So we're living in Germany...

How are you and how is your German?

2011-11-28T17:23:00.007+01:00

I really don't understand why strangers are so interested in how my German is coming along. I am now annoyed with the question. I went for a follow-up visit today to see the dermatologist or Hautartz. I had been to this office once before for my initial check-up and was now returning 6 months later to follow-up on a suspicious looking mole. I'll save the initial check-up and the Germans love of being naked for another post.

Anyway, the doctor walks in says hello and ask me how I am doing and why am I here. I remind her, in English of course, that we need to look at a suspicious mole. Instead of asking me about the mole and if I have noticed any changes, her next question is, "So how is your German coming along?" Really? I didn't realize your were Dr. Berlitz! Caught off guard I simply relpy, "It's fine thank you."

Dr.-"Then we can speak German now?"

Me-"We could, but we would get anywhere."

Dr.-"Why is it so hard for you to learn German?"

Ok, this is where I bit my tongue and almost needed stitches. WHY? Let's see... It's a fricking crazy language for starters! There are words longer then our English alphabet. And don't get me started with Der, Die, Das. It's THE! Simple one word, no gender needed! And why do you break up verbs and split them in a sentence? And only one of them? How do you know which one? Uggh! Too many rules and then too many exceptions to the rules. But I digress. Back to the doctor.

Me-"Do you really want to know? Really?"

Dr.-"Is it that everyone speaks English to you? It is isn't it? I would really like to know."

Now I understand that every family has it's challenges and I am by no means complaining how hard I have it compared to any other mom. I am very fortunate and blessed, but like everyone, life can be a bit overwhelming. So here was my response.

Me-"Let's see. I have two kids that go to two different school 1 hour apart. So I spend 4 to 5 hours a day driving someone somewhere. One kid has special needs and I take him to therapy 3 times a week. Then I have to work with him at home, everyday. My daughter has piano and dance. Oh, yeah and they both have school work. My husband is always working and last time I checked, I do not have a driver, nanny, maid, tutor or any family support here. Somewhere in between being taxi mommy and care giver, I also need to grocery shop, clean my house and do all the other things to run a household. And no, not everyone speaks English to me, which makes the above mentioned take, I don't know, 20 times longer! I would LOVE to speak German! More then you know! But when you look at the big picture, my kids are doing great, everyone is fed, my house has not been taken over by dust bunnies and mold, and I even managed to make this appointment and get here on time. I'd say my German is pretty damn good!!"

Dr.- "Okay, so let's have a look at the mole..."

Our Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T12:53:00.003+01:00

We were fortunate enough this year to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. Of course neither of the celebrations happened on the actual day, but let's not be picky.

Our first celebration was in the states and we called it Thanksoweenie as we celebrated both Halloween and Thanksgiving together. It was actually one of the best Thanksgivings ever. The kids ate in their Halloween costumes and we went to the cider mill, ate carmel apples, went bobbing for apples and the like. My sister had her house all decked out for Halloween and we ate our turkey with our spider friend looking over us!

Our 2nd Thanksgiving celebration was celebrated with our friends Anna, Felix and Kyle. This was Anna and Felix's first Thanksgiving and first ever pumpkin pie! Anna and I had a little trouble finding the right size turkey (we could only find a 17 lb. one!) so we opted for 2 smaller turkey breasts we named Wolfgang and Helmut. Since they were skinless and we wanted gravy, I decided to try something at my mom's suggestion. Using cheese cloth like skin, I covered the turkey with a herb paste and then covered it with the cheese cloth that had been soaked in butter and herbs. It turned out great! I'm thinking of writing a cookbook for how to improvise as an expat in Germany! I was able to put together a yummy dinner without all the normal Thanksgiving necessities. But no matter how much improvising I was able to do, Wolfgang became our problem child and refused to cook! He was only 4 lbs. but he took all of 4 hours to cook! Luckily Helmut made us proud and we ate him while Wolfgang continued to cook.

In the end we've had a great Thanksgiving season and as always, so much to be thankful for. We are a very blessed family and we try to remember that every day, not just once a year.

If I can just get him to 5...

2011-09-22T13:13:00.004+02:00

Ever since Landon was a baby I would tell Larry, "If I can just keep him alive until he's 5 I'll be amazed!" He was always putting things in his mouth, climbing on things and somehow always putting himself in some sort of danger. Every time I tucked him into to bed I would thank God for keeping him safe one more day. So now that 5 has arrived, I can rest a little easier? Not if Landon has his way! He continues to challenge his guardian angel and keep me on my toes. My little guy is full of energy, loving and caring, funny and a blessing. Every year that passes he continues to surprise and amaze me.

This past weekend we had his 5th birthday party. It was a great day and by far his best birthday yet! We were joined by two other families (Landon's 2 best friends) and spent the day at the Glessener Mühlenhof. We started with brunch and since 5 year olds don't sit long, we quickly moved outside. Pony rides, zip line, Kettler cars, hay stakes and underground tunnels, kept the boy entertained for hours! Yes, hours. For 4 hours they laughed and chased each other around only briefly stopping for birthday cake. The boys cried as we left because they didn't want the day to end.

So Happy Birthday to my sweet Landon! May the Lord bless and protect you for yet another year and I pray your guardian angel never takes a vacation!

3 years to the day

2011-06-25T11:47:00.002+02:00

3 years ago today we embarked on our German adventure. Our contract was to end today and we would be moving back to the USA. But because we are a.) a little crazy b.) enjoying ourselves c.) not finished with Larry's work assignment, we have agreed to stay for one more year.

We are happy to be staying, although missing our families makes staying a lot less fun. But we will be going home for a visit in the fall and some of our family will be visiting us. We are trying to make the most of our last year here. There are still many places on our "to see" list. We still won't make them all, but it nice to know we have another year to see some.

3 years into our adventure and it's interesting to look back at how the three years went by. The first year was getting our feet wet. Learning our way around, learning the language and customs, making friends and just plain figuring it all out. It was exhausting. The second year we were settled, but not rooted. Ford started sending people home early and for the longest time we didn't know if and when it would be our turn. Then half way through the second year we were evicted from our home and for 3 months we were in a temporary living space and even more unsure with what would happen next. Then the 3rd year began and we quickly went from talking about moving home to possibly extending our stay. That went on until May. So now finally it is our 4th and final year and hopefully we can just relax for a least the first 6 months, because I am sure that after Christmas we will have to start planning for our move home.

I have to say I am a little scared about moving back home. While I still don't feel rooted here, there is a comfort level here. I dread the thought of buying a house and the stresses that go with it. Then finding one fast enough to get the kids into school on time. School alone is a scary idea. While I'm sure bullying happens here, it doesn't to the extent of what it seems to be in the US. Reading the news about US schools would turn off any parent. And then all of the economic cuts happening in the schools. We are so blessed here with our schools and all of the accompanying programs. Then there is getting Landon situated once again with new therapists and all of the insurance worries that go along with that processes. I'm stressing out just writing about all of it!

So where will we go this year? Northern Italy this summer, Michigan this fall, hopefully family will come here for Christmas and we still need to figure out our one last hurrah before we leave. In between we will have short car trips including one to see a Woman's World Cup Soccer match.

So that's it for now. I did ask Larry to post some of his thoughts about the past 3 years, so stay tuned for his post.

Paris 2.0

2011-06-06T12:55:00.011+02:00

This past week Germany celebrated Corpus Christi (Latin for Body of Christ and a Western Catholic feast). In doing so we had the luxury of a long, 4 day weekend. And as typical American's we packed up a suitcase and hopped in the car. We won't be here forever and we need to see all we can!

Where did we go? Back to Paris! It is about 4 1/2 hours south of us if traffic isn't too bad. It's hard to think that in the time it would take us to drive to Traverse City we can be in Paris. We went back because we enjoyed it so much the

first time around, but mostly because we didn't really see much. This time we were better prepared! We knew how the train system worked, which bus was the best to take and most importantly we remembered to get lunch before the restaurants closed for the afternoon. Happy belly's = happy kids. Plus Larry and I enjoyed a little more wine to take the edge off of the kids whining.

We started our first day with the hop on-hop off bus. It was a beautiful sunny day and the kids loved sitting on the open topped double decker bus. Larry and I could relax a little from making sure Landon didn't run off anywhere. It was great! We saw the Arc de Triomphe, Champes-Elysees and other sights along that route. We shopped a little and ended our evening eating dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Burger's and fries for the kids, a Corona for me and Larry and everyone was happy!

