Reunited!

I'm so excited that Melissa is here and that we're going to Disneyland Paris tomorrow!

Melissa is my long-time friend from high school. We have never, as far as I can recall, had a break in our friendship. She and her mom put up with me many, many weekends in high school. I worked with them at the Clearfield drive-in sometimes in the summer. I remember being so tired (that's my excuse) that I asked a man what he wanted on his pepperoni pizza. Of course he looked at me like I was an idiot, but then he said "pepperoni" for my benefit.  As I walked away, I realized why I got that look from him. Lol. So embarrassing!

I was in her wedding ~twenty years ago! Her husband (before they were married) and I used to stay up late together and watch movies and listen to or talk about music. Melissa and her family (including her mom!) probably have no idea how important they were to me back then, and what a special place in my heart they occupy today because of it. But the thing is, I haven't really hung out with them much since joining the Navy. We've kept in touch, but only probably averaged about once a year or less of actual visits. It's a busy world! And of course, every time I see them, it's like we were never apart. I'm so excited to have her all to myself (with 5 other people, of course) for two weeks!!

Tomorrow we are planning to leave at 0500 and go to Disneyland. I hope it's going to go fine. Thursday until now two of the kids (Alex and Lilly) were quite sick with a fever and nausea. I REALLY hope and pray that Griffin and Livvy don't get it. Seeing them sick in Disneyland would make me so sad! But time will tell!!

Today, of course, I took Melissa to Frankfurt. It was really rainy and then on the way home, we drove through a giant storm. Glad we didn't get stuck outside in that! It was a pretty nice day though, visiting the cathedral and going to the Goethe House. Those are two great places to visit, especially if you don't have a lot of time in Frankfurt.

Right now, I'm sitting at home with Lilly watching Blippi. This house is a pretty big fan of the silly man. I think right now Lilly calls him Utchi. (Or Ew-chi.) She sings his and Nicky Notes' songs, and it's pretty cute. Right now, she's dancing because he is. She's so little and cute. I certainly have a lot to be thankful for.

A nice breakfast at the Schirn Cafe

Inside the Frankfurt Cathedral

Part of the story of Christ inside the cathedral

Inside the Goethe house.  Looks like someone had an obsession with bundt cakes.

Window box.  I love the warped glass.

Wallpaper inside the Goethe house.  This reminded me a little bit of some
patterns I saw in Hemingway's house in the FL Keys.

Frankfurt with a friend and family

I was so blessed by my friend Heather's visit! She and her mom stopped in Frankfurt to see me before heading over to Krakow for a longer stay.

Why don't YOU do that?!

Seriously, my visit with Heather was absolutely therapeutic. I needed to spend some time with a loved one in addition to my immediate family!

Heather found an app (was it, "Visit a City"?) that put together a walking tour with her input, and we saw so much in Frankfurt! We saw multiple churches and a couple museums. I especially enjoyed the Schirn Museum, which has an exhibit based on dioramas. I've never seen anything like it before!

I learned how to use public transportation to and from my house this weekend. Finally! And how easy it is! It is so easy, in fact, that I think we're all going to go up to Frankfurt this weekend for a little trip. The kids will love the train, and I think everyone will love getting out for a bit. The train station is only a 7 minute walk from my house! Fortunately I had guessed correctly that an all day ticket was literally good all day and would count for a round-trip ticket. On my first day, nobody checked, but on my second day, the polizei came around, and my ticket was good. Somebody else's wasn't, and the polizei asked for his passport, which he didn't have. So then he took him to the back. Uh oh. (He came back to his seat after a little while. It really wasn't too dramatic, thankfully.)

I am getting into this business of living in Europe! I still have to decide where we'll go over the Christmas holiday. My mom is coming to visit (woo hoo!!), and I'm going to show her as much of Germany as I can, but I think we'll still have time to go somewhere as a family. I'm thinking of going north to Berlin, but I might be intimidated by the weather. I still have time to decide!

And I can't wait to visit Bavaria (today)! I think I am one or two weeks late with the leaves, but that's okay. I'm excited to see the mountains again. This time with a digital camera! It could be great!

After my visit with Heather, I actually did as I planned and took the family to Frankfurt. I'll tell you, I can't get us out the door at a decent hour. Today my goal is noon, but with Frankfurt, it was 10:00. Guess what time we left? 2:00. I know how we are, though, and planned only to go to the Schirn Museum and have a nice dinner. We did both, stopping at a Chinese buffet on the way back to the train station. I also put on the baby backpack for the first time since I discovered my herniated disc in 2015. It went well. I had to give it to Dave quite a bit but less because of my neck and more because my core is weak and it felt like my lungs were being squished. But I'm happy I handled it as much as I did.

Oh, and on another note, I submitted my claim for my household goods. Please pray that it gets resolved smoothly and to our satisfaction. We are just too busy to have to spend too much time fighting this.

And now I share the pictures:

From Frankfurt, a visit to Alaska

And Africa, maybe?

Interesting diorama at the Schirn Museum

Schirn Museum. For me, this exhibit was quite weird

Pretty German building

At the Goethe House

Linen press. Looks like a lot of work to me

At the Museum for Modern Art (MMK). What is the purpose of this exhibit? It is beyond me

Near Romer Plaza

In Romer Plaza