A regular Day

So I have gotten into the habit of blogging only when we take a trip. It must seem like the only thing we do around here is play. Certainly, we are getting out more than we ever have, but we have plenty of regular boring days, mingled in there.

Here are some of the regular things we have done over the last couple of weeks.

1. We wake up every morning at 6:30, yuck. Who thought I would ever have to wake up my kids and drag them out of bed.

2. I saw Twilight last week. I liked the movie more than I thought I would. In fact, I liked it better than the last book. Frankly, I thought number 4 was strange and way too long. The movie reminded me how much I liked the series overall.

3. While headed out the door for the bus last week, Micah got a glimpse of Sadie's mushy cereal and throw up all over himself. What?

4. Taylor has started climbing and has figured out how to push the chairs around the house to get where he wants to be. He also turns on the stove regularly and tries to plug in electronics. We have had to babyproof in new ways....

5. I can't keep this German house clean. I am not sure if it the tile floors, the fact there aren't any closets or the one year old , who leads a path of distruction behind him. Probably all of the above.

6. The sun came out today, although it was very cold. I enjoyed walking Sadie to and from school.

7. Greg and I got a babysitter last night, so we could get out and see a movie together. We watched Valkyrie with Tom Cruise. I loved it! Greg liked it too and it was nice to have some time together.

8. Sadie came home with some new german words "Alle Kinder setzen sich." She informed me that it means, "sit down now..." Just about. She also told me her teachers are bossy. I bet they are.

9. We met some new friends at preschool and they came over to play. It was our first playdate with Germans. I have wanted a German friend so badly, but we ran out of things to talk about......

10. I think we have had two weeks without being sick, the longest stretch since we have been here.

11. I got my hair cut, and dyed, complete with highlights and lowlights. Lowlights, that one was new for me.......darker strands of hair mixed in.

12. I ordered two dresses off of the internet. I can't wait until they get here.

13. Taylor regularly checks my mouth to make sure that he isn't missing out on something yummy.

14. Micah's teacher complimented him by saying he is "always trying to do the right thing." Good job buddy!

15. Sadie is a great helper. She helps me empty the dishwasher and set the table.

16. Everyday after Sadie gets home from preschool, I put Taylor down for a nap. Sadie and I have some time together, ie we cuddle on the couch and she watches movie, while I take a nap.

17. I cleaned out the toy room and gleaned out all of the McDonald's toys, toys that are broken etc. I got a garbage bag full of junk to get rid of. I have decided that we have too much stuff. It seems like half of my life is spent, organizing, cleaning around and throwing away stuff.......Now what to do with that bag. It is not easy to throw things away around here.

18. I can finally say that we are unpacked and the craziness of moving (that started a year ago), is finally over. I might have some time for hobbies......what are those?

Dresden Day 2

The next day we got out pretty early to see some of the sights that I loved to see. We made it to Moritzburg, a hunting lodge. After, we stopped at the church and then went to the Grossen Garten across from the church building. The Grosser Garten with the palace in the background.

Sadie at the grossen garten with palace behind her.

Sadie and Taylor playing in the park.

There was a frozen lake and we ventured out. Taylor was so excited to play. He tried to slide down the bank. He sat down and said, "do, doo dee." He didn't get very far though.

The kids had a great time playing in the snow and on the ice. I don't know why they don't like museums......? We still had more to see in the city, but decided to let the kids play.

Outside of the Church Building.

Moritzburg hunting lodge.

Micah and Taylor looking bored, which they probably were most of the time.

Park in front of the hunting lodge...

Dresden Day 1

We took a trip back to former East German city of Dresden. I served there as a missionary 14 years ago! I really enjoyed walking down memory lane and showing Greg and the kids my old stomping grounds.

The famous Madonna painted by Raphael. I never knew these angels were part of a bigger picture.

I never went to this museum when I served here. I didn't know what I was missing. He didn't get to spend as much time as we wanted to, because Taylor was very naughty, but we were happy to see this famous piece.

Russian Orthodox Church, where my piano teacher's father was a priest. She lived in Dresden before and during WWII. She was there the night Dresden was bombed. Unfortunately, the Church is being advertized for rent as office space.

The Altstadt, where most of the historical buildings have been restored after the bombing in 1945. Most of the city was destroyed that night. To the right is Procession of Dukes and straight ahead is the Fraunkirche (Church of the lady.)

The Augustusbruecke, which spans the Elbe. I lived on the other side of the river, near the church steeple.

