Aaron's BACK!

Aaron was gone for the week for a training trip to Szczecin, Poland & Berlin, Germany. He flew there with 50 other NATO officers & civilians for official business but also found a little time to see the sights. He hung out with two colleagues in particular, one from Poland and one from Germany who work with him at his office. The stories these two men had to tell, really changed Aaron's perspective on life and enhanced his trip. Christian, the German, told of his childhood in East Berlin (he is Aaron's age) and how his father smuggled him (age 4) and his infant sister (sedated) in the trunk of a car to get through the Berlin Wall checkpoint. His father got a hold of some counterfeit official paperwork that made him look like a diplomat, which allowed him across. His father then ditched his car, got Christian and his sister on a plane to Frankfurt and defected. I don't do the story justice, it really had me on the edge of my seat. Jersey from Poland told Aaron of his time there during the Solidarity movement. He was one of the confidants of Lech Walesa and helped him get to power. Jersey had to spend time in the Communist party support his family (the only way he could survive during those dark times), but the entire time, was working against them. Even when ordered to kill his own people, he and his men made a pact to shoot over their heads, instead of shooting to kill. He wrote a book about his efforts, his experiences and his relationship with Walesa and gave Aaron a signed copy. Makes you thankful to be an American, and really makes your own problems pretty trivial. These are just two of the amazing stories & European history tales he learned about during this trip. Aaron visited the Brandenberg Gate, Potsdam (where Truman, Stalin & Churchill met to plan post war Europe), inside the German Parliament and of course, the seaside town of Szczecin. Being back to Germany made Aaron sooooooo happy (you may remember his time in Munich for Oktoberfest back in the day....ha ha or you may not remember, we don't remember much) but Aaron said he gorged himself on German food and beer again which made the trip WORTH EVERY MINUTE! LOL. At one point during the trip, all 50 officers lined up under a military war monument, and had an official group photo taken. All of a sudden hoardes of tourists saw this and started taking pics...Aaron said it was a pretty spectacular site, to see all of these international officers in full Class A service dress with Aaron's 3-star German general at the front. Afterwards, some tourists came up to Aaron to take photos with the "American" one...so that was pretty darn cool.

Avery started school full time this week. In the beginning, I was not thrilled to learn that her school is full time but to be honest, she loves it, and is showing no signs of distress. She did well for her first day, but when I picked her up and put her in the car at 3:15, she immediately fell asleep. It was a LONG DAY!! During the day they do have a "rest" time, and Avery and I worked together this weekend to make her a special pillow for that. We had fun picking out the colors and button. We got an IKEA small pillow and made a washable cover with a pretty pink towel and a friend's sewing machine. (For some reason IKEA doesn't sell covers for this small pillow?) Easy project, but Avery showed EVERYONE at school her work. Too cute. I am still deciding if she will stay all day all week, I have the ability to choose her schedule if I want...she will let ME KNOW how she is doing...I'm keeping a close eye. I really miss her.

Tahoe left our yard again this weekend. Aaron let him out without his collar (a big no-no) and we both forgot he was out there. There is a partial fence and a hedge, but Tahoe barrels through the hedge sometimes when he sees a cat or just wants to follow a scented trail. Aaron left to walk to the market when I realized Tahoe was NOT in the house or in the yard! I literally threw the kids in the car, and jumped in with my pajamas on and starting driving through the neighborhood on Sunday morning (early). Avery, Logan & I all were yelling for TAHOE!!!!!!!!!!! So now all of the Grannes neighborhood knows I am the loud American nut. I couldn't find him, or Aaron at the store (I stopped there too and ran up & down the aisles) so I drove home to find Aaron looking very confused, and Tahoe standing next to him. Apparently Tahoe had come home on his own because he hadn't eaten breakfast yet. I love that blonde boy SOOOO MUCH but he is making me gray.

