Goodbye Germany!

The Murnane family, 8 bags, and 5 carryons packed up on September 4th and began our journey back to the States. The kids were great the entire trip regardless of sleep deprivation.

On our first part of the flight from Stuttgart to Atlanta Molly had a grumpy old man sit in front of her. Molly kept her backpack under the seat in front of her (just airline rules require...my daughter the rule follower) and at times had to pull the bag of tricks out to keep busy. Now mind you, this is an 8 hour flight. The grouch kept turning around and looking at her. Just as his mouth was about to open to say something to her, mama bear opened up some whoop a$##. His major complaint..she is really bumping into my chair a lot, my solution, put your recliner up or move...it's 8 hours deal with it! Probably not too nice, but I was tired and NOBODY messes with my kids. He didn't say a word the rest of the trip.

The bathroom in Stuttgart airport. You should have seen the terror on Gracie's face when she opened the door to this! Thank goodness there were "regular" stalls too. I think you can all guess what my first thought was...

Jack ready to get away from all of us.

We were lucky enough to have a 5 hour layover in Atlanta. My sister, brother in law, niece and nephew were nice enough to come see us in the airport!!

The crew!

They had so much fun goofin' off in the airport. I'm sure some travelers did not appreciate it, but oh well!

It was a great 9 months. Quick, but great! There are things we will miss (the beer, traveling, bretzels, German pastries, the beer, croissants, the beer, the language, the neighbors...) and things we won't miss (the lack of personal space, the incessant smoking, missing family...), but it is good to be home and we are so glad we had the opportunities we had.

The blogging is not over for me. Some time soon I will start up "Yet Another New Road". I have no idea what I'll write, but there is something always going on in our lives!!!

Kids' First Professional Sporting Event!

In an attempt to squeeze every last "European experience" possible out of our time left here we got tickets to go see VFB Stuttgart fussball. VFB is the professional local team. It was quite an experience and one we are sooo glad we had!

Michael got second row tickets so the kids could be up close to all the excitement. The game was incredible and the fans were NUTS!!! I can only equate this to going to see your favorite professional team play here. Most Americans prefer the NFL, some the NHL and for the real wackos...NBA. But here everyone goes to see soccer.

We took the train in and out of the game to try to avoid some of the traffic. The trains were jammed! Once we got to our seats we were thrilled to see that the row in front of us smoked more than a chain smoker on their worst day. It reminded me of why Michael and I stopped going to bars before they banned smoking in most of them.

We were able to get some great footage of the fans, but we are still working on downloading it to the sight. Their was a fan section that chanted the ENTIRE game!

VFB Fussballschule

We were lucky enough to get Molly into a German soccer camp this summer. She was a little nervous the first day, but now that it is over she is thrilled that she went. It was a great growing experience for her.
The first day camp started at 9:30. There were probably 40 kids (all of whom were German). Of the 40 kids, there were 4 girls. All the kids showed up in regular street clothes and picked up their uniforms. The uniforms included a VFB jersey, shorts, socks, warm up pants and a jacket.
There was a 20 minute introduction in German for me and a separate 20 minute intro for Molly. I kept looking over at the poor kid wondering how in the hell she was going to survive the week when all the instruction was in German. God love the kid!! I had no idea what the guy was telling all the parents, but I did catch make sure they drink a lot of water...ok check!
Speaking of water, the camp had individual water bottles for the players, but it was all sparkling water. So "the American" brought her own water bottle.
Lunchtime came...the camp also fed the kids. Lunchtime was a hot meal served together as a team. The kids were given 1 hour and 15 minutes to sit and eat together. As the coach who spoke English put it, "we are trying to build a team, so we encourage the kids to eat together and all eat the same". We all know MOlly can be a bit picky when it comes to food, but she tried what they gave her everyday. Some of it she liked (schnitzel and pommes) and others not so much (pasta).
She met one good friend who spoke some English. So the two of them tried to figure out what the other was saying and in turn learned a little about the other language. Molly is definitely our most adventurous when it comes to trying the language so this was perfect for her. When I asked her if she knew what was going on she said, "no not really I just follow the kids".

One of the coaches (Ben) spoke great English and made sure Molly understood what was going on and was very encouraging to her. Every time he saw her he gave her a high five and asked her how she was doing. Molly also said all the kids knew her name (sounded like MOE LEE). They would try some English and say, "Moe lee have you fun?" Group picture the last day.

I had to take this picture of this counselor's calves...I know my Lintz side will appreciate the size. This man was huge..all muscle! I think we may have found a relative!

