Space A

While my husband was gone to training his great grandfather passed. It was a sad time but also happy as he lived a long full life and many years with out his wife.  Since we were just sitting at home alone anyway, I decided to the kids and I would try and get a Space A (available) military flight back to the states for the funeral and some visiting.

This was our first time using Space A and with out our "sponsor" we were pretty low on the totem pole. The also base it on the day and time of sign up in each category. We had to wait for Colby to get our Command Sponsor ship letter so we could fly without him. Everything moved pretty quickly for us. He passes friday night (stateside time) and we were trying to fly out on Tuesday. We didn't make the first flight to leave Ramstein that day but lucky for us there was a flight that was delayed from the day before and we were able to get on that.

We landed at BWI about 5pm EST. Germany had not yet entered Daylight Saving time so in Baltimore we were only 5 hours behind Germany. That being said we landed feeling like it was 10pm and being up since 3am. Jet lag set in for my kids and turned them into evil monsters that in no way resembled them. Once we got through customs, we went on to the ticket counter for a flight to Atlanta. I paid a little more but got us a non-stop flight. They even waived the baggage fee.

We enjoyed our time in Atlanta. Then flew to Kansas to spend time with my husband's family and finally drove up to South Dakota to hang out with my family. We got to see a lot of our family and I got to eat all the places Colby and I have been craving, a lot of which was mexican.

We planned to fly back March 31st so we could be home when Colby got back from his month long training. Well, he called the Wednesday before to say they were sending him home Friday. They only post the flight schedule on Facebook 72 hours in advance and only the roll call times. So then I just had to wait until they had a flight back to Germany available. This happened to be Sunday. I had to fly commercially  back to BWI and they only flights to arrive in time left at 6am. I choose the schedule to put us in BWI as late as possible while still having enough time to get our bags and check in at the AMC counter. We had some decently long layovers but it all worked out. Once they started roll call for the flight I was very worried we weren't going to make the cut. There were a lot of people there! I was stressing once they got down to only 14 seats available but I was able to count the number at that point and we were 8, 9 and 10. Just barely made it. Once we were on the plane they said it was a full flight however, there were several empty or almost empty rows behind me. Whatever I guess. I didn't care as long as I was on that plane. We made it back to Germany happy and just a little tired!

 They are well traveled and wonderful travelers!

Day Trip: Munich

Last Saturday we took a day trip to Munich. It was a little less then a 2 hours drive on the autobahn. It is funny, before coming to Germany I thought the autobahn was only one road and that it would be incredibly scary. This just goes to show how little most Americans now about Germany and Europe. I actually enjoy driving on the autobahn and no I don't drive over 100mph. Most drives go between 130-140 kmh (kilometers per hour). This is about 80-90 mph. I am used to getting to drive 75mph on the interstates in South Dakota so I quite enjoy it. Back to Munich. There is a lot to see in Munich so we knew this would only be our first trip.

After we found parking we decided to first hit up the famous Hofbrauhaus. It is a beer hall that has a live German band. I read about it while looking up things to do in Munich. I guess it was on a TV show so it is a big tourist spot and popular with Germans also.  I read it would get extremely crowded around noon so when we arrived in Munich about 11, we decided to go straight there. They were right about it getting crowded. The longer we were there the more people kept showing up. If you go I would definitely recommend going early or waiting until after the noon rush. Although, the band does not start until noon but we were still able to listen some.  The beer was good! I had a beer with lemonade and Colby enjoyed a Dunkle (dark) beer. The food was also very good. I had meatloaf and homemade potato salad. The potato salad was delicious!! The beer we got was served in liter mugs and boy that was a lot of beer! I saw some people with smaller glasses but the menu only indicated a liter. We had an enjoyable experience there and would go back again.

the Hofbrauhaus. It was getting very busy

enjoying my beer!

Lucky for us the Hard Rock Cafe was right across from the Hofbrauhaus so Colby was able to just run in quick and get his sticks. We were wanting to do the Sandeman's free walking tour at 1pm but after all that beer we needed to find a bathroom. It took a lot longer to find a bathroom then we thought so it was already past 1pm. The tour was still there but apparently they could only have so many people and we hadn't "bought" our tickets online. The website had said to just show up at the meeting place at the assigned time but that is obviously not the real case. If you want to make sure you get on the tour you have to get your tickets online and print the ticket. We weren't sure which time we would be able to do so we didn't want to commit. I hear the tours are great and in several cities but that just turned me off them. We just walked around. We saw the Glockenspeil. Which is basically a large cuckoo clock. 