Our car & household goods are almost here. In fact, probably both will be here in two days. I CAN'T WAIT to get our stuff here...although there is something to be said for living simply, it's been really great and relatively easy. But 3 months is enough...I want my shit.

*UPDATE* Our car is here, and can be picked up in a day or two. Our household goods shipment is NOT here yet, and was actually split up in two. So only 10 crates are close to being here (early Sept). We have 18 total. But which crates? The beds? The clothes? The toys? Who knows.......*sigh*

School Days

Well, this week starts the school year for the greater Stavanger area, and we started our week at the International School of Stavanger. Aaron is on a business trip this week to Poland & Berlin, so I am flying solo right now.

All I have to say is wow, what a school! ISS has a beautiful campus and consists of students from pre-K to 12th grade, about 700 students from over 40 countries. Americans make up many of the students, with Great Britain having the most students attending there. Avery doesn't make the cut-off for Kindergarten, so she is starting her third year of preschool (she should earn a degree for this!). There are two pre-K classes each with about 18 kids.

Monday was "Meet the Teacher" day and I took her to meet Miss Anthea Demos, her lead teacher. Miss Anthea is from Austin, TX and taught Kindergarten for the past 6 years there. She also attended the ISS as a child as her father was in the oil industry here when she was about 8 years old. She is adorable, sweet, very smart & organized and right away Avery warmed up to her. I was so nervous that day but Avery walked right in, introduced herself, sat down at the table and started telling her all about herself, her brother, her dog, horses, unicorns, dogs, cats, our new house, etc. There was not one ounce of hesitation or anxiety coming from this little big girl. I was such a proud mama. The classroom is gorgeous, and there are two other helper teachers, Miss Lizzie & Mrs. Alison there to help teach the 4B "Busy Bees". I was handed a huge welcome packet and had to fill out some forms. We went on a quick tour of the school and that was it....for the first day.

On Tuesday, we had to wake up early because her school day starts at 0830. We headed out to the school with Logan at around 0815...it's about 3 miles away on a country road, driving right along Hafrsfjord. Our house is absolutely in the perfect location for so many things!! She had her lunch, her backpack, her rain gear (they go out 2 times a day in all weather) and I had all of the paperwork to get her registered. We found her cubby & coat hook outside her classroom and she gave me a big hug. And that was it....that's when it happened....ugh I completely started sobbing!!! The thing is about this kid, she understands that mommies sometimes cry when we are happy, not always sad. She recognized this, hugged me, patted me on the back a few times and whispered to me "it's ok mama, I'm gonna be fine, this is gonna be great". And then of course I REALLY LOST IT THEN!! Miss Lizzie saw the whole thing and rushed over with a box of tissues for me. HA HA so embarrassing! Parents could stay for the morning if we wanted to, but I didn't feel the need. Avery was doing great, talking to the other kids at the table, and besides...I had Logan with me. I started to leave when Logan finally realized he was leaving his sister behind....HE then completely lost it! He went face down like a big "X" in the middle of the carpet, screaming "Avery! Avery! I stay with Avery!" and pointing at her. These two have spent every single moment together for the past 3 months and have bonded so wonderfully...and Logan liked it exactly that way!! Poor thing, it took us another 30 minutes to get out of the building...step by step. Which turned out to be a good thing because on the way out I met a woman named Heidi...

Heidi has lived here in Norway for 5 years and has two boys (Fraser & Ewan) about 6 months behind each of our kids. She is a beautiful blond New Yorker who is married to a Scot who works for one of the oil companies here. She speaks Norwegian too, and talked with me for about an hour outside (the little ones played on the playground) about all things Stavanger, Norway. I was lucky to meet her. My Norwegian friend Ingerlise, from our first week here at the hotel, joined us with her little one and she & Heidi hit it off immediately, too. And then...then they started talking!!! Whew I was like a sponge taking in all of the information these two were passing...so despite all of the emotion & tears, the morning turned out super great.

