November Pictures

5 Dec, 2010

Okay, okay so it has been a while and there is SO much to catch up on! We are moved in and still unpacking. Finally down to the last few boxes. Starting from the smallest kid to the biggest adult, here are the updates. Ceara patiently awaits the start of basketball season. She has made the honor roll at school and is active with the yearbook and PE clubs. Robert also made the honor roll and received his letter in tennis. Derrick got his letter in Cross Country. The parents continue staying busy driving the kids all over Germany, dealing with the Holidays, work and a trip to Euro Disney. We can officially say we were not super impressed but had fun regardless. This week we focus on Robert getting his tonsils removed and getting our car up and running again. If you haven't heard, Jason hit a deer the other day and even though the car is still drivable, there is some work that needs to be done.

Pictures during our hiatus

10/24/10...finally!

King family adventures is finally off pause! We can finally see the floor in our living room (don't ask where we hid everything) and all the kiddos are settled in school. Things are finally starting to feel like a normal routine. There are so many things to update, it's hard to find a starting point so we will put the question out there...what would you like to know?
So far there have been requests for pics of the house, and tomorrow we will post some. There will also be pictures of the past month of our slow PAINFUL unpacking process and then pictures of the week! The kids already have a ton of activities so there should be no end to the updates from here on out :) It's bed time for us so that's all for now (I know lame, but Germany has turned us into old people).

Pause 9/18/10

So we just moved into this teeny tiny box of a house and are currently sitting outside of our old hotel to "borrow" access to the internet. Getting phone, cable, internet in this new place is going to be a SLOW process I am afraid, so please bare with us while we figure it all out.

9/12/10

We arrived in Germany and even though, most of us slept most of the way here, we are EXHAUSTED. Once we deplane, we are greeted by some Soldiers asking if we are just arriving and if we are PCSing...the kids are AMAZED that one Soldier seems to be able to smell another, even when they aren't in uniform! lol
Okay, we got our bags, got settled in at the "holding area" for all the other incoming personnel and set out to look for a snack...Starbucks of course! Screech! Pump the breaks! This was the first shock, dollar to euro, ouch 3 pastries... $17.00!!! Welp, we won't be doing that one again...
Planes, trains and automobiles...okay, okay plane, bus and automobile it was a 3.5 hr ride from the airport to Baumholder. On the way there, Robert had a nosebleed on the bus and "Momgruber" had to jump into action (see pics from last week) and "plug" the leak. We finally arrived at our hotel off post (since the one on post is full, typical) it's not your typical hotel, but from what we have been hearing...it could be worse so we are blessed.
Next day, Jason starts in-processing (don't get me started on this ridiculous process) and since I don't have a schedule I get a ride from our sponsors wife Trisha to see what kind of things I can get accomplished. Let's check the tally, day one Jason gets: a haircut, and his in-processing sheet. Christy gets: A phone, 2 out of 3 children registered for school, family established in tri-care (so we can see the doctor). Duhnt duhnt if this is a contest, I think Jason is gonna lose...
Day 2, the trend continues- Jason scores: 85% on his drivers test! woohoo! Christy scores: the third kid registered for school, moved into the new rooms in our hotel, AND she found a house...this is when we found out that the early bird really does catch the worm. I found the house on Friday, Jason promtly lost it on Monday morning :( He was there what we thought was bright and early, right when the office opened and he was STILL the third guy in line for this house, so it was back to the drawing board... Good news is, God made more than one worm for us because that same afternoon, I found us another house! and this time, we were ready! :)Long weekend almost killed us, I never knew cabin fever was a real thing til I had it! Lucky for us we were able to get out and experience some of the local food. This is when I realize, I have to take up exercise, now, or I am gonna weigh 500lb by the time we leave this place! Doners (it's kind of like a gyro) and eis (ice cream type stuff) just call us fatty fat fats :)
Over the weekend Jason had a crash course in "motherhood". Welcome back from deployment, Derrick, with the combination of jet lag and mild dehydration woke in the middle of the night blowing chunks and "nose goes!" Jason was it! I wish I had pictures, not of the vomit, but of Jason running between the rooms with a towel tied over his face! He could hardly take it! What should have taken about 10-15 min to clean, tops, took almost an hour! And he was gagging and dry heaving all the way! I know, it's not right to laugh but we're bored and there's nothing on TV here! lol With that safely behind us, we made sure that Derrick had plenty of fluids and gentle things to eat for his belly. Jason may need to seek counseling for his ordeal.
Finally, school starts! Robert jumps in feet first, Derrick is a little more apprehensive, so he gets a push (or four) and Ceara gets four shots (welcome to being 11! Here's how things stand:
Derrick is running cross country, Robert is in JROTC and playing tennis, and Ceara patiently awaits basketball and softball seasons AND they have their bible study they will do with the Shorts (Thanks Kevin and Christina!)
With the kids in school, we can focus on getting settled. We went and looked at the 2nd choice house...Yay! much better fit for us! God always knows what we need :) When we went to look at it I was pleasantly surprised! Even though it is 1/2 the size of the home we just came from, I still think there will be plenty of space for us and we can make the storage work too. We met the neighbor lady and she was nice too. Now all we need is to find a car...like NOW!!
Now it's just a waiting game. We wait until we can get into our house, we walk (about a million miles a day) until we get a car and we slowly but surely get settled.

