Road Trip to Trier

It was a beautiful day here, so we decided to forgo unpacking more boxes and putting things in place to taking a road trip. We drove about an hour and a half northwest of where we live to Trier, Germany. It was a beautiful city, unlike anywhere I have been before. It is a city so rich in culture and history. Here is just a little history of the city:
Trier is a 2000-year-old Roman city near Luxembourg, the oldest city in Germany. It was home to six Roman emperors and has many ruins including the impressive Porta Nigra (the Black Gate), a four-story structure that was once part of the city’s walls. An interesting fact about the Porta Nigra is it was built out of limestone, but over the centuries it has darkened with age. Can you imagine what it would of looked like when it was white? "Roma Secunda", the second Rome, was another name for Trier, and nowhere else in Germany are Roman times so vividly recalled as here.
The city is situated in a narrow valley of the river Moselle and surrounded by forests, vineyards and nice villages. It is also the birthplace of Karl Marx.

Packed and ready to go!

The architecture was beautiful.
Here is a shot of the city's main square. It was busy and full of life!
I love pumkins and these were very unique!
This was taken in front of the Porta Nigra. Notice the man with his pants down...yea...I have no idea what that was about! ;-)
Ahhh...the Porta Nigra. The Romans built this out of limestone. It's amazing to think that this was once white!

Roman bath ruins that were being excavated.

More Roman bath ruins.
Grace showing off all her teeth. ;0)
We finished off the day with a fire in the chiminea and roasting marshmellows. Today was a good day!

Roses

We have a couple of rose bushes in our front and backyard. So Jackson wanted to be the big helper that he is and help me cut them and put them in a vase.
I need some pointers on how to take care of a rose bush so they produce more flowers like this. Have any suggestions?
Also, some of the trees in our front yard are just starting to turn colors. I can only imagine what the trees around us are going to look like when they really start to turn.

Bernd's Blockhaus

We have been attempting to eat at this place down the path from our house for weeks but it's only open on certain nights. So, finally we went on Friday night and it was open for business. It is a nice, secluded restaurant called Bernd's Blockhaus. It means "house made of wood" in german. The view was amazing and the food was fantastic. I can see us going there many times in the future!

Our village where we live from a distance~Weilerbach


Supporting Bitburger beer!

Cows and horses grazed in fields surrounding the restaurant.


This was Jason and Tom's meal. Pork tenderloin with spaetzle and house salad. Yum!
Ella Bell being cute!

My meal was beef tips with potatoes. What looks like mashed potatoes is actually horseradish. I am not usually a fan, but it was excellent!

From sequoias to swim lessons

I am welcoming myself back to the blogging world! ;-) I have taken a little of a hiatus, but am making a promise to myself that I am going to be better about blogging about our new home here in Germany and all the new and exciting things that surround us. We have been busy lately with getting our house in order (still...does it ever end!?!), exploring the area, Jackson's preschool, both Jason and I doing a bible study at church and now both of the kids are enrolled in swim lessons twice a week. Whew! Needless to say, when we have quiet time we are enjoying every minute of it!
Here are a few pictures of a hike we did not far from where we live. There are 9 sequoia trees that were planted around 100 years ago. They were massive! It was a perfect day for a hike and a nap, or so thought Ella...

Here is a little collage of pictures from our day.

Now off to swim lessons...

if you know me, I do get a little tense and nervous when my kids are swimming and in the water. So, what better way to make mommy feel more comfortable when the kids are in the water than swim lessons!

I signed both the kids up at the Aquatic Center on Ramstein. It is the indoor/heated swimming pool where we take the kids to swim during the week. Jackson was so excited and couldn't wait to start. I took a few pictures of him, but as for Grace I didn't get any. As you can see Jackson had so much fun! I can only pray that my kids will learn to love the water and swimming as much as I did. They both loved it and I know it will be a great start to swimming for the two of them.

Jackson would not go to sleep without Emma when it was time for nap. I couldn't resist taking a picture of them sleeping together. Notice Emma is using his dinosaur as a pillow-so cute!

Getting settled in...

We have officially been in our house for two weeks now and are finally getting settled in. There are just a few boxes left of items that I have no idea what to do with until our last shipment get here. We have more bookcases, wardrobes (for those of you who don't know...German houses don't have closets), and our new sectional sofa which I am VERY excited about!! I got the curtains in the mail yesterday and have them up, but I am not sure if I like them or not. But the good news is I got a great deal on them, so they will probably be keepers. We have been busy getting to know the area where we live by exploring the local markets, bakeries and stores. I still have yet to venture out very far, but I promised myself I am going to this week.
Jackson started preschool today and loved it! I am so happy that he took to it okay the first day. His teacher is named Mrs. Maria and there are 3 boys and 3 girls in his class. I just can't believe he is in preschool...how time flies! He is enrolled at Faith Baptist, where we also have been going to church. I am so happy that we found a great church that is connected with Jackson's school. So far we really like everything the church has to offer. There are a ton of kids, good sermons, great music and good studies for adults. I am starting a new Beth Moore study next week with my friend Laura which will be really good for us!
Germany is absolutely beautiful!! We picked up our new car last week and drove through the wine country. I don't think I have ever seen so many vineyards! We have so much to explore in the years to come.
Friday can't come soon enough when we finally have phone and internet. I will be sure to post some pictures from the past couple weeks soon!

Our new home sweet home...

We have officially signed the papers and have a house to live in. We are very excited! It's in a village called Weilerbach which is not far base, Jackson's preschool and the autobahn. Although it is a bit of a drive for Jason to school, I think he is okay with that. It was important for us to be close to the major base because Jason's base is scheduled to close in a few years so he will be transferring anyway.
We get our household goods shipment on Tuesday when we move into the house. It will be so nice to be surrounded by our personal belongings once again.
Here is the house...

The front of the house...

Walking in the front door on the middle floor...
the front living room with fireplace (which I am really excited about!)...
the main living room...that is government furniture. the kitchen/dining room that goes to the backyard...
laundry room...I love how big it is!
this will be the kids playroom...the office which is upstairs between the bedrooms...
kids bathroom...
other side of kids bathroom...
Jackson's room...
from the office leading downstairs...
master bath...
another view of master bath...
another view of master bath...
master walk-in closet...
master bedroom...
view from master bedroom window...
one of the downstairs bathrooms....
this will become the craft room for me and the kids...
this will be the game/man room...it has it's own entrance. ;-)the other side of the game room where we will put an entertainment center...

great big backyard for the kids to play...so nice!
the side entrance to the game room...
a raspberry bush on the side of the house...I see lots of raspberry jam in the future!
the back of the house...
Jackson made friends with the realtor's son....
the fireplace! I am so excited to put it into use this fall!
Come and visit us...we would love to have visitors anytime!