Wordless Wednesday

Take a Peek: German Washers and Dryers

One chore I have a love-hate relationship with is laundry. Running the laundry through the washer and dryer is not a problem, but I am not a big fan of the folding and putting away part. With three kids in the house, there is an endless stream of clothing. There has to be close to a gazillion socks to match. It is quite tedious. Girly Girl and Mister Man are old enough to fold and put their own laundry away, and usually, this would be part of their regular chore schedule. Since we are in the hotel, it is up to the Hubs and I to get the laundry done.  The hotel has washer and dryers on site, but they are the German kind, and the German washers take a lot longer to cycle than their American cousins. With five people in the family, there is A LOT of laundry. Did I mention the gazillion socks? With five sets of feet wearing socks, plus an extra set for the Hubs, we have a LOT of socks. I've been passing the matching of the socks job off to the kids. Lucky for me, the kids actually like the job. I guess it is a win-win, and I don't have to match a gazillion socks.

The hubs and I finally fell into the routine of doing laundry during the weekend. There is a laundromat close to the hotel, and it has American washers and dryers. At the end of the week, we usually have two duffel (big duffel) bags worth of laundry. I'm really not sure how we manage to have so much laundry at the end of the week. It must have something to do with the duffel bags, they probably just replicate and duplicate clothes without me knowing it.

Something you many not know, is when we moved to Germany back in 2008, we were living in Garmisch. Garmisch is still hands-down my favorite place in Germany. The house we were renting (I miss that house) only had hook ups for the German washer and dryer. German washers only have hook ups for cold water.

The washer looks similar to a standard front-loader you can get in the states, just smaller. It has settings for colors, whites, delicates, and so forth.

 

One difference you will notice, is the colors cycle takes 1 hour 55 minutes. That's right, it takes almost 2 hours to do ONE load. JUST one load. We were just a family of 4 when we lived in Garmisch. It was hard enough to keep up with the laundry then. We regularly had to take the laundry up on post to get it out of the way.

Here is the German dryer. The evaporating water is collected in a container, and must be emptied regularly. This process takes a very long time as well. It was at least another hour to hour and a half.

Here is a closeup of the settings for the dryer.

Since the house were are renting here is owned by an American couple, their house is set up with a hot water hook up, so we will be able to have an American washer and dryer. For this, I am so grateful. It will make it a lot easier to keep up with the self-duplicating pile of laundry, and those gazillion socks that keep the five sets of feet in our family warm.

10 Things About Driving in Germany

Driving in Germany has both similarities and differences to driving in the states.. In order to drive here, you have to take a class (on post), and then you take a test in order to get your license. My license didn't expire from when we lived here the first time around, so all I had to do was renew it. I did re-read through the manual and watch the videos, in order to make sure I had everything fresh in my mind.

10 Things About Driving in Germany

1. There is no center yellow line. The dividing line is white, and sometimes it is dotted, and sometimes it is solid.

2. Speed limit signs are round.

3. Traffic lights change from green, to yellow, to red and back from red, to yellow, to green.

4. The autobahn MOSTLY has no speed limit, however, you will find towns, tunnels, and construction areas do tend to have set speed limits.

5. There are roundabouts everywhere.

6. Speed cameras are not your friend. When you see the bright flash, expect to be receiving a ticket in the mail. Ask the Hubs!

7. There are A LOT of signs to know. Luckily, most of them are pretty self-explanatory. Some, are not as familiar.

8. It is not uncommon to see a tractor driving down the road, or a 4-wheeler (with a license plate no less) for that matter.

9. It isn't unusual to be driving 90 MPH on the autobahn, and have someone flying past you like you are sitting still. Make sure to continually check your mirrors, people!

10. The Polizei will stop you, literally, in the middle of the road. I know this from experience. For future reference...before you set out, make sure your husband didn't leave the fog lights on when he was driving. Fog lights are for driving in the fog, not for an extra boost of light....the Hubs seems to think otherwise.

