Arriving in Germany
We made it to Germany!!!
We arrived at the airport after driving through downtown Atlanta, which was recently hit by a tornado. It looked awful, but the roads were all clear. I never ever ever ever want to live in a city that big!
One of our bags was overweight, so I had to rearrange things, but we got them all on the plane without losing any bags, without running over anyone, and without losing our children. That's always an accomplishment in itself. We got on the plane after many tears with Joe's family. The kids were so excited! We were waiting to taxi away when my kids' "Please come visit me, Ms. Flight Attendant" bell and light came on. I told the kids to settle down and quit pushing buttons because they were thoroughly enjoying the wide variety of music channels on their newly found ear phones and sleep masks. The flight attendant came over, we apologized, and she went on. Well, the light went on...and the bell went on and on and on. So, I had the kids sit very still for a minute, after she came and turned it off the second time. A few seconds later..."Dong...dong...dong." So, the problem wasn't the kids. The call button continued malfunctioning for the entire 8 1/2 hour flight, but everyone on the plane knew that it wasn't my perfect children pushing the buttons, so I felt much better. she gave them cookies to make up for the obnoxious bell. They were happy. The flight was fun. The kids squealed on take-off with their hands raised in the air. It was the first plane ride that Josh remembers, although he had one at 2, and Chloe barely remembered hers at 4, so they loved the take-off. They took turns stealing my window seat. We took turns waiting in line for the bathroom. They all got very excited about their choice of beverage and meal, and then we settled in to get a few hours of shut eye. Well, they did. Joe got around 2 hours, Joshua got around 3 1/2, Caylea got 1 1/2, and Chloe, bless her little heart, got just under 2. She just couldn't get comfortable. Her skin is dry enough as it is, and the plane compounded that. I ended up giving her a Benadryl to keep her from ripping her own skin off, then put her in my lap. We were seated at the bulk-head, so we had no one in front of us. I was able to prop my legs up and make myself into a human recliner. That lasted long enough to get her asleep and break my back, plus permanently numb my ankles, and then I handed her off to Joe, where she slept a little while longer. Caylea, by the way, was on the floor. That's the blessing of the bulk-head. By the time they were all settled we only had 2 hours of flying time left, so I decided to catch myself a little shut-eye. Don't flight attendants know not to wake you up when you're asleep? No, they do not. 15 minutes after my eyes closed, I opened them for "breakfast." We got to see London from 30,000 feet at night, which was PHENOMENAL, and the moon looks so cool from up high. Joshua now most assuredly knows that Mommy was right about clouds. You can NOT walk on them. The plane was above them and he thought it was the coolest white ocean he had ever seen...then the plane was IN the cloud and he thought it was scary, and then we were BELOW the clouds. His constant wish is to walk on a cloud. That has been permanently debunked, at least until God tells him it's okay. Now he'll just have to be happy parachuting through one when he's old enough to know better but still too young to care.
We arrived with our 7,856 pieces of luggage and they all arrived safely! Our shuttle, however, was not there for us, but the young Lieutenant who has been
our "sponsor" met us at the airport and figured out where the guy was, so we were on the autobahn within an hour of landing. It's just as scary as you think it would be, and the lanes are much more narrow. My legs got a great work-out from all of the braking I was doing on behalf of our driver. Fortunately he couldn't see me panicking and he wasn't panicked at all, so all was well. We stared at the German countryside which is covered in vineyards, surprise, surprise, surprise. The houses are very different and the trees are all slanted. Apparently they get a lot of wind here. I counted 4 McDonald's.
We got to our hotel, which the LT had arranged for us to get into immediately upon arrival and discovered that our room was NOT ready. We had to go to the BX and walk around for 3 hours, which doesn't sound terrible, but when you've had 0 sleep in 24 hours and your children have had less than 6 hours total between the three of them, it makes walking difficult. My shoes grew led soles. My children are perfect, though, and never once did they gripe or complain. In all seriousness, they didn't. I'm sure they'll make up for it later. Finally our room was ready and we got in and settled. We took a 2 hour nap and forced ourselves to get up and get going for dinner here, which was lunch to our bellies. We're 6 hours ahead of Eastern time and 7 hours ahead of central, so it won't be too difficult to adjust.
It's now almost 8pm here and we're all ready for bed again, so that's good. Speaking of my perfect children, as I sit here typing, they are walking like elephants on the third floor of our hotel and laughing so loud you'd think they had never laughed. Apparently Joshua just stepped on Chloe's head. See? They're PERFECT.
So, we're safe, we're settled, and we begin our house hunt as soon as we take our driver's exam, which is at 715am Monday. My goal is to out-score Joe. Any opportunity to beat him at something just makes my day.
We love you all and hope to hear from you soon! I have no idea when we'll have a phone, but email all you want.
