Trip to Ireland, Spring Break, 2012

Friday  the kids didn't go to school since we were leaving bright and early to fly to Ireland.  We left at about 5:50 am this morning to drive to the airport in Germany which is about 1.5 hours away.  We cramed the 7 of us in Jason's tight car and our bags.  We took the popular low budget europeon airline here, Ryan Air.  It was ok.  But here you have to pay for each bag you check, so the 7 of us got our stuff into 3 duffel bags and one small suitcase.  And then 3 of the bags couldn't be more then 33 lbs, and one 44 lbs.  Plus 7 backpacks!  But this was a very tight and stuffed fit for Jason's car with us and the bags.  This airline also doesn't serve food or drinks unless you pay for them, and there is no pocket in front of your seat to store anything.  But the flight was only a little under 2 hours so not too bad. 
The airport in Germany is just a one level, very basic airport that this airline flys out of.  We paid for priority boading so we could board first and then all sit together.   When they are ready to board the plane you walk outside the gate doors and down a path to your plane and up the stairs to the plane.   Of course Amber had slept the whole way to the airport so she doesn't sleep on the plane, and then naps on and off the rest of the day- ugh! 
We flew to the Kerry airport in Ireland.  It looks like we were landing in the middle of green fields.  This is the smallest airport I had ever seen.  It is just a little one level building with 2 gates.  Can't get too lost here.  So we exit the plane on the tarmack and walk into a room and right there is the baggage claim.  Then you walk down a hall and you are outside.  Here someone from our rental car met us and gave us the car.  We rented a Ford.  It is the same car Jason had before he got his new car.  So it is like a mini minivan, so it was good for all the driving we were going to do here with all of us as it seats 7.    But here you do drive on the opposite side of the road.  So it was freaking Jason out for a few minutes.  And as you leave the airport there is a bright yellow sign reminding you to drive on the left side.

 Jason did good, but it was also freaky going around the roundabouts like this.  You turn left to enter them.  Everytime we stopped to get out Jason was going to the wrong side of the car to get back in. 
From the airport we drove to the house we rented in Killarney about 20-30 min. away.  The house is a nice size house up on a hill overlooking some fields, a few houses and then the mountains. 

We open the door and there is oil, actually oil all over the floors.  The kids had taken off their shoes and were sliding all over the floor.  It was gross.  So we told them to go upstairs and play.  We didn't even know what to do with this.  There was no cleaning towels or something to clean this up with.  The house was also freezing.  It was cold and cloudy here today.  So Jason's dad gets the heat, water heater and the oil furance going.  We unload everything and then go back out to eat lunch.
On the way to the house we had passed a Irish restaurant with a pub attached so we went there.  The food was good.  We were happy everything was in English.  Sometimes with their accent it is hard to understand what they are saying so we just had to keep asking them to repeat it.  Soups are very popular here, so a few of us had the potato and leek soup and it was wonderful. 
After lunch we went back to the house to wait for the owner to show up.  She was 40 min. late and we were still freezing.  Finally she showed up and we went over a few things.  She said she was going to mop up the oil that she had meant to get here before we came in but never made it.   A bunch of lights were out in the house, at least every room almost had a light out.  So she brought a bunch of bulbs over and said if we wanted to replace them we could.  Here she said to heat the house can be very expensive so we were going to have to pay for the heat and electricity for our week.  So she recommended that when we are not here to turn off the heat and then turn it on while we are home in the evening and then off or low at night.  So Jason's dad was our heater man, turning things on and off during the day.  The heat was put out by those european registers so if we turned off the heat before bed it stayed warm upstairs during the night. 
The house was suppose to be a bed and breakfast for this owner but then due to other events she and her son decided to rent out this house and they had built one more right next to it as well.  So upstairs there were 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.   Downstairs were 2 more bedrooms and a long family room, long dining room and then kitchen.  But the floors in this place squeaked so badly that it was so noisy anytime anyone walked on them, especially the upstairs floors. 
Three of the bedrooms upstairs had 3 beds in them, so they said this place slept like 19 people b/c of all the beds they put in some rooms. 
After we met with the owner we drove to downtown Killarney.  It is a cute small town.  It reminded me of our hometown at home.  There was a lot of shopping and restaurants and pubs. 

We walked around for a bit, booked a tour for the next day and then went to dinner at this great place that happened to be open early.  Here restaurants don't open until 6:30pm.  The food was great, and it was a warm and cozy little place.  After dinner we headed to the grocery store to pick up food for breakfasts and some lunch stuff if we needed it.  We loved that everything was in English!

Sat.  As I mentioned earlier this house creaks very badly and when Jacob got up at 4:30 in the morning to look for klneex and was walking in the hallway he woke everyone up!  They had no klneex or any type of shower soap at all in the house. 
We ended up postponing our tour until Sunday so today instead we went and saw the Muckross House.  We got a little lost driving there, as Jason's phone died with the GPS on it and I forgot to pack my GPS from here so all we had was some random piece of paper with part of the town on it.  Even Jacob asked at one point why we were driving around in a circle!  We did see a gas station called "Amber"

So after we found it, it is like a mini castle.

 It was built in 1843 in the Victorian Era.  It is very pretty and the neat thing was we got to tour most of the rooms.   A lot of times when we do castle tours you can only visit part of the rooms.  It was 2 floors and then a basement.  The first family to live here had 4 children and they had a side of the house with a bedroom, playroom and school room, dining room and their own separate staircase. 
When this family owned it I believe was when the Queen of England came over to visit and stayed with them for a few days.  They had sent her an offer to stay there when they found out she was coming to Ireland but not for 6 more years.  So in those 6 years before the Queen came they remodeled the house and gave the Queen 3 rooms on the 1st floor.  The staff got new uniforms, and they got new silver for the house.  The Queen came with about 100 people/staff.  Needless to say that after this visit the family started having some financial problems b/c of all the money they had spent on things.
The architect that built the house thought ahead that someday they would have running water and put in the pipes and the drains for it.  And the house did get running water, but not for about 30 more years! Crazy that he was able to plan ahead.  So then we saw the master bedroom and the room next to it on one side was the man's dressing room with a portable tub bin that he would have bathed in, and then the toilet chair with a bowl underneath it, yuck!  The other side of the master bedroom used to be a the woman's dressing room, but once the running water came they remodeled that into the bathroom.  After the first family owned it the Guinness family bought it and used it as a hunting lodge since it has a lot of land and is now in the Killarney National Park.  The bedrooms were on the side of the house that faced the Muckross Lake and then the mountains behind the lake.  There are a lot of trails around the property and lake. 

The next man to buy the house bought it for his daughter as a wedding gift, not bad!   After the daughter died the husband donated the house to Ireland and it now sits in the National Park.
The house has more informal nice furniture.  In the basement we saw the wine cellar, the servants weren't trusted with this key only the head butler and the man of the house would have a key to it.  Tea was an expensive commodity and was also not trusted so it was kept in a locked table in the woman's entertaining room.  The servants would bring up the hot water for it and the woman of the house would have a key to the table and mix the teas for her guests.  In this room they also had these shielded things the woman could put by them if the fire was too hot in the fireplace for their faces since their makeup was made out of lead, some aresenic and something else that I can't remember now. 
In the basement up on the wall there were 22 bells of different size.  When a bell rung depending on its size it would have a different sound and the servants would have to know which room was ringing for them to go to.  The kitchen was also in the basement and the servants would have to carry the heavy platters of food, that would also have water underneath the tray to keep them warm, down the basement corridors and then upstairs into the dining room.
It was a very nice tour.
After the tour we walked around the house and down to the lake.  From here we went back to the car and ate our lunches we had packed and then drove to the Torc Waterfall.  It is also in the National Park, but you can drive there and then walk up the path to it.  It was very pretty.  A lot of moss all around it. 

Jason and the kids hiked up a bunch of stairs by it and around the area on top for a bit.
Then we were done and headed back to the grocery store for our daily purchases.  There were no adapter plugs in the house so we had to buy those and then we got some things for dinner to just eat at the house.  Today we found a different bigger grocery store.   It had better prices then the other store and a lot better prices then Luxembourg.  This store was much more American and even had some foods from home.  I wanted to buy things and just put them in my suitcase to take back.  I was able to get a few things back!
The house was so cold when we got home I had my coat on for a few hours before I was warm enough to take it off.  We watched a movie we had rented and Amber put herself down for a late afternoon nap.
Jason did a lot of driving on this trip and a lot of phone calls.  Here is a picture of him on the phone outside the house.

The house was on a hill and the hill had been carved out to build the 2 houses, so the boys ended up outside later digging and playing on the rocks.

 We turned on the fire place and had a nice dinner, and then the adults watched a movie we had rented. 


Sunday the sky cleared up and the sun came out.  We did our tour today of the Gap of Dunloe.  This is where glaciers carved this dramatic mountain pass.  So we met in town at the tourist office and got on a small bus which drove us out to the starting point of it and drops us off. This is also where Kate Kearney's Cottage is.  This was the home to a local beauty who had an illegal drinking house for passing travelers in the mid 19th century.  Now it is a restaurant and gift shop.  From here you got on the jaunting cars, horse pulled buggys.  Only 4 people can fit in one, so Jason and I were with Sean and Amber, and Jason's parents were with Jacob and another man on our tour. 