Glockenspeil

We decided since it wasn't super nice and Colby wasn't feeling good to head to the Deutches (German) museum. We were only able to spend 2 hours there before closing. The place is huge and we probably didn't even see half of it.  The main things we saw were the boats/ships, the airplanes and flying transportation and the kids area. The kids area was nice with lots of hands on activities for the kids. You are able to go into some of the planes and it was semi interactive. The kids were in no way bored but they definitely didn't want to leave the kids area even though it was not very big. It is somewhere we would probably go back to. 

a ship in the museum

We enjoyed our day in Munich and were still home at a decent hour. The museums close early so we probably should of started there and moved to the walking around part afterwards. Next time I was to see Olympic Park and possibly the zoo. There is also the BMW museum there but the kids aren't huge museum fans were you just look. The are toddlers and need the interactive stuff. I am also looking forward to doing Oktoberfest once. I already know we won't be doing it this year as we will be in the States for my brothers wedding the whole time it is running, basically. Still another city checked off our list!

Our Paris Adventure

While we are living Europe I decided Colby and I didn't need to get each other presents. Instead we can give each other trips! There are so many place I want to see and not a lot of time or an endless about of money. This year Valentine's day happened to be on a Friday of a 4 day weekend. I knew this people even coming to Germany and informed Colby we would be going to Paris for Valentines. That is exactly what we did. We split our time between Disneyland Paris and Paris. We decided to only stay Friday-Sunday but now I wish we had stayed until Monday.

We left early Friday morning to start the 6 1/2 hour drive to our hotel just outside Disneyland Paris. As soon as we got checked into the hotel we got on the shuttle to Disney. It wasn't overly crowded and we headed straight to the Princess meet and greet. The wait was long! and with a toddler who needed a bathroom break, it wasn't worth standing around and risking an accident. The bathroom was right next to where you met Mickey. The line was only about 30 minutes long and they have movies playing while you wait. Half were in french and half in english but the kids didn't seem to notice they just enjoyed the cartoons.

We took the time to ride some rides and just wander around. We watched the parade on Main Street. We got there 20 minutes before and there was just enough space for the stroller. Well the family right next to us wanted to take up a lot of space apparently. The dad kept crowding in on us and it was very difficult of me to get good pictures or really see. That night the do the Disney Dreams light show with the castle. It was amazing! It was longer then I expected but was really good and mostly in english. Below is the castle all lit up for the Disney Dreams show. 

 The next morning we took the shuttle back to Disney but this time we went into the train station that is right outside Disney. We took the train from Disney into Paris city center. It took us about 30-40 minutes to get into the city. It wasn't that far in distance I didn't think but there were a lot of stops! However, the traffic in Paris made us very glad we hadn't tried to drive in. The train stop we got off on, Charles de Gaulle, was right by the Arc de Triomphe. We literally walked out from underground and the first thing we saw of Paris was the Arc.  There was a hop on hop off bus stop right there so we bought tickets and hopped on. The day was cloudy and kind of windy. We did sit on the top deck, which is open, of the bus so we could see more things and take pictures.  It seemed to take a long time at some of the stops just sitting there. However, it was nice to not have to walk everywhere and to see things from the bus. The first stop we got off on was the Louvre. We didn't go in and didn't really see it except the back. We walked from there to the Hard Rock Cafe so that Colby could get his drum sticks. He collects drumsticks from all the Hard Rock Cafes and I get postcards from everywhere we go. His our more expensive but there also aren't Hard Rocks everywhere we go so it probably evens out. We had lunch there also. After that we realized we didn't have time to ride the bus back to the Eiffel Tower before it was our time to go up to the top. I had purchased tickets to the summit online before. This was so nice! The line to go up for outrageously long. Since we already had tickets we walked right up and waited a couple minutes for the second elevator. Once we got to the second floor we walked around to the another line and set of elevators to go all the way up to the summit. The view was really nice but it was so windy the kids did not want to stay outside for very long. It was also super crowded and hard to walk around, really on both the summit and the 2nd floor. The line to go down was the worst though! We had to wait around 45 minutes to get on an elevator to go back down from the 2nd floor. The views were really great and I'm glad we did it but I don't think i need to do it again or at least not with the kids.

a view from the 2nd floor of the Eiffel tower

right under the tower where you go up to the top

After the tower and getting our pictures in front of it we got back on the bus. We planned to ride it around, this time under deck, to see everything else and be back to the Eiffel Tower in time for sunset and seeing the tower all lit up. We were on our way back to the the Arc de Triomphe stop when it started to rain/hail. We hadn't brought the umbrellas because it wasn't suppose to rain. So we just got off at our starting point and got tickets back to Disney. There was a train getting ready to leave just as we got there so we hopped on quick thinking we didn't want to miss the train. Once we were on I realized we were on the wrong train! We got off at the next stop and then waited for the right train to come by. It ended up not being a huge deal just that we were heading the wrong way! I had thought we would go into Disney for a little bit when we got back but we were all tired and the kids both needed a change of clothes. Paris was not good for our potty breaks or diaper changes.

