Woah...June is OVER!

Where did the time go? When I got here, I was kind of sad that Brad & Debbie were going to be gone for almost a whole month - so long without them! But now, they're coming home tomorrow and I cannot believe that the whole month of June is gone already. It's the Forbes' last night! I'm crushed. I'm going to miss them so much. I'm going to miss Blaire's talking in the third person. ("Blaire didn't hit her - that's good." "Blaire wants to pray!" "Blaire will do it.") I'm going to miss Graeme's mathematical mind and his cool lego inventions - but not so much the sneaky tickle-attacks. I'm going to miss Paige, who comes and curls up in my lap, or running-leap-hugs me, or drapes herself around me, or just cuddles with me. And Duncan and Suzanne!! They were the perfect couple to fill in for Brad and Debbie while they were gone. I'm really going to miss Suzanne - she reads my mind ;) and is so easy to talk to - about literally anything. I can't remember last time I made such a close friend so fast, or found such a mentor. That's definitely one I'm going to keep in touch with.

As for what's been going on here, let's see. This last weekend we went to a chapel-wide barbeque on post, then loaded up the van and headed off to K-town to visit Fred and Diane Stocks, who run the K-town Hospitality House. (K-town = Kaiserslautern) They took us to 'their' castle, which I have to admit is in some ways cooler than Brad's castle. It's all in ruins, but there are a great many random walls left, and lots of fun places to climb up in and play spiderman. There's even a dungeon! (Gated up, can't get in. Sad.) After that (oh, I do like Brad's castle better because I can sing in it, and the hike isn't as killer!), we went back to the K-twon House and had Chinese food for dinner. I think the funniest part of the afternoon was right after the hike, seeing all of our people spread out on all the couches and most of the living room floor - sound asleep. How nice of the Stocks' to let us come over and crash!

Let's see what else. Brad and Debbie come home TOMORROW! I'm excited - even though I'm terribly sad to see the Forbes' off. I'm driving with them to Frankfurt, chilling at the airport for a while (babysitting the van), then driving back with Brad and Debbie. This weekend we're going on a bike trip up the Mosel Valley - now THAT will be cool. The next few weeks may be sad, though, as some guys are waiting to deploy - again - and some are hoping to get orders even this week sending them back to the States. That's the sad part of military life - all the goodbyes. But the friendships are worth it.

A Wonderful Weekend

Friday
Friday night after Bible study, we finally hooked up the volleyball nets. We played four on four, me and Andy and Jonathan and Pedro against Duncan, Suzanne, Jeroham, and Kristen. We played until it was too dark to see the ball and the fireflies came out. (I haven't seen lightning bugs since last time I was in Michigan, and they make up part of my favorite memories, so I was TERRIBLY excited.) After we finally gave up (we lost too many balls over the fence), we went up to where Duncan had started a fire. Some of the guys had NEVER roasted marshmallows, so I took it upon myself to make lots of them. After people went to bed or back on post, Andy and I sat around talking and playing with the roaster-hanger and the poker in the fire, until the coals were out.

Saturday
Saturday we took a trip to Barefoot Park - 3500 meters of various things to walk on. The very first is mud. Slimy, cold, mushy-gushy-nasty mud. There was also a lot of grass, several wood bridges, a rolling-thingy, round rocks, flat rocks, sharp rocks, rocky rocks, wood chips, loam, a muddy water, a river, and a rope bridge. My feet hurt afterwards, but it really was a lot of fun. We had three other families go with us, and one soldier.
Sunday
Today after chapel, we went to a middle-ages-market thing at Kusel Castle in Burg Lichtenberg. (sponsored by the german army...?) It was a really warm day for Germany - 85 degrees and humid. We walked all around the castle and looked at all the little booths and their overpriced wares. We did get really good bratwurst and potatoes, though. After coming home and chilling (literally) in the basement to recover from the heat of the day (be quiet all you phoenix folk!!), Suzanne and Mac and I went to the theatre on post to see Prince Caspian. It's a weird theatre - the seating is flat, so all the kids bring booster seats so they can see the screen. We dropped Mac off at his barracks and came home to play around on our computers, trying to get all our various pictures and blogs up. And with that - I am done, and can go to bed!