So this horse ride is about 1 1 /2 hours through this path in the mountains.  It was a bit bumpy esp. when the horse was running.  The man working the horse either walked next to the horse or hopped on the back of the buggy.  This trail takes you through the Gap between 2 mountains on this neat steep path up and down the mountains. 

There are some little lakes and rivers here.  A lot of sheep and rams on the mountain sides.  Those are the white dots in the picture.

 A lot of people on bikes.  Jason biked this about 15 years ago or so when he visited Ireland.  Some people walking, and a few cars.  There are a few homes out here b/c this area is the town of Dunloe.  Talk about a deserted area to live in.  We saw a few deserted stone houses and barns.  At one point the drivers of the buggys stop and yell "Hello" and the sound bounces back to us.  The kids thought that was neat.  Sean tried it but surprisingly wasn't loud enough to make it work.

So here in Ireland everyone we heard spoke English, but some people like the people walking the horses also spoke Gaelic.  This language you have no idea what they are saying.  All the signs on the roads were in both English and Gaelic.
Sometimes they needed to give the horses a break and had us get out and walk. 

On the way down on the other side of the mountains the horse was running quite a bit and Amber fell asleep on my lap. 

Our horse coming to sniff out Jacob!

How anyone could sleep with all that bouncing I do not know!  At the end of the horse ride they drop you off at another cottage and we had lunch.  Their tables were all outside.  We had packed part of our lunches and then had wonderful mushroom soup.  All of us had a bowl of it.  It was yummy!  Today the sun was so bright and we were outside all day, not super warm as we all had like 3 layers of clothes on, but Jason and Sean actually got sun burned on their necks and faces.  This area around here they called the Black Valley because it didn't get electricity here until around 1976, phone service came 25 years ago, and cell phone service 2 years ago!
From here you get on a little motor boat.  Just a rowing boat with a motor on the back so all open.  The problem is we can't find the boat!  It was early for boarding but we just wanted to find it. The sign by the lunch place tells us to go down by this little dock to catch the boat.  We get there and there is a man in another boat that tells us our green boat can't get over here b/c the water level is too low on the lakes right now.  I guess it is way down, like 6 feet or something.  So the man tells us to go back up the path and just follow it around, then other people from our tour get the same instructions from him as well.  So we are all wondering this trail and we walked all the way around this side of the lake and there is no boat dock.  So we head back and are confused where to go.  We end up walking around for like 30 or more minutes just trying to find the boat.  Jason even calls the tour office.  So we go back up to the cottage where we had lunch and ask them where to go and it turns out there is this little trail, it looks like bikes have gone on it and that is it, to the left after you are on the main trail around part of the lake you turn and go on this.  But there are no signs or anything.  So we finally find the boat.  It seats 12 and everyone wears a life jacket.

 It is a cold 1 1/2 hour boat ride through the different lakes and rives that comprise Lakes of Killarney area.

I think this bridge might have been the wishing bridge.  If you are single you wish to find a soul mate and if you are married well you can try and wish to be single!
Amber fell asleep again! 

Our boat driver reminded us of popoye and he had the cutest dog named Charlie.

Almost everytime the boat driver talked to us he had one eye closed, like squinted shut.   He kept calling us lads. So this ride is just seeing nature as well.  Lots of moutains and different views, and vegetation.  No houses on these lakes.  They do tours on these lakes and fishing and that is all that is allowed.   The waters here are down very low this year and at one bridge he made everyone get out of the boat but Jason's mom, another lady and me since Amber was asleep on my lap.  Everyone else had to walk along the river and over the bridge.  We just scraped along the rocks under the bridge and down the river a bit and then picked everyone back up. 
The boat ride ends at Ross Castle and here the bus picks you up and takes you back to town.

That is Jacob and Sean.

From here we went home and then latered ordered a pizza and Jason and I ran to pick it up and then a quick stop at the store for some salad and a few things.  Here we had to buy sacs as you have to bring your own bags and bag your groceries as well.  We put the stuff in the trunk, and then we both walk around to the wrong side of the car to get in. 
Pizza was good, and we did some laundry and watched another movie.  More lights burnt out in the house today.

Monday.  Everyone is sleeping in well, probably because everyone is waking up if one person gets up to go to the bathroom.  Today we decided to do the Ring of Kerry.  So it took us 5 1/2 hours to do it!  We started in the morning and about an hour into it Amber was bored looking out the window so she leaned her head on my shoulder and went to sleep.
This is basically just a pretty drive with places to stop along the side of the road and take pictures. 

You see mountains and cliffs.  It is on the south west part of Ireland.  You drive toward the coast and then back up and around so in a circle.  The road gets so narrow and very bumpy.

 Some cars and trucks going the other way are going so fast.  At one point there was a rock wall coming up on our left, right up against the road, and a truck on the right over too much in our lane coming at us.  Jason's mom, Amber and I think Sean all yelped a bit.  I closed my eyes!  Luckily we didn't hit anything. 
One thing we have started to notice this trip is that sometimes when Jacob is talking he has a British accent.  It is so funny!  We think it just must be from school.  When most Europeoners learn English it is the British way and alot of people do have that accent at school, so he must have picked it up. 
So this drive and view was very pretty.  We saw mountains, sea, green areas, rocks and sheep.

We stopped at a little diner overlooking the cliffs for lunch.  It was a great view.

Jason and Amber had the lamb stew and Amber loved it.  It was a bit too lamby for me.  At the gift shop here Amber got a little lamb stuffed animal with a shamrock on it and played with it in the car the rest of the trip.  If she only knew that is what she ate!
After lunch we continued on our drive on the narrow, bumpy, curvy road and soon after Sean started to feel car sick.  Thankfully he ended up getting dreary and just fell asleep and then was fine after a little nap.  I was suprised Jacob wasn't feeling sick too as he sometimes feels car sick and the 2 boys were stuck in the way back of the car.  It started raining a bit too so that didn't help with the drive.

This view here is called the Ladies View, but the boat driver was joking the other day and said it was nicknamed Ladies Last view.  So Jason is trying to push me off the rock for my last view!

Then this water we are by is just down by the lakes we were on for the boat ride yesterday.

After the drive we went back to the house in the afternoon.  We noticed the cow across the street in the field was laying down and seemed restless.  A little bit later we noticed that she had given birth and there was a little baby calf next to her.  So we watched the cows for awhile as the little one kept trying to stand up and kept falling down or over.  Earlier in the day while we were gone another cow had had a calf as well.
We stayed in for dinner.  After dinner Jason and I went down the street to a Pub and had a drink.  It was nice.   We then had to make our daily run to the grocery store and pick up some more water and a few things.  So much better selection of foods here then in Luxembourg.
I washed the whites today and the kids socks are so dirty and black.  I think all that oil just soaked in their socks.  They didn't get much cleaner after washing, yuck.
Here they have the roundabouts as well.  But here if the roundabout is too tiny to have a piece of land in the circle that you need to drive around they just paint a white circle on the road.  It looks very funny. 

Tuesday it was cloudy and rainy in the morning so we went to a Cave visit north of Killarney.  They found this cave in the 1980's.  It is a short 20min. tour of it but neat.

Attached to the cave place is in indoor climby play area for the kids.

Here it is Ireland's spring break as well so it was getting crowded here.  But we found a big table to sit at while the kids played.  Amber blends in well here with her red hair.  You see it all over in Ireland. 
We ordered lunch here and it was a nice lunch.  After lunch the kids finished playing and then we drove to another town further north called Tralee.  Jason dropped us off and we walked around town and got some ice cream while he took a call in the car.  It was pretty cold and windy and quite crowded here.  It was a bigger town.  There were a lot of shops, but nothing that we really wanted to stop in.  So when Jason finished his call he picked us up and we headed back to the house.
When we got back we noticed a 3rd cow in the grassy area where the other 2 had just had babies and it looked like she might be in labor.  She was up, down, laying on her side, putting her leg up a bit.  Sure enough.  About an hour after we got home there was a baby calf by her side and she was licking it clean.  We are wondering if this is a busy cow birthing week!
For dinner we went into town and into an Irish Pub.  The 1st part was a small pub with little tables and then you walk in the back and it was a restaurant.  So we sat here as there was no room for us up front.  Jason and I both had the duck dish and it was very good.  They had a nice kids menu here too.  Jacob's was delicious.  He had a vegetable stir fry with noodles.  Sean got a kids pasta.  They both finished their meals and ate off the rest of our plates as well.  They may be moving off the kids menu soon!
After dinner we ran to guess where, the store.  Tonight as we pulled up the driveway across the way there was one of the most beautiful rainbows I have ever seen.  This half of the rainbow just came down from the sky and opened up into a very wide and bright rainbow and seemed to be touching the ground. 

They boys wanted to go see if there was a Leprechan and gold at the bottom of it.
Amber picked out a postcard from Ireland and it says "The Leprechans made me do it"  That is perfect for her!
Tonight we watched the Muppets movie we had rented.  We hadn't seen it yet.  Jacob was totally cracking up during the movie.  I told him that is what I used to watch when I was little.
After the kids went to bed Desperate Housewives was on the local TV here.  The house said they had satellite but it wasn't working so we only had 3 channels. I was surprised it was broadcasted here and it was an up to date one too.  They don't have shows like this on local Luxembourg TV stations.  Our local cable in Luxembourg went out about 2 weeks ago and we only have a few channels on it.  In January our sling box stopped working on our other TV so we haven't been watching much TV for awhile.  We can still watch the sling box on the Ipads and computer so it is possible.

