Battle with the Big H :)

On Tuesday night, Jim and Shaeffer (Josh’s two friends visiting for the week) took a train to Trier and were meant to get in about 7:30 PM..just in time to grill out. So I got everything ready while Josh went to pick them up. After about an hour we found out that the boys had boarded the wrong train…so they wouldn’t be in till 10 pm or so. So Josh came home and we decided to grill everything inside and they could at least have left overs.

While Josh and I were eating dinner, I could tell that he was disappointed that the guys weren’t going to be back till later. Josh wasn't saying much so once our conversation became me, myself and I, I blurted out “what is your problem" and he was like "nothing, I was just going to ask you to lay on the couch with me." I said "Oh." Then he was like, "so do you want to" and I said "no, there is no point in doing that." (Not sure why in my mind there wasn't a point to laying down). Then he went and laid down on the couch and I started crying... (I’m pretty unbelievable-I know).…so he looked over and said..."are you really crying" and I was like "yeah, but I don't know why" and of course started crying more. Then I told him how he is a boy so he doesn’t understand how girls work and that a girl would understand me. He started laughing and then once I listened to what I had said and I started laughing also. I looked over at the early birthday package Joelle had sent me and I had received that day and cried more. At this point Josh was finding this more humorous than anything because I couldn’t stop laughing or crying. Eventually I chilled out but couldn't believe how awesome Mr. Big H (aka...hormones) was being....and I am going to blame this episode 100% on them. Josh puts up with quite the load sometimes.

Last night we all four went out to dinner at Zumstern...one of my favorite German restuarants across from my Clinic. The guys had taken our car to Bingen and Rudesheim for the day. They said they had a blast and Shaeffer was happy because they saw some pretty ladies. When we got back from dinner we decided to start a game of hearts. We ended up staying up pretty late and playing but it was well worth the late night because the last hand Josh gave me the Queen and was soo happy with himself. So I had no hope but to shoot for the moon….I somehow ended up successful and then rubbed it that I was the winner and made them all loosers….shouldn’t mess with the best (k- I’m now done being cocky). :)

The guys are taking the train today to Munich to see Dachau concentration camp. (We went there with Josh’s parents and after about 30 mins I became physically sick to my stomach…it was good to see but I don’t want to ever see another one again.) So Josh will take the train on Friday morning to Munich to join them for fun Octoberfest festivities. Jim states they are sleeping on a park bench tonight because they don’t have a hotel reservation.

I work tomorrow and then have train tickets to head out on Saturday morning (with a couple friends) to catch Octoberfest for 24 hours…I will let you all know how it goes.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! And I hope this blog finds you having a happy Thursday!

Love, love, love,

Gretchen

Another happy Friday :)

I called Joelle last Friday and caught her on her way to Ames, Iowa (where Dane went to College) and were Joelle and I spent many weekends hanging out and listening to Damon Dotson (one of our favorite bands). Before I graduated from college I officially made Ames one of my most favorite places in America…don’t judge until you go there. J Needless to say, I got really sad while I was talking to Joelle and said that I wanted to be in the car with them. We both kinda laughed about how silly we are about missing each other and then I let her go. (The worse part about being sad about this incident is that no one else understand except for Joelle because we were the only ones to make the trip. Josh never made it to Ames so it is hard for him to get what was soo great about Ames.) Once I hung up the phone the tears started rolling. Josh was already asleep so I ran into bed and told him I was sad and HAD to wake up to make me feel better. He tried to wake up but just couldn’t so I told him he would be in trouble and then laid there thinking. When I woke up in the morning Josh had no recollection of me coming to bed…he knows what to say to get out of trouble :).

We picked up one of Jim’s (Josh’s best man) friend, Johnny, from the train station last night. He is coming in for a couple nights to see Jim who we are picking up on Saturday to be here for a week. Jim and Johnny met while studying abroad in Spain. Michael, another one of Josh’s friends from Officer Training Course is coming in on Saturday to visit also for a week. Both Josh and I have to work but the two of them (Jim and Michael) are going to travel around via Train. Next weekend Josh is taking Friday off to head to Munich for Octoberfest with his guys. I was told this was strictly a Man’s event so I agreed to stay back. A week later I got an email from a couple neighbors saying they were heading there so I jumped on the idea and bought own my train ticket to Munich. We are only heading up for one day but it should be pretty fantastic. Josh will take the train back with me while his Friends will head to the airport….this week is going to go by fast.

