The Romantic Road

I've been patiently waiting all summer to finally go on vacation.. Several months ago I started planning. I wanted to go south, and I wanted mountains. The mountains have been calling me for a while now, ever since I was in them last October. Switzerland is always tempting, but it quickly became apparent that Austria's mountains are "almost" just as beautiful, but the accommodations are more abundant and reasonably priced. The original plan was to go for 2 weeks, but with Joe’s limited vacation time and the Spark' visit, it just wasn't an option. The vacation homes come in week-by-week packages, so in order to use the most of our time, we are just taking scenic route to Austria. Part of it will be on the "Romantic Road", a heavily

advertised road with many fun villages and castles.

The first 4 hours were pretty boring and drawn out. But then the hills started rolling, and we were driving through pretty forests and villages. Our first official stop, were the Stalactite Caves in Buchen Odenwald. The tour was completely in German, and I got a glimpse of what it must be like for Joe in Holland. Maybe 10% of her tour made any sense to me. But that didn't dim the fun of the cave. It was amazingly long and deep into the earth, and the stalactite and stalagmite formations were really nice. The kids also seemed impressed. Although we were told several times not to photograph in the cave, my rebellious side took over, when I realized that no matter how well I described the cave, it can't possibly paint the whole picture. So I snapped a few photos. Quickly. And sneakily. Totally setting a horrible example to my kids!

As we were getting further from the freeways, the sight became more intriguing. Sometimes we quickly stopped the car along the side of the road, and ignored the stares from people as they watched me document the awesomeness of Germany. One of the towns we drove through, Bad Mergentheim, was almost like that casino in the movie "Percy Jackson, the lightning Thief". It wouldn't let us out! We must have driven past the same 3 intersections at least 3 times. The GPS just kept trying to send us into one-way street, and when we didn't it would loop us back around. After the third time we were smart enough to ignore TomTom, and get out of the city center.

We ran into a bit of a snag just a few miles from our bed and breakfast for the night. We kept seeing signs telling us the road would be closed, but other cars were going around them, so we followed. Only 5 km before our final destination we could absolutely go no further. We made a small detour, talked to a local lady (or rather, half listened, half wished I had brushed up on my German before the trip), and drove over some righteous single lane roads at 70 km/hour. Yeah, that’s right, Germany has the BEST speed limits. Some places have 120, or 130. Most freeways don't even have speed limits, and I promise that if we ever own a car that can go over 130, I'll be one of those that makes 130 seems slow to those passing! Even on

winedy roads, the government thinks 100 km/hour is just fine. But I digress.

As we pulled into the Bed & Breakfast, I was proud that 6 hours of research found us a beautiful hotel. It's quaint. And traditional. It's clean, and charming. The dogs and the goat hang out together in an open shed, and the Quail provide additional entertainment. For some reason Thursday is a rest day in Bettwar, so both restaurants in town were closed. No biggy though, as we just zipped over to the next town, only 5km away. Rothenburg is on the "Romantic Road". Following this road is tomorrows itinerary, but it was super fun to have dinner with all the local old folks.

The wasps descended at dinner. The kids were initially annoyed and scared of them, but quickly changed their mind about their presence when we started killing them. They thought it was a great game, as did Joe and I. All in all we rid the world of 6 wasps. Not too bad for an hours' work. Rothenburg has cool buildings and a nice church. Also a cute little bridge that houses a whole flock of geese. Of course the kids had to throw rocks at them!
Somehow tormenting animals always becomes part of any family outing. This times' victims: Geese

Minimalistic Mothering

Today it hit me: I have absolutely none of the essentials for this baby! A few years back I had a garage sale and sold every single thing to do with babies. Part of me thought we were done with kids, and another part didn't want to hang onto the stuff we bought almost 10 years ago for Winter. To make everything even more uncertain, we have no idea where we'll be in 7 months. Maybe in Europe, maybe in the US. So it's not like I can ask my friends here for hand-me-downs, to build up my collection of things. Not that I need a lot of things. Cause really; what do you need for a baby?

maternity clothes

crib

car seat

baby clothes

If you put it that way, it doesn't seem like a big deal. But reality is, that list could easily be multiplied by 100, when you think of the thing you ACTUALLY end up buying. Maybe my theme can be minimalistic mothering?

Interesting morning

This morning has been interesting. As in, not your average commute to work. First of all, I took Joe's brommer to work. He doesn't have any school this week, so he doesn't need the brommer. It takes me the same amount of time by car or brommer to work, and the brommer is MUCH more fuel efficient. Plus it's nice to get some fresh air! The first new and exciting was that I had to get gas. Only a few gas stations in town sell the brommermix, which meant I had to take a new route. All went well, and I didn't even get lost. Then, as I was riding through the country (I work in the next town over), a sheep was in the middle of the road. Being on my brommer I thought it'd be fun to --chase-- herd it a bit. And it was! The past few days I've zoomed past a little stand next to the road that is obviously selling some type of fresh veggie. So I stopped and the lady that owns the place actually happened to come out with today's crop of red bell peppers. They are large and delicious looking, and for a great price. Now I know where to get my bell peppers from now on. The final exciting thing that happened on today's commute, was that a cop with sirens and lights came speeding up behind me. I was on the main road, and didn't think it would be safe to just stop on the side of it, so I drove to the nearest roundabout, and turned left. So did the cop. But he didn't come for me. He just happened to be going the same direction. The rest of the ride went off without a hitch. I wonder what adventures will come my way this afternoon on my way home.

