Daddy's Little Helper

It poured rain again today -- all day! Perfect day for getting chores done around the house which is exactly what Ben and Carter did. Ben was working hard installing roller shades and curtain rods in our bedroom and Carter was watching intently. Suddenly he stood up and ran into his bedroom and came back with his Elmo drill. He ran back to his room again to get his foot stool so he could stand up high just like daddy.

Click here to see more pictures of Carter helping Daddy.

Our Sea Shipment Was Delivered!

Our sea shipment was delivered yesterday! It only took 5 weeks...helps make up for the super slow air shipment.

The movers arrived at 8am. It was so cool to see the truck driver maneuver the tractor-trailer up and down our narrow little street. I applauded him when he was done and it was in place. I was truly impressed. We had a great crew of guys who unloaded and unpacked our stuff. Fortunately, one was fairly fluent in English and he was quite the comedian, too.

It was wonderful to see our furniture again and Carter is just giddy about having all of his toys back. I definitely brought too much kitchen stuff. Our oven here is so small that my cookie sheets from the US won't fit. Good thing we have ample storage in the basement!

It's amazing how much quieter the house is now that we have soft couches and rugs to absorb the sound. Ah, silence....oh, shit, there goes one of Carter's loud toys. Couldn't we have left those in storage? So much for the silence.

Home Internet / Home Phone --
After much effort by Ben and many hours on the phone with T-Com support, we have home internet. Dealing with IT support is never easy, but it's even harder when you don't speak the same language. Of course, we got the internet working just in time for SunRocket (our VOIP phone line provider) to go out of business. So, we had promised all of you that once our home internet was up and running, you could call us at our old Northville phone number. No longer the case. Ben is now investigating Vonage or Skype for VOIP service. Stay tuned...once a decision is made and we have a new Michigan phone number, we'll let you know.

BBQ at the Tikekars

Maneesh and Julie Tikekar had several ISEs and their families over to their house for a BBQ on Sunday, July 8. There were 5 kids under the age of 4. The food was fantastic. Dessert was watermelon, aka "toddler crack."

Blackberries for dinner????

Carter and I were exploring one afternoon shortly after moving in and we came across this blackberry (Brombeere in German) bush growing in our new back yard. These berries looked quite yummy so I picked the largest, juiciest one I could see and popped it in my mouth. Immediately I was overcome with a tart flavor and I almost spit it out. Then I got several of those huge seeds caught in my teeth. Lovely.

Of course Carter HAD to have one, then another, and another. He probably at more than 20 that afternoon. The tartness did not seem to bother him at all. He kept standing there on the back patio asking for "more" with his mouth full of the last batch I brought. If you click this link to the gallery of more pics, you will see that there were so many berries that some heavy equipment had to be called in. Needless to say, Carter didn't eat much dinner that night.

Im Forst 30

We have moved into our house in Germany (Im Forst 30). It's fairly bare bones as we are without our air or sea shipment. Carter's room actually looks pretty good as most of the 9 pieces of luggage we brought with us on the plane were filled with stuff for him. Ben and I are sleeping on the mattress we borrowed from the Johnsons and we are eating off of picnic plates borrowed from the Dhrunas. This is similar to camping but without the hassle of a tent.

Carter is doing well with the transition at school, Vincerola. They have a strict transition plan which includes one parent staying with the child at the school for the entire first week. Ha! If I had that sort of time, I wouldn't need daycare. Fortunately, Carter impressed them all with his ability to adapt and today I was actually allowed to leave for a couple of hours.