Spring has sprung!

A couple weeks ago, I took my son, B on a walk. Mike was gone, so I had the babysitter over to help me with the kids.  Something I’ve started doing is taking each kid on a walk around the block before they go to bed, while the babysitter watches the other three. It’s been the best to have that one-on-one time with them. 

It was around sunset and the trees were whistling with birds. Buds were breaking through the branches everywhere we looked and the air felt electric. “Do you hear that sound?” I asked my son. “That’s the sound of Spring coming.” Sure enough, ever since then, the weather has turned warmer and sunnier each day. And the air smells more and more like fresh Spring blooms that are exploding through the city.

I think the arrival of Spring definitely has to do with it, but for a combination of reasons, the last few weeks have been so good and I’ve just been feeling super grateful and full of joy.

Also, I’m really in love with Germany. 

There was a shift in my perspective a couple months ago when instead of feeling constant anxiety, I began feeling peace and appreciation for our new home. Germany, and Europe in general, is just an amazing, magical, beautiful, history-rich place. We feel so grateful to be able to live here!

I remember feeling this way a long time ago. 17 years ago, to be exact. 

I was 14 years old and got the chance of a lifetime with my older sister to visit our military brother, who was stationed in Landstuhl, Germany, for a whole summer. I felt like I had won the lottery. Never in a million years did I think I would have gotten to do something like that. But I did, and it was one of the best experiences of my life up to that point.  I remember arriving and being in awe of this beautiful, enchanting place called Germany. Outside my window, I saw the Landstuhl castle up on the hill every day. I wandered through the woods below the castle often, discovering old stone ruins crumbling in the overgrown ivy.  My sister and I went on walks and runs through the town that was twisted and draped in all colors of flowers and vines. There was an Italian ice cream shop on the corner by our house and tons of Turkish restaurants with delicious sandwiches called Doner Kebabs. As we traveled around Europe we passed deep, dark forests, beautiful villages, endless hills greener than I’d ever seen, and stunning castles high on mountain cliffs. It was so amazing! I’d never seen things like that before. I remember thinking over and over again things like, “I definitely want to live here again,” “ I could bring my future family here someday,” and “Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could live in Germany again!” 

Sometimes I still can’t believe that here I am, living in Germany again. 

Age and situation definitely change perspective on things. My experience as a young teenager who came here with her sister on a summer vacation was a whole different experience than being a mom living here for two years, trying to settle four young kids in while my husband travels half the time. But after six months, I’m adjusting to our new routine,  all that initially stress is finally clearing up my view, and I’m remembering the enchanting side of Germany again.

Also, I'm eating lots of Doner Kebabs and Italian ice cream. 

Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely some really hard aspects of this lifestyle (at least, they're hard for me).  For example, while Mike was on a trip a couple weeks ago, I couldn’t contact him at all for 4 days. Of course during that time, my son has a terrible fall while we were on our way out the door from his school. It looked like he could have broken his nose and he was screaming uncontrollably about the pain. I had to take him to the hospital but I had the other three kids and it felt pretty impossible with the whole crew (especially since the hurt son was beside himself). Thankfully, a great friend came to the rescue. I called her on the way to her house asking for ice and ibuprofen. When we arrived, she was right there to take the other kids while I helped my son, called the doctor, and subsequently made an ER visit. (By the way, he ended up calming down after ibuprofen and felt much better after visiting the doc). 

So it’s hard when Mike is gone because if bad stuff happens, I initially feel like, “Shoot. Now what?” There isn’t that automatic backup. But it’s always worked out because we have awesome friends, are a part of a great church, and have a list of babysitters. 

While the lows here have been pretty low, the highs have been really high. We’ve seen the hand of God in our lives too many times to count. He has taught our family important lessons and helped us to improve in so many needed ways. I can say that I'm truly grateful for the stretching and growing that we’ve experienced here, because it continues to make us stronger. While I still fight off anxieties here and there, at this point, I’m happy to report that Mike and I are really enjoying living here. Yay Germany! 

Some of the best moments from the last two months: 

 -We actually decided to take a trip to my one-time home of Landstuhl, as it’s only an hour and a half away. We found the old house I stayed in. I saw that little window where I used to look out on the castle up on the hill. I saw the town square I used to walk all around with my sister. We drove up to the forest underneath the castle, where I used to wander through all the time. It was kind of emotional going back. So many influential memories that will stick with me forever.

