The planned and unplanned...

Our time here in Germany is racing by; I have a hard time believing that we have already entered the month of March. The last few months have been…different than expected.
I thought since we moved farther north than any U.S. State we would have to deal with an abundance of snow and the inconveniences snowy weather brings. I am happy to report that I was wrong; Laura was very disappointment that all the snow gear we bought was only used once this year. Only one day in December did we have enough snow accumulation for Laura and her Dad to play in and even those 2 inches were reduced to dirty slush within hours. Sure we got a few more days with flurries and one day in January when we got to sleep in an extra hour while they plowed and salted the few inches that fell overnight, but despite record freezing temperatures in Europe the snow thankfully stayed away.

Over Christmas my parents came to visit us and we braved the cold weather to do some sightseeing around Germany. Germany has an abundance of castles; we saw castle ruins, a fully furnished castle, a few castles from the Rhine River, a castle with over 200 antlers displayed inside, a romantic castle and….well I am not sure they start to run together after a while.

This year since we had no Disney to bribe her with, in february we agreed to let Laura have a birthday party at the bowling alley on base. The bowling alley promised to do everything for the party including serving lunch. This turned out to be a little misleading. Laura invited all 20 kids from her class and a few extra outside of school friends; she had about 10 kids RSVP for the big day. The bowling alley was a little overwhelmed that day and under estimated the time it took to cook ten hotdogs and fries. Although in the long run none of that mattered because Laura and her friends had fun bowling, eating cake and opening presents. In February we also celebrated fasching in Germany. Fasching is Germany’s mardi gras and Halloween mixed into one very long parade. To Laura this translated to lots of candy.

What’s new with me personally? I found I have more time on my hands with Laura in full day school for the first time. I picked up a few new hobbies crocheting, kickboxing and can I call watching CSI on DVD a hobby? Along with volunteering in Laura’s class, my responsibilities around the house and all my old time wasters my days are surprisingly full.