Time flies

So...we've been here in Germany as a family now for six months. It doesn't seem like it's been that long...this first year is going by way too fast. I sure hope we get longer than a year...it's not going to be nearly enough.

It wasn't until last week that I finally figured out how to put an outgoing message on our cell phone, and how to get the readout on our home phone to switch from German to English.

I need Steven's contract to be renewed...my learning curve is much slower here in Germany.

We did some exploring today. We wanted to check out the trains so we went to a little village named Schopp, but we didn't find the station there. It was, however, the first time we'd been to Schopp. We'd seen it many, many times from a distance, but had never actually visited.

After that, we drove to Hohenecken because we were pretty sure there was a train stop there as well. We didn't find a station there, either, but Steven did drive around and try to find a good place for me to take some pictures of the castle. This is the first castle we ever explored in Germany and I feel strangely sentimental towards it.

There is a beautiful church that sits below it and as we're driving past Hohenecken, the view of the two together is beautiful. I have wanted to capture it with my camera for months now, but there is no good place to stop to get a picture. Steven worked at trying to find a good spot.

This isn't quite what I'd hoped for...but it's pretty darn close. 

There are a few little bridges in Hohenecken. It's a pretty village. I like driving through it.

From Hohenecken, we drove into Kaiserslautern to satisfy a craving Steven's been having. Okay...not satisfy it, really...we probably just made it worse.

Yep...BMW's...but not cars....

See, this spot has it all if you happen to be a male. 

Scotty's going to want one of these sometime in the not so distant future...just like his Dad. Truth be told, we can see Mylee on one most likely as well.

Lunch time...store is closed. That is a hard thing to get used to about Germany...lunch hours.

 

We decided to head back toward Einsiedlerhof where we knew we'd be able to get on the train and passed this on the way. I've wanted to get a shot of it since we got here. It's interesting me me...the Erotic Megastore right next to a Day Care/Preschool. 

It looks stormy but it the weather was very nice. We waited for about ten minutes for a train, then boarded and headed back toward Kaiserslautern. Just figuring out how it all works.

This is a castle Scotty spotted in a village called Theisbergstegen. (Say that ten times fast.) I tried to find in on the internet, but it's evasive. I'd love to know the castle's name so we can go and visit it.

Here's Mylee, watching the scenery go by.

Scotty, too.

Are these storks? I don't know, but they're big, white birds with very long legs.

Here is the train station in Landstuhl. This is where we got off on our way back to catch another train going into Einsiedlerhof. 

On our way back home, I decided to take some more pictures of the things I've come to really enjoy about our new home.

The road to Krickenbach. This road is amazing...especially now that it's summer and the trees are all filled out. It's an awesome road with twists and turns and this beautiful canopy of trees overhead.

Ignore the dirty windshield...it's buggy around here.

And here's another one of my favorite things...I call this 'my tree' or 'the Krickenbach tree'. I don't know what it is about it...I just really like it.

Steven was incredibly awesome today...making sure I got the pictures I wanted. If I haven't said so in a while, my husband rocks.

It's just a pretty tree. It was really cool in the winter, too, with all of its branches bare. 

Here's Schopp from a distance. Every time we take this road through Krickenbach, we see Schopp...only I didn't know it was called Schopp until a few days ago. We learn something new every single day.

Here's my tree, (from the other direction because Steven pulled over so I could get a good shot of it without having to look through the buggy windshield. Like I said...he's a very sweet guy.) Along with my tree is an objet d'art and two very cute looking kiddos. I don't know about the art, but the tree and the kids are pretty awesome.

Okay, okay...enough with the tree.

If you go down this road through Krickenbach, you eventually get to Linden.

And the scenery is beautiful.

Linden

 

Here's where our friends, the Gilmore's live. We waved, but I don't think they saw us.

This last six months has been an amazing adventure. Sometimes it's still hard to believe that we're actually here. Even Maya stops every so often and says, "We're in Germany. How crazy is that?" It's crazy in a wonderful way...and we have really enjoyed our time here so far.

I still haven't figured out how to get our voice mail off of our home phone...I'm going to need at least another year or so for that. Here's hoping for a renewal!