First view of Heidelberg

We went to the old city of Heidelberg on Saturday and you can see our little journey below. Sorry not too much blogging, it is just a sit&watch show! ;0) More later.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

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FIRE!!!!

OMG!!! My heart is ready to explode; my lungs are ready to burst out!!
I was just typing along this evening, in a nice quiet night. All the kids were asleep and hubby just went back to bed after a drink of water and a kiss goodnight. So I was just minding my own business trying to share my pictures with you all! And suddenly an unexpected smell tickled my nose. I was thinking!? Hmmm!! Who is making a bonfire at such a late time at night?? Looked out, and saw some pretty cool flame!! Sweet!! Then I register! WTH?? Bonfire isn’t supposed to get that high?? Looked again: 2sd floor of the opposite back building was on fire. ORANGE FLAMES fire!! OMG! I grabbed my phone!!
Call 911!! WTH is 911 in Germany? Ran out to the first available staircase in front of our building. LOCKED!!! Ranged all the doorbell and started screaming FIRE FIRE!!!! Call 911!! I don’t have a phone!! WAKE UP!!! 911 call 911!!!!
OMG, then I ran to the building on fire under the window on fire 2nd floor, I knock on the window of the first floor and screamed, FIRE WAKE UP GET OUT!!!!

Ran to the front of the building to try to get in. people are out!! Or so we thought. We get close to the door, and the first floor neighbor is trying to get the third floor neighbor out. The SMOKE is amazingly BLACK! Matt and one of the neighbor in our building try to get up to wake them up… too much smoke come down again, and finally we saw the father from the third floor pocked his head out. Took his entire family of 5 kids plus wife to the opposite window and waited until the fire department showed up. Then the big truck with the ladder came and took them down. When I went to get the kids out of the basket, I took a little girl in my harm and she was shaking so hard, I almost cried with her. They all came out alright! God was with them tonight. And THANK to all the fire department it is now out. Just another big scare and some family that lost everything!
So pumped up, can’t sleep now!! OMG!! I can’t believe I just did that!! It is like running from the law or something. (Like I know how it feels right?) So this is the reason why my heart is about to get out and my lungs feel like I smoke 3 pack of cigarette nonstop! I can’t believe that!

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disclamer: those pictures aren't pictures of the actual fire, I just found them online and wanted to show how sick it kinda looked. I lost my reporter aptitude with my running around screaming! ;-)

StLouis Children Museum

Well I haven’t mention that when we were on our little road trip, we did stop at the CITY MUSEUM in St Louis, MO! If you ever go to St Louis. STOP there. Park your car (I know it is a little pricey) and get in the museum, it was AMAZING! Kids and my mother and I loved it. Not just for the fun of it. Here are a few pictures that I took all over the museum. Hope you like them!

De July 2009 Travel and Fun

De July 2009 Travel and Fun

De July 2009 Travel and Fun

De July 2009 Travel and Fun

De July 2009 Travel and Fun

De July 2009 Travel and Fun

De July 2009 Travel and Fun

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Weird rule/customer services

Just a little story for you all!!
Matt has been waiting for an internet box since … 2 weeks ago. He was supposed to receive it last week before our arrival. Can you guess that he didn’t receive it? Well the reason he didn’t get it was that since he didn’t know his postal address (German one) he went online and search on the map. He saw that it was on N “G” Street. So he gave those guys this address. Ended up that we don’t live on North we live on SOUTH… Oh boy. One will assume that the “village” where we live is HUGE because you know South and North. Well no actually it isn’t! But the German post delivery guy I guess couldn’t find it. So it never came.

