Adventure #1 ----- Getting to Germany

It was definitely stressful the last week getting everyone packed and ready for Germany. At last March 18 came and we headed to the airport. It was difficult keeping everyone together because, of course, nobody wanted to ride in the stroller. We made it from Grand Rapids to Chicago, without any issues. I sat by Caitlyn and Emma. Caitlyn asked the flight attendant if she was the “Captain” which made everyone around us laugh.

Our flight from Chicago to Frankfort was longggg of course ~ 8 hours… Each seat had a touch screen computer, so we could pick movies, television shows, games, etc. The girls thought this was the coolest thing ever!!! So they couldn’t sleep of course. Steven passed out for the last 2 or 3 hours (lucky Dave!). The plane started descending for landing, and apparently this is a good time to sleep, because Emma and Caitlyn fell asleep. Minutes before landing Emma wakes up, complains of a stomachache, and states she is going to puke. I have nothing to give her, so I do what any mom would do… cupped my hands together and let her puke in them. My hands were not big enough; she turned to her sister (Caitlyn who was sleeping) and continued to vomit on her. At this point, I don’t know what to do, I started calling for the flight attendant, who gave me approval to break the rules and get out of my seat. I carried Caitlyn to the back of the plane and had to first, wake her up, and then change her clothes (I had pants, but she had to wear one of Steven's shirts). As this is going on she is crying “ I wet” “I wet”… Emma was now doing better, we were reseated on blankets covering our seats, and the plane was landed.

Now we are in Frankfort airport… Dave and I get separated. He is with Emma and Steven, and I have Caitlyn. I have the stroller so I can’t search the airport quickly or efficiently. About five minutes before I would have had a freak out… we stumble upon each other…. Thank Goodness!

The courier service picked us up from the airport, and then brought us to the German office where Dave will be working. Our belongings were unloaded, and we walked inside to get our rental car. That’s when it was discovered no one actually checked our itinerary… it was assumed we would get to the office around noon, so our rental car was going to be brought there around noon. FYI we were there at 8:15am! So my sleep deprived little girls were passed out in the lobby of Gentex, Steven was running around, and Dave and I were losing steam. One of Dave’s co-workers in the German office called his wife, and she brought us car seats, and drove us to our apartment. It was now around 10:30am, and we all got in bed and slept. ZZzzzzzzzzz

Around 5:00pm we met the owners of the farm we are staying at. They gave us a tour, and showed us the sheep, chickens, rabbits, cats, dog, and the cows. They have a couple kids around Emma’s age, and a daughter Caitlyn’s age. The family speaks very little English, but I think we communicated alright.

We needed to do one last thing before the day was over… get dinner and groceries. The kids didn’t want to leave, but I was not brave enough to venture off the farm alone. For multiple reasons I was nervous:
I didn’t know where in the world I was going
I haven’t driven a manual transmission in at least 5 years 
I have NEVER driven in Germany
We didn’t have any EUROS, and we needed to find an ATM

So I made everyone come with me to run our errands. I made sure I drove because I needed to get use to driving here. It was difficult balancing everything such as looking at the Garmin, learning the street signs and meanings, shifting the gears, navigating the twisting and skinny roads. Dave wasn’t impressed. But I have 5 months to practice… right?

By the time we got to an ATM (3 missed left turns and multiple “redirections” from Garmin later) the kids were sleeping. I quickly went into a grocery store and picked up some items to get us through tomorrow…. Our first dinner in Germany was home cooked frozen pizza! My family is so lucky to have my cooking.