Jun 27, 2009

[GERMANY]we have arrived-in style!

Well what a whirl wind it has been getting to Germany. We flew out of Hawaii for Tacoma. Arrived in Tacoma to a shuttle van which took us to my grandmothers. Picked up a rental car the next day so we could drive to Portland, Or to watch my little brother graduate from PSU. Stayed the weekend with him then my sister and her kids and our family drove back to Spokane. Where we would be staying with my sister for 4 days. Had a blast at both my brothers and sisters house. Left my sisters house to find out the mustang we rented had a flat tire. Hubby was not to happy about it. Put the donut tire on and we took it to a tire shop and had them repair the flat. Hubby said the rental car company is paying for this and then some. And they did they gave us one free day so it ended up costing less for the week rental! Got the tire fixed and we were on our way back to my grandmothers where we would be flying out of Seattle to Germany.

Spent 3 days with my grandmother and the shuttle van was back to pick up us up. We're on way to Germany-yay! Loaded all the suitcases, the kids, and the cat. Got to the airport but because we were traveling with a pet we had to go into a different line. Needless to say we were cutting it short with time already and the lady at the counter had no clue about PET POLICIES for UNITED so we were standing there for minutes before she figured it out. Then they did not know how much to charge us. I mean the cat is a carry on going under our seat, how much can it be. She ended up charging us 125.00 we literally ran to the gate. Got there and they yelled HOLIFIELD'S are here. They directed us to the ticket counter and the women says how about upgrade to first all the way to Germany and 5 free 260 dollars tickets to fly anywhere if you take another flight, what? YES we screamed. So instead of boarding the plane and leaving we had to wait another 3 hours, which was no big deal because we did not have our coffee and breakfast. Everyone got something to eat and drink and books to read and we boarded our plane into first class. OMG it was amazing. I think we will NEVER fly coach again after this experience.

We arrived into Germany and we're greeted at the airport and taken right to a hotel at the airport for an overnight stay. We were still hoping that they were sending us to KTOWN. But hubby came back and said no it's Baumholder. Oh well we can't make the Army give us what we signed up for. So the next morning after arriving in Germany we had to be up and ready by 8am. Hubby went and finished in processing and the kids and I went and had breakfast at the McDonalds in the airport. Meet back up at the hotel by 9:45 and we were heading out to board the bus to take us to Baumholder. Had to wait awhile, which is nothing new because we all know the Army is HURRY UP AND WAIT! The bus came and we had a stop at Weisbaden[sp]I got to see my IKEA we drove right by it. I said man people stationed at Weisbaden have Ikea 5 mins away-lucky!

The bus driver took us the back way from Weisbaden so it took forever to get to Baumholder but we got here and the Langerhoff{sp}was booked. They drove us off post to the a hotel downtown. We ended up having to pay 110 euro a night for 2 nights. Thank goodness we're getting reimbursed for that. We also had to rent a car which is costing us 180 euro a week-kill me. I'm so glad we have the funds to this otherwise we would be stuck with no vehicle. And we all know how much that sucks. We can't for our van to get here.

Anyway they told my hubby they had NOTHING on post the first day we were here. They told him we would have to live off post. Well we did not want do that. So the next morning he went back into housing and he came back to the hotel with four sets of keys. 3 of them where for a 3 bedroom on SMITH and one was for WETZEL but it was going to be renovated in a couple months so they would have to move us again if we picked it. So of course we went and looked at the 3 bedrooms first. I fell in love with one on SMITH, the view was to die for and the kitchen was so big. But after talking it over and coming to realize we could not let our 9 and 8 year old share a room I had to quickly put that 3 bedroom out as my pick. We arrived over to Wetzel to the building and as we drove up we said OMG this is right by the apartment we lived in our first time here. It is on the first floor and a playground is directly behind us. The kids all screamed YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS we want this one. It looks like no SMITH for me this time.

Hubby took us back to the hotel and went and signed for the WETZEL 4 bedroom. We moved in the next morning. Went to Volgelweh and bought new 19 inch LCD screens for the kids rooms and we bought a 52 inch JVC. My grandmother had just gotten her LCD screen so hubby wanted to go get one ASAP right when we here! Thanks grandmother-lol. [Happy LATE Father's Day] Bought just paper plates and cups etc etc etc because we're hitting up IKEA for everything for the home, minus a couch set and table because we have those coming. I gifted my sister boxes of stuff because I knew I wanted to buy new things from Ikea. I can't wait to hit up IKEA on Tuesday. We're buying everything for the kitchen, textiles for all the rooms and getting the kids rooms organized. Our second HHG doesn't come till the end of summer so we're stuck with the army loaners til then, but I get to go shopping and make this feel like home. We also are getting a NAVI system so we don't get lost this time while we are out touring Germany. It's great to be back to Baumholder, we're familiar with it and we enjoy being here. It was awesome to get back on the autobahn again. I missed it.

The cat did great, the kids did great. We had a wonderful experience flying here this time. First class is HIGHLY recommended. It's the only way to fly ;}

Enjoy the pictures, there will hundreds.
Love and miss you family, we had a great time seeing you all.
Off to go find where Transformers is playing.
Happy Saturday everyone!
hugs-Bree