H&M

I just wrote how bad that I was going to miss my favorite store and decided to check out their website and see if by chance they had one in Ohio. To my surprise they not only have one in Ohio, but it is located in Dublin. The Dublin H&M is an 8 minute drive from our house (thank you, Map Quest)! I am stoked to have an H&M so close to us. The one here is only an 8 minute walk from our apartment. I guess that is all for now.

Warm Weather and New Underwear

Today was a nice day. Asher took a good morning nap and then both boys took great afternoon naps. I appreciate days like today. They might be sleeping so well because it is so warm here. It is also very humid. We were lucky enough to inherit 2 floor fans that keep the heat and humidity bearable. Both of the boys are growing up so fast. Asher is already 6 months old! He and Micah have become quite the friends. Micah gets Asher laughing so hard. Micah eats up the attention that Asher gives him. All that Micah has to do is walk in the room and Asher starts to laugh. Micah's english is improving daily as we speak more english with him. His german accent is so cute. Micah was in the need for some new underwear, so we headed to H&M (I love this store and am going to miss it so much). He picked out Cars themed underwear and was extremely excited. He got 6 new pair. He has worn all 6 of them since we came home. He changes them every hour or so. I wish that I got as half as excited as he does to buy myself new underwear.

Don't get us wrong, we are definitely going to miss Germany.

So, just so you all realize that we aren't anti-German(y), we've prepared an equally relevant list of things we are going to miss when we have to leave to settle in Ohio: #1. Bakeries. Although we are looking forward to american donuts of many varieties, you can't beat the smell of a bakery every morning when you leave the house. They're on every street. Within a 5 minute walk we can get to 5 or 6 different bakeries. Add two or three minutes to your walk from our house, and you have over a dozen options. Within each bakery, there are more options than one would expect from Germany after being in a grocery store. Micah's favorite has always been the ubiquitous Butterbrezel (buttered pretzel). Bre's favorite is the Zimt-Campingbrötchen (a sweet cinnamon roll thing) from Göbes (our favorite bakery - and it's right on our street!), and Patrick's favorite is the ever-popular Schokobrötchen (chocolate filled croissant-type roll). Whenever we go to Göbes, they give Micah a free Kinderbrötchen and he loves it. #2. Good public transportation. As much as we're looking forward to having a car in Ohio, we really didn't need one here. We can get anywhere we need to go and don't have to worry about parking, gas, insurance, or staying awake during the ride. Yes, trains can be dirty, and we have to walk to the stops, but it's a convenience that the US doesn't generally have. That's why we'll have to have a car when we get home. #3. The Neckar. The Neckar is the river running through the middle of Heidelberg. It's beautiful and fun to take walks by and boat on (we've only tried it with a paddle-boat). The view of the city and the castle is very nice from the shore of the river. And that takes us to... #4. Neckarwiese (meadow on the shore). The Neckarwiese is a town favorite hang-out spot on sunny days to barbeque, throw a frisbee, play soccer and volleyball, and there's a large playground that Mikah loves. Part of the playground is pretty standard (slides, swings, etc.), and part of it is very unique, like the water play area we mentioned in a previous post, and some very fun teeter-totter-like toys that are even fun for adults. They have a big basket swing and a sand-box area. Whenever we ask Mikah if he wants to go to the park, he says he wants to go to this one. There's also a lot of ducks, geese, and swans that hang out in the water waiting to be fed. Mikah is cautious when it comes to birds, but he loves seeing them and feeding them. And again, the view from the park can't be beat. #5. Heidelberger Schloß. Heidelberg's castle is one of the city's (and country's) trademark sights and definitely one of our favorites. You can see the whole city from its grounds and the castle and the grounds themselves are a pulchritudinous step back in time. #6. Alte Brücke. The old bridge and bridge gate area is one of the coolest and oldest parts of town. There's a lot of refurbishing work being done for tourist season, but the area, the gate, and the bridge are beautiful and a walk across it offers a nice view of the town and the castle. There are a lot of older houses in the area, crammed into narrow streets that add to the neat feel of the Altstadt. Also in the area is... #7. Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit). Built in the 1400s, it's Heidelberg's oldest church still standing and its late gothic architecture with the baroque rooftop and spire make it one of the more interesting-looking churches around as well. The organ player for the congregation practices often with the doors open, so you can have a seat and listen to the music. #8. Bouldering at Riesenstein. The Riesenstein is a 10 minute walk for Patrick from our door. It wouldn't be his first pick of places to climb, but it's decent and fun and closer than LCC was with a car! #9. Haribo. OK, so they have Haribo in the States as well, but do we really need to say that it just isn't the same? This is another area where Germans display their ability to offer true variety. Sure it's all gummi-candy, but when there are 50 different kinds to choose from in the smallest of grocery stores, who cares? #10. Döner. If you've tried one, you probably just stopped reading for at least a minute and a half to reminisce. Telling people they're like a Gyro, but turkish and better just doesn't do the thing justice. It's worth a trip to Germany to try a few of these. #11. Heidelberg's Fußgängerzone. Heidelberg reportedly has the longest pedestrian zone in Europe. I don't know how long it is, but it takes a solid 20 minutes or more to walk from one end to the other. Along the way you're favored with views of the castle, the Haus zum Ritter, the Church of the Holy Spirit, numerous Jesuit statues, the town hall, and access to more clothing and shoe stores than you can shake a stick at, more restaurants than we could have ever hoped to try out in a year, two Starbucks (unfortunately), the best Döner in Heidelberg, a dozen or so bakeries, a number of street performers, our very own missionaries (often anyway), a very good chocolate shop, and almost anything else you want to suit your fancy. Mikah loves running around here. #12. Knocking for Professors at the end of every lecture. Patrick is going to miss kocking on the top of the table or desk at the end of every class. It's done in every class, every time. It's kind of funny at first, but a tradition he'll miss. #13. The chalkboard wipe-down. Typically (mostly in Physics classes since the rest of the university uses white boards), a teacher will give the class a 5 to 10 minute break halfway through a 1.5 hour lecture so that he/she can go to the sink (there's one in every lecture hall) and get a wet sponge to wipe the boards clean, after which they squeegee the board dry. No dust, no dirty suit coats for the professors, and it's fun to watch... hypnotic even. Everyone wins. #14. Soccer. Germany's league is one of the best in Europe with one of the best national teams in the world. The excitement for the European Cup is growing and it's fun. Also, you can always find some people to play soccer.

