On March 16th we finally received our written orders and exactly 3 weeks later we were on a plane headed back to the States. Those 3 weeks flew by and were filled to the brim with move madness and sad goodbyes. We had tons of loose ends to tie up and logistics to take care of, and Patrick was taking the final two classes of his masters (which also happened to be his two hardest and most time consuming to date). At times we truly were like ships in the night, passing each other as we ran around taking care of our respective to-do lists. It was a lot of work but we got it all done and the move itself actually went pretty smoothly. I have been putting off writing this post because I am still processing the fact that Germany is no longer our home. Although we are happy to be back in the US, there is so much about Germany that we miss, not the least of which are the wonderful friends that we made. Here are the few pictures that I have from that hectic time.
Stress? No stress here!
Some final playdates with the Zurs. Max, Katharina, Isla & Brennan.
Me and Nadine.
Isla and I attended our last Krabbelgrueppe, which included an egg hunt and Easter breakfast.
The ladies surprised us with a sweet gift for Isla and a card and angel for me. (This is apparently typical as I was gifted 3 angels by the time we moved. So sweet.) Here are Katja, the group leader, and Anja.
Our wonderful (American) friends Beth, Darci and Liam, without whom we would not have made it, esp. at the end!
Nastya and Nina.
Here are the kids looking cute before we headed out one morning. You can see the sweet purple Chrysler Town & Country that we borrowed from friends to get us around for the final two weeks in the background.
More goodbyes at the ice cream parlor. Me and Leah.
Patrick and Alex.
Isla, Aubrey, Wilson & Brennan.
Crazy kids.
A cookout at Liz's house.
Saying goodbye to the navy element. It's hard to meet great people right before you move!
The hardest goodbye of all (for me) was leaving Brennan's Kindergarten. The Kindergarten was like family and Brennan spent almost 2 years there. He had a special Abschiedstag (his goodbye day) where he brought cupcakes and took his leave. All the kids gave him hugs and shook his hand, and each child in the class had drawn him a special picture. The parents that I knew gave us big hugs goodbye and wished us well, and many parents from other groups that I only knew by sight surprised me by their heartfelt wishes for safe travels and "alles gute." I was really touched; Germans are not typically known for public emotional displays and we just really felt a lot of love from the Kindergarten community. Here are some pictures that Brennan's teacher emailed me from his last day. Julian, Jeremy & Jakob.
There are so many pictures that I didn't have the chance to take; it just got too hectic, but this was a glimpse of our last few weeks in Germany. Our 3 years there were full of ups and downs, but the experience was priceless and we miss it already. Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland!
Stress? No stress here!
Some final playdates with the Zurs. Max, Katharina, Isla & Brennan.
Me and Nadine.
Isla and I attended our last Krabbelgrueppe, which included an egg hunt and Easter breakfast.
The ladies surprised us with a sweet gift for Isla and a card and angel for me. (This is apparently typical as I was gifted 3 angels by the time we moved. So sweet.) Here are Katja, the group leader, and Anja.
Our wonderful (American) friends Beth, Darci and Liam, without whom we would not have made it, esp. at the end!
Nastya and Nina.
Here are the kids looking cute before we headed out one morning. You can see the sweet purple Chrysler Town & Country that we borrowed from friends to get us around for the final two weeks in the background.
More goodbyes at the ice cream parlor. Me and Leah.
Patrick and Alex.
Isla, Aubrey, Wilson & Brennan.
Crazy kids.
A cookout at Liz's house.
Saying goodbye to the navy element. It's hard to meet great people right before you move!
The hardest goodbye of all (for me) was leaving Brennan's Kindergarten. The Kindergarten was like family and Brennan spent almost 2 years there. He had a special Abschiedstag (his goodbye day) where he brought cupcakes and took his leave. All the kids gave him hugs and shook his hand, and each child in the class had drawn him a special picture. The parents that I knew gave us big hugs goodbye and wished us well, and many parents from other groups that I only knew by sight surprised me by their heartfelt wishes for safe travels and "alles gute." I was really touched; Germans are not typically known for public emotional displays and we just really felt a lot of love from the Kindergarten community. Here are some pictures that Brennan's teacher emailed me from his last day. Julian, Jeremy & Jakob.
Nina.
Viktor.
There are so many pictures that I didn't have the chance to take; it just got too hectic, but this was a glimpse of our last few weeks in Germany. Our 3 years there were full of ups and downs, but the experience was priceless and we miss it already. Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland!