Oh wait it isn’t the post it is DHL! Dear dear DHL!!! Well anyway.
So last week (Before I arrive still) he called the internet provider company and they realized that they screwed up the North/South question! They said: “Das ist Nicht a Problem. Zue will rezeeve die box zoon.” OH YEAH!! RIGHT!!!
So yesterday I was at home since we were suppose to receive our unaccompanied luggage shipment. (and they were right we got it on that day… trust the American to deliver thing on the date it is suppose to be delivered.)
And the Post delivery guy from the german post office shows up at my door:“Sie haben eine postpaket!”
Me: “OH cool!! Danke”
Him: “Nein, sie haben eine postpaket im die agentur im die zity”
Me: “OH!! OK!!” big grin on my face “Danke”
Him: “Nein sie nuff nufff nufff blabalbala nuf nuf nuff, im die zity”
Me: “OH!! OK!!! Danke SCHON!” “Tchuss” “Danke schon”
Him: “Yah… Tchuss!!”
So if you speak half German like me, you will understand that we had a package waiting for us at the agency in the city office!! YA??
SO I call matt and tell him with my funny German/French accent. "Du aben eine paket im die agentur im die zity!!" LOL! So he laughs and say. ALRIGHT I’ll go pick it up during my lunch time.
He come home at night and we are ALL excited, we have been hacking our internet signal and it is a PAIN (even though I will always be thankful for the nice neighbor who let us do that) I was really really looking forward having internet access when I want even if it rain. (When the signal isn’t strong enough) so he come home with the box and starts right away to set up the box…. After 1 hour trying to read the German instructions... he gives up. “Can I use your phone!?” Oh if you must!! After 2 hours on the phone with multiple customer service person who are telling him, you need a password/id that we send you when you signed up… well no he actually need some technician to come and set up the box at home for us! WTH???
So my question is the following: Can you explain to me why on earth this company need to ship the internet box via DHL (probably make you pay for it) then… oh then they will send you a letter that will tell you when to expect the technician… and then you will have to wait for the guy to actually show up! WTH??? Are you insane? Why can’t the bloody tech guy show up with the box the same day and set it up. Just let us know we’ll be there waiting patiently and you will save money on DHL delivery fees? Can you explain to me what the logic in there is? I guess it must be because I am French, but I DON’T GET IT!
Anyone? Any ideas? Any logic that one French woman can understand? If you understand that… please PLEASE explain to me, cause I am lost and getting annoyed at that company, even though we are not using them yet! RRRAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! My accent is getting thicker by the minute!! Darn rule maker weird German box delivery/tech/customer service people! No offense intended to any other nice German people!!! Just venting here!!

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Call me Weird.

During my entire life I have been know of getting stupid over people. My mother always use to tell me that I shouldn’t be friend to this or that person cause they were just “lost” cases (or that they will get me into their weird way of living). The funny and “Weird” part is that, most of the time, I didn’t listen to what my mother will tell me and I just followed my guts. And in MOST of the cases, I end up having the best friends possible in a “weird” kind of way. So what, I am eclectic! I love having friends who might not have anything in common. I love meeting people who can show me a different perspective on life. Teach me something that I didn’t have a clue existed. Show me that no matter what I do, as long as I follow my guts I will be alright.
So for the past year, I have been followed and have been following in the blog world by a chick who I find hilarious. She moved in Germany a while back and I have laughed at her blog entry with shock and pure glee. Not because this is her, she doesn’t want to shock, she just is true to herself. And I respect that in a human being. I always try to be true to myself, to follow what my heart tells me so I can only relate to other people blog that are like that!
I finally met my new Friend and I was so glad that she came with her daughter and husband to meet us yesterday at our house. I can’t wait to meet her more in a face to face relationship and I hope that this is the beginning of a cool friendship. Too bad we are not neighbors so that we can see each other every day, but I guess being only a few miles apart will help with the “building” of this friendship!
To us “weird” girls!! ;0)
You know who you are!!

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“If possible make an “Illegal” U-Turn as soon as you can!”

Matt is so sweet. I love a certain brand of cookie that you can only find in France. The “Figolu” cookies. It is kind of like the American “Fig Newton’s” but it just is MUCH MUCH better (Not because it is French, mind you , but because it is crispier) You’ll have to try it one day to agree with me (Cause of course you can ONLY agreed with me!) ;0)
Anyway, Matt tried to get to France to buy me some of “my” cookies before I arrived so that I would be super happy. I guess he doesn’t know that I am happy with him without my cookies! So he tried to get to France, couldn’t make it and decided to wait until we got there to do it as a little family trip. So on Rafael’s Birthday we left the base after 3pm to get to France before 7pm time that the store closes for the day! Well here is the little story of our adventure to France.
To order to get to France you need:
* A husband who claim to know his Germany geography, because (as he said himself) in Germany the roads are not marked like in the US with the direction of “North-South-East-West”. They only show the next town exit. So if you don’t know where you are going, you should actually know what big town is around the direction you are heading. Matt of course being a “Pro” in German Geography was set to get to our destination without any problems.
* A “British Accent Navigation System” who want to make you cross the Rhine via a Ferry Boat even though you specifically ask for no boat crossing. (I guess being English she doesn’t know how not to cross water on wheels, so indicate the same water crossing even after you reset the navigation etc…etc...)