The next day the kids slept in! We missed breakfast (really not a bad thing) and headed back to the bus. This time we took a different routing and saw the Moulin Rouge. It's really perfect timing for us as a family since Ali is currently learning sex education at school ;) I really enjoyed our special chat at we passed by some great stores with interesting window displays! Good times! We ended the evening in the Latin Quarter for dinner with a stroll past the Notre Dame.

On our last day we headed to see the Statue of Liberty (yes they have one too!), eat the best Falafel ever! and the kids played in the Luxembourg garden before getting in the car again for the drive home.

We had our fair share of meltdowns along the way (yes, all of us at one time or another) and we never saw a single museum or actually walked into a tourist attraction, but we enjoyed Paris in a way we have become accustomed to. We travel to the beat of a stubborn 4 year old and the interest level of an 8 year old. If you don't fight it and remember to be thankful you're even on a vacation, it can be quite enjoyable.

It's great to be Alianna

2011-06-06T12:40:00.003+02:00

Again, time has flown and I am behind on the blog. Better late then never.

The Rondall Circus was a great success! Alianna was an acrobat and trained hard all week for her big performance. All the kids did great and it amazes me that she has now had this opportunity twice in her lifetime. I wish the schools in the US could experience such a week. These kids are amazing! The confidence it instills them and the pride of accomplishment is wonderful. They worked as a team and shined under the light of the big top. What an experience!

Alianna is also very excited because she earned her bronze swimming badge. She had to swim 200 m in under 15 mins. (11:53 min. was her time), dive from a 1m high platform, dive 2 m deep to pick up an object and take a written test of the swimming rules. She had been working very hard and is super excited especially since she only gets to swim once a week. Way to go Ali!

Next up for Alianna is her field day this Thursday and then next week she will attend a Women's World Cup soccer match with her teammates. Following is her class trip. It's a great time to be Ali!!

Sunday Afternoon

2011-05-15T15:04:00.004+02:00

It Sunday afternoon and Alianna has a friend over. They are playing at the creek and I am just waiting for their very wet and muddy return. Of course they told me that won't be the case, but it has never not been the case. Her friends are always sent home with a bag full of wet clothes. But they have fun and kids need to get dirty. I just wish it wasn't in my house!

Landon and Larry are also outside playing. It is chilly and wet today compared to the past several weeks, but Landon NEEDS to be outside! They will play on the swing set and Landon will terrorize the ducks. Landon has a new game on the swing set. While pushing him he likes it if you guess his name. It goes something like this... "Are you Lucus?" "Hee!Hee! No mommy!" "Are you Friedrick?" Belly laugh, "Noooooo!" "I know are you Miss Jessica?" And we continue the game until I finally say, "Are you Landon?" and he says, "Yes!" and I say, "Landon who?" and he says, "Landon Margaret Groth!" He won't believe me that his middle name is different then Alianna's.

As for me, I am working on several things at once. Laundry is currently spinning, I am uploading Flip videos, trying to figure iMovie, and trying to decide if we should buy a new swing set that doesn't look like it is going to fall apart in any minute. Later yet today I need to pay some bills and write out my weekly plan so I can at least pretend like I thought it might all actually happen. Oh yeah, and I really need a coffee!

Circus week is coming up in two weeks at Alianna's school. I can't wait to see what act she will participate in this year. Her performance is on the 27th in case anyone wants to fly over here to catch it. But for those of you who can't, no worries. My Flip will work for a least another year.

After circus week, Germany celebrates it many spring holiday's. We will head back to Paris on one of the weekends and see something other then the Eifel Tower. Maybe Landon will be a little more willing to sightsee this time. If not, I'll still be in Paris. Who needs to actually see the Louve?

With summer gearing up, kids finish school JULY 22, we are starting to plan where we will vacation to next. This will be our last full summer so we still have several places to mark off our list. The Canary Islands and Alps are looking to take top billing. I'll keep you posted.

2011-04-26T13:23:00.001+02:00

Pictures as promised

2011-03-09T21:21:00.001+01:00

My new haircut.
Landon's new glasses.

Carnival pictures to come soon!

2011-03-09T21:17:00.001+01:00

February Update

2011-02-18T13:32:00.006+01:00

Wondering what's up with us? Not a whole lot which is why I haven't posted anything. After everyone being sick, it has been nice to take it a little slower over the past couple of weeks. Larry and I had a date night last weekend and we went to the movies! First time together since we moved here and lucky for us it was a good movie: Love, Sex and Other Drugs. We also enjoyed the having a beer with our popcorn option! There are somethings the German's do better then us and beer whenever, wherever is one of them!

Ali has started piano lessons again and she is now playing soccer. She is enjoying both, but pretty tired by the end of the week when you mix in gymnastics and school. Landon had a fun Wednesday at school as he and his class performed a storytelling telling time for the parents.

Landon also had is first Cranial Sacral Therapy session. He did very well considering he had to let a stranger hold is head still for 30 minutes! We go again next week and will continue for a few session to see if it helps his concentration and focus. Landon will also go tomorrow to pick out his first pair of eyeglasses! Yes, our little man is just like daddy and is starting young. I can only imagine how many pairs we are going to go through! I just hope they help his lazy eye because if they don't he will need to wear a patch and that won't go over well with him either. I am hoping that the glasses will make such a big difference that he will WANT to wear them. A mother can dream! I told his teacher today and she is already trying to figure out how she is going to keep track of them since she has a hard enough time getting him to keep his house shoes on. It's a good thing he is so cute and cuddly and it makes up for the hard work he creates.

I finally got my haircut! It has been since August last year! I'll post a picture soon.

Larry says Hi.

That's it for now. Looking forward to the weekend!

Christmas Morning 2010

2011-01-17T11:12:00.002+01:00

This was our Christmas morning - although it was Dec. 26. We arrived home late on the 25th from Austria so Santa sent his elves that night to bring the gifts for the kids.

Austrian Christmas 2010

2011-01-17T11:11:00.002+01:00

Here is a slide show of our skiing trip to Serfaus, Fiss, Ladis- Austria

The New Years Eve Video

2011-01-17T10:20:00.003+01:00

Hope you enjoy the video! This is looking out our bedroom window. It was a great show and the fireworks were by neighbors just setting them off. Happy New Year!

New Years Eve Video

2011-01-05T12:37:00.002+01:00

Ok, so the video didn't load. I'll have to try a different way. But anyway...

So New Years Eve was once again a wonderful sight! Homemade schnitzel dinner, family movie and popcorn and then the midnight fireworks display out our bedroom window! I love that the German's celebrate with fireworks. And these fireworks are from our neighbors. This display is not from a special group. Once a year they sell big fireworks to the general public. So as we slide into the New Year I can only imagine what is in store for us this year. Will we come home or extend one more year...that is the big question at the moment. The answer won't come until spring.

Let's recap last year...

1. Spent Christmas and New Years skiing in Austria.

2. Celebrated carnival

3. Evicted out of our apartment and moved into temporary housing

4. Spent Easter with Jan at Center Parcs in the Netherlands

5. Moved back into the apartment after 3 months of construction.

6. Went to Heidelberg with friends

7. Visited home for 4 weeks in the summer

8. Landon started a new school.

9. Went to Rhodos Greece for fall break.

10. Drove to Eisenach for a long weekend.

11. Celebrated Thanksgiving with a crock-pot turkey.

12. Christmas market began

13. Celebrated Christmas with Grandma in Austria skiing.

I hope everyone is off to a good start.

2010 St. Martins Zug

2010-11-21T17:02:00.002+01:00

Here is the video from Landon's St. Martin's Zug.

2010-11-21T16:50:00.003+01:00

Our trip in Rhodos. Sorry the music is louder then voices. You'll just have to listen closely.

2010-11-05T11:29:00.001+01:00

2010-10-10T23:03:00.001+02:00

2010-09-30T12:03:00.001+02:00

How Time Flies

2010-09-24T13:47:00.003+02:00

How time flies. Landon is now 4 years old and Alianna will be 8 in a few short days. It really isn’t until you look back at the pictures that you realize just how much they have grown and changed. The top picture of Landon is him at 4 and the next one is him at 3. And for Ali the top is her at 7 and the next one is at 8. My baby boy is now a little man and my sweet little girl is becoming a sweet young girl. I love them more with each day that passes. They are each a blessing and special in their own ways.