Wednesday we drove out to the town of Dingle and did the Dingle Peninsula drive.  It is a peninsula on the west side of Ireland.  So todays drive was about 6 hours.  The peninsula has beautiful beaches, but I am not sure how much the weather or the water temperatures ever warms up for people to use these great beaches.  It was so very, very windy today.  The 1st beach we stopped at was blowing sand around so bad.  The boys wanted to walk all the way down by the water and so Amber started walking with them.  About 1/2 way down she turns around and starts screaming and running back.  She thought it was too windy for her and the wind was going to blow her hat off!  Too funny!

So we saw beautiful cliffs, green pastures with sheep right up along the cliffs, old stone houses, those stone fences only about 4 feet high, houses just out in the middle of these mountains, and houses right on the road.

 It was a very windy, narrow road here as well. 

Jason must have been driving in the middle of the road here!

We got to Dingle and got out and saw the Marina and found lunch at a little Irish Pub.

 A lot of us had soup, Ireland has some good soup.   Today most of us had the broccoli, potato soup and it was good.  Soup is probably popular b/c of the weather here.  Even Jacob ordered the soup.
After lunch we walked around the little town, but it was so windy and then started to hail a bit.  There is a shirt here that says "Seasons of Ireland"  It has 4 sheep on it.  The winter sheep has ear muffs, a scarf and an umbrella b/c it is raining.  The spring sheep has an umbrella b/c it is raining and rain boots.  The summer sheep has on sunglasses and an umbrella b/c it is raining. And the fall sheep has an umbrella b/c it is raining.  We thought that shirt would also be good for Luxembourg!
Next we walked over to the Aquarium in town and went through that.  It was pretty small, but they have a huge turtle, huge stingrays and some sharks.  So the kids enjoyed it.
From here we just got back on the little road and continued on. 
On our way we stopped at an old fortress at the end of a cliff.  It was so windy I had trouble holding the camera up to take pictures. 

When we got back into the car Amber yawned once and then just layed her head on my shoulder and was out.
Then we drove back to Killarney and stopped at the store to pick up food for dinner.  We decided to just make spaghetti and got some salad stuff, frozen veggies and bread for garlic bread.  Dinner was good. 
Tonight the kids watched their Dolphin movie and the adults watched a movie.  Nothing like 4 adults trying to watch a movie on the little Ipad screen. 
We have been having nice fires in the family room in the evenings.
The kids have been doing well with all the driving and we started bringing some of their things in the car to keep them happy. 

Thursday was a beautifully sunny day, still cold though.  We drove to Blarney Castle.  It was a little over an hour away.  It is in a cute little town called Blarney.  The drive was pretty.  Flat, green land today.  Not too many curvy roads, some wider roads and here more cows then sheep.  So were driving East across Ireland today.
The castle is in a nice garden, and walking path.  And of course it was a bit windy here as well.  So the castle is actually in ruins which I didn't know.  So they have inside rooms of the castle marked but it is funny b/c you will walk in some of the main floors rooms and it will say this is the greeting hall and you look above you on the wall and way above your head is a fireplace- spooky.  And it will say that is where the second floor used to be and that was the dining room where the fireplace was but over time the floor gave way and is now completely gone.  So it is now like a 2 story room.  The Blarney Castle is famous for kissing the Blarney Stone.  Kissing the Blarney Stone is suppose to give you the gift of gab.  It was built in 1446. 

The stairs to walk up to the top of the castle are very tiny and scary.  They are whindy, stone, spiral stairs.  I am not sure how a lot of people can make it up there.

They had rooms you could go in along the way up. 

But I was getting scared near the top and Jason's mom decided she didn't want to go up those stairs any more.

There was just a rope on your right side to hold on too.  But by the time I reached the top my feet were having a hard time stepping on the tiny steps and I was using my hands to basically crawl up and it was so narrow I was almost getting stuck with the backpack on - crazy!
So once at the top it is a beautiful view. 

There was no one else up there yet.  I think the tourist season only started here about 2 weeks ago, so it was a nice time to visit Ireland before all the tourists arrive. 
Since there was no line to kiss the stone we went right up to it.  We all kissed it except Amber who was too young, since you have to lay on your back and there is an older man sitting there to help you slide backwards and you lean your head back and grab onto these 2 rod iron rods and pull yourself down a bit under the edge of the castle and then kiss the stone.  And then he helps pull you back up.

Jason's dad

Jacob

Me

Jason

Jason's mom

So above the window you see some rod iron bars.  This is where we were leaning our heads back to kiss right above them.

 It is just a regular looking stone, but is very smooth probably from years of people kissing it.  It is a little scary as you are upside down and there are just a few rod iron bars there at the bottom preventing you from falling to the ground from the top of the castle.  Janet was able to walk up the exit stairs to the top and then she kissed the stone as well.  The exit stairs were a lot wider and easier to walk when we went down.
We walked around the castle and the gardens.  We saw a funky tree.

Jason on the phone working as we are walking around the grounds.

Then there is a beautiful private house that was built in the 1800's called the Blarney house.  This house has been passed on and stayed in the family since then, crazy.  It was closed now but not sure if it opens later in the season.

After this we drove to the town of Cork.  We were going to stop for lunch but when we got there it is a big city, compared to what we had been seeing. And we really didn't see anyplace we wanted to stop and it was hard to find any parking spots.   It is along a river and we drove around it a bit and then decided to head out of town.  So we stopped at McDonalds for lunch.  The kids were very happy!  From here we drove back to the house.  Today we were gone about 5 1/2 hours.  Amber fell asleep in the car about 1 min. before we pulled up the steep driveway to the house.  The driveway is all gravel.  If it was icy I am not sure you could get up or down it.
We hung out here for a bit and then Jason and I ran to the store for our usual nightly run.  We picked up some food for dinner, mostly mushroom soup.  It was so good!
After dinner we are looking out the window and all of sudden we see one of the mama cows bolting for the road in between our houses.  We run outside, we are on the hill overlooking the road and the house.  I guess her baby had gotten between the fence and got out in the yard near the road.  Some random people driving by had even seen it and stopped to shoo the cows back.  So the mama got the babies attention and started back to their field, but to get back there they had to go up on the people's deck, which is how she got over there as well.  It was so funny to see this big cow walking on a deck.
There was a beautiful full moon tonight and the sky was so clear.  We are kind of out in the middle of nowhere here so you could see the stars. Very pretty night!

Friday we got up and packed up to fly back to Germany.  The owner came by to read the meters so we could pay for the heating and electicity for the week.  It came to about $130 for the week, and that was with the heater off for most of the time during day since we were always gone.  We drove back to the tiny airport and our flight was a bit late.  The plane lands and the people get off and about 5 min. later is when we board.  That is how our flight over was too.  The planes don't stay at this airport long.
Amber was a bit restless for the flight and then in the car about half way home she falls asleep.  Once we landed we had to drive back to Luxembourg.  Once back at home, Jason and I ran my car over to the dealership to get the light bulbs fixed and we asked if they could put the summer tires on.  She looks at her screen and says that 2 of the summer tires are no longer good and you need to replace them.  Jason was like great, we never even used them since the winter tires were on when we bought the car and now we have been paying to store 2 useless tires, lovely.  And you can imagine how expensive 2 tires are here.
Then we had a quick dinner of things I had already bought before we left.  Then I took Janet and we went to one of the big grocery stores.  She was in sticker shock of the prices of food here.

Sat. morning I dropped off Jason to pick up the car.  Then I headed over to the butcher shop to pick up our ham and get some shish kabobs for grilling tonight.  They took a fresh ham and deboned it and then it looks like they just threw the meat together and tied it with a string.  We will see how this goes tomorrow.  It was very busy and he had to make more shish kabobs as they were all gone.  The bill was quite expensive for this so hope it all tastes good!
Then we all headed downtown to the farmers market and walked around the city center a bit.  We showed them some views looking down into the Grund, and then took the elevator down there.

We came back for lunch and then Jason and his parents went out to see the American Military Cemetary.  We had already seen it.  And he drove them also by where he works. 
We got a lot of laundry done and some baking of things. 
We colored our Easter eggs.

We had a big BBQ for dinner and that was good, and then we had picked up a Strawberry torte that is very common here and had that for dessert.

Week of March 25, 2012

The blog was delayed this week, b/c I was waiting to see if I could get the pictures off my phone and for some reason I can't.  So I am posting it, and will have to add the pictures after I take my phone in and see what the problem is.  I hate my phone here!

Sunday was a great sunny day!  Jacob got back from his sleepover a little after 11am.  And the kids played outside, Jason did some cleanup in the garage and his car, and I went through and washed the kid's winter coats, hats, boots, mittens, etc.  Sean and Amber's coats were so dirty and they were both to small for them.  So hopefully it doesn't get too cold or they will need to layer themselves with clothes!  I went through some of Sean's and Amber's clothes that were too small too.  So basically a bit of spring cleaning.  Luckily we didn't bring too many things here so not too much to get rid of yet!

Monday was PJ day at school so Jacob and Amber were all excited and got in some PJ's for school, but Sean took some convincing! 