I still prefer the Hubs to do most of the driving though. Not only can I relax, I can also try to take pictures of the many different sights along the way. There is no shortage of amazing places around here.

Roasted Baby Carrots {Recipe}

Roasted Baby Carrots

Ingredients:

16oz baby carrots

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C)

2. Quarter the baby carrots.  

3. Toss baby carrots in olive oil. 

4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Bake at 400°F (204°C) for 20 minutes, or until the baby carrots are soft, and lightly browned. Make sure to keep a good eye on them as they cook. Stir the carrots a couple times during cooking.

This is a favorite around our house. I hope you like it as much as we do!

Our Week in Pictures

The Retreat Ceremony: The end of the Duty Day

One of the fascinating things about staying in lodging on post, is you get to see and experience things you probably wouldn’t normally have the chance to experience. Case in point- the “Retreat” ceremony. Since we've been in Germany, I had been noticing a big, booming sound going off in the late afternoon. One day, the Hubs, and I were driving home, and we came up to a place on post where cars stopped in the road, and people were out of their vehicles, standing, and looking towards the direction a song was playing. Since the Hubs had served, he was able to shed a little light on the subject. I, being curious, dug around further, and was able to find more information.

The Retreat ceremony begins at 5 pm, the end of the duty day. "Retreat" is played first, and upon the last note, a cannon is fired, finally, “To the Colors” is played. Uniformed soldiers, soldiers not in uniform, and civilians alike all have special ways of paying their respects to the flag.

Here are a couple links I found to be helpful. You may also find them to be helpful in learning how to pay the proper respect to the flag, as well as a little more history on the ceremony:

Retreat ceremony- More Than Music

What is a Military Retreat Ceremony?

 

Once we all were able to experience the ceremony first hand, it has become something the kids have looked forward to at 5 pm every day. We are fortunate enough to see the soldiers from where our room is located, and the kids can watch the ceremony as it takes place. It is a really beautiful, and amazing thing to see our uniformed soldiers performing such an important and historical tradition.

Amberg, Germany {Family Day Trip}

Amberg is a city steeped in history. First mentioned in the 11th century, it was at one time, a strongly fortified medieval city. Portions of the original walls and gates are still visible today.


The beautiful St. Martin's Church sits at the heart of the old city of Amberg, which can be found right in the Marktplatz. The steeple is visible from many different points around the old city.

 

The Gothic Town Hall, or the Rathaus also sits in the heart of the old city. Unfortunately, there was some sort of promotional bus sitting right in front of it, so I was unable to get a picture of the beautiful arches on the right side of the building.

 

I am not sure what this building may have been previously, but it is a store now. I love the architecture of it, and the details on the building are just stunning.There are several other buildings I would loved to have gotten pictures of.

This statue is said to have been erected to celebrate the 1474 wedding between Prince Philip and Margaret of Bavaria. It is called The Wedding Fountain or Hochzeitsbrunnen.  It sits near the Rathaus.

Again, I am a fan of old things, and this covered bridge looks like it has seen a lot! There was another covered bridge as we were walking into the old town, but I was unable to get a good picture of it.

The Ziegeltor. It is one of the original gates. It currently houses a tiny, single-lane road. It provides access into the old city.

I adore Amberg. It is such a fun place to walk around and explore. We definitely plan to go back. There were a few sights in the old city we missed out on seeing this last time we went. I know there are also many wonderful things to visit in the newer part of the city as well.

Wordless Wednesday

Flashback Friday

It makes me a little sad to realize my youngest baby is growing up so quickly. Well, actually, it makes me a little sad to see them all growing so fast. Mister Man just turned 7, and Girly Girl will not let us forget she is getting ready to turn 10. Monster Tot is our last baby. She is definitely the most challenging, but we love her all the same. Here she is with her older siblings, and before she was dubbed Monster Tot. She loves Girly Girl and Mister Man very much, but she also knows how to push their buttons *ahem* run off with the one lego piece they need, steal their bowl at dinner (when they aren't looking,) scream when they aren't letting her have her way, and the list goes on.

