Little Men

My parents watched the boys for the 10 days that we were gone to Germany. It was torture leaving them for that long! But they had a great time. They got to spend lots of time with Nana, Papa, Sarah, Kerry, Ryan, and Shannon (my brother's new wife, who Dallin has a MAJOR crush on). Little Ethan really grew up during that time: he cut his first tooth, had his first birthday (I am the WORST mother-- I wasn't there for his first birthday!), learned how to drink from a straw, and started walking! We came back and he's really grown up! He's starting to really assert himself and let it be known when he wants something. Today at church, Devin had him for the last two hours and he lead Devin all around, touching everything and looking in all the classroom windows. Ethan would point to where he wanted to go, and would grunt (or cry) if he didn't get his way. He also has been really wanting to do everything the big brothers are doing. It will be so fun to see them play and interact as they grow up. They're such sweet boys!

We got it!

We got the apartment - well, townhouse- we wanted in Ulm! Here are some pictures:

This is the living room/dining room area that goes out to the back patio. The tall weeds have been taken out and there's a small grass area there now. The kitchen is also on this level. It's where I was standing when I took this picture. See previous post to see pictures of our *bare* kitchen. :)

This is one of three bedrooms on the second floor. I love how there are lots of windows in all the rooms. Something strange about this room is the door. If you look closely at the picture, you will notice there is no balcony to walk out on since you are on the second story. Well, there is a glass barrier on the lower half of the door so in case you lost your mind and wanted to walk outside, there would be something to bring you back to reality. I think it's a little weird that it was put there in the first place. Maybe they ran out of windows.



There, they did put one balcony in. :) This is the third floor. Devin's standing in our room, and there's a loft area also on this floor.



Right outside our front door, there is a "water way." I'm not sure if it's a canal or little stream or what, but I really love the sound of rushing water, so I'm OK with whatever it is. :)

This is a picture of the little "city center" of our neighborhood. It has lots of cute shops and a bakery, ice cream shop, butcher, hair salon, etc. There are also a few kindergartens in the neighborhood, so when they open up after break, we'll try to enroll the kids. Almost everything we need (including Devin's work) is within walking distance, which is a huge change from our house in Arizona, where everything is a half hour drive! :)


There is also a basement with a big bedroom, storage room, and laundry room, but I didn't take any pictures. So, there's lots of room for visitors. :)

House hunting in Ulm

We made it to Ulm for a house hunting trip! It has been a very interesting experience for us. We are learning lots of differences between housing in the US and Germany. :) First of all, let me explain the pictures. They are of an apartment we are hoping to get (we'll find out in the morning...). The bottom picture is of the wires sticking out of the ceiling for a light fixture. The top one is of the kitchen. Yes, there are no cabinets, sink, stove, fridge, etc. German apartments do not come with pretty much anything but the walls, and I guess the doors. We provide all the "equipment." I guess everyone goes to Ikea for that. Another interesting thing is that none of the rooms have closets! I never knew that, and our agent didn't even think to mention it-- she thought it was weird that all our rooms had them! :) Anyway, despite the differences, I think we found two that we really like. We'll find out tomorrow- hopefully- which one we can get, so I will post more pictures later.

Devin & I have been in Ulm since Sunday morning. We went to church in Frankfurt right after we got here. It was all in German, which was interesting for us, because we don't speak much at all right now, but I guess we should get used to it, because that's what we'll be getting for the next year in Ulm. There is a possibility that one lady will translate for us over headphones, which would be wonderful, but I'm not sure. After church, we drove to Ulm. We had our first experience driving on the Autobon (I'm sure I misspelled that), which was sometimes scary and sometimes fun. :) It took us a little bit to figure out what the road signs meant. We got to Ulm Sunday evening and ate dinner and crashed. The 9-hour time change has taken us a few days to get used to.

It seems that 90% of our time is spent in confusion. Hopefully we can learn some essential German words and things will become a lot easier. People, though, for the most part, seem very nice and eager to help. Most people know at least some English. Harry Potter is playing in English tomorrow at the theater here, so we will try to make that showing tomorrow night. :) The food here hasn't been too bad. There have been some really good things like apple strudel, bread, ham, and cheese. There is also beer everywhere! They also have a LOT of juices everywhere (tons of different kinds like banana, carrot, etc.), and lots of ice cream shops. It seems like everywhere we walk, there is someone with an ice cream cone!

We left our boys with my parents in Arkansas, and from what I've been hearing from them, they've been having a ball. It's been so strange to be without them for so long! We will be so glad to see them.