Our last day we check out of the hotel before taking the shuttle to Disney. This time we went straight to the Princess Pavilion. When we got there the wait for 75 minutes. That quickly turned to 90 minutes and then a couple minutes later 120 minutes! I knew from reading other posts that we would only get to see one princess. I wasn't thrilled about this since at DisneyWorld we used a fastpass and were able to see 3 princesses at once. We ended up waiting about an hour and 45 minutes and were able to see Cinderella. We saw her at DisneyWorld but she is Harper's favorite so it worked out just fine. Then we headed over to Disney Studio, which is right next to Disneyland. We were going for the Disney Jr. Live show but right out front there were several characters with lines going everywhere for them. There were two princesses, Snow White and Ariel. Harper hadn't met either so I chose Ariel since her line was shorter. We only waited about 15 minutes for her if that. We didn't want to miss the show so we skipped the Snow White line, which afterwards I would regret. We headed into the Disney Jr. Live show and they had a little room with Jake and Sofia dancing with the kids. I didn't realize we were going to be pushed into a different room for the actually show so we weren't anywhere near the door. We ended up near the back and packed into the room sitting on the floor. I could barely see anything. The kids were sitting on our laps and I don't think they could see much either but they seemed to enjoy it. I wish we had stayed outside and met more characters. After the show Harper needed to go potty and so I located a bathroom and the women's line appeared longer so I took Waylon for a diaper change and Colby took Harper. That turned out to be a huge mistake. The mens line moved very slowly. There was only one person in front of Colby and he wouldn't let them go ahead in though Harper was crying because she needed to use the bathroom really bad, she is only 3.5 after all, well she ended up having an accident because it took so long. If I had known I would of taken her as the women were moving faster and most would let a crying toddler go ahead of them. So we set out to find Harper some clean pants which proved to be extremely hard! They don't seem pants for toddler and ended up spending a lot on a new minnie outfit for her. We were glad to get on the road but not before getting our picture in front of the castle and one more ride on the tea cups.

we loved Disney! can you tell?

We stopped at Ramstein AFB on our way for gas and we planned for supper there. They have a Chili's and we have been really missing American food. well it was already 8pm and it was a 45 minute wait! No thank you. Two semi-cranky toddlers and overly stressed parents. We opted for the Burger King and went on our way. We got home a little before midnight and some one was parked in our parking spot! There isn't necessarily assigned parking but everyone tended to park in the same spot all the time. Lets just say I was super annoyed getting back late and not being able to park right in front of our building like normal. Lucky for us it was still the weekend so right behind out building we found a spot when normally there aren't any anywhere near the building. The parking situation and our loud neighbors and not really friendly people and having a hard time making friends here makes me not want to live in this apartment anymore! I am going to enjoy our time in Germany and am looking forward to all the amazing things we are going to see. I just need to stay positive!

Black Forest-Triberg

Living in Germany offers so many amazing travel opportunities. I like to take advantage of our weekends with mostly day trips right now. Saturday I wanted to go to Triberg and take a path up to a castle in the Black Forest. Well there was some miscommunication and Colby thought it was a lot closer then it really was, so we got a late start on it, much later then I wanted. It was also suppose to rain all afternoon, which it did. So it ended up being just a day trip to Triberg and we will have to go to the castle another time. 

When we first got to Triberg we headed right to the tourist office and that start of the trail for the Waterfall. We paid 2.60 Euro for all of us to see the waterfall. The path is all paved so we didn't have to worry about it being muddy even though it was raining. The waterfall was beautiful. Waylon enjoyed seeing all the water. We did not go to the top of the waterfall since it was raining and the kids were wanting a snack. 

Only about half of the waterfall

Our second stop was Cafe Schafer. I recently purchased lonely planets book "Europe on a Shoestring" and this was in the book under Triberg. The cafe is where the recipe for Black Forest cake originated. Colby and I enjoyed the cake very much and it was my first time having it. The kids shared a slice of a banana cake and they loved it! It was very quiet when we were there. The lady helping us did not speak very good english so I was very glad Colby has been really working on learning German and can communicate with people. I need to start learning it more as it really does help.

mmm cake!

