2am House Party

Our first weekend back, one would have thought we were on a college campus. We slept in late and were wide awake at 2am. We did our best to keep our noises down in the wee hours of the morning with a snack and activities to help put us back to sleep within a few hours. Fortunately, the weather was sunny and warm (55 degrees) during the day, so we enjoyed the outdoors as much as we could.

Returning to school was exciting for all of us. Adeline celebrated her birthday with her class Monday morning. The class has a birthday ceremony they perform for each birthday child. She left the classroom and the children get in formation. First, they make a tunnel for her to go through. She is lead by the person she picks to lead her through the tunnel to the decorated birthday chair in the middle of the classroom. Then they gather around her and sing a a german birthday song about how nice it is that she was born. She choose to take in American candy to share with her classmates to celebrate. She received a fun chocolate shaped clown candy from her teacher.

In the afternoon as we were getting ready to leave for Adeline's dance class, I asked the girls if they wanted to walk or drive. It was a unanimous loud answer  of "walk". I agreed with them as it was warm and sunny again. The walk home allowed us to stop and get an ice cream on the way. 

Wednesday morning, I received my certificate for completing the second course of German. I am still one step ahead of the girls with my vocabulary, but their conversation skills are quickly catching up with mine.

This week while watching a cartoon, Emmie translated an entire show for me when I asked her what was going on. 

Unfortunately, us girls have also caught colds during the week. Our days have been productive, but our evenings come early as we are tired and exhausted.

Frankfurt or Bust!

Shopping, doctor appointments, birthday and holiday celebrations, and visiting with family and friends made our time go fast. We had a fabulous time with everyone we were able to see.  We greatly appreciate all of the preparations that went into us coming for a visit as we understand how busy the holidays themselves are.

It took a master plan and strategy to pack up everything we brought and the necessary items of toys, prescriptions, and shoes we had to bring back to Germany with us. In other words, we took over the living and dining rooms for a day to pack the suitcases. Half way through packing, our one large suitcase needed some minor repair, so Eric managed to sew a portion of the zipper in the corner completely closed. We hope this is not the one TSA wants to open during screening. 

The morning we flew out, we had our eight suitcases and three carry-on bags all packed, plus Adeline's new skis all wrapped up. Eric's parents transported us to the airport where we said our final good-byes. We checked all of our luggage and somehow our seats managed to get bumped a few rows rearward in the plane, but Eric was able to sit across the aisle from us during the flight. 

After our meal and some games, we did manage to get a little sleep on the flight. Adeline sprawled out across two of the seats and Emmie found it more comfortable to lay on the floor in our row. 

When we landed in Frankfurt, our luggage was one of the first pieces off of the plane and all intact, but we had to wait for the skis. Unfortunately, when they did not appear, Eric learned they never even got on our plane. The skis were going to Amsterdam first and then Frankfurt and from there would be delivered to our apartment tomorrow.

After walking through the taxi parking area, Eric managed to connect with the van who could accommodate all of our luggage and us. We made it safely to our apartment where the weather was 40 degrees with sunshine and the only snow we saw was in piles on the street corners which was slowly melting down.

Happy New Year!

2010 Holiday picture in Hofheim

Eric and I were in downtown Royal Oak for New Year's Eve. After a tasty meal with a few our good friends, we strolled through the streets to listen to discover the Gin Blossoms playing. The unseasonably warm weather was great for hanging out and the only thing missing was a beer garden to sit down and chat more.

We decided to be with the girls to watch the ball drop in New York City, but when we arrived back at the house, they were already sleeping. We toasted to the New Year and to another year of  good health, happiness, and love. 

God has blessed us this past year as we overcame our challenges and strived to make the best of our opportunities. We pray that 2011 will be full of blessings to our family and friends who are near and far, but ever so dear to us.

May 2011 bring everyone bright hopes, new success, and many reasons to smile. 

Let's Go Pistons!

Emmie attended her first Detroit Piston's game during our visit. After we found our seats, Eric took the girls down to the floor to get some pictures. Initially they were told they could not go on the floor with everyone else, but then a kind usher, allowed them for a few pictures. The atmosphere had Emmie awestruck as she did not know where to look first.

They returned to our seats for the introduction of the Chicago Bull players and then the Detroit Pistons. The girls had fun watching and cheering for the Pistons throughout the game. We snacked on a large bucket of popcorn while watching the intense game. They thought the entertainment was fun too. During the third quarter time-out, Adeline appeared on the Jumbotron with her crazy dancing to Jingle Bell Rock. She thought it was so neat to be on the large television screen.

We were on our feet for the last few minutes of the game, when the Pistons came back to tie the game and send it into overtime. It was too bad they lost 92 to 95 in the last few seconds, but it was a fantastic family outing.

After the game, Eric took Adeline onto the floor where she could take a shot. Unfortunately, she is still a little small to make a basket, but her effort was 110%.

Santa did find us!

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with our family. Our celebration began Christmas Eve at Woodside Bible Church with their Christmas Eve service. It was a very nice choreographed service for the entire family. After the service, we spent the evening with the Hannon family.

Telling Snowflake, our Elf on the shelf, writing letters to Santa, and telling him in person to let him know where we would be on Christmas morning surely made it worth the effort. Santa did a fantastic job remembering where the Hannon family was. Adeline and Emmie had a fun time searching through their stockings and then opening their gifts. We wrapped up the morning with a nice brunch.

In the afternoon,we spent time with my Mom and Ray. Mom also prepared a delicious Christmas dinner for us to indulge on. We spent the evening with my Dad and Denise who where at Nick and Laura's house for the holiday. The desserts were a great conclusion to our holiday celebration.

We wish everyone a joyful Merry Christmas and hope you created many holiday memories with your family.

Happy 6th Birthday Adeline Grace!