-I started running again and it’s been so good for my soul. That sounds dramatic, but really, it helps my mental/spiritual health so much (physical health is just an added bonus). I’ve ran in the beautiful cemetery near our house, other times just around the neighborhood. Some days, I go solo, others, with a friend, or even one of the boys. A couple weeks ago, I took my son, B, on a run on the most beautiful day. He rode his scooter and anytime he got tired, he’d say “Operation push B!” and then he would put both feet up on his scooter while I pushed his back and kept running alongside him. It was so fun! We ended up running 3 miles this way. Wind blew petals off the blossoming trees as we ran. We passed a goose farm. We stopped at a park and climbed all over the playground and swung on the swings. We laughed a whole lot. It was just the best.  

-I’ve been going on lots of one-on-one walks with my kids. Many times we take a quick trip to the local park where we’ve played on the playground or thrown the frisbee around in the field. We’ve taking trips to the local market where we pick up German bread, cheese, sausages, chocolate, and ice cream. A lot of times, we’ve just walked around the neighborhood, hand-in-hand, pointing out what we see: flower pots, bird houses, lanterns, paper stars in the windows, trees swaying in the wind, pretty-colored houses, funky yard decorations (because there’s a lot of that here), restaurants, etc. 

When I took my son A to the park the other day, we ran races with each other down a dirt trail we mapped out by drawing lines in the dirt. It was so fun watching him giggle as I tried to beat him to the finish line. Each race he made sure he didn’t run too far ahead of me so we could run side by side and laugh together. I just love these sweet moments. It was equally enjoyable just hearing what funny things he thinks about in our conversation on the way home. 

The other night, I took my sweet and hilarious daughter R out.  I just followed her around the neighborhood while she took turns crouching in random places saying “shhh, be quiet as a mouse” and then continued on. She also enjoyed riding on my shoulders where she could point out all the pretty flowers in people’s yards (and also smack my head when she got excited about something). Individualized time with our kids has created the best memories here and I feel so much more bonded to each of them when I make time for it. 

- While the boys were in school the other day, Mike and I took the girls on an adventure through the city. We walked all over town, ate at a local bakery, shopped at some local stores, explored a really cool park (German parks are so unique and fun), got caught in the rain, and ran all the way home before we got soaked. It was great!  

-A couple weekends ago, we got a babysitter in the middle of a Saturday. While the girls slept and the boys watched a movie, Mike and I went out on a bike date. We biked to the edge of the city along grassy fields, kleingartens, clumps of trees, and the graffitied highway on the edge of town. We made our way back to the city where we ate Italian ice cream, weaved through new neighborhoods, stopped at an Italian restaurant, and ate lunch on the patio, enjoying the sunshine. 

-While Mike’s been away on his many travels (Washington DC, China, Israel, Milan, and more), I’ve made a goal to discover as many new parks around the city as possible with the kids. I’ve just been pulling out the google map, looking for green space and putting it into the GPS. As a result, we’ve discovered the coolest parks. One was an old airport, turned serene nature park, with wide trails for bike riding, miles of green fields, and a river filled with muskrats and swans. Another was a park in the woods, with an awesome zipline, creek, and really cool playground. Another was a nature preserve that overlooks the city and rolling hills (when I looked that one up, the address took me to a random shooting range, but after asking someone who spoke English, he pointed me in the right direction and I eventually found it). Another was a different park that overlooked the city that had a café, empty swimming pool to play in (during the summer, we can wade in it apparently) and vineyards. It’s been really fun to discover different parts of the city.

-On one of those park visits, the boys saw a dad playing soccer with his son. Before I could stop them, they ran over and asked to play. The dad was SO nice and taught them soccer for almost an hour. I kept telling the boys to come back to the playground, but the dad insisted they were okay to stay. I’ve had similar experiences in other park visits as well, and I’ve noticed an attitude that a  lot of parents here are so open to playing with and helping kids who aren’t their own. I really admire that openness and kindness. 

-Getting out with friends has been so nice. We’ve taken walks around different parts of the city, gone out to eat, had some fun park dates with kids, and exercised together. When Mike’s gone, a couple times I’ve just had my babysitter stay after the kids went to sleep and have a girl’s night out. I think every mom needs that occasional girl time, it’s another thing that’s really important for our mom souls.

A few pictures from the last couple months’ local adventures:

I think the key to settling into any new place is getting of the house, making friends, and exploring the community in any way possible (even if it’s just taking a walk or shopping at the local markets).  So now that we are venturing out more, I think we’re all feeling more comfortable and happy here, more like we belong, and less like scared outsiders.