Home sweet (future) home

Since we have been in Germany we have been missing a lot of things from the US and are looking forward to getting some of those things back when we move to Ohio. We came up with a list and want to elaborate a little on each one. We will begin our list in no particular order:

#1 Customer service. Simply put, it just doesn't exist here, seriously. For the Germans, it falls under superficiality (see #13). #2 American hospitals and health care. A good health care system doesn't equal good health care. I have had a baby here and have had my wisdom teeth taken out. Both experiences were a joke. There is no art to their medicine. Bedside manners are a luxury. Hospitals are disorganized at best and all appear to be from immediately post war 1950. They don't use computers, seriously. Everything is kept on paper (and we are the tree-killing paper-wasters?) Haven't slept for 72 hours and are 36 weeks pregnant and you have a two year old to raise? Drink some organic tea. Can't open your mouth to eat or talk? Get some fresh air and take a nap. Can't walk because you just popped a baby out of your vag? Take an Aspirin with tea. Germanys inpatient care is reportedly good (surgery and cancer treatment), but, in our experience, outpatient and maternity care leaves much to be desired. #3 Having our own washing machine and dryer in our home. First of all there is one washing machine and one dryer for the 25 families that live in our building. It costs $2.67 (at the current exchange rate) to wash a load laundry, and $1.57 to dry a load of laundry. The washer and dryer are located four flights of stairs below us. #4 Owning a car again. As nice as good public transportation is, it is always more convenient to do things on your own time schedule, especially with kids. #5 One stop shopping. Where do we even begin. Okay, here is a typical day spent shopping, we start off at Penny Markt to get little things such as jam and random canned food items, then we are off to Aldi (which is 8 stops away on the street trolley) to purchase the rest of the groceries except milk, for which we head to Rewe to purchase (the only place you can find skim milk in bulk at a good price). To buy formula, toothpaste, toilet paper, diapers, etc. we can either go to DM or Müller. To get ANY kind of medicine we have to go to the pharmacy. This includes cough drops, Ibuprofen, you get the idea. If we need any random clothes, say socks, we can only find them at a clothing store. Need a notebook or a pen? Go to a stationary store. Need a can opener or a toaster? Head to a department store (which in their defense do have pens and notebooks as well). #6 Having friends and family in the same time zone, or just one or two away. This doesn't need any explanation. We are sick of waiting until 1 am to get to talk to anyone. #7 Donuts. Oh how we miss american donuts, maple bars, chocolate cake, glazed, the list goes on and on. The reason I put american donuts is because they have recently become a novelty in a few bakeries here and they are horrible. Looks are pretty deceiving; they appear to be a perfectly good, chocolate-covered donut an illusion that is quickly dispelled if you buy one. They taste like crap compared to any respectable american donut. Again, in their defense there are Dunkin' Donuts in Berlin, for only $4 or $5 a pop. #8 Air conditioning. German arguments against air conditioning fail to take into account that heat exhaustion (a real illness common even in Europe)can kill you. #9 American cereal. Cereal is not a big part of their breakfast. Their idea of variety are versions of Frosted Flakes, Corn Flakes, Honey Smacks, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Cocoa Puffs. That is all my friend. No matter where you go, no matter which grocery store you decide on. #10 American ice cream. Nothing compares. I admit we love italian ice cream, but, it is not real ice cream. We're pretty sure that there isn't any cream in it. At grocery stores you can find the Germans' version of either chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, or cherry. Their version of ice cream is awful. It is light and airy. #11 Screens on windows. For some really stupid reason there aren't any screens on windows anywhere in Germany. That certainly doesn't mean that there aren't bugs, rodents or any other pests here. It justs means your cracked or opened window is an ivitation for them to come hang out with you. #12 Genetically engineered food. If you shop at Wild Oats, or otherwise prefer so-called "natural" or "organic" food, then stop reading now, go munch on some "organic" soy, and protect your sensitive stomachs from this tangent. First of all, the Egyptians performed genetic crosses to obtain a more viable, durable, and favorable wheat crop. Virtually every culture in the world has done the same in order to sustain their own population within their respective region and climate. We did the same with the Native Americans' corn to get the crop seen in the midwest now. The only difference between what the members of any given culture did back then and what is now being done is that we do it faster. Instead of breeding and cross-breeding thousands of generations of the same plant, we just insert and delete the necessary genes and get a plant that is bigger, has more nutrients (i.e. golden rice), and is more resistant to pests and other contaminations. Technology can outrun evolution in many cases, and this is one of them. If you have additional arguments against "gene food," then leave a comment and I'll be happy to refute it and point out the flaws in any argument against it. We support local business and agriculture, but not in an arbitrary market where supply and demand are even more artificial than the food is "natural." Genetically altered food is the only hope of introducing some crops to starving areas of the world. Germany has their qualms with it, with a valid point of concern here and there, but no real reason not to have cheaper, healthier, more sustainable crops. #13 Not putting up the "know it all" mind set. Americans are stupid, lazy, anti-environmentalists, fat, politically ignorant, naive, negligent of our own health and the health of our children, obviously without culture, superficial, have too many children, we all drive SUVs, take our many children to McDonalds for breakfast and lunch, shoot a deer for dinner with one of our many guns that we carry in our SUV, and are (as monolinguists) incapable of progress because we don't learn dead languages. And last but not least #14, We are sick and tired of animals having more rights than our children. Dogs are honestly more welcome in a restaurant or train than a child. As much as we love animals and Germany, there is something deeply disturbing about a culture which not only lays out animal rights in its constitution (yes, they really do), but even has members who, when offered several hundred Euros per month for over 20 years to have kids, choose instead to buy a dog to take to the restaurant, but become vocal in their objection to a noisy child in the same setting.

