Germany

We arrived in Germany on July 19th. It was a rather short flight, considering we had multiple 12 hour flights to and from Korea under our belt. The 6 hour flight to Germany seemed like nothing ;) We were greeted by several of Chris' co-workers and our soon to be friends. They helped us with our numerous suitcases, gave the girls backpacks filled with goodies and brought us to our hotel. They have been amazing, checking on us, shuttling us and sharing all there is to know. We were greeted with another welcome basket FULL of all things Germany from my friend Amy. It was lovely to know so many people were just as excited about us being here as we are. The girls and I crashed for the next day or so, but Chris had to get to work and begin the in processing requirements. He did his thing, I arranged some houses to view and the ball began rolling. We weren't too badly jetlagged, but I will say our kids were tired and it showed. The first week or so was hard. They fought, had a tough time listening and obeying, but wanted to go, go, go. As a result of their tougher transition, we limited our activities to a lot of family time and staying close to the hotel.
We looked at about 8 houses, but found the one. It isn't available until August 27th, which means 5 weeks of hotel living. Claire is registered for school and we've got a nanny lined up for Mya. All in all, things are coming together. We've even purchased an inexpensive minivan as our second car. We have enough room to chauffeur everyone when they come to visit (hint, hint).
The girls and I spend our days wandering the neighborhood, visiting the playgrounds, bakery, and shopping around the corner. We've learned the basics of German--hello, goodbye, thank you. I can count and say some very basic phrases. It is a learning process. One I hope to have time for.

Goods from our bakery trip. We frequently walked down the street to the bakery for yummies like this.

Mmmm, can you smell them? So delicious. This bread probably put 5 lbs. on my waistline, but it was so worth it. 

So excited to find beautiful hydrangeas in Germany as well. I missed them while in Korea. :) 

There is a Farmer's Market every Friday just down the block from our hotel. The girls and I would shop there each week for the yummiest veges and fruits. Claire who has a LOVE for eggs, insisted we buy these beautiful hard boiled eggs. I have yet to figure out the meaning behind the colors.

Beautiful view overlooking Landstuhl, which is where we stayed for 40 days. This picture was taken at the castle which overlooks the village.

We went to our first castle not knowing how the girls would do. They loved it. The castle is  Burg Nanstein. It is in Landstuhl. Very cool to see the remains and hard to believe it was once inhabited. Claire kept asking where the princess/king/queen were. Ha! I'd point out every dark nook and tell her that was the princesses bedroom. She wasn't certain.

There was a carnival directly across the street from our hotel. Unlike carnivals in the US, they took a few days to set up the rides so the girls' excitement heightened each day. They were thrilled to finally attend. 

All smiles on the ferris wheel. 

The girls love to drive and frequently remind me how good they are. Thanks to Papa who let them believe they were driving the tractors. They now think they should drive my car too. I guess this little one will hold them over for a while. Sad to think this will be them in a little over 10 years.

The village of Landstuhl. It has many shops for clothes, ice cream, and our new favorite, Doners. Yummie!