Of course another reason to love living here is the opportunities to travel to so many amazing places, all within driving distance. And now that the weather is warming up, it’s travel season!

We just got back from a trip to Paris last weekend.  We chose only a few things to do while we were there and spent just one and a half days in the city, but keeping it simple ended up making it one of our best family vacations yet. 

Our first morning there, we visited the Palace of Versailles – the palace and gardens built to be the most impressive in the world by King Louis XIV. This gold-plated palace was just jaw-dropping. Every room inside was so over-the-top ornate and beautiful, with lavish artwork on the ceilings, shimmering chandeliers, and detailed sculptures. Wow. You could really imagine what it may have been like (or at least looked like) to be royal. Then there were the gardens. Holy moly. It was ridiculous how huge, how detailed, how extravagant it all was – acres and acres of beautifully designed landscapes made of hedges, fountains, trees, ponds, and a labyrinth of paths. Every corner we turned, another over-the-top surprise was unveiled. A new stunning sculpture, an amazing fountain, a dancing water show. The gardens went on and on. There’s no way we could have explored the whole thing (someday), but what we saw was so beautiful, it felt like a dream.

On the way out, we stopped at a delicious French restaurant on the grounds and had Italian ice cream for dessert. It was parfait.

After Versailles, we drove to the Notre Dame cathedral downtown. Instead of waiting in the long line with kids, we decided to walk around the outside. While hanging out on a bench by a sculpture right in front of the cathedral, a really nice French guy saw our kids playing with the pigeons and pulled out some bird food. What happened next was one of the most magical parts of the whole trip. This really nice gentlemen taught the kids how to feed the birds by holding up the food away from their faces. Pigeons started flocking to the kids, landing on their hands and heads and flapping all over. The kids loved every second of it. They were in heaven, laughing their heads off and jumping around excited. It was so fun to watch how much joy it brought them to feed the pigeons.

After that, we walked around the cathedral, enjoyed the beautiful Spring flowers, played at a little park, bought some souvenirs, and picked up some fresh-made crepes (I got chestnut cream and it was delicious) before heading back to the hotel. 

After getting the kids settled for bed, I got ready to leave. I was headed for my tour of the Paris catacombs that night. There was only time for one of us to go, and Mike insisted it should be me, since he will return to Paris for his job (he’s already gone there once) and have another chance to go. I thought that was really nice of him !  So the story of the catacombs is this : The cemeteries were overflowing to the point of unsanitary conditions in the 1700s partially due to the Black Death and just overcrowding of Paris. So, they ended up using an old Limestone mine deep underneath the city - deeper than modern-day metros, and filled it with about 2 million corpses from these cemeteries around the city. You can take a tour down there and just walk among the bones. Apparently, the mines go for miles and miles in intricate labyrinths, some of it still undiscovered by the modern world. It was such a neat experience to go. I was thinking it might be scary, but actually, all I felt was peace and respect. Like, wow, what a sacred place. Thanks for letting me see that, sweetheart Mike!

The next morning, we hung out at the Eiffel tower for half the day. I took the boys to the top. While we were up there, we called Daddy to see where he was. It was so fun to see his itty bitty arm waving from below. He also said he could see my itty bitty arm waving from on top. That was fun.

Afterwards, Mike wanted to rent Byrd scooters and ride around the Champ de Mars park beneath the Eiffel Tower. What an excellent plan. So we took turns with the kids, just laughing and "woo hoo" ing our way all over. It was the funnest thing. I love those scooters. Haha.  

On our way out of the city, Mike took us on a little driving tour, pointing out things he enjoyed when he was last there for work.  Everywhere we drove, everywhere we looked, was a work of art. Beautiful churches, buildings, bridges. The architecture of Paris is…well, you know.

Wonderful day, wonderful trip, wonderful family time. 

Side note: We also stopped at this crazy little bathroom. It was so futuristic, I had to take a picture. This thing disinfects and then dries itself in between each use. The downside? It takes forever to clean and it only admits one person at a time. Also, you don't want to enter unkowingly during the cleaning cycle - you might start to go before you realize the door is opening and all the other people waiting in line can now see you unzipping your pants (which is what happened to a guy in front of me). More than one person got in line to use it before deciding it was too intimidating and left.

There was only one tragedy of our Paris visit: seeing the news yesterday of how the Notre Dame Cathedral burned down. Unbelievable. I’m so grateful we got to see it just one week before it was damaged. Crazy...