So I couldn't decide whether to have one REALLY long post or several small ones of the last few weeks, so I think I will just do one to recap Germany, Ragnar's birthday, moving and everything in between. So, it may be an overload, and there are a million pictures, so these are just a few, but here we go. (I'll post pics of the house later)
We left for Germany on September 10th and arrived the morning of September 11th. This was a neat experience for Ragnar because exactly 10 years earlier he arrived home from his mission on September 11th at the same airport, so he was having fun with that.
Anyway, we SOMEHOW survived the flight. I absolutely despise flying and especially with 2 children and my anxiety issues! It was long and hard, and good thing we love Ragnar's parents because if they weren't there we would definitely not be going that far with small kids for pleasure!
It began by Cavin tripping by a window at the Houston airport where he was looking at the planes and falling directly on the edge of the big window and splitting his head open. This happened 10 minutes before boarding and I was sure we would miss the flight. Somehow, we got on the plane, his head stop bleeding fast, and we made it to Atlanta and then on to Germany. I won't go on with the awful details of having Ragnar hold Cavin in the bathroom for 45 minutes because he was screaming too loud, or on the way back having a 4 hour delay in Atlanta and Ella screaming for half of the flight home. Oh man, what we do for family! Needless to say, I am glad I have other memories than the flight and I hope in time they will carry more weight than the memory of the flight!
(Here is his head a few days later...much better)
The trip in Germany was wonderful. The weather was nice, we got to see the entire family and celebrate his mothers upcoming 60th birthday, and just enjoy one another. We didn't see a whole lot because between children and naps, it's not worth it to me to be too adventurous yet, our time will come. We will be back many times and when the kids are older, we can do that.
We did have a good time though. We met Ragnar's best friend Kris and his wife Christina and went bowling and chatted. My German is coming along. I understood more and more and I feel like if I keep working on it, it is an achievable task to learn the language. When we got home Ella said a German word to me and asked if I knew what it meant and I said yes and told her and she goes..."oh mom that's great, you are learning!" So my daughter already thinks she is smarter than me, AT THREE! We had a nice time and I love just sitting and chatting and we were glad we were able to go.
Uschi's party
Cavin and Kris and Christina (Ella was too grumpy to come over)
Daphne and Rags
The train that goes around the whole backyard
Bowling with Kris and Christina
The Frankfurt Temple and some of the crew
Ella and Daddy fixing the train!
Hellmut and the famous train
Ella and Aunt Naomi
Cooking with Oma
Cavin...eating as always!
The cousins
As for the move, I think we were crazy for moving two days after we got back, but we were jet lagged and started the day at 3:30 (thanks to our children) anyway, so we just went ahead and moved. We now live in Eagle Springs and are about 40 minutes from my parents. We are excited about our new place and our ward feels like a high school reunion because I already know half of them, so it's funny. Things are set up and we are doing well.
On to even more exciting news, Ragnar turned 32 (I know old man!) and with his birthday was a late present. He was promoted in the Houston Rockets Organization to Full Time Season Ticket Sales Rep. I think it sounds awful to sell all day and yet, he loves it! It is like a dream job to him, so I am excited for him. He got to have lunch with Carl Dukes of ESPN radio last week and he just loves being a part of the sports world.
So all in all, we are well, things are looking up and we are excited about the future. It has been an really hard year, but I hope that we have learned some lessons and that we can move forward. The kids are liking the new place and adjusting well, but they do miss living with Grandma and Grandpa and playing with Aunt Natalie and Maggie. We can see them often though. I hope all is well with you and now that we are back online...I will keep posted on how things go...until next time!......