After dropping them off I ran to the store where I ordered the frames for the pictures as they were finally ready.  They seemed to have turned out nice.  Now I need to get the handyman back to hang them!   From here I had to run to the other store and pick up groceries since I prefer this one, plus the dry cleaners is there as well which I needed to hit too.  From here I ran home and unloaded and then had to be back at school to volunteer in Sean's room and bring his soccer ball for recess to him that he left at home.  I was helping with a craft in his room, but he was actually in another room for a different craft so at the end of class they go to lunch and I didn't see him.  So I walk in the lunch room to look for him and give him the ball and he is sitting at a table that has all girls at it.  "Sean, why are you sitting at the girl table?" I  ask him.  He tells me it isn't the girl table.  I don't know about this!
Then I just go down and pick Amber up so it worked out well.  We came home and had lunch and made some banana bread for this week.  One of  Amber's good friends was out of school all last week sick and then still home today so we dropped off some muffins for them. 
After picking up the boys I met my friend to say goodbye to her.  Their moving truck comes this week and then they will stay a few extra days to tie up the loose ends and then off to Sweden they go ):  She was one of the girls we did coffee mornings with.  Now it is down to just 2 of us as one other moved before Christmas.  So I think we may try and go shopping tomorrow instead of coffee.

Tuesday after drop off I came home and my friend picked me up and we went out to Belgium to do some shopping.  They have a strip mall area that has some stores with better prices then here.  It was about 20 min. or so from here.  But they have a big sports store with some good prices for shoes, so I got both boys a pair of shoes.  So much cheapier then that place we went last week here.  So we just went in some of the stores for a bit and then came back as I had to get Amber for lunch.  It was fun!
Today Jason tried for the 3rd time to get my car registered.  As you can guess it didn't happen.  The last 2 times he was there were Nov. and Dec. last year, so now that it is a new year they have a new form which needs to be filled out and signed by the previous owner!  He sold the car to us and yet they keep wanting him to sign all these papers.  It is horrible.  Now Jason has to get ahold of him again to do this! 
For spirit week it was SuperHero day at school, so Amber was Wonder Woman.  The boys chose to skip this one. 

Tonight Jason and I had dinner with a couple that may be moving here for a job with Jason.  So we tried a place in the city center and it was very good!

Wednesday at school was twins or more day.  So Jacob and a friend were twins, they already had the same pants, Jacob brought in 2 hats for them that matched, and the boy's mom picked up some matching shirts for the boys. 

Sean and his friends wore matching hats.

I didn't get a picture of all of them just these 2.
 And Amber and her boy friend and one girl friend were triplets.  Since it was boy/girl we just did matching shirts and jeans. 

Today in preschool they also did their Easter Egg hunt and I guess they had a great time!
This morning I had a quick coffee with some moms and then off to the airport since Jason's parents came in town today!  They had a pretty good flight, just long.  So after we picked up Amber we just hung around as they were pretty tired from not sleeping. 
One of the boys in Sean's class won Principle for the day at a Auction his parents actually won.  And so for one of the things he got to do was his class got to have a pizza party for lunch today and sit in the reserved section of the high school caferteria.  They were so excited.  It was like a little party in there with balloons and everything.  Jason's mom and I went in to say hi when we picked up Amber and we saw this. 

Thursday was crazy hair day at school.  Jacob tried a mohawk, but then thought his hair was too long and thick to stay up so didn't do anything.  Sean did the mohawk, and Amber we did 3 pig tails and then spray painted her hair. 

I took the picture before we spray painted her hair.

The spray was kind of white, so it didn't turn out that good in her hair. The boys didn't want their hair sprayed.  I couldn't do too much with Amber's hair as today was the Easter Bonnet parade so she needed to be able to put her Bonnet on her head.  There were a lot of cute bonnets in preschool. 

Jason came with me to drop off all the kids and then we had to go back to the Embassy to get another piece of paperwork to complete our application for our driver's license here!  Ugh!  I don't think we got back home until around 10am.  Jason's parents had gone for a walk as it was a great day today. 
I took his parents and we went and picked Amber up after school and we went out for the traditional pizza at a good place not too far from the school.  It was yummy.
After school Sean started basketball.  So I waited around to make sure the coach got them out and on their way.  Then I ran Jacob home and then later went back and got Sean.  It is first and second graders.  Maybe like 18 kids or so.  He said he enjoyed it.
As I am pulling in the garage one of my front headlights went out.  Crap.  We were suppose to take my car to the airport in Germany tomorrow morning for our flight to Ireland.  Now we can't since we are leaving a bit before 6am it will still be dark, and if we get pulled over we don't have all the paperwork for the car- ugh!!  Hate how things work here!  So now we need to try and squeeze all of us and our bags in Jason's car!
We had dinner, finished packing and tried to get everyone in bed early as it is going to be an early morning tomorrow.

Week of March 18th

Sunday morning Jason was able to eat a quick fruit slushy and green pancakes with us before taking off to the airport for China.  I actually had no idea he was going again this week until he mentioned yesterday morning.  Too much to kept track of him too!
I love to bake things, so this morning after breakfast Amber and I made some pumpkin bread and then after lunch I took the kids to the indoor play area.  It was so crazy.  We stayed for about 2 hours and then came home and made some Reese's Peanut butter cookies- yummy. 
Today Sean and I did his b'day invitations for his party.
Before bed Jacob and I played a game of checkers and he was trying to convince me that I couldn't double jump him unless I was a King.  Of course the instructions aren't in English so I am going to have to look this up for next time b/c I thought you could jump 2 in a straight line normally.

Monday I drove out the the chiropractor's new office.  He moved all the way to the other side of town from me.  He was over on this side but it was in a house where the bottom of the house was his office and the top his family lived in.  And with 5 kids I think they were running out of room.  So his new place is nice, but longer to get to and only street parking available so harder to park.  From here I went out to Ikea.  It cracks me up that they won't allow these in Luxembourg and it takes me 15 min. to get there.  So everyone drives across the border to Belgium or the other countries that have them too.  I picked up some small items and then some food. 
This morning the dryer was making funny noises and I emailed Jason that I think the dryer was breaking.  The next load that went in the dryer lasted about 2 min. before the dryer died.  So next email- dryer now broken.  Here I had heard that is it so expensive to pay the cost of someone to repair an appliance with the added tax and then the labor on top of the visit and parts, that it is sometimes cheapier just to buy a new one.  Not saying that I wouldn't mind that!  Ours are probably about 6 years old as we bought them from someone moving.    I have never seen a laundry mat here, so we are going to be doing the old fashioned way of drying now.  Hope no one needs any items soon!
I got another package dropped off with me to give to my neighbors.  What will they do if I am not here!

Tuesday I barely made it back from the store before the French teacher got here and I couldn't even get all the stuff I needed done, done.  I told her today that I will not be able to do lessons after this week for a bit due to Jason's parents will be visiting soon and with our activities that my schedule won't allow it (:
Amber's class made chocolate chip cookies today.  Amber had saved me a bite, not sure on purpose or she didn't have enough time to eat it all (:  It was yummy.  They used the toll house chocolate chips from the states too!
The light that is broken in the bathroom was suppose to be repaired today.  They said they would come at 1pm.  So I waited 45 min. and they never showed and then we had to leave for class.  The relocation lady said they must have showed up right after I left and then called her to complain that no one was here- ugh!
Amber had fun at gymnastics but is sad we always have to leave a little bit before the class ends to go back to school to pick up the boys. 
I am still doing wash and trying to air dry things.  But the wet clothes are taking over the laundry room.
Jacob had fun doing his tennis class and then after that, I made him shower of course, he had to be back at school for a French play tonight put on by the 4th grade.  It was nice.  Some of the kids spoke French so well and fast that I couldn't even understand what they were saying.  Jacob said that the kids that had the speaking parts were in the higher up French classes then him.  I said I think they are in a class higher then me!  Jacob was in the chorus and did a nice job singing the songs in French and doing the motions to go with it.

Jacob was in the back row.
Everyone was tired from running around this afternoon so after the play I made popcorn and got the kids ready for bed.