* Third but of MOST importance: A French woman with a lot of patience (with her husband and the British chick who is trying to drawn us all) and a starving stomach. The reason being is that she can wait and wait until her husband is so frustrated with the “British” chick and then she can drop a “I am Starving can we stop at a gas Station?” and when her hubby take his baby boy to the bathroom, she can be sneaky and go buy a map of Germany and the neighborhood France, so that the group can actually make it to the destination before closing time.
So now that I have done that: I am now calling myself “The French Sneaky Patience Wife who is married to a German Geography Professor who is trying to follow a stupid English Chick who doesn’t know anything about direction in Germany.”
OK it is a little long for a title, but I couldn’t come up with anything else! Any ideas??
So, for the rest of the adventure in France. We did finally cross the border (thanks to my 9Euro map) and we did make in on time to a supermarket, not the one that we were heading for at the beginning, because it was too late to even go toward it when we cross the border. But we found a “Bigger and Better” store called “CORA” and we did get a LOT of cookies. In the matter of fact, we got so many boxes of those cookies that they weren’t any boxes left! 8, all together. Good thing that it isn’t too much either. So 8 boxes of my favorites cookie = 8 euro (well a little less, but I always round it to the highest number, cause it is easier to calculate the conversion)
Well after we got the cookies and all the extra stuff like the “Chocolate Éclair” that I have been dreaming for the past 2 years, and some French Bread (you know the real kind) we went to eat at the Store’s “cafeteria” even though Rafael wasn’t very happy about it, we FORCED him to come along and he ate with a big smile on his face! “Maman, food in France is good!”
Oh yeah baby it is Yummy!!

Here is also a little Detour that we took, because I saw it on the map! Had to make it Diane, I will have to go back and take the BIG sign, as it also said “BAD Steinbach” ;0)

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My “French derriere” is hurting:

So now that the movers are gone. We needed to get to Chicago to rent the car, so off I drop off my kids at my friend Esther’s farm! (Thank you Esther) and I drive with my mother to Chicago. We took the back road because she doesn’t really care for the Interstates countryside view!
We arrive in Chicago, went to thrifty rent a car and went to the hotel with the 2 cars. Slept there and came back. I am driving ahead of my mother in the rental car and I see her flashing the van’s light!?? Hmm what is going on?? I stop.
Mutti (my mother): “I am yawning, I need to sleep!”
Me: “What?? Are you kidding, we need to get home so that we can get the house cleaned up and go tomorrow.”
Mutti (my mother): “I am telling you that when I yawn, I fall asleep on the wheels, so it is either me sleeping now for 15mn or me crashing your van in the ditch!”
Ok then, we will let Grandma rest! ;0) so off I go to the Fareway and get some fruit and some Diet (got to have my bubbles) 15mn I am out and she is ready to go, I give her some of my grocery and off we go!
We get to Esther just in time for me to hug her before she is running late to Dylan’s music lesson. Thank you Esther, love you, miss you already!!
We go home and start cleaning up; my “cleaning lady” (Melissa with Helping Hands in North Liberty IA) came in the afternoon and cleaned the carpet and the floors. OMG, she rocks! I was, OMG we don’t even have much to do no more!! Whoohoo!
My other friend Melissa started the kitchen, OMG she rock too!! Thanks girls!!
SO by the next day in early afternoon we were ready to go, the house was as clean as it could be. Mutti and I were both sick and tired to have our hand in a perpetual nastiness, so we just gave up. Thank you to Melissa (my friend) again because she finished up the last touches!!
So we left. On our way to St Louis, MO to drop off the van in front of the “Shipping/Transportation/whatever you call that place”. We were kind of excited as we were going to spend the 4th of July in St Louis, and you know they have the entire cool firework there! ;0)
Well I will go back to the 2 days in St Louis in a later post but the title of my post was to share with you our trip detail.
Friday, left North Liberty, IA to go to St Louis, MO. hotel
Saturday St Louis, MO to Pontoon Beach IL (about 1 hour drive) van drop off
Sunday St Louis, MO to Chicago, IL Mutti is leaving the States on Monday afternoon, so we need to drive her back
Monday Chicago IL to Troy, IL after dropping off Mutti, we drove back to St Louis (area) to be able to give the paperwork to the transportation/shipping office
Tuesday Pontoon Beach: Went to Transportation/Shipping.” Is your car clean?”
“How clean do you need it to be?”
“In and out clean!” OK then, off we go! Clean it! Check!!!
Return to Transportation office: “How much gas do you have left?”
“Oh I don’t know about 70miles left! “
“Mister so and so, can you see how much gas this lady has?” Too much, go take a ride around the block for about 30mn and come back! The little thingee need to be below the 1/8 of the tank!
OK then, now I am FUMMING!!! Going around the block 30miles West, 10miles south, 20miles East, 10miles north.
“Here are the papers I need to have: 8 copy of your orders… this and that!”
Me:” You also need this paper and that papers don’t you?”
“NO, those papers are only needed when you ship a car on your own!”
Me:”well yes it is what we are doing, if you read the orders it doesn’t give us the authorization to ship any car!”
“Well you could have said that before!”
Me: “???” (EXCUSE ME)
Off she goes out of her beloved chair and called someone.
“Follow that lady”
HMOKAY!!
Go in the office of a very happy smilee lady! She already has Matt’s file, ID copy etc… Call me Anne and explain to me the entire thing that they are going to do with the van!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH LADY!! We chit chat with each other while filling up all the paperwork. She send me to the “inspection” and then “you will be done”
HMOKAY!! Thank you so much!!!
Inspection. They are taking the van and make me sign my life away. Hopefully it won’t sink in the ocean on the way here!
Tuesday afternoon: off we go back to Chicago to catch our plane on Wednesday!! ALMOST THERE!!!
Wednesday: plane to Germany arriving on THURSDAY!!
OH!! Did I mention that my French Derrière is hurting because of too much sitting! AH!