In the city center there are several Museums including the Armoury. We got to see all the old suits on Armour from the middle ages. This exhibit was one of the kids favorites, mine too.

The Zwinger, where all of the Museums are located. We let the kids play in the courtyard in the snow.

More of the Zwinger

In front of the Semperoper, the opera house. We found out later that there was a big ball that night. They were setting up for it earlier that day and the opera house, itself was closed. We didn't get to see the inside.
East German art, a remnant from communist times.

The Opera house

The Frauenkirche was destroyed in the bombing of the city. It lay in rumble for 40 years, until after the unification. They started rebuilding the church in 1995 and finished in 2005. The Dresdeners are very proud of this building as it is a symbol of their city.


After a long morning of site seeing, Micah suggested that we see the rest of the city in a "car tour." We agreed. We drove around and I got to tell mission stories. We looked for my old apartment, and I think we found it. The city has changed so much. We came home and watched movies for the rest of the evening........

Greg's work

Since I am always emailing about myself and the kids, Greg often gets neglected. He is doing some interesting things right now with his career in the military.

Greg is an anesthesiologist with the Army. Currently he is assigned the the 212th CASH unit of Miesau Germany. A CASH is a mobile hospital, like a MASH unit from that show in the 80's. The only difference between the two, is that the CASH is larger and more permanent. From day to day, Greg works at Landstuhl Army Medical Center as a anesthesiologist. Now and then the CASH meets for training purposes. They tend to be broken up into smaller groups for humanitarian relief work. Last week Greg met with a group from the CASH to organize supplies for a smaller hospital, that could deploy fast, support 8 ICU patients at a time for 3 days to 3 months. Here are some pictures from that project. One of the tents before it was assembled. It requires about 6 strong (like Greg) people to carry.

The "ER" tent.

The ICU capable of caring for 8 patients at a time. They get evacuated quickly.

The tents assembled in a warehouse. The 8 bed hospital consists of 4 tents.

Greg's work area. He has an Anesthesia machine that fits in a suitcase. Next month they are going to practice using the hospital and the equipment, using real surgeries. After they work out the kinks, they will pack up the materials and have them ready for quick deployments.

Taylor is back

Since arriving here in Germany we have been sick, sick, sick. I will spare you from the details, but we have had everything from the stomach flu, to strep throat. Poor Taylor has had several ear infections. Over Christmas he was on antibiotics that didn't touch his double ear infection. After three weeks of constant crying and grumpiness, we figured out the antibiotics didn't work. His second series did the trick. Our easy going, funny kid is back. It was a long month and we thought Taylor was showing signs of becoming two years old, but it looks like we still have some time. Look Taylor is happy!

Dressing Warm

So, it has taken us until January to figure out we don't dress warm enough. The truth is, it is COLD here. (This week has been between 3-20 degrees every day.) Up until now, I kept thinking we had finally figured it out, only to freeze our buns off at our next excursion. So, I have kept an eye on what the Germans do to stay warm and after spending a 100 bucks on new outdoor wear, I think we finally got it.

Sadie is wearing tights, socks, pants, shirt, sweater, snow suit, boots, gloves, neck warmer, hat. For her, dressing warm is particularly important, because she plays outside everyday at Preschool, even in 20 degree weather.

We got a similar suit for Taylor and I have started putting him in tights too. Micah just gets snow pants. (We won't make him wear tights.....)

Yabadoo

Some of our friends invited us to go to Yabadoo, a "pump it up" type play area. Since we seem to always to take the excursions that mommy and daddy like, we decided it was time to do something for the kids. Micah crawling the crocodile mouth, which closes every minute or so.

Sadie loved the roller slide. She slide down again and again. It was nice to see her do something a little "daring."

Taylor in the ball pit for toddlers. We took turns watching Tay, while the other played with the big kids.

The Germans don't seem to be a concerned about safety as Americans, so there were plenty of fun, almost dangerous things to do. http://yabadoo-mehlingen.de Check it out. On the way home Micah said, "thanks for taking us to yabadoo....." It is nice to hear that once in while.

Burg Frankenstein

I dragged the family out of the house to see the ruins of the Frankenstein clan. I guess this place inspired the writing of Frankenstein book. Of course now only parts of the burg remain. It was very cold and we were all chilled. The kids complained the entire time and we climbed into the car nearly frozen. We lasted 20 minutes. I am glad we went, but am now convinced we need to dress like the natives. I keep thinking we are warm enough, but we are clearly not. The German kids wear snow suits even when it is not snowing and they were tights under their pants, even the boys.