Lucky for us we did not wake up to a snow storm like the day when Adeline joined our family as we had a full day of celebrating her special day. Adeline' s day of celebrating started early as she was very excited about her birthday. Fortunately, the 3am wake up time had moved up to 6 am.

After a round of singing "Happy Birthday" to her when she entered the decorated kitchen, she opened her presents with glee. She enjoyed her Mickey Mouse pancake with the candle lit as we sang another round of "Happy Birthday" to her.

Before going to lunch, we visited Santa in "The Chronicles of Narnia" display. The girls loved the snowglobe with the snow falling around them. They also spotted the Narnia characters during the previews for the next movie to be released since they saw the first movie. Adeline informed Santa of her wish list as we helped Emmie sit on his lap. We did manage to get a few pictures for memories.

Adeline choose to go to Rainforest Cafe for her birthday luncheon. She ordered an all American meal of mac-n-cheese, french fries, and dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. Emmie helped her out in making sure it was all consumed. When they brought the ice cream sundae out for dessert, she was all smiles eyeing the sundae while listening as the waitresses sang to her.  Adeline could only eat a few bites of it, so the rest of us helped her finish it.

The afternoon brought about much excitement, as this was her "Cat in the Hat" birthday party. We made the strawberry cake yesterday and Eric and I decorated the cake according to her plans late in the evening. After she blew out the candle, Emmie was quick to grab it and lick the frosting off it. Her favorite present this year was her new doll. Within a few minutes, she named her Anna (pronounced Ah-nuh) and she was by her side for the rest of the day.

Here are a few things about Adeline she wanted to share:

Favorite color: Purple 

Favorite vegetables: Carrots

Favorite fruit: Raspberries

Favorite ice cream: Zitrone (lemon)

Favorite meal: Spaghetti w/ no sauce

Favorite stuffed animal: Firedog 

Favorite person: Emmie

Favorite cartoon: Tom & Jerry

Favorite book: Cat in the Hat

Favorite Superhero: Spiderman

Favorite Princess: Sleeping Beauty

Favorite friend: Anna

Favorite clothes:  Fancy Clothes

7 days of Trains, Planes and Automobiles

We took no time in getting settled-in and unpacked at the Hannon homestead. The girls immediately went for their corner of toys at Grandma's house, while the suitcases went to the bedrooms. Colby was not so sure if we were really staying or not, so it took him a few hours to warm up to us again and then he did not know who to follow around the house.

Eric also called to say he arrived in London for the party late Saturday afternoon, but getting to the party would just be the initial climb of the mountain of his week in getting around Europe.  By the time he finally landed in the US, he has spent the past 7 days in an airport. Since he followed the snow storm around Europe, his travels at one point became an adventure. His tale is as follows:

Thursday -Dec 16: (Copenhagen Airport) I was booked on an earlier flight as my later flight was already canceled. However, it is now 3 hours later, this flight was cancelled and I will be spending the night back in Malmo, Sweden since there are no rooms left at the Copenhagen airport.

Friday- Dec 17: (Copenhagen Airport) It is 5am and I am back for the first flight to Frankfurt airport.  After boarding, deboarding,  reboarding, and waiting to be de-iced, we are now leaving 6 hours later.

Saturday- Dec 18: (Frankfurt Airport) My flight is the only one that is not canceled to London, so I am on my way to London this morning. Due to snowy conditions, we circle London Heathrow for 1.5 hours, hoping to land, only to land in Standsted. Standsted, which is about the size of Flint airport, had these huge 747s also lined up on the tarmack. We wait for over an hour for a stairway and then the bus to come and take us to the terminal. Inside, I wait for another hour in the passport control line and watch the chaos as the escalators kept going even though there is no where for people to get off of them at the top. When I made it by train into downtown London, there was maybe 1 inch of snow covering the ground. The taxi drivers will not even drive in it. Where is my shovel, I think to myself.

In the evening at our holiday party, I am one of 3 others from my office that made it out of Frankfurt due to the snowstorm. Needless to say, the party was not filled with attendees as planned. I still had a nice dinner and listened to the loud DJ.

Sunday- Dec 19 (London Heathrow) My flight is cancelled this morning and the earliest our travel agency can get me out of here is Tuesday evening. I cannot buy a ticket on the Eurostar train to Paris as they are sold out as well. My colleague and his wife have worked out a plan for them to get back to Frankfurt, so I am in on it as I just bought one of the last seats on the plane to Germany.

First, we take a local train to Manchester. Catching the train is a free- for- all in London, not orderly like the German train stations. When the display board in the communal hall announces what gate it will be at, there is mad rush out of the area to jump on the train when it finally comes to a halt and the doors open.

Second, we board the plane and are seated in the last seats in the last row. I do not even fit in these seats, so we will not be flying Air Berlin anytime soon.

Our street on Sunday evening

Thirdly, we land just outside Hannover for our late evening drive home in the snow. I am texting Adrienne with status points along the way, so she knows where I am, as she just keeps informing me of the bad weather conditions she is hearing about back in the US. My colleague drives us safely back to Frankfurt.

I arrive at 4am (Monday morning) in our apartment to quickly unplug the electronics, repack my bags for work, and catch a quick nap.

Monday- Dec 20- (Frankfurt Airport) It is now 6:45am and I am back at the airport to catch my flight to Copenhagen for work. Everything seems to be on schedule again.

Tuesday- Dec. 21 (Copenhagen Airport) My evening commute to Amsterdam is a breeze and I am thankful not to be going through London to get back to the US.

Wednesday- Dec- 22 (Amsterdam Airport) My flight back to the US takes off and I am now on my way to finally see my family and stay out of the airports for a few weeks.

Wednesday afternoon after appointments and visting, us girls arrive back at our quarters to find a napping Eric.