I do not have any pictures of our stop at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. I was too far into feeling all the feels to stop and pull out my phone to take a photo. I found one photo online that is worth resharing.

We asked the kids how they felt about visiting the memorial on our way home from Austria. Both of them agreed that it is something that they should see. We warned them about what we might see, that we might cry and it was OK if they did as well, and that if they felt like they wanted to leave, we could.

We listened to an audio tour to make our way through the area that is open to the public. We walked through a museum that was full of horror stories about how prisoners were treated. At one point Lily felt a little overwhelmed so we went outside. I asked her if she wanted to stop and she said no. She was very interested in seeing where the prisoners slept. She stopped and read every poster in the bunkhouse.

Ty wanted to explore on his own. He went through all of the buildings, including the prayer memorial buildings. We caught up with him at the crematorium and he explained what he had learned the first time through. Lily questioned why the people didn’t get suspicious as they were waiting for the “showers.” Who could they express concerns to? Who was going to help them escape? Where would they go? A very big question from a small human – one that does not have an answer that is fathomable in today’s world.

It was a cold, rainy, miserable day. While it made our visit a little bit unpleasant, it was perfect for forcing us to think about how awful the conditions were for the prisoners.

I was not sure if it would be a good idea to take the kids through the memorial. I know how much of an impact touring Auschwitz had on me 20 years ago, in my 20s. However I do believe that part of history needs to continue to be a story that is told so that it never happens again. We are living in a town that is full of stumbling stones marking the last known residence of Jews that were sent to concentration camps. Being here, living here, we feel the history. I want them to try to understand, even though it is nearly impossible to fully comprehend. Never again.

We decided to head north after spending so much time south over the past few weeks. We thought Riley might enjoy exploring Amsterdam, so we piled into our car (including Kaycee) and started our 5.5 hour drive after dropping Jess and Jason off at the airport. Unfortunately there was a wreck on the Autobahn that added an hour to the trip. Has anyone ever driven in Amsterdam? I don’t recommend it. lol. Props to Jay for navigating us through a million bicycles, trams, and pedestrians to arrive at our hotel – The Hoxton Amsterdam. I have to admit I was a little anxious when we arrived. It was a Friday night and I had done zero planning for this leg of the trip. Everyone was starving and a restaurant that the hotel recommended was booked. They directed us to another restaurant that served traditional Dutch food. Everyone loved their meal.

Between the walk to the restaurants and the scent of you-know-what from pretty much everyone wandering around, I finally was able to settle my nerves and relax. Once I adjusted myself to the hustle and bustle of an energetic, eclectic city, I was able to really enjoy it.

Clog Challenge!! Who wore them better?

I didn’t grab any photos but Jay and Riley went on a Heineken Experience Tour in an old factory. They no longer produce there, but the boys enjoyed the tour.

I am glad we saw Amsterdam, but I couldn’t imagine living there. I’m definitely not a city girl. We had beautiful weather, the sun was shining, not too hot or too cold. We loved wandering along the streets, window shopping, buying tulip bulbs in the Blaumenmarkt, trying new foods, seeing some historical sites (although my lack of planning was a problem for Anne Frank and the Van Gogh Museum). I would like to go back to The Netherlands when the tulip fields are blooming.

And with that, our Fall Break comes to an end. Riley leaves on Tuesday so he has a day to rest up before flying home.

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been. I decided I am going to start ranking places. Here’s my list for Fall Break (plus).

Kitzbühel

Regensburg

Amsterdam

Füssen

Salzburg

Salzburg, Austria was about a 1.5 hour drive from Kitzbühel so we decided to do a day trip. We watched The Sound of Music the night before to prepare ourselves – Lily loved it! I was kind of expecting to be surrounded by singing nuns. We didn’t plan things very well, but we didn’t see a single SOM site…. We improvised by listening to Lily sing her way through the Old Town.

We had one day in Königstein with Jess and Jason before they had to fly back home. It was a holiday so not much was open other than restaurants and cafes, so we took them on one of our favorite hikes. Jay swore it was only 4 miles round trip, but he was off by about 50%. We had a yummy lunch at a forest restaurant to refuel ourselves. We had one final dinner at our favorite restaurant, Valentinos.