Alianna is very strong willed and stubborn. Hopefully someday she will use that power for good, but for now we need to tame her back somewhat. She is excited about school and learning the clarinet and has also begun a dance and gymnastic class. She needs to do something with her endless energy level. She is having an art themed birthday party where the kids will paint on canvas and eat yummy cake. We had to keep the party small this year so unfortunately we are seeing some hurt feelings. It was a tough choice, but the art studio is very small. I hope the other kids soon forget about it.

Landon has begun a new school this year. While he enjoyed his German kindergarten class, he was really struggling with his speech. With his delay in English, German was just adding to the pressure. So we enrolled him in a private, British kindergarten. He has also started speech therapy and continues with his physical therapy for his other delays. We have seen huge improvements since the summer and hope it is only the beginning. He has so much potential and so much energy. His new teachers are just wonderful with him and seem to have much patience. I have also begun trying the P.L.A.Y. therapy I crashed trained in while home. It is a lot of work, but when I see him engage and laugh with me, I can’t help but become re-energized. We are working on colors right now, or should I say colours now that we are learning British English. I hold up a gummy bear and ask him what color it is. If he gets it right he gets to eat it. If he is wrong, I eat it. He has some very interesting colors. Have you ever heard of gre-ellow? That what he ways when he isn’t sure if its green or yellow. He waits for my reaction and then changes the word half way through. It is also very cute the look he gets on his face when I eat it. He gets all sad and whines, “awww Mooommm that was my gummy bear. Give it back!” I say nope, get the color right next time. Tough love.

So what have we all been up to…
We went to the States from July 16 to August 17. It was a great trip. We enjoyed our time with family and friends and as expected the time went by too fast. We thought for sure a month would be long enough to see everyone, but we still missed seeing many friends. I guess that means they will have to come here to visit. We were lucky enough to time seeing a large portion of Larry’s extended family. His cousin was having a baby shower while we home and he was able to surprise her. It was a really special day to be there and a great chance to see so much family at one time. The kids loved playing in the lake and spending time with their cousins.

We miss some things that home offers, but overall, not too much. We did our typical fill your suitcase with affordable clothing and shoes and we made sure to stock up on Twizzlers and Cheerios. But we are used to the food here now and have either found ways to get the things we really want or we just do without. Much like the TV. I was really excited to watch TV and catch up on missed shows, but in the end I just didn’t have the time and enjoyed spending my time doing other things.

As expected, leaving was very hard, especially for the kids. It was hard watching them say goodbye knowing it would be another year before we return. But they are strong and most of the crying stopped by the time we boarded the flight. The flight was typical Northwest only now the plane says Delta. The flight attendants pass out inedible food and then take forever to collect it. Then they sit back and chit chat and hope you don’t ask for anything. Come morning they quickly toss you something that resembles breakfast and then hurry you into landing mode. Only to have to wait forever to make it through passport control and even longer to wait for your luggage. We had way more luggage then arms to carry it and still had to make it onto a train. Needless to say we were all happy to be home, sad to have left and sore from the process in between.

So what is ahead? Alianna’s birthday party, hopefully a date night and then we are all excited to be heading to Rhodes, Greece for the fall break. Of course there will be pictures to follow.

We love hearing from friends and family, so please remember to send an email every now and again.

Can you believe it's been 2 years!

2010-06-24T22:06:00.004+02:00

June 25, 2008 we landed in Dusseldorf. June 25, 2009 I wrote about our first year. Now June 25, 2010, we are two years into our adventure and what an adventure it has been. This past year we watched Landon begin kindergarten and Alianna begin 2nd grade. We enjoyed our trips to Spain, a couple to Austria and several to The Netherlands. We have seen more of Germany in a 3 hour radius then most of our German friends have seen in their lifetime here. We were visited by both sets of parents and a few friends from home who found there way to us while on business. We have been blessed with friends who bring or send us goodies from home and those who continue to email us to let us know we have not been forgotten. We were evicted from home for 2 months and now moved back in. There is never a dull moment.

For most of the year we have remained healthy, but we were hit hard a few times. Alianna became very ill just before Christmas. A 104 degree temp. for over 3 days and a doctor who made a house call. Landon has had a rough time with his allergies and chronic bronchitis. We continue to work with his doctor in helping him fight off his runny nose and horrible cough. Larry has done an excellent job keeping with his running routine and continued to run through the very cold winter. He is now training for a special run here in September where he will run 16 km through the city and over the 7 (maybe 5 I don't remember) bridges here in Cologne. And believe it or not, I have started to run! I don't like it much, but I love the company of my girlfriends so I keep going. Plus my love for bread needs to be balanced.

The kids have really enjoyed school. Alianna is playing tennis and the blöckflute (recorder). Her favorite subject is math and she loves story problems. She has grown at least 2 inches, but Landon is catching up quickly! Landon has changed the most over the past year. He potty trained in April. His speech is improving and since he began occupational therapy, he is able to understand directions much better. He still has a long way to go to catch up to his peers, but he makes progress everyday. Just this past week alone he has begun speaking German at home. Instead of saying "I" for himself, he has been using the German version "Ich". When I asked him where his was going today, he answered, "Ich pee-pee machen." (I am going to pee). This is a huge step for him to make a sentence! Since we were unable to find a special education kindergarten spot for him, he will remain at the same school and go to therapy twice a week and hopefully have speech therapy at the school once a week. With this extra attention our goal is to catch him up developmentally to his appropriate age over the next year.

Larry is enjoying his work and his German has also improved much over the past year. Funny thing is that our English is suffering! We are so used to speaking slowly or speaking in sentences that a German will understand that we have started saying it to each other. Larry told me the other day, "I'll ring you later to let you know when I'll be home." RING me later? What American says that! We need to get home quickly!!!

I am also doing well. Yes, my German still stinks. I lost several of my friends over the past year to the economy. We are one of the few Americans left standing on German soil. I had to stay goodbye too many times. But fortunately I made a few friends who live here permanently and I have also made some new friends recently. One friend in particular I meet while walking down the street one day from Alianna's school. She was with her boys and the older one was riding a scooter. Alianna noticed he had the exact scooter she did and asked him about it. This lead to a conversation with the mom, who luckily spoke English. When asked where they bought their scooter she said,"Oh, it's from the States. A place called Toys R Us" I said really, where were you in the States? She replied, "we just moved back from living in Michigan for the past 2 years." Of course my next question was where in Michigan. Her reply, "Ann Arbor!" Now that is not a coincidence! What are the chances of walking down the street in a city of one million people and running into a family who just moved back from Ann Arbor, Michigan! Then it turns out our husbands work together and I was actually introduced to her a year ago when I was home for Easter. It is more then just a small world. Our paths were meant to cross!

So I think I covered all of us. We are excited about our visit home. It has been 16 months since we were on American soil! If we are lucky maybe we will be coming home with the World Cup Soccer trophy! Alianna is a big fan of the games! One more year begins today. After our visit to the US we will see Rhodes, Greece in the fall and ski the Alps for one final time over Christmas. Somewhere we still need to fit in Paris and I won't leave until I see Berlin.

Here we go...I can't even imagine what this year will have in store for us!

Alianna's Musical Performance

2010-06-12T16:40:00.004+02:00

In the middle of May, the first and second classes at Alianna's school performed a musical all in Spanish - La Granja de la Amistad (the farmyard of friendship). It was a story about animals, each one which is represented by an instrument in the orchestra. Not only does this musical teach the children the sounds of each of the orchestral instruments, it also sends a very strong message about friendship, peace and acceptance. The children learn that the world would be boring if we were all the same and that they can all be friends, despite their differences. It was a great evening. Alianna played a white pony in the farm. If you look close to the left of screen at the end of the group she has white hair and a brown face. The video is of the children singing the finale song.

2010-05-04T10:51:00.001+02:00

Keukenhof Gardens Slideshow

2010-05-04T10:44:00.003+02:00

We had a wonderful time this year at the gardens. It was fun to see it at a different time of year. We went back 2 weeks later and although those pictures are not in the show, the gardens were transformed again. Nature can be so fascinating!

Could the madness be coming to an end?

2010-04-15T22:55:00.004+02:00

It is now April 15. It was around Feb. 20 that we had to move out of the castle. So after 2 months we have come full circle and will move back to the castle over the weekend. It was a very long and hard two months. I have never been knocked down so many times. Every turn we made we ran into an on-coming train. The experience reminded me much of our experience with infertility. We would be hopeful that we found something, have to wait for the answer only to be disappointed that it wasn't going to work out. And then finally we found a house and after 2 weeks of negotiating, it fell through and we lost it.