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military sanity for wifes? Where??

I really really understand now about the fact that military marriage tend to end up in the ditch!
COME ONE!! How can one blame a woman for escaping the stress of moving every couple of years while her husband is MIA, and she still has to deal with the kids, the cat, the dog and the movers! OH OH!! And KEEPING her sanity!
Sorry, I am now totally INSANE, yes it is OFFICIAL! Now that will also probably give me the excuse to stay with my husband, since I do also love him to pieces.
But to be honest, I did think of giving another address to the mover while they were packing everything in those huge crates. “Can you ship that with a detour on the way?? Like same continent, but not the same country??”
This happen on Tuesday afternoon, after 1 ½ days of repeating myself to those very nice packing staff very… knowledgeable in the packing services, but less knowledgeable in the “remember what is not coming pile area! Every other 5 minutes I had some: “Ma’m, did you say that you were wanted us to pack those?” “Ma’m, are those Sofas staying?” “Ma’m do you need to take all the silverwares?”
Hmmmm!!! Let me think!!! Yes, yes and YES! “Open your ears and register, everything is going, except for the pile that I told you weren’t going, yes I do need silverwares, because I am moving to Germany, not the beginning of time, and Germans do eat with forks not with hands and fingers. Talking about fingers do you want me to start showing you a sign language that is international?”
YES, I do need my basket, my craft supply, my scrapbooking supply, because my husband even thought I don’t really like him much right now, want me to continue to love him, and to do that I need my time doing things that I really enjoy and that de stress me! And to order for me to be a happy, loving wife, I do need all the CRAP that you are supposed to pack!
THANK YOU!! SO much!!!!
Well those guys left on Wednesday, and I will tell you that no matter what crap they put me through, they rock at packing. It only took them 2 ½ days to pack and it would have probably taken me, 5 years to do it! So now the house is EMPTY, and it starts to sink in…
In a few days we will be in Germany!! WHOHOOH