Rheinfels Castle

So, today we took 6 soldiers with us on a trip to Rheinfels Castle. At only 1/3 of its original size, the castle ruins are still enormous. We walked around for probably 3 hours and I still don't think we saw the whole thing. Probably the coolest part was when we walked down into the mines. I do believe it may have been one of the bravest things I've ever done. While not exactly claustrophobic, I do not do well underground or in the dark. I have always refused to even go in the lava tubes at home. We toured some gemstone mines in Idar-Oberstein this week, and that was fine for me - it was open and well lit with a clear trail. These were very different. You climb down some steep, dark stairs into a pitch black tunnel about 3-4 feet high and maybe 3 feet wide. You can't go in without flashlights, because it is so completely and utterly black. I felt myself about to freak out, and Mac told me to turn back NOW before I lost it 600 feet in, cause you can't really turn around. But I went on! I had Andy's hand in a vice grip and clung to the light from Mac's flashlight. You have to follow the white lines painted on the ceiling, but there was more than one point where we stopped and had to consult the map so as to avoid getting lost in all the little side tunnels. It was completely terrifying, but definitely the coolest experience of the day.

Birthdays and Busy Times

This week seems really long - maybe just because so much has happened. Duncan and Suzanne got here on Wednesday to take over from Brad and Debbie, who left early this morning to go back to the States for three weeks. Debbie had a birthday, and so did Duncan, so we've had cakes and candles and cards. And lots of small children!!



Mac had surgery this week and is spending his recovery leave on the couch in the basement, working his way through a laaarge stack of movies, with me as his nurse.


The kids - Graeme, Blaire, and Paige - are keeping me busy and entertained. They are SO much fun, and it's so nice to be living with little kids again! Friday night Bible study I had Gabe and Josh, too, and was very glad that the weather allowed us to play on the swings and slides out in the backyard, because they were crazy. Fortunately, that wore them out, so when it started raining we went in and watched a movie and they all but fell asleep on the couch.


Today we took a hike up to the castle, and I had us take only one wrong turn. The hike seemed a lot longer than normal, for some reason, and when we finally got up to the top we all sank down around the rim and ate our pincic lunch on top of the castle. When we got back, almost everyone fell asleep - the chairs and couches upstairs and down were full of napping people. Since we woke up and ate dinner, we've been playing cards and dice and legos and army men. I have to say it's kind of fascinating to watch soldiers playing with army men...

I'm Still Alive

Which is more impressive when I tell you that I drove Brad and Debbie's 9-passenger VW van back from post today! YIKES. I'm new at driving a stick anyways, and this thing is larger than just about anything I've driven before. (It might about equal dad's old truck.) But German roads are also a lot smaller than anything at home! I did fine until we got into Idar, and then I managed to stall about 7 times in a row trying to start. :( It was embarassing - and that's never happened to me before!! Sigh.

I must say, I feel much worse for Debbie, who drove with me today, than I did for my dad, who taught me. ;)

The Weekend

I love Germany in the summer - the weather is perfect! We've had a lovely mix of beautiful sunshine and a few hard thunderstorms at night. :) On Saturday we went and played in downtown Idar-Oberstein. We walked up to the Felsenkirche (Church in the Cliff), which was cool because I'd never been inside before. We also did some shopping and ate Doener - yummy German/Turkish food. After that we came home and hung out before dinner, and then we played Quelf, which is quite the interesting game.
Sunday was Chapel, and I think I shall refrain on comment about this particular service. We came home and grilled up our lunch and ate out on the balcony. After lunch we played Nertz, watched movies, played ping-pong, and generally hung out until it was time for dinner. A nice, lazy kind of day with friends - and I even beat Brad at ping-pong! (True, he was playing left-handed, and being distraced by Mac the whole time. But still! Neither Mac or Jonathon managed to beat him!) After dinner we cleaned up and then settled onto the couches downstairs and watched Braveheart before it was finally time to take the guys back to post. Always sad to see them go - even though I'll see them again tonight.