Jess & Jason were our first non-work visitors. We all loved having them here, showing them our little world and exploring new places together. So many memories. THANK YOU for making the trip!!

After leaving Füssen, Germany we drove 2.5 hours through the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen. Sorry, Big Horns, you will always hold a special place in my heart, but holy moly the Alps are mind blowing. We drove 2 km UP a mountain on a narrow little path – my hands were sweating. We arrived at our Air BNB in Kitzbühel, Austria, just as the sun was disappearing for the day. We knew there was a good view but had to wait until morning to see what was in store for us.

Whenever we go somewhere, we ask ourselves “could we retire here?” Kitzbühel is in the “absolutely” list. It is located between Innsbruck and Salzburg, both larger cities with everything you need, but plenty of shops and restaurants in town to keep us entertained. There are trails to hike, amazing scenery, winter and summer activities. What more does a person need?

Time for Ty’s U15 German National Championship baseball tournament in Füssen, Germany. This little town is in southern, Germany, in the state of Bavaria. It is in the Alps, and is home to the famous Neuschwanstein castle. This castle was the inspiration for the Disney castle. It was built by King Ludwig II, also known as the Mad King. Call him crazy, but the guy had an eye for building a gorgeous castle!

With all of the rain cancellations I am not entirely sure where the Redwings ended up. They won 1 game and lost 2. Not a great baseball weekend, but I am so thankful that Ty had family there to support him!

This is going to be a very short blog post, and I am breaking my unwritten rule about writing about somewhere that I didn’t visit. I think the pictures will do most of the storytelling.

Riley arrived!!! Jay and Riley drive to Munich to meet up with Jess and Jason, who had spent a couple days in Prague. Unknown quantities of beer was drank, arms were sore from “PROST-ing” their way through 8 different Oktoberfest tents, lederhosen and dirndls were put to good use, and a good time was had by all.

Did you know that Oktoberfest started as a celebration for King Ludwig I’s wedding to Therese in 1810? He was a favorite of his people and invited everyone who could travel to Munich to attend the festivities.

Next year I am going.

After the first game we drove to our hotel. Well, let me rephrase that. We TRIED to drive to our hotel. But the road turned into a pedestrian area. I was a little worried that we weren’t supposed to drive through there, but there were other cars slowly making their way through the foot traffic. I rolled down the window and asked a couple ladies if I was OK to keep driving. They were SO NICE!! They said it was fine, just go slow. So we continued on, then the road got real narrow and this old German lady looked at me and started walking to the window. I braced myself for the worst, as you have read in prior posts that I have not had great encounters with old Germans. But she was the sweetest little thing! I told her “ich spreche English” and she laughed and said “scheiße!” She didn’t let her lack of English and my broken German prevent her from trying really hard to help us. We eventually made our way out of the pedestrian area and found a parking lot. We walked to the hotel and got confirmation that we parked in a good overnight spot. Apparently the Polizei disagreed because I got a 10€ parking ticket the next morning. Scheiße!

Another busy couple of weeks for the Shearers!! Since returning from our weekend trip to Paris, our days have been jam-packed. I started a new job within Deere as Internal Audit & Internal Controls Manager for our European units, and Jay took on responsibility for more European units. The kids have had a full schedule with both JV Rugby and Redwings Baseball for Ty, and Middle School soccer, Redwings softball, and horse riding lessons for Lily.

So funny story. One Sunday Ty was with friends, Jay took Kaycee for a walk and Lily wasn’t hungry. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to enjoy some sunshine. I thought I would sit on the patio at the German restaurant and read my book, maybe sip on a beer. When I walked up to the restaurant, it was nearly full – apparently everyone else had the same thoughts I did about how to spend the lunch hour. There was one small table in the back corner, so I waved to the waiter and sat down at the table. One minute later a big German dude, probably about 55 years old, came up to me and started speaking in German. “Ich spreche English” I speak English. He pointed to the empty chair across the tiny table from me and said “Can I sit here?” Ummmmmmm. At this little table? With me? That feels a bit like invading my personal space, and I’m not really very comfortable with this, and I’m in shock a little bit, and oh man this is awkward. “suuuuuuuure????” So he sits down and makes himself comfortable. I had about 30 seconds to decide if I was going to be an extrovert or an introvert in that moment. I panicked, and went full-on introvert. Nose in book. Don’t make eye contact. The waiter asked for our order. I ordered a salad to go. He placed his order in German. About 10 minutes later the waiter brings out his appetizer – a bowl of soup. OK fine, I have to wait for him to eat his appetizer because we are sitting at the same table. But then, he slowly lifted the spoon to his mouth, and SLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP. That was it. I couldn’t handle it. My salad, of course plated for dine-in, came to the table. I reminded the waiter that I wanted it to go, and followed the waiter out to the front of the restaurant to wait for it to be packaged for take-away. Perhaps I would have had a lovely conversation with the guy. I’m sure he had a fascinating life story and we could have become lifelong friends. But instead I panicked and bailed. What would you have done? 🙂

