We will begin with January. Overall it was a slow month. We left the Christmas decorations up a little longer than usual. I got my first turkey EVER in my bowling league.
The last week of January brought a crippling loss. I awoke early to Brandon calling me from downstairs. "You have to take me to work. My car won't start." Commence dragging my butt out of bed and getting the boys up. This is why I've been so behind. This burgundy pile of useless metal.
Just figuring out what was wrong took two weeks, then we went on vacation for a week (getting to it), expecting the car to be fixed when we got back. Lo and behold, when we got home and picked up the car, it was in even worse condition than when we left. Add on top of that the undeniable feeling that we had been scammed by the garage. Long story short, we had to pay to collect an inoperable car and for what it would cost to repair it, we'd be well on the way to a down payment on a new car, which we don't want to buy because we're moving back to the states in July (getting to it). The blasted thing couldn't hang on for these last few months! Enter my bowling league partner, who was kind enough to lend us a car, after SIX WEEKS of driving Brandon to work every morning BEFORE the kids went to school. There was much celebration the day we picked the car up from my friend. Her generosity will never be forgotten.
If I had it to do over again, I would borrow a friend's idea: ten clouds made up of ten cotton balls each, with ten raindrops coming from each cloud and calling it England's 100 Day Forecast. Oh well, maybe next time.
Yes, I know there is some snow on the hillside but look out there in the valley. BROWN. If you've been stationed in Europe, if you've ever seen a commercial for Edelweiss Lodge on AFN, a wintertime commercial, you understand. The commercials consist of a giant horse pulling a sleigh through snow as high as it's tail. I was expecting a LOT of snow. Not so much. But we made our way to the mountain and kissed the boys goodbye hoping they wouldn't break any bones.
The skiing was pretty hard. Icy conditions made for some sore legs at the end of the day. I threw in the towel for the rest of the week. I learned a very important thing about myself. I DO NOT want to be the mom who waits in the ski lodge. BORING! Although, for the first day, it was fun watching the kids in their ski schools, and I was able to get all these pictures.
By the end of the week the ski schools were venturing up to the big mountain as well, which the boys loved. That meant no more show for me at the lodge, but Brandon got to see them skiing and managed to get some more great pictures.
Without me to keep him company, Brandon had to find someone else to have lunch with.
And, without me falling down and complaining so much about how difficult it was to get up, he had more time to take pictures and take note of safety precautions.
Our final day in Garmisch wasn't a ski day, so we decided to hike up the Partnach Gorge. Yes, hiking in the icy cold. Everyone's idea of a good time. Actually, it wasn't too cold, and it really was a cool hike. My only complaint was how narrow the path was and how insufficient the railing would have been for saving my children from tumbling into the freezing water below. Look at this picture, for example.
But all the ice formations on the gorge walls were definitely worth the trip.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip, despite the less than impressive amount of snow.
While we were away, the boys missed the Valentine's Day celebrations in their classes, but have no fear! We sent our Valentines in early so they could be distributed to all the little friends. I thought these turned out really cute and thank goodness we're moving, because I think I will be doing these again next year.
Speaking of moving, when we returned home we also had received word that we will be moving to Nebraska in July. We're excited. It was the base we had asked for. It splits the difference nicely between our families and it's in the United States, so what more could we ask for? We've loved our time here, but as we get closer to moving time, we find ourselves really looking forward to the conveniences of the US. And, to quote some friends, about the things that we'll miss, well, we'll just "cry ourselves to sleep in our enormous house" over them.
The last day of school before we left on our vacation just happened to be the 100th day of school. In first grade, this is still apparently a big deal, so we had to create a project. This is what we came up with.
If I had it to do over again, I would borrow a friend's idea: ten clouds made up of ten cotton balls each, with ten raindrops coming from each cloud and calling it England's 100 Day Forecast. Oh well, maybe next time.