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To Do List

So those lists started appearing in the corner of my brain (what corner might have asked yourself? I have no idea; I didn’t even know I had corners in there)
To do list (Wednesday list):
• Rafael’s and Morgane’s Passport (expedited: it means more money to pay for those of you who always have time to have their passport 6 months before your trip start)
• Military ID for Morgane, Damien and Me (I do need to go to the Rock Island Arsenal for that one)
• Sort stuff for unaccompanied luggage (Friday)
• Find someone that will deal with the bike (battery/gas and oil wise)
• Call Car shipping company (Transcar. Oh, they are in Germany, mind the time difference)
• Call bank so that Matt can use is Debit/Credit card in Europe (if you don’t do that you will end up with a piece of plastic that has no monetary value whatsoever.)
• Find a cheap airfare for me and the kids (after the move and craziness is finished)
• Find a rental car to pickup after I drop off the van in St Louis (where the transportation/shipping/whatever name they go by is located)
• Call Toyota Financial to get paperwork that authorize us to ship our van in another country (Matt had a friend who faxed them the orders so that one should be easy)
• Sort house Trash/Keep/Give
• Shoot myself (make sure that my life insurance will take care of all the kids and Matt since I will be dead!)
• Talking about Insurance, call them to make sure we have renter insurance, shipping insurance, landlord insurance and whatnot!
• Find a renter if I want to become a landlord (I really don’t care about becoming one, but what am I do with an empty house for X numbers of years?)
• Find adopting family for the dog and the cat.
• Clean house
• Make a doctor appointment for me and the kids, last checkup (get the medical records)
• Do Laundry
• Take the entire Giveaway pile to the Four Oaks shelter and the Goodwill.
Let’s just say that by the evening time while I was chatting with my mother on Skype. She realized that I was WAY over my head (wait, I don’t have head no more, it is full of “to do list”) and probably because she is my mother, she worried and volunteered to come and help me! So the same evening I booked flight to Chicago (Direct, Paris Chicago, she can’t stand the stress of have to change plane in weird foreign airplane where they don’t speak French) She is coming to save me!! Whoohoo!! I might have some of my sanity left in me after the move!
To do list (Wednesday list revision):
• All of the above +
• Pick up Mutti in Chicago 10 days from now
• Do another Garage sale to minimize the giveaway pile
On the 23rd my mother arrived. I use the fact that I was driving to Chicago and passing the Quad City area to get the military ID card done! (Well of course it wasn’t very nice to do, since apparently the office was “half closed” and you needed an appointment to get one done! WTH, since when do you need an appointment to get an ID card? Well I pushed my luck and knocked on the door. With my happy face, and polite way and 3 kids behind I told them that we were moving in a few weeks and that we lived 1 hour away! “Well then, I guess I will HAVE to get those done he?” (Grumpy old woman who didn’t want to do shit all day I guess) :0? OH, well thank you so much! (Me biting my tongue and getting thicker in my accent as the second pass by!) 30 minutes and we are out... Whohooo, we have new card (valid one) well of course I look like a convict, but the lady didn’t want to redo any of the pictures, her time was so precious you know! So I didn’t want to change my luck and get kicked out of the office with no card.
In the space of 4 days since my mother arrived, we have sorted, emptied, cleaned, vacuumed etc… my house even though it is still a mess because of all the furniture that aren’t there no more. But it does look like a organized mess!
Of course my “Toyota” papers aren’t there yet! So I need to take precious time that I don’t have to call them back.
Me: “I was wanted to know if our application to ship our van out of the country has been received/and that you have agreed for us to do so?”
Them:” hold on the line, I’ll go check!”
Music……. Lalala lalala lalala lalala
Them:”We have a trace that you call, but we never received the orders!”
Me:” WHAT? (Matt was supposed to take care of that, or was it one of his buddies from work! Raaaahhh!!) OK what is your fax number?”
So I had to run to my old employer, ask if I could use the fax (Thanks Steve to let me use it) and off it went. Call Toyota back to make sure they got it, YES they got it!!
Next day, approved, they are sending the letter! Pfuffff!! And check!! Ok the bad part is that they said it was coming on Tuesday and that on Saturday it was still not in my mailbox!! Stressing again!!! Something else to add on my “to do list”.
To do list (Saturday list):
• All of the above minus what was checked and +
• Call Toyota to B..ch again
• Go to the doctor ask for “black market” Prozac in a 1 kg bag so that I can seat in my bed at night and eat them like bonbon.
Went to the land field: 2 Vans full with crap = $17 (normally when I go with one van not too full it is only like $5. AH AH! Here is my Carbon Footprint going up the roof. I do apologize to all the mankind and my great great grand children who will never see the sunset because of me! I really am sorry!
Oh and while I was loading the vans with the trash on Saturday morning (with my sister in law and husband who came all the way from Omaha to help out (well not really but they did help a lot) my mother HIT her head in the garage door that wasn’t completely open slip on her “French derriere” and twisted her ankle while she was down or on her way down.
To do list (Saturday list revision):
• All of the above minus what was checked and +
• Go to the Emergency room to make sure my mother doesn’t need a plaster on her foot and won’t go in a coma of some kind while I need to be there to make sure the movers are doing what they are paid to do!
SHOOT ME PLEASE SHOOT ME!!!!!