In another uncomfortable German encounter (this couple of weeks has been full of them), I hit my “cultural dipper”. I mentioned I got a new job. Anytime I get a new job, there is a period of time when I am trying to figure out who’s who, what’s what, what is important, what isn’t, what I need to do, etc. It’s normal, but it’s stressful. So my anxiety has been a little elevated. After a particularly busy morning, I went to the Italian restaurant to quickly grab a salad for lunch. There was one lady in the restaurant sitting alone. I needed to talk to Jay about a few things, and since I had some time at lunch, I called him. While I was on the phone, this old German lady, and even older German lady, and an old German man sat at the table directly next to me. Approximately 3 minutes after sitting down, the old lady looked at me and said “Excuse me, you are being very rude.” Ummmmmmmmmm. OK……… I hung up the phone with Jay and scooted over a table to give me some physical space between her and I. I felt incredibly uncomfortable, and I was confused. Is it against some written or unwritten law that I cannot talk on the phone in a restaurant? So after stewing for a few minutes, I said “enschuldigung” excuse me and I asked her if I was being too loud or if the problem was that I simply talking on the phone. She said “we could feel your stress.” Um. OK. So what do I do with that? Am I not supposed to go to a restaurant if I am stressed? When I am stressed, I usually need to get my thoughts out of my head (usually to Jay) and then my stress levels decline. So I was still confused, and then I got angry, and despite all of my efforts to keep it in, tears started coming down my face. I quickly ate my meal. The waiter is one of our favorite people in town, and I knew he felt terrible for me. When I left the restaurant, I said, kind of loud but not screaming, “I hope you all have a nice, quite, stress-free day”. I went home and had a little cry-session. It’s a minor thing, but I think that after 9 months of these little jabs, I reached a breaking point. I am from the midwest, where “midwest nice” is a thing. There would have to be something really major happening for me to tell someone else to stop doing whatever they were doing (I’d be annoyed quietly). That isn’t the German way. If they don’t like something, or think that you aren’t following the rules, they will not hesitate to tell you what they think – even if there is really good reasons for why you are doing what you are doing. These cultural differences are what makes expat assignments so challenging, exhausting, and yet interesting at the same time.

We spent a Sunday afternoon at the Mannheim factory for an employee recognition event. We got to show the kids Jay’s office (my badge didn’t allow me to show them my office), went on a factory tour, “milked” a cow, did a sledgehammer carnival game, ate some pretzels, and drank some beer. It was a lovely day, and a special event for the employees and their families.

We found a new hike that started in Schmitten, Germany that was really cool! All along the way there were woodcarvings of gnomes. It was about 3.5 miles long (we only did half the trail) and the elevation was not too bad. It was a gorgeous day, and we all enjoyed the fresh air, scenery, and exercise.

We have a LOT of fun things coming up. Jess & Jason are arriving TOMORROW!!!!!! We are headed to Regensburg, Germany to watch Ty’s 19U team play in the German National Baseball Championships. Go Redwings!! Jess & Jason are going to Prague for a couple nights. Riley arrives on MONDAY!!!!! Jay is taking our guests to Oktoberfest in Munich next week. Then we are all going to Füssen, Germany the following weekend to watch Ty play in the U15 German National Baseball Championships. After that, we have a week in Kitzbühel, Austria for Fall Break. After dropping Jess & Jason off at the airport, we are taking Riley to Amsterdam. There should be some good blogs headed your way – stay tuned!!

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!