We have been very busy getting settled in. Our house is pretty much situated and is starting to feel like a home to us. Besides the 3 flights of stairs that Nick and I have to drag ourselves up every evening to bed, all is good. The girls are going to be starting soccer the last week in August. They are playing on base so it will be with other American kids. Living on the economy and with all the Germans has been harder for me than anyone else. I dont want to say that I dont like it, but rather that I am adjusting.... The kids dont seem to mind it too much. I am most impressed with Taylor, she seems to have done a 180 since we have left the states. I felt like in the states she always wanted to be older and be cool. Here she is enjoying being a kid and really dosnt care what she is wearing or that she has to play with her younger sister all the time. I love the change I have seen in her.
On the 29th of Aug Taylor starts DOD school which is only about half a mile from our house. There is no bus service so I will be walking or driving her everyday. Brooke will start German Preschool on September 1st. Nick took her for a test run on Monday and said that she did well. Preschool in Germany is not based on learning as American preschools. Nick said they had alot of free time playing but she enjoyed that. She would basically be going to learn the language but not much more. This is making me have second thoughts about it.
Our weekends here have been packed with adventure:) Our friends from San Antonio came down from Ramstien last weekend and stayed with us. We took them to the Wiesbaden Winefest which took place downtown for 10 days. It was a blast! This past Friday evening we went to Sonnenberg downtown which is just a short walk from our house and they had a little carnival set up. The girls rode a couple rides and had a gingerbread cookie:) On Saturday we took the girls to the park on base which is really nice and Nick and I played tennis while they played. It was great, on Friday I beat Nick twice in ping pong and then on Saturday in tennis. Poor guy :( Saturday we attneded a USO Sesamee street show on the base. The girls had a good time but Brooke was upset at the end because she didnt get to hug elmo. :( Yesterday we went to a city called Mainz only about 10 miles from our place. First we checked out the city and the Mainz Cathedral which was amazing! I have never seen anything like it. It was huge and had so many detailed and gothic structures everywhere in the church. You could just sit there all day and look at all the detailed statues and pictures. Next we took the kids to the Volkspark in Mainz. The park was great and had a water play area which was great because it was hot here. I swear it got up to 85 degrees, hehe! My favorite part of Germany so far is the scenery and the parks. It is so nice to be able to sit outside in comfortable weather and take in the fresh air and greenery while watching your kids run and play and be kids. I dont know what I will do when it gets cold. I will defenity have to find a new favorite part. We ended our day yesterday at an Italian restaruant at a tennis club down the street from our house. The food was good but not amazing and I wasnt a fan of the prices. It seems here a family of 4 can eat for about 45 dollars or more which is not so cheap. Maybe that is why people dont take their kids out to eat very often.
I will try to blog again soon. Enjoy the pics! We miss and love everyone!