Happy Friday! I hope you all have a great weekend!

One Month!

Today marks one month since we first set foot back in Germany. Our adventure began on Monday, June 17th. We arrived in Atlanta for our evening flight. We knew from experience, it is easier to adjust to the time changes, when you can sleep on the flight over. Our flight arrived into Amsterdam around 10 am, Tuesday, June 18th.. We had a short layover, and then we were again on a plane, and headed towards Nuremberg. Since Nuremberg is still a drive away from  Grafenwoehr, we had to be picked up and driven to the hotel.

We had a lot of baggage, and by a lot, I mean A LOT!

We had the same amount of baggage when we moved to Germany back in 2008, and we are plus one family member this time. Things were a little easier at baggage claim this time, since we have two big kids to help push the luggage carts.  Last time was a nightmare. Girly Girl had gotten sick, and had been sick the entire flight. This time, everyone was feeling just fine, THANK GOODNESS! Our first (and longer) flight wasn't full. Once the doors were closed, the crew gave the passengers the "O.K." to spread out and get comfortable. We did just that.


We experienced a nice little thunderstorm come though, and along with it came some hail. It was interesting to see. The hail here in Grafenwoehr was not super big, however, the hail about 20 minutes south of here was about the size of golf balls. Our vehicle has a few small dents on the top. Our friends live where the bigger hail was and, unfortunately, they had more damage to their cars.

In the picture of the grass below, you can see how the hail dotted the grass in front of the hotel. The barrage of hail lasted for a little while, and then it was over as quick as it began. You can see how big the hail was out our way. Some pieces were a little bit bigger, but for the most part, they were around this size. The Hubs went downstairs to check out the storm, and brought some  hail up for the kids to see. They were interested for all of a minute. 

In the picture of the grass above, you can see how the hail dotted the grass in front of the hotel. The barrage of hail lasted for a little while, and then it was over as quick as it began. You can see how big the hail was out our way. Some pieces were a little bit bigger, but for the most part, they were around this size. The Hubs went downstairs to check out the storm, and brought some  hail up for the kids to see. They were interested for all of a minute.

On July 6th, we celebrated Monster Tot's 2nd birthday. We shared cake and ice cream with our friends. We originally met Mrs. W when we lived in Garmisch, then, we ended up living in the same area of the states when we moved back. I was relieved to know we'd be moving so close to someone we knew. It definitely makes it easier to already know someone!

Here are a few shots from around the area. These were taken during some of our several trips to hunt for a house.

This is one of the coolest fountains I have seen.

 

 

 

So, now it's time for us to go grocery shopping! Happy Thursday!

Playground Fun

Release the beasts! When we flew to Germany, I made sure to have a separate bag full of toys for the kids, and the older kids packed a few extra things in their luggage. Unfortunately, I know they are starting to get bored of the same old toys. Being cooped up in the hotel isn't fun at all. Luckily for us, there is a playground right next to the hotel, and there are two other play areas we can easily walk to from where we are. It is so nice to get a break and enjoy the fresh air! The temperatures in Germany this week are a little on the warmer side, but during the summer, it generally stays in the comfortable 70's, it isn't uncommon for it to be colder though, and you will have to wear pants and a jacket in summer. There are periods where it will get very warm. There isn't air conditioning in the houses, so you have to learn how to use your rolladens (if you are lucky enough to have them) to let in fresh air in the mornings, and close them before it gets hot. I didn't actually manage to master this technique the first go round, even though I tried. One time, it was so hot in the house, I filled the tub with as cold a temperature of water as I could manage, and the kids and I sat in the tub in bathing suits in order to cool down. The older kids STILL talk about it now, and this happened 3 years ago, when they were 4 and 6. I really think it is one of their favorite early memories of Germany.

Able to run free! The movie theater is in the upper right of the frame.

Monster Tot LOVES to slide.

What to do...what to do?

Girly Girl likes to think Monster Tot needs help...perfect excuse to go on the slide without looking like an uncool big kid! lol

What are some of your favorite summertime memories from childhood?