side all the time here. Whatever. I found a garage and thankfully it had lots of open spaces. I thought it was weird that the gate just opened without giving me a ticket, but thought maybe it was free that time of day. At this point I was already late for my appointment, and according to Google Maps I still had an 8 minute walk ahead of me. I speed-walked to the salon and arrived a few minutes late, but thankfully still a couple minutes before my stylist arrived. My stylist spoke English, but let’s just say she didn’t want to chat. I told her “I don’t really want to go any darker” and she just got to work. She seemed competent in her abilities, but there was no therapeutic chit-chat ending in tear-inducing laughter like I am used to. So I read a book and tried not to worry too much about what was happening on my head.

Y’all. I’m blonde now. I went from dark brown with some hints of red, to full on blonde. The good news is that Jay prefers it when my hair is blonde. Lily hates it. She actually turned off the light in the room and told me “that looks better.” And Ty didn’t even notice the drastic change. Why do I even bother trying?! It’s actually a pretty good color job, just will take some getting used to.

So anyway, back to the salon. We wrap up, and I try not to show the shock on my face when I saw how light it was, thinking that it will grow on me. Hey – at least it isn’t green. I needed some shampoo and conditioner, and some product, so we picked that out. All along I never thought to ask about prices. I don’t mind paying for quality work, typically. I was stressing about whether or not I needed to tip at the hair salon, because most places in Germany don’t expect tips, but I didn’t want to leave the stylist short-changed if the salon was the exception to the no-tipping rule. But when she told me the total, it took my best Oscar-worthy performance to not have my jaw drop to the floor. Hair cut, color, and product (no waxing), was 495€. I’ll let you all do the currency conversion to USD. Bless my husband for not calling me as soon as he saw the Capital One alert. I paid (and didn’t tip), then stopped in the bathroom and snapped a quick picture – ignore the lack of makeup.

I had an 8 minute walk to calm down before I had to get in the car and drive home. I found the parking garage (yay!), got in my car, and drove to the Ausfahrt exit. The arm to let me out of the garage didn’t go up. Hmmmmmmm. I looked at the screen and it said I owe 12.50€. How did it know that if I didn’t take a ticket when I got there? OHHHHHHHH! It knew my license plate. So I backed up (thankfully nobody was behind me), temporarily parked in an electrical vehicle charging space, took a picture of my license plate, found the Kasse machine to pay, then finally was allowed to exit the garage. 6 hours and 507.50€ later, I wasted a partial vacation day. Ugh. Next time I’m just going to a place in Königstein that I can walk to, hoping the price is lower and the cut/color is somewhat OK. I miss you, Brian!

Other events of the week included Ty’s second basketball game. They lost, but the coach doesn’t appear to have winning be the priority. It’s more about letting all of the boys get some playing time. This can be somewhat difficult for Ty to accept, since he’s played to win for so long, but we keep reminding him that not having any pressure isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

One thing I love about where we live is that we have so many great restaurants nearby. For some reason being able to walk somewhere to eat seems so much easier than driving to a restaurant. The kids usually prefer something quick to eat for dinner, so if we haven’t cooked a meal, Jay and I get to sneak away for an hour or so and have a lovely dinner without the kids. I hope we keep this up when we go home, even if though we have to drive.

I learned something new about Jay. After 20 years, I would have thought I knew it all. He sorts his Skittles. And he freaks out when anyone (Ty) throws a pile of unsorted Skittles in their mouth. I don’t sort. I eat one at a time, and occasionally will throw a few mixed in my mouth at once. I posted this on Facebook and it basically blew up the internet with comments from the Sorters vs the Non-Sorters. Which are you?

Lily had her first indoor softball tournament on Saturday. She was nervous, and for those that know about her anxiety issues, she did have an episode. But once she got the nerves out of her system (literally), she decided to play ball. I hate that she struggles so much with doing fun things. But once she decided to play and realized it isn’t that much different than outdoor softball (which she is comfortable with), she played like a champ. I was super proud of her for not letting her anxiety win. Speaking of winning…her team won all of their games and got 1st place!

One of Ty’s classmates had a party on Saturday afternoon, so he hung out there during Lily’s tournament. It was the first non-school boy/girl party he has gone to. When we picked him up, it sounded like he had a great time.

I have a challenge. I love bonfires. I’ve seen at all of the home improvement stores (like the German version of Lowes) that they have metal firepits for sale. So we bought one, and a box of firewood. 🙂 And then I got worried that there are probably rules about bonfires. Some quick research online says that my hunch was correct. I am going to have to go to the Rathaus (City Hall) and hope someone speaks English and can tell me if I can have a fire or not, and if so, what kind of special permit I need. To sit by a bonfire. So. Many. Rules.

Sunday morning we decided to go on a hike to check out a place that several people had recommended to us – Feldberg. This hike was a little shorter than the last one we took the kids on, but did have a bit of elevation that tested our endurance. A couple times I had to actually push Lily up the hill by putting my hands on her hips. 🙂 We were giggling the whole time.

Answer: This sign indicates a narrow passage ahead (so many 1-lane roads everywhere!) and oncoming traffic has the right to cross the narrow place first. Red means stop, so the car on the right has to stop and wait. This one actually kind of makes sense.

I <heart> Venice. I definitely could have spent another few days there. As we were wandering around the last morning in Venice, I finally found a piece of art that I wanted to bring home with me. This will be arriving in a week or two!

We got home Sunday night, and first thing Monday morning OUR AIR SHIPMENT FROM THE USA ARRIVED!!!! Two months + one day for something that should have taken 2 weeks…. Some things I was really happy to unpack were my clothes, shoes, the sports bags, Ziplock baggies (haven’t found anything comparable here), tupperware. Unfortunately Jay had to travel Tuesday-Thursday, so it took me until Sunday to get everything put away, but yay! It’s all here!

I mentioned that Jay had a work trip this week. He visited Stadtlohn, Germany and Arc Les Gray, France. It sounds like he had a productive trip, met new people, and saw some different towns.

Ty had the worst week. His Italian souvenir was the flu, and it knocked him down hard for a solid week. I haven’t seen him that sick in a long time. He pretty much laid in bed and made a few appearances downstairs. He finally seemed like he was nearly back to normal by Friday afternoon.

Our weekend was pretty low key. I spent Saturday morning at the school cleaning up after the dance. Lily had her final day of MUN and then a slumber party on Saturday night, and Ty had a friend over. Sunday we were all pretty tired, so we laid low. Sorry I don’t have anything more exciting than normal life to share for this weekend!