There were a few things I knew I wanted to get in Germany/Europe before we even arrived. One of those things was a cuckoo clock from the Black Forest. I thought we wouldn't go until this summer or even next year so I would have to wait. Well we had some extra money thanks to some very generous people!! and Colby agreed that I could get one! Once we got to the store, House of 1000 Clocks in where we chose, I realized Colby and I had completely different ideas on what kind of clock we wanted. Colby can be very traditional and I can be sometimes too but I also like unique. I really wanted one with motion not just the cuckoo clock. The ones with music are nice also and we agreed on that. There was a very nice lady working that helped us and answered all my questions and even played several clocks for the kids and for me so I could decided. At first I was thinking the battery operated ones were better and of course Colby liked manual. I wasn't sure I wanted to have to pull it everyday to keep it going. Just to make Colby happy I had her show we a manual one and I quickly changed my mind. The cuckoo is what sold me. It is a cuckoo clock after all! The battery ones are nice but of course sound a little electronic. The sound of the manual is just so much more authentic to me and I didn't care how many times a day I would have to pull the chain, that sound was worth it. We were able to decide on one we both loved, even though it was a little more then we planned. We also found a stein for my brothers birthday (we are getting all male relatives steins for their birthdays this year) They were also kind enough to tell us they take VAT forms and I keep some in the car us for cases as this so we were able to save some Euro. 

We didn't think this would fit in the car or our budgets!

Our cuckoo clock…Yes the couple on the bench kisses every hour!

We had a great, rainy day in Triberg and will definitely be going back this summer for more hiking and to check out the world's largest cuckoo clock that we missed this time. Until we meet again Triberg 

Adventures

I have been neglecting blog and I'm not sure why. Man how life has changed! Last March Colby made the decision to join the Army. He left in May for Basic Training and then went on to AIT. He was able to come home after graduation for 2 1/2 weeks before he had to report to our first duty station, Katterbach, Germany middle of October. The kids and I were able to join him in Germany in November and have been here for almost 3 months now.

We are planning to do as much traveling as we can. Hey, you only live in Europe once right? With the Army, maybe. We have been a some day trips and I will try to blog those some. I decided to start blogging again now though because we are taking our first big, overnight, out of the country trip this weekend. We are going to Paris and Disneyland Paris. I want to have a place to have some pictures and details of our trip that cannot be lost or mis placed. I will be able to look back on them or the kids will and hopefully it will help them remember there time in Germany!

I mostly want to share our travels but we will see how much other stuff I end up blogging about. Just depends on how dedicated I am! haha Maybe I will try to write come of my weight lose too. I am hoping to lose about 45-50lbs before my brother's wedding the end of September. We started right after Christmas with out workout routine and now trying to do a lower carb diet and just healthier eating in general.

Stay tuned for more Life according to the Seiferts

Our first castle in Germany!

Spring is here!!

It has been so nice lately especially for March. It was so nice that last weekend we FINALLY bought the kids a swing set.  It took us all weekend to put it together, we still aren't done though because we were missing some bolts. Once we got it to the point where the kids could play on it then the weather turned bad. The next two days it was super windy and then rained. They didn't get to play on the swing set until wednesday. Harper loved it!! She didn't want to get off the swing to go down the slide but then once we got her to go down the slide she didn't want to stop going down and wanted to climb up the slide the wrong way.

Since the weather has been so nice we have been able to get out the jogging stroller out and take Ollie on walks with us. This is part of Colby and I trying to get into shape and losing some weight to look our best at Jamie's wedding. I found this chart on pinterest and it is couch to 5K. I told Colby about it and he thought we should start running. We say an ad for the Brookings Marathon at the chiropractors office and Colby thought we could do the half marathon. I told him no way!! It is in May and there is no way either us of would be able to run that far that soon since neither of us have been running at all. Well I looked it up on the website and their is a 5K the night before so we are signing up for that. I will be the first long distance race I will run since high school when I ran cross country and track. We are doing really well with our chart and keeping up with our running schedule but we are doing a little more running then they suggest which is a good thing. The chart is for 10 weeks to get ready for the 5K but that would put us at the beginning of June and the 5K is May 12!! I am hoping we can get it done and actually run the whole thing.