I have mixed feelings about going back. I was ready to move on. We had packed many of our belongs and the emotional ties we had were gone and replaced with anger. Larry and I both kept looking for the lesson to be learned out of this. We always figure God is trying to teach us something. But we just couldn't and still really can't figure it out. Larry was listening to Joel Osteen and as usual his message hit home. He says sometimes God uses us to teach others lessons. So we started to think about how our problem might have helped someone else. We came up with a few ideas. It still doesn't make the situation sting any less, but we are hanging on to the idea that somewhere someone benefited from our trials.

I hope to settle in soon and I look forward to having a reliable internet connection and telephone again. I miss keeping in touch with family and friends and hope to be back on track soon.

Joel also gave us some other food for thought. He says, "Bloom where you are planted." I figure we are obviously planted in Geyen for the next year so I will do my best to bloom like the tulips at the Keukenhof Gardens.

What just happened?

2010-03-04T11:06:00.002+01:00

So my head is spinning and I can't help but wonder, "what just happened?" Here we were celebrating karneval enjoying our time here and next thing I know we are evicted out of our house and forced to move some place new. This has been a nightmare! We have been living in a temporary location for 2 weeks now and it seems that we are no further to finding a solution. The construction on the fire doors is being completed today and the house will cleaned Friday and Saturday. But we still don't know if that is enough to let us move back in. There is something wrong with our bedroom but no one knows what the problem is. How can that be? Everyone we ask says they have to check with someone and then they don't get back with us. How hard is it to find out this answer?

As for our house hunting it is a daunting experience. You have no idea how blessed and fortunate we are in the US when is comes to housing size and ammenities. I guess if you lived in a big city it would be similar, but to me I just don't know how people do it. So far we have been shown shoe boxes for houses. i can understand why Ikea is so succesful. Problem is we have our furniture here and can't afford to buy new Ikea creative furniture. Then it becomes a problem of the drive. The main highway here has been under construction for 3+ years and the sign says it will be completed in the end of 2012. When we first arrived it said 2011. As you can imagine it becomes a parking lot during rush hour and so we need to avoid it for Larry's commute (not easy). Then there is the problem of both kids going to different schools about 15 minutes apart. One house we looked at yesterday would have worked out, but I would be in my car from 1:45 to 5:00 everyday picking up and shuttling around the kids. And Larry would need to take the construction route of the highway. Next we looked at a place out in the country. It was nice but the people have lived there for 30 years and have so much stuff it will take them until June 1 to move out. Plus there is a pool. Nice idea, but with Landon impossible. And we would be isolated from everything. After that we saw a nice place if we only had one kid. There were 2 bedrooms total. The age difference between the kids makes it too hard for them to share. Landon gets into Ali's things and does great damage. Plus it would be difficult when we have visitors. Much of our furniture would need to go into storage.

So that is the scoop. The only places left to see are in the city with no yards for the kids, spiral staircases and parking issues. Larry is still trying to negotiate with the owner of the original house we wanted, so I will try to stay hopeful. With each passing day it becomes more difficult.

Here are a few pictures of what used to be our comfy living room.

Enjoying Karneval!

2010-02-14T20:34:00.000+01:00

Alianna's Class performance of Cinderella

2010-02-01T12:47:00.002+01:00

Landon playing one of his favorite games

2010-02-01T11:47:00.002+01:00

Christmas morning

2010-01-19T11:28:00.002+01:00

Some more pictures

2010-01-11T12:53:00.003+01:00

So here are some picture of Christmas...

Happy 2010!

2010-01-11T12:27:00.004+01:00

I haven't posted anything in 2 months! Sorry! Let's catch you up to speed...
We celebrated Thanksgiving at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Cologne with a few other American families. The turkey was pretty good, but the pumpkin pie was something I can't even describe other then, YUCK!

December was off to a good start with St. Nikolaus Day. The kids enjoyed their little gifts and Landon had a fun visit at school from St. Nikolaus himself. Then my poor little girl became very sick. For two weeks she was down and out. The Christmas market at the Junkerburg was very nice, but Alianna could not enjoy it. We actually had a house call from the doctor to check up on her because her 104 degree fever would not go down. So she could only watch out the window and it was pretty sad. Thankfully she recovered in time for Christmas and no one else in the family became ill! I love Purell!

On Christmas Eve I gave the family my special gift! I bought them a little fire kit for outside so we could make smore's! With my prayers being answered, a work friend of Larry's was coming to Cologne and he agreed to bring marshmellows, Hershey's chocolate and graham crackers! I was so excited to be able to surprise all three of them with this gift and a surprise it was. We even introduced Frau Schumacher to smore's. After a fun day of smore's and playing the kids were off to sleep to wait for Santa's arrival! He came and our presents was that the kids slept until 7:00! We spent the morning opening gifts and playing with toys. Alianna's favorite was the Wii Sing it with Hannah Montana songs. Landon loves his kitchen and Handy Mandy pj's. Larry got a terrific watch and I love my tall, brown leather boots.

Christmas dinner was also a huge success! We ordered a fresh turkey from the butcher and it turned out great! Fresh cranberry sauce, green beans and finally a great pumpkin pie! We were all fat and happy!

The next day we packed up our gear to head out to Austria for a week of skiing. We left at 6:20 am for a 6 hour drive and less then one hour into it we were at a stand-still on the Autobahn. A large accident ahead shut down the road. And German's don't believe in routing people off. No, we just sat with the car in park for another hour. In the end it took us 8.5 hours to get to Lofer. And as our usual luck when it comes to vacations... there was no snow! End of December in the Alps and NO SNOW! We skiied a little, by going up as high as we could, but it was icy and way too many people. We enjoyed the time away, but not quite the ski vacation we were hoping for. Maybe next year. We think maybe we will try the Italian Alps.

Ok, I think we are up to date. The kids are back in school, my german lessons resume tomorrow and the Christmas decorations have been replaced with karneval ones. We are hoping to escape karneval this year, but not sure yet where to go that is affordable. Landon will participate in his schools karnevalzug on the 7th of Feb. so the kids will still get some candy and get to dress up.

I have included some photos and once my computer is working properly again I will try to upload a new photoshow. Until then Happy New Year!

2009-11-07T22:41:00.001+01:00

Family Visits

2009-11-07T22:35:00.002+01:00

It has been a busy time in the Groth household. OK, it's always a busy time, but we have enjoyed having family visit. First Larry's mom came and spent time here for the kids birthday's and then my parents came for 3 weeks over Ali's school break. They had an opportunity to visit her school and Landon's too. Then we spent a week driving through southern Germany and into Austria. Although it was cold and snowy, we shared many laughs and had a good time. So I've posted a slide show from our trip.

Happy Birthday Landon

2009-09-14T12:31:00.001+02:00

It’s hard to believe our little boy is going to be 3 years old on Friday! I remember very well thinking he would never be. But on September 18th, 2006 we were blessed with our little boy. He was a challenge to create, he was a challenge as an infant and he continues to challenge us each day as a preschooler. He can stir emotions in all of us that we never new we had. We can be laughing and tickling one minute and then the next we will want to toss him into the moat! We have never loved so much and been frustrated so much by the same little person. Landon is curious and clever. His guardian angel is exhausted at the end of the day. He loves the Backyardigans, Winnie the Pooh and Hannah Montana! He LOVES his big sister! He will happily watch Barbie movies with her and dance to Best of Worlds. He LOVES his daddy! They have a special bond. Landon and Daddy go for walks to the bakery and enjoy their special quite time at bedtime. He LOVES his mommy! Every morning they say goodbye to Alianna and Daddy and that’s when the Landon and Mommy Morning Show begins. They have live cooking demonstrations and special guest appearances. In August Landon took the show on the road and reports live from kindergarten. They even have a theme song! Yes, our little boy isn’t so little any more. He is beginning to speak more and really let his personality shine! He loves his “brotchie” and “cucumbie” and everyday we must walk to see Frau Schumacher to get his bag of gummie bears! He isn’t interested in riding a tricycle or playing with trains but boy can he chase and terrorize our family of ducks! He would rather jump on the trampoline and eat rocks then swing. He definitely dances to his own tune.
HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY LANDON! We love you!

2009-09-14T12:27:00.001+02:00

Time just keeps flying

2009-09-07T13:50:00.004+02:00

I can't believe how fast time keeps flying by. We seem to always be so busy. Larry has been very busy at work, often not coming home until 8:00 pm. Alianna has several school functions and playdates and Landon is beginning to build his own little social life. I'm just trying to keep it all together! I am waiting for the day I forget to pick someone up from something!