Wednesday morning I tell the boys while they are eating breakfast to remind them that they have RE after school and all of a sudden Sean stands up and goes to his bag and pulls out his RE notebook and remembers he had to research something.  Nothing like googling something at 7 in the morning for homework due that day!
This morning we decided to cancel our coffee this week ):  Althought I have had to stop eating so much bread so it was good for that reason only.  So I ran around to a few stores and checked out prices on the dryers.  We decided to just get a new one instead of paying to get this one repaired. The lower end ones are not that expensive. One store I found a 9kg capacity dryer!  I don't know what I have at home, but that is big for here.  Most are 7kg which is probably what I have now.  So I said I should get the 9kg one and then if the washing machine would just break then I could get a 9kg washing machine!  Ha. 
I also got a car wash today.  First time I have done it here, so about 6 months overdo.  But why wash a car when it rains all the time!  Anyway it was looking pretty dirty so I thought I would try this out.  It is called the American Car Wash.  So you drive up to it and there is a guy there and you tell him which one you want.  They have 5 choices.  I did the middle of the road and it was about $12. Then you pay him and he gets your car wet and takes a brush and rubs soap all over the car with a brush.  Then you go on an automated belt and it pulls your car through the wash.  It is with those soft big brushes that go all over you car.  It was a good thing Amber wasn't with me as she would have been freaking out in the dark car with those brushes all over the car.  Then after you go through the dryer, it did a pretty good job drying it, I pulled over to pull the plastic off my back windsheild wiper that the guy put there.  So now my total car is cleaned!  Now if I could keep the kids out of it then it could stay clean (:
The other thing I have been looking for are peanut free chocolate eggs.  Very hard to find here.  The preschool classes need 3 little eggs/child and 1 big egg per child.  So most all of the eggs here either have nuts in them or say at the bottom may contain traces of nuts.  So I can't do either of those.  Some big eggs I found today were maybe about the size of my hand and to buy 36 of them would have been like $200!  Crazy, so I went down a size for the large egg and they are getting more medium eggs.  But this brand- Kinder eggs where they have a surprise inside was one of the only brands with no nuts.  Either that or they didn't write it on there as traces.  But these eggs are not allowed to be sold in the US due to they don't allow non-nutritive items to be placed in sweets.  Interesting!
Anyway another mom and I have been visiting different stores to try and find peanut free eggs so the kids can have an Easter egg hunt next week.  I said I think we are the ones doing the egg hunt, just looking for them!
I also decided we needed a few flowers outside to look springy.  Here no one really does anything with their houses.  I went to a store that is like Home Depot. Even has orange as it main color.  So this is a big hardware warehouse, right, well the parking spaces are for tiny little cars!  Give me a break, you go to a place like this to buy big items but with the tiny parking spaces and tiny cars I don't know what people do.  The lot lanes are so narrow to try and get down the lanes and in and out of the lot, crazy!
I bought an inexpensive coffee pot today for guests we have coming.  I bought it b/c I saw that the instructions were in English.  I have no idea how to work a coffee pot.  I made it once at my house a few years back and it overfload all over the counter.  It was a mess.  So we will see if I can handle this one.  What I had at home that I love is that K-cup machine, Keurig Coffee maker.  So you can stick one cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate in the machine and it will make that.  So you can do multiple different things on it.  I love it!  Due to the outlet/voltage difference here we couldn't bring many things that plugged in.
This afternoon Amber and I made her Easter Bonnet she needs for school next week.  We had fun with it and it is definately an Amber hat!  We took a plain white hat and glued a bunch of spring things on.

Today I washed some sheets, what a mess to try and air dry sheets!
After we picked up the boys from RE we headed to the Dr. office for Amber, surprise, surprise.  She has now been coughing for 6 weeks.  This is driving me crazy that she can't seem to get better.  I wrote down all the cough syrups that she had been trying at different times of course, and nothing is working.  Plus she was doing that breathing tube with the spray in it.  The Dr. didn't really think anything was wrong but said continue doing the breathing tube and if she is still coughing in 2 more weeks come back and we will do a chest x-ray.  Ugh!  How can coughing for 6 weeks be nothing is wrong?  I want to go home and take her to the dr!!
Today at recess Jacob was playing the goalie in soccer, and got a ball to the face and a bloody nose.  This kid needs a face mask to play goalie!
Tonight Jacob had guitar lessons and there was also a 6th grade science fair going on, so it was crazy at school.
Sean passed out his b'day party invites to his friends today.  He is so excited for his party.

Thursday I went to a butcher's shop in my area that a friend had referred me too.  I am looking for a nice Ham for Easter.  They look very different here.  So this place my friend said the guy spoke English.  I ordered some nice looking shish kabobs to grill out this weekend with beef and chicken and then I ordered a Ham. So his English was ok.  And I am not really sure what I am going to get.  I told him the number of people and he said he will cut off the big end bone and take out the bones.  Then I cook it.  Ok.  This was also an organic butcher so I don't even think I want to know how much this is going to cost.  In the grocery store they sell ham, but they are these big things on a bone hanging and they are smoked maybe so very red inside.  I have no idea what to do with that.  So we will see what I get.  I will pick it up on Sat. before Easter and pray we can figure it out!
Then I went another store for dryers but didn't like anything and then ran home for my last French for a bit!  I think I am regressing, either that or I just can 't concentrate on it.
After Amber and I got back from school the electrician came back to fix the light again.  It is working now, so we will see how long this lasts! 
After the boys were done with school we stayed on the playground for about 1/2 hour with a friend so the kids ran around.  Then one of Sean's friends came over for a playdate.  His mom had some other things with another sibling going on so she couldn't come back and get him until a little bit after 7pm.  So he just had dinner with us then.

Friday morning Amber had come down with a fever during the night and more coughing so she stayed home from school today.  We dropped off the boys and then had to get to the store for a few things and then buy a dryer.  I stopped and got her a little pastry roll to eat and keep her happy in the store. 
So we put our groceries in the car and I drove over to the place where I wanted to buy the dryer.  I got a Whirlpool one and it is 8kg capacity so a little bigger then the previous one we had.   Now it seems that a lot of the things we had bought used we have already had to replace with new.  If only the washing machine would break next!  Anyway so I find a guy in the dryer section and he speaks ok English and so I ask him, ok this dryer is the one I want and I only plug it in right?  Here the dryers are high maintance.  They are electric so all you do is plug them in and then you are responsible for emptying the water container after each load and then at the end of the day you need to empty and rinse out this condenser thing in the bottom of the dryer.
So he tells me yes.
Then he says "You want to take home in your car?"  "What"  I said "You want me to put the floor model in my car?
"You have big car, right?  My colleage put it in for you"
"The floor model?"  I asked
"No, one left in back you go to Depot number 2 and pick up."
Ok I said.
So I buy it and then drive around back looking for Depot number 2.  I don't see it, so I get out and go up to the desk at Depot number 1 and they tell me that number 2 is down the road a bit.  Ok
So I drive down the road and find number 2 and this big dude picks it up off the docks and puts it in my car.  Thank goodness I got the seats folded down, sometimes they stick and I physically can't get them down!
So now I am wondering how am I going to get this out of my car?
I manage to back the car down my steep narrow driveway after 3 tries to line it up so I don't hit the rock wall on the sides.  The dryer wasn't too heavy.  So I kind of drag it out of the car and then the laundry room is the same floor as the garage so I just slid it in there.  Then I pulled the old one out.  And found a spot in the corner for it, cleaned the floor around it, and then that turned into cleaning the whole laundry room.    You know how dusty it gets behind the washers and dryers.  I plug it in and voila I have a dryer now.  I asked if it came with instructions in English and he said yes, but of course it didn't.  The dryer buttons I think are in German and then French.  So I think I have everything working correctly. 
When I go to take the second load out of the dryer,  I open it up a big rock falls out. Are you flipping kidding me?  It left dings all over the inside of the dryer,  I couldn't believe it.  So much for that nice new dryer! 
It is a bigger dryer and once I looked at the inside of it compared to my washer I think my washer must only be like 5 or 6 kg, b/c it is no where near as big as the dryer. 
Unfortunately it doesn't dry the clothes all the way either.   One neat feature it has on it is that 6th sense where depending on how wet the clothes are it will adjust the time of the dryer.  But since they still come out damp it must be missing a sense!
After lunch Amber put herself down for a nap. 
After we picked up the boys we went to a town about 10 min. away to a little strip mall.  Here they have some cheapier stores.  Jacob needs new shoes badly, and Sean wanted some but he has some here that Jacob didn't use much that he can wear.  The shoes at this place were still so expensive. Some of the ones Jacob liked were anywhere from $80-$100.  Ok I don't even spend that much on my shoes.  So we looked for some lower priced ones, not much to choose from.  But he found ones that he liked and we paid only around $40.  So much better.  There was nothing in that price range for Sean, and Amber was mortified we were in a shoe store and she couldn't get any shoes.  I had loaded up for her at home so she doesn't need any.  The boys are so rough with their shoes they just don't hold up as long.  We walked in a few other stores, they have a toy store and then a paper type store and a housey store.  After this I took them to Quick, it is like a McDonalds, that was over there.  Since Jason still wasn't home and it was Friday I wasn't cooking!  This is a big place, 2 stories and has a play area.  So at 5:30pm on a Friday night we were the only ones there besides 4 adults sitting together.  Crazy!  The food isn't as good as McDonalds. But  these are popular here, and there are only I think 3 McD. around town.  At 6pm I think maybe 2-3 families had started to come in.  And not too many people in the drive through either.
After this we came home and got ready for bed and watched a movie and Amber and I played some games. 
I was pooped.  I got everyone, including myself in bed before Jason even got home tonight from his trip.

Sat. morning Amber was up at 6:30am (why early on Sat. of all days) and then Jason got up too.  So by 6:45 she is back in my room, "Mommy, mommy, daddy brought me a panda bear in China and he brought you a qaprise, but I am not going to tell you what it is."   I tell her thanks for letting me know, but I am not getting up.  15 min. later she is back.
"Mommy, Daddy brought you a qaprise back.  It is some chocolates.  When are you getting up to get me some breakfast?" 
"Thanks for not telling me what the qaprise is Amber!"  Ugh now 7:02 and out of bed!  But I must admit Amber's little babyish voice is still so cute!
We sat down to breakfast and Sean is as white as a ghost and says he doesn't feel well so he goes to lay down.  Soon after he gets sick.  It just happened once and soon after his coloring came back and he ate lunch and played outside.  He only ate part of his dinner, though so we will see what happens, but he doesn't have a fever.
Once I got up and felt Amber I knew her fever had gone up.  So I called the Dr. office again!  We saw a new dr. we hadn't ever seen before like the last 5 times we have been there since last month!  And Amber actually coughed while we were in the office, and hallelujah we got an antibotic.  I really hope this helps her.  She is up at night coughing and during the day as well.  2 of her friends last week from school were diagonised with acute bronchitis and pneumonia, so you know she is close to one of those.  And it only took me 6 weeks of her coughing and going into the dr. office to finally get something that hopefully will help her! 
This afternoon Jacob was going to a friend's house to spend the night.  The boy lives close to Germany so it is about 30 min. away.  It was a pretty drive.  And they live in a small subdivision but with houses size wise close to home.  And they had a wonderful back area, with a built in pool, green area for boys to play soccer, swing set and then room for quite a big garden.  And then just fields behind them. So peaceful!
We came home and BBQed the shish kabobs I had gotten from the butcher and they were excellent!