What we have been up to lately

As you can see, the sun has been shining and so we have been going to the park along the Neckar River. Micah loves it. There is a really cool and big water area for kids. It has been nice having such pretty weather. The rain season is officially over!

More pictures of our day...

Thanks to all of the family who remembered Micah's birthday. He loved all of the cards, emails, calls, presents, and posts! We miss you guys.

Check out that chunk of meat. Don't you just want to pinch it and slap it?

A year older!!!

Micah is officially 3 years old! I can't believe it. I remember this time three years ago. He was so hairy and little. He has grown up so fast. We are so lucky to have such a cool little boy. Micah had a great birthday. We started it off right by opening up a couple of gifts. He got the Monsters Inc dvd and some little cars. He has yet to experience his coolest gifts, he was only able to see pictures of them. One being a super cool low rider bike. His very first big boy bike! It is waiting for him at the farm (thanks Grandpa and Grandma!). He is so excited to ride it. He also has a cool Cars quilt waiting for him there. He was so happy to see the pictures and a little confused. He probably thought that we were just teasing him. He will be relieved to see them and know that we weren't just lying. We continued the big day at McDonalds. We go there every year to get breakfast on his birthday. Later that day we rented a kick boat. It was really cool. The weather was great. It was also quite the work out. We followed it up with dinner at McDonalds (yes, we really do love our cheeseburgers). We feel right at home there. After our final stop at McDonalds, we headed home and had birthday cake. It was a fun day hanging out together (thank you Oma Gayle for the kind donation). All three of the boys are asleep in bed and I am looking forward to getting there myself. Enjoy the pictures of Micah's big celebration.

Micah's 3rd birthday party!!!

Our little man is almost 3!!! We can hardly believe it. He had a great birthday party. He celebrated with his Uncle Clint, and three friends; Ole, Celeste, and Tylan. They had fun beating the cool race car piñata, courtesy of Uncle Clint. They also decorated cupcakes and played in the backyard. He loved all of his gifts. His Uncle Clint cool Cars rug, he loves it. We moved Asher's crib so that there was room for it in their room. He will officially turn 3 on May 5th! These past three years have flown by.