First Week in Germany

Some of our best friends ever moved to Germany a year ago through the Army and live one hour south of where we will be stationed. They were so kind to offer to let the kids and I stay for the first while so Jared could do in processing which took three straight days on base for him. It was the best way to transition to a new country, time zone, climate, and life. We feel so blessed to have them here to ask questions, travel with and mostly just hang out!! We love the Johnson Family and have known them for years. They like to vacation even more than us.... which I know some of my Las Vegas friends will find hard to believe! Thanks Chris and Lisa for being the best host and hostess ever. Who else would say can't wait til you get here and really mean it when 11 kids under 13 are involved?

We took it easy a for a lot of the first week. We were feeling trashed from the time zone thing and then Josh and Cole got a tummy bug for 1 day which made for some long nights or days however you want to look at it.

 First impressions of Germany:  Its very green, there is a lot of agriculture and farming everywhere, there are a lot more flies and bugs than were used to, it rains in the summer at least once or twice a week, and sometimes its really cold, (I had to use a hair dryer on Jake the first morning we were here to get him out of bed and dressed because he was so cold!),

In Germany most people live in villages which vary in size, but have houses closely built together and then lots of countryside and bike paths, and fields between them and the next village.  It makes for a beautiful atmosphere and provides lots of places for kids to walk and explore.  The villages are really very safe so our kids will definitely have more freedom to go be kids.

Of course Carter found a frog on our walk in the fields by the Johnson's house.  I love how mesmerized Luke's eyes are in this photo

Some more first impressions:  People like to walk and ride bikes.  The most common cars are BMW, Opel, Audi, Volkswagon, and Puegots.  They are not all high end vehicles.  These companies make more affordable versions of these cars here.  The driveways are short and so you park right outside your front door.  Germans take driving very serious.  There are lots of right away rules, signs, and laws to learn before they will grant you a driver's license.  

Isn't this the cutest house ever?

There are village parks everywhere.  Germans do not care about California Safety Standards when building their parks.  

Yeah just try to get 11 kids to look all at the same time and smile normally for a picture.  I dare you.

We went to the River Neckar Park which is in downtown Heidelberg close to their house.  They have very interesting play equipment in Germany.  Its unique and every park is a little different.  Its all very fun!

Heidelberg Castle off in the distance