Tonight I have to bake Jim a b-day cake. His birthday is tomorrow and we are picking him up so I have to make it as special as possible. Mary Jo if you have any tips send them my way. I will update you all after the man’s week adventure. I am happy because I get to ask unlimited questions to the boys about life and love. :)

Sorry this blog was short. I was trying to think of what to write and couldn’t really think of too much. All I could think to write about was work, eat and sleep….I need to become more exciting. :)

Talk to you all soon. Love and much missing from Germany.

Gretchen

Happy September 1st!

Josh drove his fam to the airport yesterday morning. They were visiting for 2 wks and 2 days and I am not going to lie I thought that it would not be nearly as fantastic as it was having them here. Right before they came, I have to admit that I was having a hard time imagining now sleeping in my bed….even though it had just as soft of blankets….does that make me high maintanence? I also had to give myself little pep talks that it would be “okay” if the house wasn’t always spotless. For the record though I told Josh the last night that I was really starting to like the guest bed.

The Saturday they came in I begged Josh to let me come to the airport too. (It was going to be a very tight squeeze fitting 6 people into the highlander with luggage.) But I woke up trying to reason with him that I would sit on the floor. He gave in after a couple of hours…so I was very happy! When we picked them up we had a 6 pack of Belgium beer waiting for them. When we got back, we grilled out and just caught up.

The first week they were here Josh had time off so he got to travel with them and just hang out. They were able to go to BernKastle-Keus, Idar-Oberstein, Ramstein (to see how an Air Force base compares to Army….really no comparison) Belgium (I am spacing the name of it) and Luxumbourg. I am sure they went a couple more places but I can't remember them. The next weekend I took Friday and Monday off so we flew to Cinque Terre, Italy. This is a place in Italy that has five small villages scattered throughout this cliff. To get to each village you can either travel by train or hike village to village. We spent most of Friday traveling but ended up getting there and heading straight to the water to swim. Afterwards we had a late night Italian dinner….I am obsessed with Italian food. The next day we got going early in plans to hike until we couldn’t take it anymore. (We were staying in the farthest town, Monterosso). The first hike took a little under 2 hours to complete. Joelle had warned me how beautiful it was but no words could really explain how unbelievable it really was. At times, we were walking right along the edge of the cliff with only 2 ft of walking path….the key to survival was Josh carrying a backpack of 3 Nalgeen water bottles for us. Without the water we would have all passed out…no exaggeration. When we made it into the 2nd town around noon we went right for the beach. After cooling down, we had some lunch and the kids hiked one more town. The rest of the weekend was filled with eating, relaxing and more site seeing….too much fun!

When we got back to Germany, Josh had one day off while I went back to work. Each night we either grilled out, made dinner or went out to eat. Josh’s fam got to meet all our favorite friends. J Once Josh started going back to work, things changed a little bit. He started getting more tired and the first night he came to bed and got really quiet. I asked him what was up and he said he just really liked his family. I smiled and agreed with him. I told him he should go hang out with them more so he got right out of bed to go read his book in the living room. Each night after that he expressed at least 1 time how much he really liked them. After awhile I got sad too.

So Josh’s family came and went….at times I got tired but the fact that I had so many people to ask questions to made it all worth it. Being so far away, Josh and I both agreed that we get caught up in work and Germany that we forget how much we really love and need our friends and family back home.

Today I got told that I get to go TDY (temporary duty) to a conference for 4 days in the beginning of October. The best part is that it is in Garmisch, a gorgeous place in the German ALPS. (When Joelle and her sisters came to visit we went there and it quickly turned into Joelle’s favorite place of all.) Also, I found out that most of the providers are going as well as myself and another nurse….so it should be good hang out times. Josh said he is going to turn the place into a bachelor’s pad for a week.

Well I should go now. I wish you all a happy 1st of September. Miss and love you all!

Love,
Gretchen