Sea Shipment has arrived, Bonn, and Movie Park

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted.  I've had an entire household to unpack!  Our shipment arrived Wednesday, September 11th.  The rental furniture company was supposed to arrive to take their stuff at 8.  They arrived at 715.  Love German promptness!  Luckily we were mostly ready for them. 

They movers did take as much of the boxes and packaging back with them that we could get to while they were here.  They also said that they will come back to pick up the rest.  There is ALOT of packaging. 

 

As of right now we are 95% unpacked.  That does not include the boxes that aren't being unpacked, or the garage I guess.  Last area to be unpacked will be my scrapbooking/crafting room.  Can't wait!  The only minor problem was getting our mattress to the 3rd floor, they had to hoist it up out of the backyard thought the porch door!  (No, I didn't get a picture, I'm bitter.)

Last Friday night the kid's school had an Oktoberfest-themed Welcome Back Party.  They actually sold beer right at the school, right at the playground.  I still can't wrap my head around it.  But wouldn't mind taking this tradition back to the USA with us!


Ryan did finally get his cast off!  He is very happy and gave it a good, long scratch when the doctor took it off.  He is playing soccer for his school, ISD, and so far has had 2 games.  He is enjoying it very much.  Game 1 was in the rain.  I didn't enjoy that so much.

Last weekend we made a day trip to Bonn, Germany.  There they have the gummy bear factory store.  No one needs this much gummy candy, but we have it. 

Bonn is the birthplace of Beethoven. 

Also, we happened upon this recreation, right in the middle of a street, of a medieval city wall and gate. 

Today, we took the kids to Movie Park.  It was a very cool amusement part about 35 minutes north of us.  We would recommend to anyone visiting us with kids.  (Have we mentioned we want people to come visit?  We are already making plans!)  Think of Disneyland, but with SpongeBob and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  The kids and Mike rode EVERYTHING.  The weather wasn't beautiful, but we were fine with it because it kept the crowds away.  We rarely stood in line for anything. 

Yes, I was very excited for this pic.  Rafael counts as a celebrity in my book!

Ryan loved the stunt show!  Bank robbers blowing things up and being tossed off buildings???  Yes, please!

Never saw a ride like this one before, pretty cool.  They have a lot of similar rides to ones in America.

 

They did the Dora Log Flume like 4 times.  But can someone PLEASE explain to me how this is supposed

to be fun?  Do any of them look like they are having fun?  I'm not a ride person, I don't get it.

Last weekend we also went to see a potential baseball team for the kids.  Yes, Erin will have to go back to baseball and she is not happy about it.  But as long as she gets to hit a ball with a bat she is ok.  Ryan is pretty excited too.  I don't know if the neighbors all appreciate Ryan's love of baseball.  He loves pitching his wiffle balls to himself in the backyard, and occasionally they land next door!  No complaints so far though. 

Cologne, Routine, and a 725th Birthday

31.08.2013 - I know you are all concerned, but yes, Mike survived his first weekend away from college football.  We were able to watch the Penn State game…so lucky me.  The Sling Box might have been our best purchase for this adventure (The Sling Box is set up at Rick & Linda’s house to their cable box.  It sends the feed from their TV to either Mike’s phone or a computer.  Also, once our TV arrives, he has a ‘sling catcher’ which will display the feed onto the TV.  Since you asked)

 Ich bin ein Berliner

 

Sunday, we took the kids to Cologne for the day.   We arrived at the Dom just in time for noon mass.  Perfect timing, unless you ask the kids.  They were “surprised” that we were going to church.  I don’t know that they liked the surprise.  Mass was 100% in German obviously, but we were able to follow along. 

 

Side note, I was very surprised when it was time to go up for Communion, the normally ordered, efficient Germans simply rush the Altar.  First come, first serve, no lines, just chaos.  Cologne was also having a triathlon, so that was interesting to see.  We were tired, so we left a lot more of Cologne to explore next time

                                      

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We continue to fall more and more into our new routine.  Mike started work Monday.  He has about a 45 minute drive, which is about 20 minutes longer than home.  He calculated that he walks at least 3 kilometers a day between lunch and walking to the car, so that is great.  

 

The kids and I are have been taking the train to school.  I don’t know that the fun of taking the train will wear off.  It’s relaxing, and the kids see all their friends on the way to school. 

 

We booked our flight to Italy for the kid’s fall break.  Less than €300 for the 4 of us round trip.  Can’t beat that!  Also, we have our first booked guest coming early that week.  Mike’s Aunt Diane is coming for 3 days in October!

Monday I took Ryan in to have his cast checked.  They took another x-ray and said that it needs one more week. So hopefully this Monday he will be cast-free!

I was able to pick up some sweet new cabinets cheap, so we now have some storage.  I can’t wait to fill up a good junk drawer!  They will look much better between with a bigger TV in between them!  Our real furniture and stuff comes on Wednesday. 

 

07.09.2013 - This year, Düsseldorf is celebrating their 725 anniversary.  Crazy!  They have all kinds of events going on all weekend.  Musical performances, steam engine demonstrations, people in costume, etc. all over the Altstadt.  Very cool.  Ryan particularly thought the sword fighting skit was hilarious.  I wonder how much he would have loved it if he spoke German!

 

 Who gave these kids a bow & arrow????

 Ryan nailed one!

 

 

After that, we headed down to Cologne to a party that one of Mike’s colleagues was having.  It was in a very nice park with a playground and a lake.  We met a lot of great people, so friendly.  Ryan was able to work on his soccer skills with some of the boys, while Erin worked on her Bocce ball.  Her and some of the other kids also got to take a row boat out on the lake. 

I’m gong to be honest, we took the scenic route home by taking the long, slow, WRONG train.  You win some, you loose some.  But we made it home in time for Ryan to be able to Skype with Jack so that was great.