Mom and Dad's first week in Germany

(As you can tell by the date on this blog, it was started sometime last week, but figured I'd post it anyhow. )

Mom and Dad arrived here safely last Friday. They flew into the Frankfurt airport, so Sam and I drove there to pick them up. Frankfurt's just a couple of hours drive from Stuttgart. Being concerned about morning traffic, we left very early only to find out it was a German holiday and we had clear roads the whole way. We got there pretty early and the flight ended up being about an hour late, so we had a bit of a wait. It was so nice to see Mom and Dad again. I was suprised they weren't more tired, but it was only midnight Alaska time, so they still felt pretty good. The jet lag would hit them later though.

I've been looking forward to sharing our lives here in Germany with them. It's been fun seeing their impressions of life in Europe. Alot of what they point out are things that struck me as odd when we first arrived too. I think they like it better than they thought they would. Mom keeps mentioning how green and beautiful the landscape is. It really is gorgeous here. Lots of open fields. The German's do that right. The houses are close together, which allows for lots of open country.

Mom and Dad brought their cat with them. Mom has always called him Papa Kitty, but Sam is convinced he should be called Konishiki, after a famous Hawaiian Sumo wrestler, due to his size. So, at this point we still call him both. Poor thing must be terrible confused. Because of Dad's allergies they couldn't let Konishiki have the run of the house, so we decided to bring him here. I've been concerned about it though because of how Gabby has always been with other cats.

We kept them separated for several days and then Sunday we decided to see how they would do together. Gabby's always been such a little bully, so I was a bit concerned. Any cat she's ever seen she's chased or tried to attack through a window. Bringing these two cats together is the first time I've realized that it's fear on Gabby's part that makes her so agressive. She's never really been around another cat since she was taken from her mama at around one week old.

There's been quite a bit of hissing and growling, but we just need to let them work out their differences. They pretty much keep to themselves and when Konishiki gets too close Gabby tells him to back off. They're so curious about each other though. Even though she's not very welcoming to him, Konishiki still follows Gabby around and she, in turn, follows him around too.

Before we let them out together Gabby was very agressive to me. She kept hissing and slapping at me. I think she smelled Konishiki on me, but didn't know what it was. All she knew was that it was different and didn't belong. She's really settled down alot since we let them out together. I think it's going to take awhile, but I believe they'll work it out.

We've been staying pretty busy. Tomorrow we're heading to Venice for a few days. My Italian friend, Marika, and her family came over this evening to talk to us about what to do there. Marika and I have become really good friends working together at NAF. She took my Venice book over the weekend to write notes in it. She and Jason have two little boys that Sam seems to tramatize every time we're together. They love playing with him, but it seems to always end in tears. Thankfully, Marika and Jason are easy going and don't seem to get upset about it. Tonight the tears started when Sam acted like he was going to put the rolladens down with the boys still outside after they sprayed us with the water hose. They and Sam had been teasing each other back and forth all evening, but that really scared them.

Here are some pictures from Mom and Dad's first week in Germany -

Mom and Dad on Panzer Kaserne

Waiting for the train to Stuttgart Stadtmitte

Mom and Dad in downtown Stuttgart

Konishiki out of the room for the first time and investigating everything

Getting some love from Sam

Mom and Dad are coming to Germany!!!

We're having problems with our internet, so I haven't been able to post for awhile. Of course, that's only been this last week. Prior to that I really don't have an excuse other than I've been busy. Mom and Dad are on their way here today and we'll be picking them up at Frankfort in the morning. I'm so excited about them coming! It's going to be fun showing them how life is over here. I'm also excited about 3 weeks off of work :) I kept thinking they were going to arrive here this morning and had taken the day off work for it, then on Tuesday I starting thinking about it and realized they were coming a day later. The 10 hour time difference got me confused. So, I worked half a day today and still had this afternoon to run to the commissary and finish getting the house around.