Week of March 11, 2012

Sunday morning Amber slept into 9:30 this morning, crazy girl!  I had heard her get up around 7:30 and I was wondering why I wasn't getting poked and asking for breakfast.  She said she got up and saw Sean and then went back to bed.  Good girl!
We went to Church this morning and then out to lunch.  Today we went to a nice Thai place not too far from us.  Jason and I had both been there, just not together.  I liked my food, but not everyone else really liked theirs.
I started having a stiff neck today so I put Bengay all over it and no one wanted to come near me!
Once home Amber and I made some shamrock cookies.  We ended up not using green frosting, but an Amber color instead, purple!  I had some leftover b'day frosting in the fridge so we used that up instead.

Later in the afternoon, Jason took the boys to see that Journey 2 movie.  They all enjoyed it.

Monday morning at 5am Amber is calling out for me.  My neck is still stiff and takes me a bit longer to get out of bed and I go see what the problem is.  She lost a sock in bed, ugh.  So then she is up sniffeling and coughing for awhile, then she falls back asleep and then I have to get up to start my day! 
After school drop off I went with my friend to Perl, Germany where they have cheapier grocery stores.  It is 30 min. from here and I just don't feel comfortable driving there yet, and of course everything is in German.  But we stopped at 2 stores.  One store I had my cart about 3/4 full and spent about $58, very cheap for here.  The other store carrys toiletries, cleaning and paper products plus toilet paper, klneex and paper towels.  I was very excited to see that they had the Listerine mouth wash for kids like they do it home.  Here they only have one mouthwash that children can use and it is very strong and the boys don't like it.  So we had been bringing it back in our suitcase, and now I don't have to carry that heavy liquid!
Amber had her 2 friends over for lunch and a playdate today.  It was a beautiful afternoon and I was even able to open the windows.  We are dying for spring over here, and some sun shine!
After the boy's school, Sean had a friend over and we walked to the park by us and played a bit.  Since it was such a nice day a lot of people were there.

Tuesday, for some reason Amber didn't want to stay in her class today and I tried to say goodbye to her this morning and she just grabbed on to me and started crying.  She calmed down and then I went to leave and it started again, so then the teacher ended up taking her and then she calmed down and started with class.  Crazy girl!
 Now that the weather has gotten warmer, we are up to the high 50's whoa hoo, the construction has kicked in full gear.  The roads are constantly being blocked with trucks and they were so narrow for 2 cars to get down in the first place and now we have to somehow get around a truck too!  There is a lot of construction going on.  Mostly building new buildings, but sometimes remodeling and also building new roads.

Wednesday I did coffee at the mall with friends.  Then when I came home I asked if the maid would be able to clean out my car.  Oh my gosh it looks great.  When we first bought the car I paid a ton and got a crappy cleaning job done on it.  She did a great job.  Guess now I will need to figure out how to get the outside of it washed!
A couple weeks ago a light in our bathroom went out.  So I got a new bulb, those horrible narrow little halogen bulbs, but it still didn't work.  So I let the relocation lady know and then we had to wait for the owner to hire an electrician.  So today he came.  When he finished with it the light worked, then tonight I go to turn on the light and puff goes the light- ugh!  I will have to have Jason see if maybe this is just the bulb this time or the light really has problems.  I also have to tell the relo lady that his ladder or tool box took some divets out of her bathroom tile.

Thursday grabbed a quick coffee with a friend at school and then I went and tried out a small organic grocery store by me.  Things were very expensive and I only bought a few things.  But one of the things they had was frozen corn.  I haven't been able to find this anywhere.  So I bought one.  I would have bought more but my tiny ice boxes are full!
My French teacher cancelled this morning and called ahead to let me know.  Since it was another beautiful day in the low 60's I decided to walk downtown into the city center.  It took me about a half an hour walking in my workout clothes, so not just strolling.  I poked my head into a bakery on the way that people have gotten things at but it is close to the city and no parking so I have never gone.  I passed the pirate park since that is right before the city center.  Once downtown I didn't have much time to walk around since now I knew how long it was going to take me to get back and I had to shower and go back to school for Amber.  I also don't know my way around down there very well.  Once you pass the big bus hub it turns into cobblestone no car streets and I was afraid if I started walking around down there I might not be able to find my way out!  So I bought a Luxembourg postcard for my wall and saw a Laura Ashley store and went in there and then headed back home.  On the way back home I stopped in a salon to buy a hair product.  This is one of the only places I have seen Redkin hair products for sale, so they had the one spray mousse that I liked.  So I got it after paying double the price for it at home.  But at least that is one less thing I have to try and shove in my suitcase when we come back home to bring back here!
Today Amber's teacher passed out a note that said they will have an Easter Bonnet parade in 2 weeks and all the preschoolers need to make an Easter Bonnet.  Poor Amber this is not going to be pretty.  They don't have Michaels and craft stores here, nor hardly any Easter decorations that I could use things to put on the hat.
When we went back to pick up the boys we also picked up a friend of Amber's to come over for a playdate and Jacob had a friend over as well. 
Now that the weather is nice here, they say that the springs here are actually nicer then the summers, the kids are eyeing the trampoline.  We had so much wind last fall and into November/December that it bent 3 of our poles that holds the net up.  After the last wind storm I thought the trampoline was finished since I looked out at it and it was on its side, some poles had blown off and others were bent underneath the trampoline which was on its side and the net was all twisted up.  Luckily the only things we need to replace are the poles.  I won't let them jump on it until we have the netting back up.  Jason found the website to order more poles, but it is only in German.  So he needs to have someone help him with this.  It isn't looking good for getting it anytime soon!

Friday the kids didn't have school.  But we did have to go to school since it was like an open house where you go to each child's classroom and they have their portfolio to show you and other things in their room and then you go to their other classes, French, Art, Music, Library and Gym.  So we got their at 9 and we were rushing to get out at 11:30.  Jason was in Portugual and Poland this week so he couldn't make it.  I asked him to pick me up some of this Polish Pottery people talk about here as being so great.  He told me that they don't have that pottery in his part of Poland, nice!
So it kind of was way too many things to get done in the time limit with 3 kids classes to visit.  The session started at 8:30 and you had to be out by 11:30 and then the other half of the school would come in the afternoon.  In Amber's room we painted together, drew a picture, and reviewed her portfolio, and then had to visit her other classes.  Then I put Amber in the babysitting area and unfortunatley she was there an hour and half while we just did the boys classes.    The boys did a wonderful job of preparing their portfolios and getting everything ready and explaning things to me, but even after spending all that time there I still felt like we were rushing through this.  Hopefully next year Jason will be here and we can just split this up.
So after the open house we found a Subway I thought I remember seeing around town, then ran to the mall/grocery store to grab a hat and see if I could find some craft items to make Amber her Easter Bonnet she needs to do for school.  Then we went to the Park to meet friends.  So this park I had been to once in the fall.  Today I got a little lost, but then figured it out.  It is on the edge of one side of town in a forest area.  So the park is surrounded by a forest for 1/2 of it.  You just park on this tiny side road that goes to it.  Otherwise across the street is a parking lot.  Here there are a ton of hiking trails to do as well.  The park is all dirt or dust I should say.  So this morning I made Amber put on brown pants and she was so upset she couldn't wear a dress.  Thank goodness she didn't b/c she was so dirty from running around, digging in the sand and such.  We met up with 6 other moms and their kids and had a picnic there and let the kids roam.  It was great b/c it is a big area and no one else was really around b/c all other schools had school today.  The older boys played in the forest and built a teepee.  It looked neat.  We sat at this huge wooden table that was long enough for all of us and even some kids coming back to take a nibble of their lunch every once in awhile.  We spent the rest of the afternoon there.  Then we came home and had to put Amber in the tub to clean her up from the park and her little accident, had dinner and once Jason got home we made our green Shamrock Shakes for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow.  I would always take the kids to get them at McDonalds at home, but I don't think they carry those here.

