We have our car!

James passed the drivers test...and on the first try!

He went and got the car today so we can now go outside of the mile radius we've gotten use to walking in the last week. Ha ha! We do have a gas ration card so we are limited to a specific amount of gallons of gas we can purchase on post in a month. If we go over that, we will have to buy gas in the German economy at a higher rate. Gas here on post is currently $3.09 so a lot higher than the states. I don't even want to know what it is out in the economy.

We showed Macen the car but we're not sure he actually understands its ours. We've driven several different cars since mid-Nov and it's been almost 2 weeks since we've been in a car.

Now its time for me to get studying so I can take the test.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Macen has become a fan of these 3 furry creatures. We were a little stumped on how he got started on it but then Mariah told us she had him watching it one day while we were clearing out of our ous in KS. One evening while we were having dinner with my dad and stepmom, Macen was very tired from the days activities and kept whining about Alvin the chipmunk. I was confused and then a little girl at the next table over asked if she could give Macen her Alvin. Of course he was thrilled and the next day we realized it was a McD's toy. We were even more surprised when we stopped at the half way point from Frankfurt and Vilseck at a McD's and they had the same toys. Macen asked for Simon and the pic is from him playing with them the rest of the bus ride to Vilseck. And ever since then he keeps telling us he needs another Alvin the Chipmunk meaning he wants Theodore. He repeatedly tells us we need to go to McD's first to get another one. Unfortunately, I don't think there any McD's nearby. We are in a very rural area of Germany. So we put our first request in for sending something from the US we can't easily get here. Aunt Stacy has Macen squared away and he is going to be a very happy camper when he gets Theo in the mail.

So to temporarily squish the repeated requests to go to McDs we took Macen to his first movie at the theater. Alvin and the Chipmunks was playing at the post theater, perfect timing. Macen did great at the movie and loved it.

The Time Difference

One of the problems with living in Germany is the time difference. This is especially hard on me when it comes to watching football games. A typical 12pm CST start game comes on here at 7pm and a 3pm CST start at 10pm and the prime time games at about 1 or 2 am. The noon starts aren't that bad but the late start and the prime time games are way past my bed time.

Bring us to this weekend and the fact that the Cowboys are playing a playoff game at 7pm CST Sat. That game comes on here at 2am. I'm way too lazy to stay up that late so I'm going to have to catch the replay at 1pm Sun. That means please no emails or phone calls telling me who won. I'm going to try my best to stay off the internet and not find out who won the game before hand. Shantel seems to think I'm not going to be able to do that.

Go Cowboys!!!!!!!

The Best Ever...

Okay, I'm going to interrupt moving posts to give you Macens latest favorite quote. Macen's favorite candy at the moment is nerds and I made sure we had plenty on hand for the move (or Grandma did. Thanks Grandma!) While we were hanging out the other day at the hotel in Frankfurt, Macen informed me they were "The best nerds ever". Very funny! Last night we went to the commissary to get a few things for our room and we grabbed a box of Special K for Macen. While checking out James was pointing out all these boxes of Special K and asking Macen if that one was his favorite. He kept sayinbg "no" until James got to the red berries one. And Macen responds "The best special K ever". Lol!

We've made it to Vilseck

UPDATE: We can't get the car until we or one of us takes the driving test for here. And the good news about the housing turned into not so good news this morning. James went to housing where they told him there would probably be something available around the 26th of January. Yeah, not cool! We are hearing from multiple people here on post that there are plenty of houses empty. So he's going back on Monday to talk to them. And instead of going to a German hotel this weekend, we are going to an area here on post where there are cabins. We plan to stay there until the end of the month unless housing decides to give us a house sooner.

James came in today and we took the long bus ride to Vilseck. We are in temporary lodging on post right now but we will move to a German hotel in a few days. Apparently, temp lodging gave away most of our reservation since we didn't make it here on Monday as planned so there were only 2 nights available for us to stay.

In the midst of playing musical hotels, our hold baggage (the stuff that was packed 2 weeks ago and shipped) is here waiting for us as well as our car. James should be picking up the car tomorrow. And word is that we should have our chosing of houses/duplex/whatever they call them and we should be in our new home around Wed of next week.

I'm sure the cats will appreciate that! Macen seems to be enjoying hotels just fine.

In Frankfurt

Macen and I are hunkering down in the hotel at the airport. We got back here yesterday and we'll stay until James comes in tomorrow morning.

Macen hasn't quite adjusted to the time difference. I mentioned before I put Macen down at his normal time 2 nights ago and he stayed in bed over 15 hrs. He was awake for an hour in that time but he was catching up on some major sleep. He went to bed at his normal time last night but was awake from 11:30pm to 2:30am. He did wake up much earlier today so we'll get a nap in (both of us) and then maybe get on track tonight.

We are enjoying the maze that is the Frankfurt airport.

Hello from Germany!

As James mentioned, we made it! About half of us anyway. The days activities so did not go as planned when we woke up Sunday morning. But next week it'll all be a distant memory. We should have known something would happen because up until yesterday, everything had gone extremely smooth for the move - other than James and I disagreeing about things.

And for anyone thinking we'll be coming back anytime soon, don't count on it. The seats on the flight here offered very little leg room making it near impossible to sleep. James and I were both up around 3:30 am Sunday anticipating our big move and I got maybe 2 hrs total sleep on the plane. So very little sleep before adjusting to the time difference. Maybe it'll make for an easy transition but not a trip I want to repeat anytime soon. Macen did do great on both flights and I couldn't believe the amazing help I got from strangers.

I'm going to reach here a little bit and say Macen has not been affected by jetlag. Yet, atleast. We'll see how tomorrow goes. He was getting pretty cranky at the airport this morning because we did a lot of walking (it's huge or atleast it felt that way this morning or maybe it all the luggage I was carrying and pushing around) and he couldn't be carried at all due to the massive amounts of luggage I had - we're talking over 200 lbs. But once we got to Emilie's, he was his normal self on 4 hours of night time sleep. Running around full of energy and at the speed of lightning. He did sleep for about 2 1/2 hrs this afternoon and I just put him to bed at his normal bedtime. No issues yet and hopefully it doesn't catch up with us tomorrow (or even tonight). The Tot Clock just might get us thru this time difference.

We'll let you know when we get to Vilseck and hopefully James' flight day is a lot less interesting.

Myles is curled up in my lap as I type, happy as can be.