I miss blogging more, but there's been a distict lack of time for it since I started work. There's a big change coming in my job too. Just today I accepted another position. I've had two job offers I've been weighing the pros and cons on, but finally decided to go with the Civilian Personnel Advisory Center (CPAC). It's still Human Resources, just for another part of the Army. Anyhow, I'll probably go back to my current position for a week or two then start the other job. Should be interesting.

Our lives are going to be changing too with adopting Mom and Dad's cat. Since Dad's so allergic, it's best for them and the cat for us to take him. We're just hoping Gabby eventually accepts the idea of having another cat in the house. She's always been so spoiled by us.

We were having beautiful weather just a week ago, but it's gotten pretty chilly and cloudy. It'll be nice to have Mom and Dad here regardless of the weather, but I do hope it clears up again so they have a nice vacation. Well, I need to finish up the house. Until next time...

Frulingsfest and Ludwigsburg

I've been very lazy lately about posting to this blog. To be quite honest, my life has not been incredibly exciting or blog worthy for awhile now. I will try to get back to posting more regularly though.

We finally had a "real" weekend. It's been ages since we've taken time off from the house to just get away and do something fun We finally did that this last weekend. A friend has been staying with us since last Tuesday. Julie works for Sam, but recently accepted a job in Korea. So, she's staying with us until she flies out. It's been nice having her here. She's a very easy houseguest.

It's that time of year when I start thinking about flower boxes for our balcony and windows. It's warmed up enough so that I'm not concerned about it freezing again. So, Saturday morning we headed to Hornbach to get the planters and dirt. I found another rose bush to plant. We (meaning Sam) have planted so many trees, bushes and flowers in our back yard that we're running out of space. That's unfortunate because we always find another one to buy. On the way home from Hornbach we stopped at a local garden shop to buy some flowers. I don't feel very creative when it comes to putting flower boxes together, but they somehow end up looking pretty once they're in full bloom. So as not to waste a day of awsome weather, when we got home I went out on the back patio to transplant the flowers. It's going to look good once they have a chance to settle in.

Saturday evening we went to the Frulingsfest. The Frulingsfest is basically like a big fair back in the states. We met a friend at the train stop and rode to downtown Stuttgart. It's about the easiest way to go so we don't have to find or pay for parking. We met up with another friend of Julie's and had a very enjoyable evening. The only thing I could have done without was the roller coaster I was convinced to ride. I knew I didn't like roller coasters, but now I'm more convinced than ever. The minute we were locked in I felt this fear come over me and was desperately wishing I'd made a different choice. I knew the only way I could make it through was to keep my eyes closed, which I did for the entire ride. Next time I even consider riding one I told Sam to just slap me.

We did go on a couple of more mild rides which was fun. Of course there was some good food there. It's always interesting here in Germany because even the fair food is far different from what we're use to. I didn't see one vendor selling hotdogs, hamburgers, fries or elephant ears. Of course they had 100 different kinds of bratwrust, but not a good American hamburger. In the states you can't go to a fair without seeing several places selling cotton candy or candied apples. Well, I didn't see any candied apples and the only cotton candy I saw was in tiny little bags. Very weird.

Me and Julie at the Frulingsfest

Jessica, Julie and John on the Ferris wheel

Me and Sam on the Ferris wheel

The infamous roller coaster

We finally left the fest at about midnight. Good thing we left at that time because the train stops at 12:30 and doesn't start again until about 5:00. We didn't get to bed until 2:00. I can't remember the last time I went to bed that late. I guess I'm getting old because I'm in bed by 9:30 every night anymore. I can't handle those late evenings like I use to.

Sunday afternoon Sam and I went to Ludwigsburg, which is known for its palaces. Back in the early 1700's that area was chosen as a summer residence for royalty. We didn't visit any of the palaces, but instead just walked through all the gardens at the residential palace. I have never seen such beautiful and huge tulips. They really had some beautiful flowers. There was also a garden flea market set up on the grounds of the palace which was fun. It was an awsome day to be outside. I think our incredibly pale skin actually got a little color to it. Here are just a few pictures from that.

Sam and I in front of the Residential Palace

Me in a patch of tulips

My sweet husband

Me on the backside of the Residential Palace.