We are currently planning for the kids birthday parties. Landon will have a small party at home some of his friends. I will let him skip school that day and we will celebrate with a Winnie the Pooh theme! Alianna will have her party a week later and we have invited 12 children. The party will be at an indoor play place with trampolines, climbing wall, bumper cars and bouncy things. She has been planning it in her head since last year. Her theme is horses. I think both parties will be great and I will post pictures when the time comes.

This past weekend I went with my German teacher and some of her other students on a 14 km hike in the Eifel region of Germany. We took the train about an hour south and hiked through a wide range of terrain. We stopped in a couple of small villages along the way to warm up with hot chocolate and coffee. It was a fun day, but my legs are still sore this afternoon and I am very tired. I wish there was time for a nap.

Larry misses the opening weekend of football. Even I miss taking the kids to Ann Arbor and walking around the stadium before the game starts. Opening weekend of football here just wasn't the same. We send our hugs and kisses to everyone and hope all the kids have a great start to the new school year!

Summer Vacation

2009-07-26T21:09:00.002+02:00

Southern Spain was a wonderful change of pace. I was finally hot! It has been so damp and chilly in Germany. In Spain we had 80 degree weather and sunshine each day! We stayed in a great apartment. For us apartments are the best way to vacation. We have room to move and a kitchen! When we know the kids just won't make it in a restaurant, it's nice to be able to cook and eat at home. Alianna made several girlfriends at the pool. There were many British families staying there the whole summer. So Alianna had a chance to speak English and swim all day long.

Landon loved swimming as well. He loves jumping in! He spent hours jumping in and climbing out, jumping in and climbing out. He slept great at night! He speech made big improvements on our vacation as well. He has started saying small sentences. My favorite is "Ah, come on..." which he says drawn out when he doesn't get his way.

We didn't do much, which is what we wanted, but we did manage to take a few drives in the mornings. We walked through Marbella (we loved), Estepona (just OK), and Torremolino (very touristy). It was something special to be sitting at a beach side restaruant and staring at the rock of Gibralter. Then just past that was the coast of Africa. The views were beautiful.

We have 3 weeks left of summer vacation before both kids start school August 17. Alianna will start 2nd grade and Landon will start German Kindergarten. During the 3 weeks we hope to have lots of play time, bikes rides and maybe one more mini vacation. I am currently planning our next trip for October when my parents come to visit. We are very excited to be having family stay with us. It great to go home and visit but it is also nice to share our life here with family and friends.

It's all the same in a very different way...

2009-06-22T14:45:00.008+02:00

June 25, 2009 is just a few days away. That day will be exactly one year since we left for our adventure abroad. It has passed so quickly in a very slow way. There were several days at the beginning that I never thought I could do this. It was so difficult; the hardest, biggest change I think ever in my life. Even harder then going from a couple to a family. Everything changed all at once and we were on our own.

But now, a year later we are a stronger family unit. I still don't feel like this is home, but there is a comfort level I wasn't sure I would ever have. When we return from a vacation out of Germany there is something about crossing the border that feels 'normal'. We don't spend so much time talking about all the things we miss; instead we've started enjoying the things we have here. We have even talked about things we will miss from here once we return home! I will always have bad German days, but I also always had bad Michigan days. So one year later we are stronger, wiser and a little fatter from all the bread! No matter how much time passes though, my German will always stink! I will never get use to the language.

I was thinking about the year and then the question that has come up so often by friends. "What is it like there? I just can't imagine what your daily life is like." I came up with it's really all the same, just different. Let me explain...

1. We wake up to church bells ... instead of an alarm clock.
2. We eat breakfast ... called frühstück and eat brotchen instead of toast
3. The kids go to school each morning ... no busses, we drive them
4. We go shopping and run errands ... just not on Sundays or after 8:00 pm. The stores are closed.
5. We have clocks ... but they are in military time. I pick up Alianna from school at 16:15.
6. We drink coffee with friends ... yep! Starbucks is here too.
7. We drive or take public transportation ... just with different signs, rules, speed limits and in metric.
8. We have Park and Ride lots ... and actually use them!
9. We watch TV ... Grey's, Lost, House is just not the same in German!
10. We use debit cards ... they are called EC Karte.
11. We get money from an ATM ... it's called a Geldautomat
12. We take weekend trips ... instead of going up north we go to the Eifel.
13. We go on vacations ... instead of Chicago we go to Paris, instead of Mexico beaches we go to Spain, instead of skiing out West we go south to the Alps and instead of the Caribbean we go the Canary Islands.
14. We have trash/recycle day ... 3 times a week! Yellow day is plastic, Blue is paper, Brown is Bio, and Gray is regular trash. Glass is recycled in a different container that we have to drive to.
15. We go grocery shopping ... several times a week because our refrigerators are so small.
16. We go grocery shopping ... we have to put money into the cart to use it and bring and bag our own groceries.
17. You have one-stop shopping ... we go the butcher, baker and the getranke shop (for drinks only)!
18. You have Buschs, Country Market, Hillers, Sam's Club ... we have Edeka, Aldi, Rewe, Kaufland.
19. You have Target ... and we have nothing even close!!!!!

So those are just some of things to help you understand what things are like here. The best way I can describe it... it's all the same in a very different way!

Spring and Friendship

2009-05-29T23:11:00.005+02:00

Things have picked up speed around here lately. Spring hit and we have been busy, busy, busy. Larry had a weekend with the boys in Pfalz wine region. I had a weekend in Amsterdam and Den Hague with April, Christine and Veronica. Now we are packing to leave for Euro Disney!

So here are a few pictures...

Alianna's Circus Day

2009-05-16T17:44:00.005+02:00

Alianna had a wonderful circus week. She trained hard all week to learn her trapez act. As you will see in the video, her practice paid off! All of the children did wonderfully. Great job Alianna!

Making the most of our time here!

2009-05-09T10:29:00.007+02:00

Our time home flew by! We were able to see some friends and luckly all of our family. We loaded up our suitcases and ate our way through Michigan. Sabor Latino, Chop House, Red Robin, Noodles, LaShish, Prickly Pear are just handful of our favorite places. We were able to spend our first morning at Zion and celebrate Palm Sunday. Doctors, dentists and other necessary activities also had to be fit in. Hopefully our next visit home will be a little more relaxing.

Alianna's favorite tree has survived so far! We were told the fire department is holding off on riping up our garden! We do have new smoke detectors and fire doors. The hofladen (vegetable/fruit stand) is up and running and it is strawberry and aspargus season! Landon is enjoying his time in school. Alianna's school has a special week coming up; Circus Week! They will spend 4 hours a day for 5 days training with a real circus family. They will then perform a real circus (2 hours), under the circus tent! It will be very exciting I'm sure.

My german lessons have resumed! Ok, maybe I'm not that excited. I hate having the pressure of the language hanging over my head all of the time. But for the sake of setting a good example for the kiddos, I'm hanging in there.

So last weekend was a long weekend and I finally made it to Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands. It is the world famous spring garden. It was amazing! It beat all my expections and I can't wait to go back next year! We have many vacations coming up too. Larry just left this morning for a quick trip to a friends family vineyard. The guys are hanging out for the weekend touring the vineyards and wine tasting. In two weekends I head out with my girlfriends to Amsterdam. The following weekend we are surprising the kids with a trip to Euro Disney and then in June we are heading back to the North Sea followed by two weeks in Marbella, Spain in July! Life is good!

So following is a new slide show of our recent travels since we've been back.

Busy Month

2009-03-25T20:30:00.003+01:00

March has been a busy month and has flown by! Alianna has started piano lessons, Larry finally found a basketball league and Landon has lots of playdates! We have been to a natural history museum in Belgium. I went for a shopping day at an outlet mall, also in Belgium. Alianna has had two birthday parties and also her painting class on the weekends.

We have been counting down our days until we visit home and have a huge list of things we want/need to bring back. While we are gone our house will be undergoing some fire protection changes. Our favorite birch tree will have to be removed (Alianna is very disappointed because that is where her fairy has a playhouse). We will have new smoke alarms wired throughout each level and possibly a few other things that have never really been made clear to us.

I have one final German class before I leave and then Ford has currently suspended additional classes. They consider it discretionary spending. Apparently they have never sat through a school meeting in German.