This man is a SUPERDAD. The last day of camp was family day and the parents were invited to play the kids. When walking up to the field all the other dads were carrying their cleats and shin guards. Poor Michael was not prepared for the game, it was a bit slippery. However, he was out there with Molly and she had a grin the whole time to show her appreciation.

**If you are wondering why I was not playing, someone had to take the pictures!!! Plus I think I pulled a hammy on the walk in!

Parents meeting before the game with the kids. Yup, all in German. I'm sure Michael caught all of what they were saying.

Second day of camp!

Molly's the one with the braids flying!

Hotel for 10 days...

Between moving out of our house and being able to fly back to the States we are staying in a Marriott for 10 days. 10 days is actually a short stay. There are some people here waiting to get into a house who have been in the hotel for 90 days!!! Dear Lord can you imagine???
Thank god the we have two connecting rooms. As the family entered our living quarters for the next 10 days Michael was quick to lay down the ground rules...no kids allowed in the adult room. That lasted for 10 seconds.
Day One Molly had soccer camp so Jack and Gracie were trying to fill the time with something. As I was emailing, Jack got some tape and began to tape himself to the floor. As soon as Gracie found out what he was doing she was more than happy to help! Gotta love kids' imaginations!!

Moving Day

Moving Day is here and it really is a stressful day for me! I really hope this book and sunshine can get me through. Damn, where the hell did I put my beer and bon bons?

Paris for Molly's birthday

When we asked Molly what she wanted for her birthday months ago we fully expected her to ask for soccer stuff, Polly Pockets, etc. But she said she wanted to go to Paris. Sure, doesn't every 8 year old want that???
Paris was not high on my list of places to see mostly due to the people I have met from Paris...not the nicest of people. However, the majority of the people we encountered were very nice.
We got into Paris on Saturday and checked into our hotel in the rain. The room we got was by far the smallest we have ever had. All three kids had to sleep on the floor because there was no room for cots. Jack slept under a table and the girls slept on either side of the bed. Michael and I enjoyed a king size bed that was actually pretty comfortable. When the kids asked us why they couldn't sleep in the bed with us Michael was quick to answer "because your name is not on the reservation". The kids of course moaned about how uncomfortable they were on the floor which only made Michael and I laugh harder.

Dinner the first night at an awesome French restaurant. After dinner the waiter brought out ice cream to the kids. The ice cream came in these little animals. The kids right away LOVED France.

Waiting for the trains into Paris. The train system here is incredible! There is no need for a car. you can get anywhere in the city fairly easily and quickly. The trains somewhat freaked me out with how close you can stand and there is no guard rail.

The Louvre. We didn't go in because of course it was raining and we would have had to stand in line for at least an hour in the rain and then go in to see art that the kids could really care less about. So we peaked through this window and saw some cool sculptures.

Ahhhh look it's raining again. We're in front of the glass pyramid in front of the Louvre.

Notre Dame cathedral in Paris (more rain). This was about as close as we got. We had plans to go in, but the kids weren't real big on standing in line in the rain to go to church (as Jack put it). That makes a parent proud!

Reason one we didn't go into the cathedral.

More of a reason we didn't go into the cathedral. The line was huge!!

Molly was bored in the room and Michael was telling her when he was on hockey trips they used to do handstands on the wall and then do push ups. We were all curious if he could still do it. He did two and pulled a couple muscles in the process.

If dad can do it so can I...

Ahhh the gift that she didn't expect... her violin.

Waiting in line for the Eiffel Tower (yes it rained).

First stop was the second floor of the tower. Due to the rain they posted that the top was not open. Once we got to the 2nd floor we realized the top was open. Michael and Jack were thrilled, Molly and I were freaked out and Gracie was quiet.

Crap...we're going up there???

The top...we made it. The elevator up was a glass elevator. I wanted to puke, Molly was petrified, Jack and dad thrilled and Gracie once again quiet...oh and yes it's still raining.

The boys at the top.

View from the top.

If you look closely I think my knuckles are white!

Ahhh the French are so smart, beer served in the tower! An immediate mood lifter!

Chips for the kids, beer for the adults!

Looking up the Champs Elysees at the Arc de Triumphe (very small at the end of the picture). Thanks to the copious amount of rain this was as close as we got to the Arc.

Molly's birthday dinner. Filet...most expensive thing ordered that night.

Worth every Euro...not a scrap left!

All in all a good time. Lots of rain kept us from seeing everything we wanted to see so we'll just call it our "Paris Light" trip.