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*