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
Happy Holiday Weekend Booshka
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