A summer with Emma

The biggest disadvantage to my job, is that I work every single day. Which means that I also work during the summer. I'm still lucky to get 2 weeks of vacation, but the kids have 6 weeks off, so you do the math. So my little sister Emma came to the rescue. Not only was this nice for her (make some money), it was also nice for my kids. They got to do all sorts of fun stuff with her, and I'm a wee-bit jealous (or maybe a lot). Things they got to do include

Dressing up Coco

Riding bikes

Decorating cookies

Visiting the petting zoo

Feeding baby goats

Being silly

Playing at the playground

Renting Bike-boats

Petting fuzzy animals

Playing at an indoor funpark

"real" bowling

Exploring nature

I'm so happy this worked out for everybody! This is about 1000 times better than spending the summer at a daycare for the kids. Emma got a fun summer job. And I probably wouldn't have had the energy to do all this stuff anyways. We all win.

9W5D

I just had a lighting speed ultrasound, and might end up with a whip lash from it. Seriously though, I had an ultrasound to ease my mind and make sure everything is still growing as it should. The doctor told me to undress -something I don't think I'll ever get used to after 3 pregnancies in the USA - had me hop on the table, started the ultrasound, located the baby, saw a heartbeat, checked the crown to rump length, and told me he was done. The whole thing was less than 2 minutes. I'm just glad this isn't my first baby, or I'd just... I don't know... demand more time?

And a picture that isn't fuzzy??

So my mind is at ease, and gradually letting myself get excited about the prospect of a healthy baby at the end of February 2012. But we're not telling anyone yet. Not until after our vacation. Or later, if I can get away with it. The only people who know, are Joe, Emma, Wendy, and by accident my dad. He just went and guessed it. It will be so fun to tell the kids. And my mom and in-laws. And all my other friends of course. Until then, I'll write blog posts without posting them, and get more and more frustrated with the fact that none of my pants fit me anymore.

The Perfect location

As the end of summer is in sight, the month of November comes closer so quickly. What's so significant about November 14th? That's when Joe has his last class. Which means, we need to start thinking about our next move. No more bliss that you get right after you have made a big life changing decision. A bliss of no decisions. I mean, we can live off student loans and my mediocre job for a year, but that's about it. So the big question is: where do we go from here?

Although our original plan was to stay in Europe for 3-5 years, we can also see the benefit of settling down somewhere. It will be good for the kids, as well as my well-being. I love having friends, and building a circle of friends takes time. So if we want to settle, and not stay in Europe for more than 5 years, it only makes sense to make the move back to the US sooner rather than later. But the US is so big! And there's so much variety in landscape, culture, and climate. And if we decide to "settle" somewhere, we better make sure it's a place that we like.

In deciding which type of place we would like, several factors come into play:

-A good school system: we're only a few years away from high school. Of course we want the best education for our kids.

-Somewhere close enough that we can easily make weekend camping trips in the mountains (as in, less than an hour drive). These mountains need to be green, have good mountain biking, and preferably snow in the winter.

-This leads into the next point: 4 seasons. We are done with 100+ degree weather for 3 months straight! And we love snow! But not all the time. Rain is okay, as long as it's not every day of the year.

-Somewhat centrally located. We want friends and family to visit us, and we want to be able to visit them. It's not essential that it's really close, but close enough that you can visit over a long weekend (less than 6 hour drive). The tricky part here is, that we have family and friends all over the place.

-A strong ward. Over the years I have been able to directly link my level of happiness to the quality friendships I have had. The quantity is not as important, because when I have 1 really good friend that I spend a lot of time visiting and talking to, it's better than 5 friends that are just "so-so friends". Of course a best friend can be found in any place, but the chances of that happening rises significantly when you live in a large/young ward. In my opinion.

-A housing market that is affordable. We would really like to get away from the high mortgage payment. I some locations this is easier than in others. We've been "house-broke" for so many years, living from paycheck to paycheck, and have really learned that we don't like that. We currently live in a 1200 Sq/ft house, and that is plenty for us. Of course the layout of the house has a LOT to do with this.

-Joe needs to be able to earn money. Since he works in facilities, this probably means the city can't be too small. And it also needs to be big enough, that if needed, he could switch jobs as well. Very important, especially if we want to stay in the same location for at least the next 10 years.

-And last, and the hardest to satisfy: We'd love to live kind of "out" of the suburbs. I love the social aspect of subdivisions, but we hate the restrictions. And the need for perfection when it comes to the upkeep of things like front lawn, window washing etc. I love the quiet, and birds singing in the trees. We love the lack of nosy neighbors. And the freedom to make noise, and have whatever animal we want (like chickens)

As becomes apparent quickly, this place probably does not exist. We'll have to settle in one way or another. But which parts are the most important? I don't know! And that's why it's so hard to make a decision on where to go from here.

Any suggestions?? Pleas?? Bribes??

11 years

Hard to believe that it's been a whopping 11 years since Joe and I tied the knot! And what a wonderful and adventurous 11 years it has been!

For many of those 11, we have had the tradition of watching the "new" Harry Potter movie in a theater. Today we will do the same, for the very last time. I hope they come up with a new series of movies that come out right around our anniversary, so we can continue the tradition.