Family Visits

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

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!

Time just keeps flying

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

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...

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

Updates on the family

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

Going to the Top!

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

Christmas Part 1b

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

Christmas Part 1a

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.