Karneval Fun!

2009-02-25T15:31:00.003+01:00

Karneval was very fun! It's too bad we don't have anything like it in Michigan. It would make our long winters a little more fun! We decided this year to stick with the small-town parades. We were a little scared of taking the kids into Köln. We watched that one on TV. It started around 10:30 am and it was still going at 4:30 when we came home and turned the TV back on. So we are glad we didn't venture over there.

On Saturday we checked out Brauweiler with Larry's work friend Cathy. We had a great time and came home with loads of candy. It was our first parade, but also my favorite. Everyone was dressed up having a good time. Sunday we went to Widdersdorf to support Alianna's classmates who were walking in the parade. When her friends saw her they loaded her up with enough candy to make it until next karneval! On Monday we stayed in our neighborhood and just walked up the corner to watch the Geyen parade.

So in the end we had a long, fun weekend. The kids are all sugared up and I still have 4 bags of candy and chips. I'm working on a video, but for now I'm posting some pictures.

Little People Demolition

2009-02-05T20:56:00.003+01:00

The first tooth has been successfully carried away by the Tooth Fairy! Alianna lost her first tooth Sunday, Feb. 1st and I was there to witness the whole event. Actually, I caused the whole event. Landon had a new toy truck from the Little People collection. It was a truck with a demolition ball. I was joking around with Alianna and picked up the truck to "demo" her tooth. I was closer then I thought and when I swung the ball it hit her in the mouth. I was expecting her to be mad and possibly start crying. Instead when she moved her hand away from her mouth, her little, white, left bottom tooth was lying in it. She got the biggest smile on her face and screamed, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Mom!" I just started cracking up. Then she ran downstairs and told Larry I pulled it out!

Well needless to say the Tooth Fairy, who was already on high alert, showed up that night and left her a 2 euro coin. It was very exciting and now she has the toothless grin she has been dying for over the last year. So I have included a picture for all to see.

Alianna's First Loose Tooth

2009-01-28T13:00:00.003+01:00

Alianna's tooth is hanging on by a thread! I am hoping it hangs on at least until she get's home today. I have been watching this action packed drama unfold since March 2008 when she first annouced her tooth was loose (did you know that can 'tighten up' again). It has to happen while we are together. And if it doesn't I gave her permission to lie to me. I instructed her to not say anything until we were in the car and then she should place the tooth back in the hole and then shout out, "My tooth just fell out!" and fake the whole thing. She is so excited about it being loose I can't wait to see her expression when it actually falls out!

So the Tooth Fairy is on high alert and I hope to post a toothless picture soon!

Christmas Part 2

2009-01-20T21:13:00.002+01:00

Here is our Christmas back at our house. Santa left gifts there too!

Updates on the family

2009-01-14T14:02:00.004+01:00

Yesterday Landon started his new preschool. It went OK. He never left my lap while inside and only briefly left my lap while outside. He left just long enough to get a shovel, dig it in the dirt and snow and then eat it. We go back again on Friday. I hope he at least stands next to me.
So in the meantime my German lessons are on hold again. Which isn't good. I had to take Landon to the doctor on Monday because he dropped a 1 liter water bottle on his foot. Turns out it was a good thing because he had an infection under his pinkie toe that I didn't see. German would have been helpful! Although it was obvious by looking at his foot, it was fun playing charades to understand how to treat the infection and what medicine I needed.

As for everyone else, they are all doing just fine. Alianna loves school, but thinks they should do other things besides work. "Everyday I go to school, I work, I come home, I play a little, I go to bed, I get up and go back to school. The only time I can play is on Saturday and Sunday." And with that realization, I welcomed Alianna to the REAL WORLD! She at least had 6 good years before she caught on.

The next worker reduction announcement is coming up around Jan. 18. Keep us in your prayers! We did go ahead and order a new car. We will soon be turning in the Galaxy mini-van for a S-Max SUV. I will miss my mini-van, but I think I will like the S-Max.

The castle is falling apart before Frau Shumacher's eyes. With the recent cold spell, several old water pipes broke and there has been flooding in several rooms (but luckily not ours). The plumbers have been here since last Friday working around the clock. I don't really understand much of what is being said, but every morning I wake to 2 buckets of water at my front door to use for the day. We are hoping to have our upstairs toilet to use by tonight. I continue to be reminded not to expect too much. The castle is 300 years old.

Grindelwald 2008

2009-01-04T14:09:00.001+01:00

Going to the Top!

2009-01-03T20:17:00.002+01:00

This video is the our gondola ride to the top of mountain! Landon loved it most!

Christmas Part 1b

2009-01-03T19:39:00.002+01:00

This is Christmas present opening part 2, back in Geyen.

Christmas Part 1a

2009-01-03T15:33:00.002+01:00

Here is the video of Christmas morning in Switzerland. The kids woke up at 7:30 and we headed to the tree. The video tells the rest of the story.

I love the Alps!

2008-12-22T21:23:00.002+01:00

So I never would have guessed last Christmas that I would be spending this Christmas in Switzerland! It is so beautiful. Just like the pictures in the tour books. The skiing is fantastic and our chalet is wonderful! We are having a great time. The only thing missing is our family. Hopefully Skype will work and everyone will be home!

We arrived in Grindelwald on Saturday after spending Friday night in Bern. Bern was wonderful too. We enjoyed the Christmas markets and a great Italian dinner. When we first arrived in Grindelwald we had a tough time finding our chalet. It is an actual town, but there are no street names! Our directions were all landmarks. We missed the very last one, a pole with a safety crossing sign on it, and we went too far down the hill. Once we realized we were too far we couldn't get the car back up the 20 degree incline. We spent 45 minutes trying unsuccessfully to put tire chains on. Then Larry decided to give it one more try. We buckled in and he floored it. Well we still didn't make it! Luckly a nice couple in a little car offered to pull us up (in a huge luggage filled mini van). Turned out Grandma was in the back of their car and they had her get out and walk up the hill to direct traffic! So 70+ grandma hiked up hill while we felt like idoits in our huge American van. We eventually made it and all was well. Our place is great, it's about 900 sq.ft. in a great location. We have a small Christmas tree that is quickly going bare as Landon continues to pull off one ornament at a time. We have built snowmen and went ice skating. Alianna started ski school today and Landon did well in the nursery. We all took the gondola up to the top of Mannlichen. It was a 30 minute ride and the kids loved it! The nursery is at the top so we could check in on Landon throughout the morning.

well that brings you up to date with our trip so far. I will hopefully post some photos and/or video soon.

Ruldolf the Red Nose Reindeer

2008-12-13T23:14:00.004+01:00

Alianna had her school concert Friday night. It was a wonderful evening with the kids showcasing their hard work in music class. It was a strolling concert since the school is not yet finished and doesn't have a space large enough for all of the parents. So the children had to sing their parts three different times. Alianna surprised us with a special song. This video is the third time they sung the song so the enthusiasm had declined! They also sang Jingle bells in english, spanish and german! It is amazing and so much fun to watch Alianna speak German. I know I keep saying that, but if you saw her you would understand why. I am also very jealous of how easy german comes to her!

Landon also did a great job of behaving for his sister! It was a long time, it was hot and there were many people. But he was a champ and sat in stroller while munching his way through the concert. He even held his arms above his head and yelled, "WooHoo! WooHoo!" for his big sister. He proudly clapped at the end of each song. The evening was a great success!

St. Nicholas Day

2008-12-13T22:59:00.003+01:00

This is Alianna's class celebrating St. Nicholas Day.

2008-12-09T14:08:00.003+01:00

It's been a little while since the last post. Things have been busier then ever. We are preparing for the Christmas season and our VACATION! Can you tell I am excited? We are off to Grindelwald, Switzerland for a week of skiing in the Alps. If they make boots small enough we are even planning on putting Landon on skis! And speaking of the little fellow...more great news! He is over is egg allergy! What a blessing! We are down to just peanuts. While peanuts are very scary to me, it is such a huge relief to be down to only one allergy. It has been so much fun to watch him fall in love with chocolate and eat his very first pancake (ok, he really just licked the syrup and got pretty sticky!) He is turning into such a little boy. His babyness is going away. He is talking a little more and we found a new kindergarten. He will start mid-January. I really like this place and it will fit my schedule well with my german lessons. I just hope I am not disappointed again. He seemed to feel right at home when we checked it out. I think he will be happy to make new friends.