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Saturday June 27th.

27 days ago, Matt got his OK from Heidelberg! (About time) with Orders in hands he got home and prepared himself to stay and help to prepare for the move!
A few days later we got an email saying that the household shipment for his type of orders weren’t to exceed 1000lb (AH!! Oh yeah, you can count on that buddy!!) (By the by, the plan for those of you who might not know is that since the orders weren’t going to sponsors the kids and I, we were going to end up paying for us to fly over there, and for our van to be shipped over there as well!) Needless to say that I almost BROKE down (and when I break down, it isn’t me, it could be word flying at the wall or Matt for that matter instead of plates!)
After a lot of email/phone call (Sobbing, heartbeat racing up and HB pressure going Berserk) we got the “amendment” saying that they would ship the ENTIRE household good (well 14000lb at least) but no car! CRAP!!! Oh well, at least I don’t have to part with my “Crap” booking supply! (That was a close one) ;0)
Matt report date was the 15th of June in Heidelberg Germany! On the 13th I was to have a Garage Sale to try to thin down the weight of household crap (yeah I need a thin down on myself, but no time for that right now!) and on the 14th Matt was suppose to fly from CDI. Needless to say that with the ARMY we came to the conclusion that we are just to be patient, after all the ARMY is made of Human and Error do get made (sometime) ;0) Well on Friday the 12th Matt got a call from Travel agency SATO and they say: “Well we can’t confirm the ticket cause you are missing this “???” number that authorize you to fly on Government money!”
OMG!!! You gotta be kidding me (WHAT?? Do you want us to pay for that one too?)
To tell you the truth, I really was thinking to myself ( I doubt I told Matt that, but then, I did lose recollection of the events) “Well then, it is a sign, we shouldn’t be going anywhere. First they don’t want to pay for the stuff to be shipped, then for us to be shipped, then what else could happen!”
Going back to my story (sorry about the carrying away here) Matt couldn’t leave on the 14th, so he stayed home waiting for those code number/authorizing him to come! On Wednesday the 17th for once in a long time, I slept a little longer. I get downstairs and Matt has a HUGE smile on his face!!
Me: “..Morning!”
Matt: “We got the authorization!”
Me: “hmmm!!! Yawning!! That’s good!!”
Matt: “I’ll call SATO travel!”
Me: “hmm!! OK!! (Where is my coke, need caffeine!!?)
I get to the basement to check my mail on the computer Still HALF asleep! Matt follows me some minutes after!
Matt: “Do you think I can make it for the 4pm flight?”
Me: “Don’t know, are you ready? (Still in the fog here)”
Smarty Army pants Matt: “Always” (you know military <<>>
Me: “then I guess you can do that!”
Matt to the phone: “Ok then you can go ahead!!”
OMG!!! What the… was I thinking?? (Oh, wait I wasn’t thinking cause I was STILL in the FOG of dreamland!!)
Then he got the ticket and the Trauma Drama started!! Need this and that!!
Matt: “I need to get the battery out of the bike, and the oil and gasoline, so that they can ship it with no issue!”
Me: “Why don’t you take it to airport for a last spine, get your luggage check out and this way you will have less gasoline in it to get out!” (Doesn’t it sound logical?) WTH?? Did I actually say that?? Again, What was I thinking? (Did I mention it is by then 11am and that his plane leave at 4pm?)
So off he goes on his “Baby” to drop of his luggage and a few gallons of gasoline! Well by the time he is back, he only has 45mn before he need to be at the airport to pass the security and stay there just for the purpose of waiting for the plane to arrive. (Did I mention that the airport is about 20mn away (and that is driving like a French woman who is dropping off her husband to get his flight on time?) OH OH!! And the bike hasn’t been taken care of!!
So the question of the day is: Do you think the bike got the battery, the oil and the gasoline taken out before Matt left??
Answer: You’ll have to read the other post following that one to order to know! He He!!
So off we go to the airport!! Mad French woman driving up the road with load of kids and a husband happy as can be (the husband that is!)
Dropped off the “happy as can be” Husband who even though is sad to let us go, or should I say go, he is still deep down happy as can be, ready for the “be all that you can be” motto and with a big smile on his face! He looked so excited for whatever reason!
I, on the other hand, felt the pressure starting building up as I was driving back home.
OH and…. To Do List started appearing in the corner of my brain.

De blog

Hallo Deutschland!