So, that vacation. We couldn't leave our first European assignment without swishing our way through the Alps, so on February 13th, we made our way to Germany for a week of skiing. We were pretty excited. It had been six years since Brandon and I had been skiing and the boys had never been, so we got them all signed up for ski school. I have to say I was a little less excited and skeptical when we got to Garmisch and the valley looked like this.
While we were away, the boys missed the Valentine's Day celebrations in their classes, but have no fear! We sent our Valentines in early so they could be distributed to all the little friends. I thought these turned out really cute and thank goodness we're moving, because I think I will be doing these again next year.
Speaking of moving, when we returned home we also had received word that we will be moving to Nebraska in July. We're excited. It was the base we had asked for. It splits the difference nicely between our families and it's in the United States, so what more could we ask for? We've loved our time here, but as we get closer to moving time, we find ourselves really looking forward to the conveniences of the US. And, to quote some friends, about the things that we'll miss, well, we'll just "cry ourselves to sleep in our enormous house" over them.
We had two major events in the week immediately following our return (aside from the news about the car). Event 1: Kyle's 9th birthday. I know after looking at some of the skiing pictures some of you are thinking, 9th? don't you mean 15th? But no, it was only his 9th.
We kept it simple, just a family celebration at home on the day and a movie and bowling with one other family over the weekend following. With how crazy busy and disrupted January and February had been, there was no way I was going to plan a big party. And, another year means a new cub scout den.
Event 2: Kyle's first ever science fair project. It was required, otherwise we would have tried putting this off a little longer. We chose something easy, knowing we would be cramming after our trip. Come to find out, the week we spent in Germany was the week his class worked on putting the projects together. I talked to other moms who didn't have to help their kids with their projects at all because they had done everything at school. But, those same moms also told me that their kids project presentations didn't compare to Kyle's. I can neither confirm nor deny that I provided any assistance on the design layout of said science fair project.
We kept it simple, just a family celebration at home on the day and a movie and bowling with one other family over the weekend following. With how crazy busy and disrupted January and February had been, there was no way I was going to plan a big party. And, another year means a new cub scout den.
March started off rather slow. Things really didn't pick up until about the last ten days. We were off to a roaring start when this happened on the way home from church one Sunday.
I must say, I'm surprised it took this long for this to happen. I elaborated on my feelings about driving in England, and more specifically, about being a passenger in an American vehicle on English roads here, early on in our assignment. This was one of those things that had us thinking, We can't wait to leave. After the mirror was clipped off, someone behind us ran over it as well, because there was no way to avoid it, really driving the nail into the coffin of the English driving experience. Here is a look at the complete and utter destruction.
Thank goodness it was only the mirror. A few more inches and it would have been me and then Kyle.
We had a little more car excitement shortly following the mirror experience. Or, should I say more little car excitement? The Pinewood Derby had come at last. Kyle's first Pinewood Derby was the first day he was in Cub Scouts. Needless to say, we did not get a lot of time to prepare for that one. But we still managed fourth overall. This year the preparation started early. There was much fussing and fretting over the design and how to make it fast. We ended up with this.
We moved up one slot into third overall. At this rate, we might have a first place finisher by the time Jake is a Webelo. But, Kyle was happy and even won Most Stylish Car.
We visited Down House, the home of Charles Darwin, shortly before the end of the month. Getting there was yet another frightening driving experience. It was rather interesting to see, but I don't know if I would say it was worth the awful roads we had to drive to get there.
Since the beginning of January, Kyle has been practicing every Wednesday with the elementary school chorus. This all finally came to fruition with the presentation of the Spring Concert. Being a former performer, I was so proud of our little guy when the kids all came out to sing. I don't have much to say about the song selection, but they were good enough because my little guy was singing them.
And finally, this last week, I accompanied Kyle's class on a field trip to a working windmill.
1 comment:
cute, cute! the boys have grown so much. I like learning about merrye olde England through your experiences (and not mine).
Love, Aunt Melanie
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