So right now Austin and Nichole are living with us. Austin wasted his money staying at this crappy hotel for like 3 weeks and then ended up only having like $20 for a whole week. Colby and I were very upset that he blew off our suggestions for saving his money but when he ran out he turned to us to save him. Its very frustrating but now they have found a place to live and can more in on wednesday. I can't wait. I don't mind having Nichole around. It is nice to talk to a female that is about my age and know what it is like to deal with the crazy Seifert family. However, I don't like that Austin is always out in our shop/lean digging around and snooping at stuff. He also "organizes" stuff out there to, in his mind, help Colby out with his tool and shop. He isn't helping that much and the reason the shop looks the way it does is because all their stuff is sitting in there on a trailer. Another thing I don't like/approve of is he is always going out to his car/ the shop and smoking. What I'm not always sure. Colby said last week he was smoking a lot of cigarettes but we also know he is smoking weed a lot, Nichole does too. They just came  back in the house from being out in their car for like half an hour. They went straight into their room, which is right next to the living room, and I could totally smell weed.

Colby told Austin that I do not like that he smokes weed especially on our property. But Austin told Colby that he basically needs to smoke it everyday to help him calm down. He also told Colby that he didn't think I would of known he smoked weed if he didn't talk about it. I think that he is very naive to think people don't know he smokes weed unless he tells them. I know what weed smells like. One of our roommates from Manhattan used to smoke weed in the house all the time.

I guess the point to this whole thing is I'll be glad when they are in their own place and I can have my house back. I just hope once they are on their own they can start spending their money wisely and get their lives together on their own. I know Colby's father expects them to fail in more then one way. He expects them to move back to Kansas and in with them again. He doesn't think he can make it at this job or living on their own. He also told Colby that he doesn't think their marriage is going to last. What the hell!! How can your own father say that about you. He should be supporting them and wanting them to succeed at everything in life not expecting failure in their whole life. Austin thinks his father is the best man/father in the whole entire world so its a good thing he doesn't know what he really says/thinks about Austin.

So the rest of the night I will spend waiting for Colby to get home from working overtime at work. This weekend will be more like summer then spring but we will enjoy it all the same!!

Three Weeks

Three weeks doesn't seem like that long when you really think about it but in the last three-ish weeks since I last blogged a lot has happened. The biggest of those is Colby got his younger brother a job at the plant he works at. This is his second week working up here. We went down to Kansas two weeks ago and got all his stuff on my parents trailer and brought it back to SD. That was an interesting experience. Their father is so much different than mine. He obviously hasn't had the moving experience that my father has. The move was rough but we made it. Austin, his brother, was staying with us in the playroom. It was working fine as far as we were concerned because with with them working nights I hardly see them. However, when Austin went back to Kansas last weekend, his wife had her gallbladder removed monday, their father told him he should stay at a cheap hotel to get out of our way. No one even asked how we were feeling about him being here and just assumed it was a problem. Well Monday after work he came back to our house with Colby and then grabbed some clothes and stuff and went back into town to stay at a cheap hotel. He didn't tell Colby he was going that night only that their father suggested it. So when I got up he wasn't here and I had no idea where he was. Colby and I were both super pissed that he didn't even say anything to us. It made me feel like he was so ungrateful for us doing everything we have for him. It is pretty irresponsible too. He barely had anything left in his checking account and used all of it to pay for the weeks stay at the hotel. They get paid tomorrow but he still doesn't have anywhere to live. The place he put in an application for isn't available until the end of March. I found a house with the same company but he hasn't heard anything about either place.

Anyways that is the drama going about that. Waylon is growing so fast. He smiles and laughs and sleeps through the night almost all the time. If he does wake up it is usually about 5am. I am putting him in the bebepod some now to help him get into sitting up. Now that he is 3 1/2 months old we are considering when to start him on cereal and then baby food. With Harper we started her just before 3 months old because she was so small. But Waylon has been growing so well he doesn't need the extra calories.

Harper has been doing ok with the potty. These last few weeks she has had a few day where she will have no accidents and then she will have a couple of really bad days where she has 4 or 5 accidents then back to no accidents. I wish she would just have no accidents but she is getting there I think. The good thing is she doesn't have any accidents when we are in town. She always tells us when she has to go even says it when she doesn't have to go. But I think that is so she can get out of where ever we are like the table or the cart at the store. I don't know how to tell if she needs to go or not so we always take her. Another thing she does that can be super cute is she will repeat things we say. Her vocabulary is really expanding. She will repeat me when I tell her what shapes are what and when I saw "Oh Harper", which is so cute. She can also say uncle, grandpa and Waylon along with the normal words. We think she is super smart but we could be kind of biased.

I know this post has gotten really long!! But I just wanted to share my new obsession…pinterest. I know a lot of people are into it. I have gotten so many good ideas off of it. I will try to post some of the recipes I make and LOVE and some of the other money savers, gift ideas and party ideas I find. I am on almost everyday so I find a lot of GREAT stuff. Stay tuned.