Sat. morning started out so nice and sunny.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!  No celebrations here except maybe a few bars tonight. So we ate breakfast and then went downtown to the city center and tried out this place called The Chocolate House.  It is this old, old building that used to be a Nobleman's house and it is directly across the pedistrian cobblestone street from the Palace.  So you can see the guard walking back and forth in front of the Palace.  This chocolate place is know for their hot chocolate.  So you go and pick out which type of chocolate you would like.  They have about 20 different flavors.  They in are in package with a wooden spoon and then a big chunk of chocolate stuck to the spoon.  They bring you hot milk and you put your spoon with the chocolate in it and stir it up.  It was so so good!  They also sell chocolates, and cakes there as well. 
From here we went to the Farmer's Market and got our fruit, some bread, some sausages and Jacob loves those rotarrise chickens so we got one of those and some potatoes and the kids each picked out a flower plant.
Then Jason dropped us off at the pirate park and ran the food home.  Now the weather started changing and the sun went away and it was getting a little chilly.  So we stayed for awhile while the kids played and then we came home and the boys fired up the fire pit/grill and cooked the sausages we bought and then roasted some marshmellows (import since they don't sell those here).  We also ate some of the fruit we bought and made garlic bread with the bread we had just bought.  So nice lunch. 
This evening was our friend's going away dinner, so we tried out a new sitter since the regulars weren't available and went out.  It was 5 couples and then 2 extra guys.  We started out at a hotel bar that is on the top floor and has a great view looking out and over the city.  We had drinks here, which I had one and somehow managed to break the glass, as I stood up and put my coat on it hit the glass and knocked it off the table, yikes!  From here we went to a nice restaurant, but very slow service.  We got there at 8:45 and left at 11:45.  After we were done eating we were waiting for the bill to come and all of a sudden everyone starts getting up to leave.  So we are asking well where is the bill, did someone already pay?  Come to find out the guy, who we bought his car, was one of the extra guys there and he flew in from the west coast just for this weekend and picked up the bill.  That was very nice, considering the bill had to be about $800 and he was good friends with that group, but besides buying his car we didn't know him at all.  They left this group of friends, and we bought his car and joined that group of friends.  Kind of funny. 
Most of us then headed home, but a few went on to some other bars,  since most of the guys at the table were flying out Sunday morning.

Week of March 4th, 2012

Sunday I was awoken at 8am by Amber poking me asking for me to get up and fix her breakfast- geesh what is it with her and breakfast!  I told her she could go get the cereal out of the box, but she didn't like that idea. She got herself to the point she was yelling and screaming at us both in bed.  Needless to say she was in time out by a little past 8 this morning!  After I got up she had a bowl of cereal while I made pancakes, then some fruit, and a fruit slushy for breakfast.
Jacob had some homework to finish today and then I wanted to try a new pizza place for dinner, but got outvoted and we ended up at Pizza Hut.

Monday I got my hair cut after I dropped the kids off at school and then ran to the mall where I can get everything done.   The cleaners had Jacob's and my coats and they were all sewed up and they turned out fine.   I then needed a ton of things at the grocery store.
Today it was snowing huge flakes- crazy! 
After school today Amber was very crabby so I asked her if she wanted to take a little nap, and she ran upstairs and got all cozy in bed and fell asleep.  Why wasn't it this easy to put her down for naps when she was 2!  Of course then she doesn't go to bed at night, oh well at least she was in a better mood after her nap.  She was still so pooped out when we had to leave that I carried her from her bed to the car.  Before we went to school I ran to the pharmacy to pick up some more cough medicine for Amber.  Here you can't buy any type of cold medicine or any pills of any kind in the stores.  Everything has to be bought at the pharmacy.  So it is normally a busy place, and today I had to wait inside about 10 min. before it was my turn.  No drive thrus here.
When we picked up Sean from ball skills today he was so sweaty.  He said they had played dodge ball today and he was the king of it, ha!
Tonight both boys left their homework bags at school!  Here they have these little like satchels for each grade they have a different color and in there you keep your math notebook, spelling notebook and calander that you write everything down on and do your homework in those notebooks.  I couldn't believe they both left it.  Sean says his is in his desk.  I had Jacob go back to look for his when we picked up Sean from ball skills and he couldn't find it anywhere- nice!  Hopefully someone just picked his up by accident.  But here all Jacob's homework is posted online so I just printed everything off for him.

Tuesday morning we had solved Jacob's missing satchel problem.  I said goodbye to the boys in the morning as they went out to the playground to wait for the bell and Amber and I went downstairs to the preschool area.  There are 2 sets of cubby lockers along the walls where all the kids put their backpacks and snacks.  On top of one is just a bunch of stuff.  Out of the corner of my eye I see a cranberry satchel, which is the color that 4th grade has this year.  I think to myself well I highly doubt this would be Jacob's but I should look anyway, and low and behold it is his!  I am thinking how in the world did it ever end up down here b/c he is never down here.  So I go upstairs and give it to him on the playground and he is chating to another friend.  Between the 2 of them they realize that the other Jacob in his class, he is from Sweden and his name his actually pronounced Yacob but spelled Jacob, goes to after school day care down there and must have taken Jacob's by accident and then when he realized it wasn't his he just put it on the shelf.  I couldn't believe that we found it. In a school this big you never know if you will see things again.  Jacob was very relieved.
Today the lower school participated in the World Math Day competitions where they compete against students their own age around the world to see who can solve the math problem first.  It is a neat idea.  So the boys did that today for part of the day.  And then the preschool did special math games today.  So the room parents had to get some snack trays together for the preschoolers for a treat today.   So after dropping Amber off I went and help cut the fruit and vegetables and put the trays together for them. 
The kids had a busy afternoon today.  Amber had her gymnastics class, then when we went back to school to get Jacob, b/c Sean went home with a friend after school.  Amber went home with a new friend today that is in her class, but this girl stays in preschool all day.  So we met them after school and Amber went home with them.  So it was nice and quite after school today for Jacob to start on his homework, with his homework satchel!  Then I feed him a quick dinner and took him to his first tennis lesson.  It is indoor at this tennis club by us.  They have 5 indoor courts and they are on kind of like a carpet turf.  The club has alot of construction going on around it and so outside of it is so so muddy. The whole parking lane is just mud.   The mud is so deep on one side I won't even back up into it afraid I won't get out of it.  So he wore his shoe boots and then just was suppose to bring his school indoor tennis shoes.  So once we pull up in the parking lot he realizes he forgot his shoes at home- ugh!! 
So each court was having lessons with one instructor and then 4 students.  I was very impressed.  They were mostly playing a tennis match instead of standing there taking turns hitting the ball.  The instructor said she would test Jacob out today to see if he could continue in this class with the 3 other boys his age since they have been playing all year.  Jacob did very well for himself considering he hasn't played since last summer, but before this it was normally spring - fall he would play.  So he was a little bit rusty but you can tell he knows what he is doing.
While he was at the class I ran and picked up Amber at her friend's house, thankfully they don't live too far from us.  I got there and they both had ballerina outfits on and were dancing around!  So then we went back and Jacob was finishing up.  The instructor was talking in German, French and English to talk with the kids.  Maybe this will help Jacob's french and he can learn some German words along the way.  He will have to start taking German on top of French in 6th grade.
So the instructor said he did fine, and will be able to stay in this class.  Jacob enjoyed it and I was very pleased with the class.  Tennis is a good sport to play since he can't play baseball here so this is another good hand/ eye sport to substitute in the meantime.  He has always been a good hitter in baseball and the baseball coach said that the tennis definately contributed to that.
After tennis we had to drive across town and pick up Sean at his friend's house, which lead Amber to fall asleep in the car so another late night for her!

Wednesday was the day for the girls coffee at the mall and today Amber went home with a girlfriend after school so I didn't have to go back and pick her up. So one of the girls and I stayed until noon!  It was great!  Then we walked over and did some grocery shopping at the store there.  It is amazing how much time I have when I don't have to go to school in the middle of the day and pick up Amber!  Then I just swung by and picked her up on the way to pick up the boys from RE class.  So I got a lot of things done then at home today.

Thursday morning all three kids were fighting over the door to the garage before 8am!  Amber went into the garage and left the door open so Sean was trying to close the door and Jacob was inside not actually putting his coat on just trying to get around and complaining he was too cold with the door open.  So I go downstairs and see Amber is pulling the door open, why I don't know, Sean is pulling the door closed, and Jacob is standing there complaining he is cold.  Are you guys kidding me!!!
After I dropped them off at school with good riddance, I went to the one grocery super store that does framing.  I have looked in stores for frames for pictures I have bought here or in Europe and I don't understand why they sell pictures that their sizes don't match any of the frames that are out in the stores.  I checked out like at least 5 places, the only ones I know, and couldn't find anything.  So I ended up bringing them to the framing section of the store.  The frames themselves weren't too bad, but they charge more then the price of the frame for doing the work, crazy!  These are pictures I have bought at places we have visited to have something to hang on the walls here, but I am annoyed that I have to pay this much just to frame a picture!

Yeah it is Friday!  Had preschool coffee this morning, then went home and got things ready for our Friday playdate at our house.  Amber went home with her friend today after school, so I went and had lunch with a girlfriend!  It was so nice!  We walked from her house down to a nice place along the river.  The inside is very elegant and neat with all the stone and brick in the walls.  We even had a glass of Champagne for lunch, very common here for even people working to have wine or a drink at lunch.
After the boys got out of school we had playgroup at our house.  One family couldn't make it at the last minute because of strep throat.   Instead of our champagne this time I made some Sangria and it was so yummy!  One of the other things I made were some green rice krispie treats for an early St. Patrick's day.  The kids had a fun time playing and eating!

