Getting Settled

Phew! We've made it this far! Our household goods came in two shipments last Wednesday and Thursday. We are living in the midst of boxes and packing paper but we are SO HAPPY to be in our new house! From here on out I should be able to start making regular blog posts again.

It appears most of our household goods arrived in good condition with the exception of a few things ... when the packers nailed our crates shut some of the nails punctured our wooden furniture that was placed along the edge of the crate ... go figure. Al's lawnmower also had some damage and is currently in the repair shop. Our large bedroom mirror was also shattered but all in all things have been worse in the past so we're not to upset over these damages.

The house has been slow to come together. Our biggest obstacle has been dealing with no closets. German homes don't have closets, instead they buy "shrunks"; they are stand-alone wardrobes. The military issues us 4 shrunks; 1 for each of us and then 1 for Al's military gear. At first we were like "no biggie" but then as you start to unpack boxes and you have no place to put shoes or linens or towels or random things you stash in closets it's like "whoa"! Our storage and shrunks will have it's own blog in the future ... as well as a whole bunch of other unique things we're adapting to. :o)

Al's parents left yesterday after receiving the sad news that Al's grandfather passed away. It was a rough trip for Al's parents. Al's dad spent a large portion of their stay in the hospital here with a few medical issues that arose and then finishing the trip with the death of Al's grandpa wrapped up the trip on a sad note. Please send your prayers to his family.

I'll wrap up the blog with some photo's and a video of Kelty that I adore! Here we go!

Kelty checking himself out in the window while we were waiting for our shipment to arrive

Fun in his box!

Same box but with Daddy's extra touch!

Al and I stopped by a little place to pick up lunch one day. A lot of bratwurst and a little bun!

Kelty and I were outside the house looking at flowers when I heard"clip clop clip clop", this is actually not that uncommon! A horse-drawn wagon is a mode of travel here. Cool!

We walked down the hill to a little grocery store. I bough some wine, fresh pretzels and cake from the bakery. You bring your own basket or bags while shopping here ... otherwise you'll be carrying your purchase piece by piece in your arms. I actually saw a guy riding his bike the other day and his bike basket was filled with fresh produce ... so cool!

The other day we stopped by a bakery/cafe in our town of Otterberg. After taking a seat the lady brought Kelty a soft pretzel ... he chewed the heck out of the pretzel and it kept him content for at least 1/2 hour! I bought him another pretzel at the bakery and he ate it while we walked back home. Since his gums/teeth have been bothering him lately ... this is a great teether!

Kelty's room was the first room done in the house. We wanted to get him settled so he new this was home and we were done bouncing him all over the place. I love his reaction to his room ... it made me so happy!