Alianna as always is flourishing here! She told me the other day she is German. Not like a German, but acutally German. And I and all of you as well, are no longer allowed to call her Ali. Her name is Alianna! Got that mom! she said. Let's hope Santa get's it right. I don't know who will get the presents with only Ali written on them!

This weekend is the much anticipated Weinachts markt at the castle. We are holding a small open house on Sunday for friends to stop by for some gluhwien and cookies while they check out the markt. I'll have to post some pictures.

Larry is very busy at work. While I hate that he works late every night and we are on our own for dinner, I am thankful he still has a job to keep him busy! We will be very happy to spend time with him on VACATION! I think I mentioned that already! We are going on VACATION! A vacation that I don't have to pack an entire kitchen with me. While I still have to be very careful with Landon, we are actually going to be able to eat at a restaurant with him!

Enjoy the holiday season, relax a little and remember we are really celebrating Jesus' birthday! Even though times are tough we still have so much to be thankful for! Being away from home always reminds you of all the important things in life and all of the blessing we have... family, friends, a warm home, food on our table...
Have a very Merry Christmas!

St. Martin's Day and My Top 10 List of what I miss most

2008-11-10T22:23:00.003+01:00

It's been a very busy few weeks! Alianna and I celebrated St. Martin's Day with her school this evening. 600 children filled the streets of Widdersdorf with their lanterns and walked in a parade of lights and song. The parade ended at a large bonfire where St. Martin arrived on horseback. The children then headed back to school to share hot chocolate and Weckmann (sweet bread shaped like a man with a smoking pipe). It was very fun to join in this German tradition.

Landon has also had a busy couple of weeks. The best news in a long time is that it seems he is no longer allergic to milk! We spent Nov. 3 at the Children's Hospital and sat with Landon for 7 hours while he participated in a milk challenge. Every 30 minutes he was given a larger quantity of milk. He did great! No immediate reactions and nothing 48 hours later. Our only concern now is whether or not his system can handle milk. He has had some pretty bad diapers lately. But I'm not sure if it is the milk or if he is sick. So we will just take the milk thing slow. Next month he will have another food challenge, this time with egg. Our lives will forever change if this test also comes back negative!

Landon also started preschool last week and then he ended preschool last week. We were very much looking forward to him starting and making new friends but I ended up not liking the preschool. Once we starting spending significant time there I found there to be too many problems to overlook. So now we will start our search again. Hopefully we will find a school we can feel good about.

Larry is working hard, he is actually on a conference call as I type, and he is enjoying his work. I still have many 'I hate Germany' days and yell out 'I want to go home', but I am trying to adjust. I am often asked what I miss most. Here is a top 10 list...
1. My family
2. friends
3. babysitters
4. Whole Foods
5. Target
6. large parking lots with wide spaces
7. ENGLISH
8. Sabor Latino
9. English TV and all of my favorite programs
10. My house

What's been going on

2008-10-28T14:01:00.004+01:00

We have been here 4 months now. I think as a family we are feeling settled and comfortable in our surroundings. One of the fun things about being some place new is that there is always something new to discover! A street we have never been on, a neighboring village we haven't made it to yet. So each weekend we look forward to a new experience.

This weekend we finally made the short road trip to Bonn. It's only 30 minutes away and we had a great time. It had a huge pedestrian shopping area (of course the shops were closed as we went on Sunday) so it was great not to have to worry about cars while walking around. It also had a wonderful park. The kids had much fun on the play structures and Landon had a great time on a set of stairs.

Language classes are moving along. I'm still a deer in headlights everytime someone says something to me, but my germantoddlerese is improving. Today I learned how to tell time! Landon is really starting to say some words. Alianna is his favorite teacher! He loves repeating her. They play so nice together. I know everyone says it won't last long, but I'll take we have right now. It is great to sit back and watch them chase each other. They have all sorts of little made up games they play. They laugh their hardest when they are together!

Ali's Birthday Cycle

2008-10-19T11:17:00.003+02:00

For Alianna's birthday, a neighbor named Mattias, fixed up a little motorbike as a present. He painted it red and fixed the battery. It was very sweet. So here is a little video of her receiving her present.

It's been a busy, fun time

2008-10-16T12:31:00.003+02:00

So it's been awhile since my last post. Landon and Alianna have both had their birthdays! Frau Schumacher had a wonderful party for the kids. Grandma Jan came to visit and surprise Alianna for her birthday. While she was here both Larry and Alianna were on holiday from school and work. The first week we spent in Belgium at a resort called Center Parcs. It was so much fun! Think of the Homestead meets Great Wolf Lodge. We had a great apartment with 3 bedrooms and a kitchen. Center Parcs had an indoor waterpark and a spa! It also had an indoor pirate play area called Discovery Bay. We all had a wonderful time. We even spent one day walking the streets of Antwerp. After we returned home to regroup, we went to Movie Park in Germany. It's owned my Warner Bros. and looks like a movie set. The kids enjoyed Nick Jr. land and they had rides for both Alianna and Landon. Landon was so excited to ride Diego's Jeep and Ali loved Jimmy Neutron's roller coaster. Once we returned home from that adventure, Ali and Larry spent the next day skiing on an indoor ski hill! They had a 4 person chairlift, real snow, 25 degrees and it was all indoors. And since Larry doesn't know how to stay in once place, we repacked a third time and head for a drive down the Mosel River to Eltz Castle and the city of Bernkastel-Kues. This was Jan's favorite part of her stay! However, we all loved it. So that sums up quickly the past few weeks. I will add some pictures soon.

Now back to routine. Landon will start nursery in November and our next holiday break is over Christmas. We will be spending it here in Germany. I am excited about the upcoming Christmas markets. We are also hoping to go skiing in the Alps over Christmas. Bis bald...

Alarm Clock

2008-09-02T22:05:00.003+02:00

I'm told that people who live next to train tracks don't even hear the train passing by after they've lived there a while. We thought that maybe that would be the case with our "Church Bells", however, we've yet to tune them out. Now, the tunes they play are not offensive, in fact, its rather nice to the casual listener. However, when its Saturday morning and there's a chance your kids are gonna sleep-in (till 8am), you not very interested in the local church bell concert at 6:30am. But alas, we can't escape it, they wake us daily at 6:30am, and on the odd chance we fall back asleep at say, 6:50am, they get us again at 7:00 and 7:3o, etc... So, we thought we'd share the melodies of our mornings with our readers. Sit back for the 2 plus minutes and experience it for yourself.

Fun in Konigsdorf

2008-09-01T09:44:00.005+02:00

As promised here are some videos from our Konigsdorf castle day. You will notice there is no video of the actual castle, but hopefully you will enjoy watching the kids having some fun. In the first video, Alianna is pretending to be a fountain and in the second, Landon is just being Landon and exploring an alley.
I hope everyone has a great week! For those of you who keep us in your prayer circles, I would like to request a special prayer for the next two weeks. Our new friend, Frau Schumacher, is with her adult daughter in Dusseldorf and then Munich. Her daughter is undergoing some special cancer treatment that has been brought in from the states. She hasn't given me much detail, but it sounds experimental. Frau Schumacher is Catholic and has been lighting a candle everyday. Please keep them in your prayers that the treatment is successful and that her doctors are able to help her in her battle. (Her name is Angela).

Having a little fun...

2008-08-25T09:32:00.003+02:00

Here is a video of Landon playing at the Rhein Park back in July. We had a great day. It was hot and sunny! Landon just loved being able to run around and go up the hills and down the hills.

This past weekend we visited a castle along the Rhein. I will hopefully download some video of that soon. We have a usually busy week ahead of us. We are all enrolled in language instruction now so between our classes and studying and we don't seem to have much free time. Alianna of course is learning much faster then Larry and I. Even Landon has a few German words. I also now have a babysitter twice a week for language lessons. She is really sweet and very helpful in explaining so many things! In one day we covered how to really work the dishwasher (she had to call her mom to ask!), we went to the electronic store and bought an audio cable to hook the computer up to the TV and we went to Toys R Us to find a birthday present for a new friend of Landon's.

I am still in the process of deciding which car to order. I love the Galaxy mini van I have right now, but it is not very practical for parking. It is really large and long. This week I am trying out a Ford C-Max. It's great for parking, but not to much storage space once the stroller is in the trunk. And Landon keeps kicking the back of my seat! I am hopefully going to test out a Ford Focus wagon next. I think it might be a nice in between.