We arrived at the airport after driving through downtown Atlanta, which was recently hit by a tornado. It looked awful, but the roads were all clear. I never ever ever ever want to live in a city that big!
One of our bags was overweight, so I had to rearrange things, but we got them all on the plane without losing any bags, without running over anyone, and without losing our children. That's always an accomplishment in itself. We got on the plane after many tears with Joe's family. The kids were so excited! We were waiting to taxi away when my kids' "Please come visit me, Ms. Flight Attendant" bell and light came on. I told the kids to settle down and quit pushing buttons because they were thoroughly enjoying the wide variety of music channels on their newly found ear phones and sleep masks. The flight attendant came over, we apologized, and she went on. Well, the light went on...and the bell went on and on and on. So, I had the kids sit very still for a minute, after she came and turned it off the second time. A few seconds later..."Dong...dong...dong." So, the problem wasn't the kids. The call button continued malfunctioning for the entire 8 1/2 hour flight, but everyone on the plane knew that it wasn't my perfect children pushing the buttons, so I felt much better. she gave them cookies to make up for the obnoxious bell. They were happy. The flight was fun. The kids squealed on take-off with their hands raised in the air. It was the first plane ride that Josh remembers, although he had one at 2, and Chloe barely remembered hers at 4, so they loved the take-off. They took turns stealing my window seat. We took turns waiting in line for the bathroom. They all got very excited about their choice of beverage and meal, and then we settled in to get a few hours of shut eye. Well, they did. Joe got around 2 hours, Joshua got around 3 1/2, Caylea got 1 1/2, and Chloe, bless her little heart, got just under 2. She just couldn't get comfortable. Her skin is dry enough as it is, and the plane compounded that. I ended up giving her a Benadryl to keep her from ripping her own skin off, then put her in my lap. We were seated at the bulk-head, so we had no one in front of us. I was able to prop my legs up and make myself into a human recliner. That lasted long enough to get her asleep and break my back, plus permanently numb my ankles, and then I handed her off to Joe, where she slept a little while longer. Caylea, by the way, was on the floor. That's the blessing of the bulk-head. By the time they were all settled we only had 2 hours of flying time left, so I decided to catch myself a little shut-eye. Don't flight attendants know not to wake you up when you're asleep? No, they do not. 15 minutes after my eyes closed, I opened them for "breakfast." We got to see London from 30,000 feet at night, which was PHENOMENAL, and the moon looks so cool from up high. Joshua now most assuredly knows that Mommy was right about clouds. You can NOT walk on them. The plane was above them and he thought it was the coolest white ocean he had ever seen...then the plane was IN the cloud and he thought it was scary, and then we were BELOW the clouds. His constant wish is to walk on a cloud. That has been permanently debunked, at least until God tells him it's okay. Now he'll just have to be happy parachuting through one when he's old enough to know better but still too young to care.
We arrived with our 7,856 pieces of luggage and they all arrived safely! Our shuttle, however, was not there for us, but the young Lieutenant who has been
our "sponsor" met us at the airport and figured out where the guy was, so we were on the autobahn within an hour of landing. It's just as scary as you think it would be, and the lanes are much more narrow. My legs got a great work-out from all of the braking I was doing on behalf of our driver. Fortunately he couldn't see me panicking and he wasn't panicked at all, so all was well. We stared at the German countryside which is covered in vineyards, surprise, surprise, surprise. The houses are very different and the trees are all slanted. Apparently they get a lot of wind here. I counted 4 McDonald's.
We got to our hotel, which the LT had arranged for us to get into immediately upon arrival and discovered that our room was NOT ready. We had to go to the BX and walk around for 3 hours, which doesn't sound terrible, but when you've had 0 sleep in 24 hours and your children have had less than 6 hours total between the three of them, it makes walking difficult. My shoes grew led soles. My children are perfect, though, and never once did they gripe or complain. In all seriousness, they didn't. I'm sure they'll make up for it later. Finally our room was ready and we got in and settled. We took a 2 hour nap and forced ourselves to get up and get going for dinner here, which was lunch to our bellies. We're 6 hours ahead of Eastern time and 7 hours ahead of central, so it won't be too difficult to adjust.
It's now almost 8pm here and we're all ready for bed again, so that's good. Speaking of my perfect children, as I sit here typing, they are walking like elephants on the third floor of our hotel and laughing so loud you'd think they had never laughed. Apparently Joshua just stepped on Chloe's head. See? They're PERFECT.
So, we're safe, we're settled, and we begin our house hunt as soon as we take our driver's exam, which is at 715am Monday. My goal is to out-score Joe. Any opportunity to beat him at something just makes my day.
We love you all and hope to hear from you soon! I have no idea when we'll have a phone, but email all you want.
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