Saturday Jason and all the kids had haircut appts.  so Amber went first and then I walked her to the park around the corner.  She had fun playing and then one of her friends from school came to the park so they got to play together.  After Jason and the boys finished they walked over and were there for about 5 minutes and all 3 kids went on that circular thing that you run around and push it and then hop on and it spins around.  She had been playing on it fine before, but then the boys pushed it super fast and she went flying out of the one side that is open.  Thank goodness she had her coat and hat on and the area around it is made up of those padded surface squares.  And the round circular thing is actually built into the ground so it is level with those soft tiles.  So then we came home.
For lunch today 2 friends and I went downtown to the City Center and had a great lunch at a Chinese place across from the Palace and then walked around down there and did a little shopping and then we met up with another friend.  It was fun to walk around down there since we hardly ever go except to the farmer's market.  By now it was raining and none of us brought our umbrellas, I guess we still aren't true Luxembourgers since we don't carry our umbrellas with us at all times and it does rain a lot here.   We ended up going to this cafe that has a covered outdoor seating that faces an open square and had dessert, coffee, etc.  So we sat outside in the covered area for a bit while it rained.  The outside seating was full soon after we sat down.  Very popular even though it was a little chilly.    It was so fun and I ended up being gone all afternoon.  We had never done this before but we will definately have to do it again!
Once at home, got everything ready and we had a nice BBQ chicken dinner.

Week of Feb. 26th, 2012

Sunday I was still blowing my nose and sneezing so much.  I just moved from room to room with my klneex box.  I hope no one else gets this!
Jason and the boys rode their bikes to the park halfway between here and school.  It was just a lovely day out.  When he got back he and Amber walked to the park down the street for a bit.
Since Jason was going out of town tomorrow we decided to have Amber's b'day celebration for dinner.  She was so excited.  I had put up a few decorations and she kept asking when are we putting up the rest!  We grilled out pork chops, had green beans, potatoes, and garlic bread.  She got to eat on our happy b'day plate and she ate all her food.  Then we had some cupcakes. 

As soon as dinner was over she is like, where are my presents now!  Geesh!  So she got to open her presents and had a good evening.

For her party at school tomorrow we made 7 layer rainbow cupcakes and frosted them.

Sorry I can't seem to get the picture turned around!

Tonight I finished putting out all her pink decorations and balloons.

Monday was my little baby's big day!  I had her breakfast tray all ready and was debating if I really wanted her to eat this in bed since she never has yet.

And all of a sudden she was standing in the kitchen. So she got to eat her breakfast off the tray at the table! Perfect.

Although it seems to be a little too early for her as she couldn't open her eyes for any of the pictures!
She is so excited to get dressed in a pretty outfit and go to school.

 I get her dressed and she goes downstairs and gets on her shoes and coat like 15 min. before we even need to leave.
I had coffee with a friend in the school cafe after dropoff, and then came home and sliced the apples to take into school and put the Strawberry Shortcake picks in the cupcakes.
At 10am I go back to school with all of Amber's goodies and we celebrate her b'day with her friends.

This is Amber's great teacher!

Today Jason left to go to Brazil.  I told him he is one week late, that Carnival party was last week!  So he hasn't been to Brazil since we moved home from there 6 1/2 years ago!  Crazy. When we moved home we had 3 of us speaking Portuguese and one holding a Brazilian Passport!  Sunday he was trying to listen to some portugues on the Ipad and then I found him asleep.  I guess he didn't find it that interesting.  I can relate since I want to take a nap after I am finished with my French class.  It is so draining. 
I asked him to bring me some of those yummy cheese balls that you put on the grill and cook.  At least it is summer there and is like 80 degrees.  I could do that right now!
Today was about the 3rd day the weather has been warmer, so I am officially putting away my heavy winter coat and I am not taking it back out and that is final!
Tonight for clean up time Amber got special Happy Birthday music from You Tube with all sorts of different characters singing it!

Tuesday the drizzle of rain and the fog have set back in now that the temp. rose a bit.  After my French class I ran back over to the tennis club in my area.  I went there last month and asked if I could get the boys in lessons and they said they were full.  It is a year program Sept. - July so I left my name to be added to the email lists.   So now since I have never gotten any emails from them I went back over and this time she actually had me fill out some paperwork and they would check for spots.  The boys would play tennis in the spring, summer and fall at home.

Wednesday we had moved our Thursday coffee to today.  So I ran and picked up a few groceries and then went to meet them since it is all in the mall. I was in a hurry and forgot to buy milk, how that is possible not sure!   I tried to see if Jacob's coat had been sewed.  She couldn't find it so said it must not be ready yet.  Ok that makes me feel good.
Amber's 2 friends came home with us for lunch and a playdate so they had fun.
I got an email today from the tennis club saying they have a spot for Jacob once a week in the evening!  I was so excited!  He can start next week and it goes until July.  So I was going to have Sean to basketball for the spring session at school and see if he could do both classes on Tues. and Thurs., but now that Jacob got in I will double check about Sean at tennis too.

Thursday.  So I have mentioned before how I love my new alarm clock, but now the real birds are back and I am getting woken up by them at around 5:30 thinking it is my alarm and I need to get up!
Today after I picked Amber up we went to a friend's house for lunch and had a good time.  Then after that we picked up the boys and that little girl's house we were at she came back to our house.  Amber told me today that she doesn't like our house here as much as the one we lived in before, but she does wish her house was next to her girlfriend!  Today when they were playing I heard Amber say " Come on girlfriend!"  Too funny!
Tonight I got Sean's birthday party all booked and we talked about it and planned what he wanted.  He wants an Indiana Jones theme.  So I thought no problem, I will just go online and order it where I order all my b'day supplies.  Well I guess they have gotten rid of most of the Indiana Jones stuff and there isn't much left.  I found goody bags with a few cool things I could put in so ordered those.  Then I found one place that had a bunch of different Indiana figures and items that are cake toppers so ordered that and we will just have to create a scence.  I saw pictures of beautiful cakes people had made or bought.  At times like these I wish I could just go to the grocery store or a cake baker and order a cute normal cake!
After I had brought in those rainbow cupcakes to school I had some moms ask me about them.  They had never seen anything like this and how did I do this.  One mom was telling me that it is always the American moms that have all these neat cake and party things they get from the US.  You got it!!
So I had told her about Wilton stuff so she looked it up and found someplace that delivers here.

Friday morning we had a nice group for our preschool coffee, so that was good.
When the boys school finished Jacob's grade had a movie night at school so he was excited.  They stayed at school and went to the Auditorium and watched a movie with snacks.  After the movie he went home with a friend and had a sleep over.  He had a fun night!
So the rest of us were getting together for our Friday playdate at a friend's house.  So I told my friend I would just pick up her 2 kids from school and we would then all be over since she doesn't live that close to the school.  So we are almost to her house and one of her kids starts throwing up in my car.  Poor thing.  We tried to hand her the only little bag I had in the car, but it didn't work so well.  She ended up with it mostly on herself, but all over the car seat and seat belt.  Thank goodness it didn't end up on the carpet at all.  So we got to her house and her mom got her and got her all cleaned up and I went to work on cleaning up the car.  So all the kids played for a bit and then we went home as she did end up coming down with the flu or something.  Poor thing ):

Sat. Amber had gotten a kink in her neck yesterday after school, so had been walking around with her neck tilted but was ok.  Well this morning she was screaming about her neck.  My chiropractor was moving his office today so couldn't see her.  So I made an appt. at the dr. office- seriously I feel like we are there every week now- ugh!
So Sean went over to where Jacob had spent the night and played with the kids while we went back to the dr.  He gave us some ibuprofen and anti-inflammatory syrup.  I had some bengay to put on her and then we got a little hot pack that you heat up and place on her neck.  I haven't seen any heating pads here where you plug in like at home.  So she spent the morning on the couch and then my friend dropped the boys off around lunch, so they had a nice morning!
Jason got home from Brazil in the afternoon and then in the evening we had plans so we got everyone packed up and went to a friend's house.  Amber's neck was doing much better.  We had plans to go to a South Africian Wine tasting event with another couple, but they couldn't get a sitter, so we decided to share our sitter.  So all the kids went to their house since it was by the event and the sitter came over.  They live about 20-30 min. from us.  All the kids had so much fun.  We had brought their sleeping bags and everyone was told to go lay down later in the evening, but of course the boys were still all talking so weren't asleep when we got back to their house around 11pm.
The Wine Tasting event was very nice.  It was a woman who imports the wine from south Africa with her parents, so it was at her parents house about 10 min. from the friend's house we went with.  There were 12 people there and they had it on the 3rd floor of their house.  There was a big dining table all set nice with little munchies and then she went through a Champagne, 4 white wines, 7 or so red wines, and a dessert wine.  The rest of the people were all speaking German and the lady doing it would go between speaking German and English.  It was our friend's neighbors that had set it up.  The rest of the group was a bit older then us and kind of a quite group.  So the 4 of us were a bit louder (:  We bought some wine about 12 bottles.  They store it all in their garage!  Our friends bought a ton of wine that filled our truck! 
We had a good time.  Then we went back to their house and picked up the kids, Amber sound asleep, and the sitter and dropped the sitter off and got everyone back to bed!
Unfortunatley tonight we found out that Jason's grandpa had passed away.  He was almost 90 years old.  He was a very good man, but he had been ill for awhile and was on hospice.  We hope he is now resting peaceful in the company of his friends.  His wife said she is going to bury him with his billfold (:  I said this is how we will have to bury Jason too.  We can only pray that we get to live to 90 as well.
Rest in peace Grandpa.