That's it for now. Landon and I are off for an adventure and to go chase the ducks! The ducks dread Hurricane Landon. He is a fast blowing storm that comes in out of nowhere and creates mass chaos in seconds. The poor ducks. Since we've been here they are on raised alert. Have you ever seen a nervous duck? I'll have to get video of that too.

Tshoos!

We are settling in...

2008-08-16T21:47:00.003+02:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but we have emptied 90% of the boxes. Most things made it, but there were a few damaged items. Nothing that cannot be fixed. We have successfully setup internet and phone connections and now we are gearing up to attack TV. I have a feeling this might be quite difficult.

Alianna started school the past week and she is loving it! She had a hard time in the mornings, but by Friday she was tear free! It's only been a week and she has already learned so much German! It is very cute hearing her, especially when she mixes German and English. Landon is missing his big sister terribly. He walks around the house looking for her and goes to the window and calls out "Alya, Alya". It is so sweet and sad. He loves his big sister so much!

Larry is enjoying his work. Ford had a big celebration this weekend to celebrate 40 years in Cologne. We had a very nice time. The kids had the chance to see where dad works and Alianna verified that he really does hang up her artwork on his walls. I had a chance to check out all of the cars because I still haven't picked one out yet. I am torn between picking a car with passagener space or picking a car that I can actually park in the tiny parking spaces and tight parking structures.

As for me I haven't jumped in the moat yet... I start language instruction this week so that is a step in the right direction. I have also starting meeting people and making friends. I'm sure things will continue to get easier...

We have moved in!

2008-08-01T22:57:00.003+02:00

So on Friday, July 25, exactly one month after we left the USA, our container arrived and we moved into the castle! The crane showed up, boxes were brought in and uh oh... I guess we didn't think about a few measurements. Our bed didn't make it in our guest room and our bedroom dresser is in our garage, but all in all it went well. Only a few damaged items, but nothing that can't be fixed.

Over the weekend we built furniture and began to unpack 310 boxes! Who knew we had so much stuff! It is one week later and we still have loads to unpack. Our place is beginning to look like home. Landon's bedroom is the most complete and Alianna has the best room in the house. I do like our kitchen even though we don't have much storage space. The hardest part of the house is the stairs. It takes about 52 stairs to reach our bedroom from the front door. It is 10 stairs to the front door, 14 stairs to the living room, 14 stairs to the kid's room and another 14 to our room! But we have a great view!

So it is late and I am off to climb the stairs to my bed. I am going to try to load a short video. Larry just finished hooking up the new TV. We don't have a connection to satellite yet, but now we can watch DVD's. Yeah! Alianna got a German Hanna Montana video. She'll be excited to see it!

Please stop raining...

2008-07-22T21:37:00.002+02:00

So once again it is raining. It has been cold and rainy for 2 weeks. I mean it's been 45 degrees at night cold and only in the 50's during the day. Sorry to complain, but come on. Even on a german calender it is July!

So today was moving day. The crane showed up at 8 am and took over an hour to set up, blocking the street for our new neighbors. Then we waited. And waited... our sea container never showed up! So we are back to not knowing where exactly our stuff is and we still cannot move. Uggh!!!!!

So our blog is a little boring right now. I can't upload pictures at the cafe, but I will once we get connected. The kids are great and adjusting very well. We just want the rain to stop! Landon is starting to talk a little. He calls for Ali and it is so cute the way he says her name. He can also say bröt. (which he eats a lot of). Alianna is working hard on her German and can now count to 10. I actually ordered food through the drive thru window! now that was something to hear!

We miss everyone!

Every day is a new adventure

2008-07-14T21:29:00.002+02:00

I found my way back to the internet cafe. I should be doing other things, but it's always good to take a break. We are still in temp living quaters. I cannot wait to move! Our newest hurdle is getting our furniture in the house. The movers have realized how tight the stairways are and so now they have to order a crane to get our stuff in the house. Yes, i did say a crane. The furniture will be lifted over the roof and through a new door on the second floor. The next challange will be getting our bed to the 4th floor. I am fairly confident that we will be getting two new twin beds. I don't remember wood (boxspring) having the ability to bend. I guess I'll soon find out.

I have been trying to meet people and make friends, but it' challenging in so many ways. I did go for a girl's night out last week and had a nice time. I did meet one woman the other day at the castle. People come there throughout the day just to hang out. So I stopped by to check out our new kitchen (it's really nice). As i was getting ready to leave, i was held up by the castle's pet goose! She (Gerta) was pecking at the back wheel of the car and i couldn't drive off without taking her head with me. It took me almost 10 mins. to get her to move. She just kept hissing at me as i yelled at her to move. Needless to say, the new woman I had just met, found me crazy and I probably won't be seeing her around any time soon.

The kid's are adjusting well. Alianna is already learning German and Landon loves gummi bears. Landon is starting to say a few words himself. He finds saying brot easier then bread. Larry is also doing well and is very happy with his new position. It will still be a while before we have internet, but I'll try to keep up. Until next time...

Still in temp living...

2008-07-06T12:38:00.003+02:00

Happy 4th July! We are doing well. We are living in Widdersdorf for another week and a half. We have American neighbors so that is nice. Our building is all Ford employees. We are now official residents of Germany. We went to the city hall and had so much fun with the kids all day in a city building. Everyone knows the Groth's have arrived. Landon loved the echo of his screaming through the open attruim. The language is very challenging. hopefully german lessons will start soon.

I'm very excited about my new coffee maker! I can make my own lattes! The kids are adjusting fine. Ali is very bored because our air shipment is overdue. it should have been here a week ago. landon is out of his allergy medicine, so things are starting to go downhill. that shipment needs to arrive! He is actually sick right now. We got our first experience in the German ER. It went well luckly. Landon just has a virus, but he was having problems breathing. We thought he was having an allergic reaction to something.

So that is it for now. We have ordered internet service for our new place, but have been told it will be at least 2 weeks. So I am hopeful sometime in August. I will then be able to download some pictures.

The time has come...

2008-06-25T22:17:00.002+02:00

We are getting ready to head out in a few hours. We have 9 suitcases and 9 pieces of carrying on luggage! Someone will be getting a good laugh watching us.

We will arrive tomorrow in the afternoon and then go check out our temporary apartment in Widdersdorf. I'm not sure if there is a web connection, so it might be a little bit before my next entry.

Thank you all again for your kind words of support.

I'm not good at saying goodbye

2008-06-20T03:10:00.000+02:00

So this afternoon turned out to be rather difficult. Saying goodbye is getting harder as the date approaches. I have been trying not to think too hard about how much we are leaving behind. If I did, I don't think I could get on the plane. So I want to say here what I won't say in person, because it is just too hard. We are so blessed as a family! We have amazing family and friends! There is so much love, support and friendship that I think maybe that is why I can get on the plane. Even though distance and time zones separate us, we still have amazing family and friends. So thank you all for your love and support. We might not be talking or seeing each other as often, but we will be thinking of each of you often.

Finally a day to relax

2008-06-15T04:25:00.000+02:00

This is the first day I can remember when we didn't have something we had to do. No packing, no shopping, no house to clean, no grass to cut. So we spent the day hanging out as a family playing hoops, eating ice cream and visiting a few parks. Landon now has an understanding of how to use the slide and he loves it! The faster the better. Alianna hangs on the monkey bars until her hands are so blistered she can't take the pain any longer.

With only a week to go we have started saying so long to some of our friends. This to me is the hardest part. But it isn't forever, just for a little while. I am still dragging a little from last night's friendship celebration. We had one of the best girl's night out yet. Hopefully tonight I will get some sleep and tomorrow we will be celebrating Father's Day.

It's only been a few days, but...

2008-06-10T03:53:00.000+02:00

in my head I keep telling myself on vacation, but it's not working. So far this has been the most stressful part of our move. The four of us living in one hotel room with all of our belongings is a little difficult. But on the bright side, I do have a maid! There's not much new to report. Alianna is having fun visiting grandma and Landon has a new place to explore, Landon style! We are hoping the pool opens soon with the heat wave.

The move is on

2008-06-09T02:33:00.000+02:00

What a whirlwind! We left for our pre-trip to Germany May 5th and now, one month later, our house is sold, packed up and we are living out of suitcases! The packing was challenging because we had to separate our lives into three different piles; sea, air and storage. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 8 years. We will miss our home and our friends greatly! It was hard closing the door for the last time. Larry and I built our home and we moved in as two, but we left as a family of four. I think we built some great equity! We have so many happy memories. Thank you all for your offers of help and your well wishes. I hope to keep this blog fairly updated.