We made it after a LONG flight overnight. which wasn't too bad considering that fact that it was so late everyone slept (specially me, who normally can never do that) so everything went well, even though we were sitting almost next to a lady who had her 3 kids with her (poor lady) but not like me, her oldest was almost 6 and then a 2 years old and a baby of 13 months! Poor Poor lady!! I was so lucky with my kids, even in long trip like that, they never acted like hers did! The only one that was OK was the 6 years old (then again it isn't like she could do anything else) Mother was traveling alone with those 3 kids and trying to juggles taking care of her 2 years old who was afraid of the noise during take off and landing and her other baby who needed to drink (and still nursing) for the pressure not to burst her little head off! Needless to say I was admiring that lady, thinking of my old memories of my babies, and trying to help as much as I could. The 2 years old ended up with one of my "book light" so that she could be happy for a while (which worked) and I held the baby (sweet baby, for mom to go to the bathroom) who started crying as soon as mom left the vision area! But she was sweet anyway! She smelled so good (AHH baby smell!! Love it)
We arrived in Frankfurt, I was amazed that we had to go up the stairs as soon as we were out of the plane connection device (you know the hallway that they attached to the plane for you to get to the actual building of the gate) well, here they had that moving hallway, then a door and then stairs (tough luck if you have 5 rolling hand baggage to get up the stairs (or for that matter, 2 or 3 of those plus 3 kids under 6 to get up there! I didn't stick around to help the lady, sorry I was sick and tired of being in that plane) So up the stairs we go, and to the "immigration" area. Where I had to smile and tell the officer with a pout on my lips "But I want a stamp of Frankfurt too!" (Being a European we just need them to see that our passport isn't expired and we can travel all over the European community, however they will not "Stamp" us since we are "European")
With a surprised look he said: "But Yooh aRe Franzche! Yooh Doo Nought need a Stchamp!"
Me: "But I want one, please!!!"
Him: "Orcgh!! OK!!!"
Me: "Danke Schon!" and off I go with my lovely German stamp on my passport!! WHOHOO!!

Then we go to the "Custom" area! So I was kinda dreading that part since I travelled with 5 large suitcases/bags and 5 carry on. Well let me tell you something! There is NO ONE at the custom area in Frankfurt (or at least they were all MIA when I passed it!) I was thinking! hmm?? I should have taken my handgun and matt's bazooka while I was at it, they wouldn't have stopped us! ;-) Black market here I come!

As soon as we were out, I spotted Matt and we all rush for a hug (well Rafael was the fastest!)
We loaded ALL the lugagge in the car, and we were on the road again! But at least I wasn't the one driving! ;-) As soon as we were on the road we (well me and Damien) had to go to the bathroom, so we stopped in a "gaz station" and went to use the "facility" AH!! you need to pay .50cents of a Euro to Pee how wrong is that ($.70 to peeeeeee!) come on. I swear I should open a luxury peee area and charge that and then, I will be a milionnaire! the "PEEEEE millionaire!" LOL!! Just think how funny it will be to meet all those millionaires in Forbes magazine annual meeting, and tell them all that I made my fortune on Pee!! OK I'll pass to another subject.

We arrived in Heidelberg where we had to go to a place where they register your ID into their system, so that everytime you get on base you don't have to fill 200 pages of paperwork to proof that you are who you say you are! ;0) Like a military ID isn't enough already! ;0) Anyway now, my kids and I are in the system. Whohoo!!! We are in the system!

Then finnaly the thing that I was wanted to get too, arrived! Microscopic apartment inspection coming up (not like I could have done anything since the apartment as already being issued right?) well it wasn't what I thought it would be. It isn't Microscopic, it is larger than what I thought it would be! Rooms are bigger that they look in the "Empty Microscopic Apartment" pictures on Matt's blog, so... I was happy!! I am still worry about how on earth I am going to put all the crap that we have in here. but we will fight that battle when the troops arrive! (furnitures that is). So we empty all of our suitcases, they are already in the storage downstair, I even reorganized Matt's closet (I had too If I wanted to put my crap in there).
Well after a nice evening at home, we all fell asleep and rested well, Matt went to get some Croissant in the little bakery in the next town, and we just finished Breakfast.

Today is Rafael's 7 birthday, we will celebrate it somehow! Not sure how yet! So hopefully more later or as soon as I have another internet connection! Thanks to a neighbor who has not set up his security on his router! ;0) Thanks neighbor!

Tchuss!!!

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