Well Logan finally let me put him in the car and we headed home. I am keeping Logan home a few months as I research Norwegian preschools for him. He is too young to attend ISS and there are SO MANY options for attending Norwegian programs...I just have to pick a school and get him on the waiting list. I am NOT ready to drop him off ANYWHERE!!! LOL. Half days only this week for Avery, I pick her up at noon. Next week is FULL DAY, 5-days a week! I wonder how I am going to handle THAT!? I know one thing for sure though...my girl will be just fine! xoxo

*UPDATE* I picked Avery up at noon and she ran out of the classroom to give me a big hug. She said she was really good and didn't cry! She told me about her new friends April, Jack & Elizabeth.... (I told ya!)

Now it's a HOME, not just a house

We moved into our house on Monday and we couldn't be happier. I was really tired of living out of suitcases for the past 2 months and really needed some room to spread out. The kids could not be more thrilled either, they have a gymnasium size living room to race cars, color, and to roll coins the farthest (you'd be amazed at the games these two make up when they have hardly any toys). They play horsey on top of each other, wrestle, and tag, who-can-find-the-biggest-slugs, who-can-tear-down-the-neighbors-driveway-on-the-tricycle-fastest, and hide & seek but we can never find Logan. We always have to call out and have him answer LOL.

Our household goods don't arrive for another 3 weeks, so we have loaner furniture and I've been to IKEA quite a bit buying rugs, linens for the loaner beds and toys. I've been cooking every day and I am starting to enjoy it for once. I found the best grocery store just a 5 minute drive away. We also have a small store only a 5 minute walk away through a forested trail and we've strolled there with Tahoe a few times this week for fresh produce. Remember that baguette we talked about at the hotel? We found out which bakery it was from, and that too is only a 5 minute drive away. We went there on Sunday and it was a MADHOUSE...they were pulling the breads & danish right out of the ovens and into the baskets, people were wall to wall trying to get the freshest breads...it was AWESOME!

Tahoe has walked himself around the neighborhood a few times. Not sure if he is looking for Arlington, Virginia or not, but we found him sniffing someone's garden on our way home from the store the other day. He got out through an unlocked door. I freaked and slammed on the brakes! He is not the runaway type, he is just curious and he came over to the car right away. He would NEVER leave me! We have a few resident cats (which European city doesn't?) and Tahoe is not so tolerant of them any longer. He darts after them now and we are always yelling for him to COME HOME! There are minimal cars here on our secluded street so the kids & Tahoe can play right outside our house. It's a great location for SO many reasons. We can walk out our front door and down the hill right to the edge of the fjord. A short km walk to the right and we are at the THREE SWORDS monument & beach where Tahoe dives into the salt water. He gets that puppy face every time he swims. All of our neighbors have come right up to us to meet us all. Who says Norwegians aren't friendly??

I also have my European husband back. He has stripped his DC persona and is back to the Aaron I knew 10 years ago. He's always been super great but the Pentagon can change even Ghandi I tell ya! Mr. Mayor talks to EVERYONE he sees and shakes hands, and smiles so brightly, he is definitely in his element. He can mountain bike to work and is outside most of the day with the kids. He worked so incredibly hard to get us here, it was definitely our worst move yet. He moved us all on short notice too, he was one stressed puppy but now.....He is one happy CAMPER!

I am meeting a few of the wives at the base and everyone is welcoming. There are many spouses groups: the Northern Lights for Americans, Jatta for all of NATO, then there are OIL COMPANY women's groups also. Then there are subgroups like a fitness/running club, quilting, shopping, cooking, hiking, drinking (just kidding). So the first meeting of all of these groups is in September where I will meet all the women and hopefully connect with a club or two. There is a change of command for the new USAF Brig Gen arriving and the ceremony is Thursday so most of the base will be present. This is a geographically separated unit so the base population is really small, but hopefully we will all be one big happy military family. Because when you are so far from home, your military family is all you've got....xoxo