Pictures of the week- 9/4/10 Part II

Pictures of the week-9/4/10 Part I

8/30/10

Once we reached L.A., it was GO,GO,GO! We never stopped, we could hardly catch our breath! First things first, there was the debate between Magic Mountain and Raging Waters... Jason wanted to do something fun before we left California but we are "Disneyed out". So J posed the question of Magic Mountain or Raging Waters on fb, but when a cousin (there's like a billion of them!)offered to take the kids to Magic Mountain, two out of three kids jumped at the opportunity! That left just us and one of the kiddos to got to the wedding :)
And what a wedding it was!! This wedding was more like a production! This lovely young couple have friends and family from many cultures and so their wedding represented the many cultures that their friends and family come from! The food, the music, the dancing! It was like a party from start to finish! There was American and Guatemalan food, and it was soooo good! There was a Mariachi Band, a fantastic Cuban band, AND American Music! to which Jason and his cousin Patrice danced the night away! We had so much fun and the couple took such good care of their guests! They gave us cool umbrellas and fans for while we sat in the sun and heat and then flip flops for our footsies after all the dancing in our fancy shoes! This was a wedding I will NOT soon forget!Oh and about those cousins, I was wrong, there's like TWO BILLION of them! lol
A couple days later, we finally got a day of rest and "grown up time". Uncle Ruben and Auntie Pat took us for the best foot massages we have had in...I don't know maybe ever! After about 90 minutes of having our feet and bodies pampered, we went and had some of the BEST fish tacos I have ever eaten in my life! BAJA TACO baby!! MMmm good!! The only thing better than that was the delectable cheesecake samplings that Auntie Pat brought home from Harriet's... OMGoodness!! All I can say is Key Lime Pie cheesecake! wowzers!
Pretty much every day after and in between we were off visiting one family member or another. There are an awful lot of people trying to see "CPT America" before he leaves the City of Angels. This means lots and LOTS of meals, and a little bit of cards where Ceara managed to hustle me, her dad, and her uncles out of $11.00!! IN NICKELS!!
Our time in the heart of L.A. is coming to a close it's time to make one more visit to Moreno Valley AKA "the oven" here's where we split up! Kids with yet another cousin, Brenda. While Jason and I went to visit a cousin I had never met before, Pandora in Big Bear ;)
Big Bear was beautiful! And Pandora was great! She was so much fun and we had a great time hanging out with her! It was finally time for some real rest and relaxation! GREAT TIMES! Back to Moreno Valley and it was anything but HOT in fact it was downright chilly! I even had to pull out my sweatshirt in the evening! A welcome change from 115 degrees. We spent the last two days packing everything up and getting ready for our final American adventure...The plane ride.

Pictures of the week 8/28/10 Part II

Pictures of the week 8/28/10 Part I

Pictures of the week 8/21/10 Part II

Pictures of the week 8/21/10 Part I