Adventures in Deutschland

Me. Sorry if you keep checking to see if there is anything new. I'm sure that must be frustrating! We're very sporadic bloggers. And, as we take more and more Greta pics, it becomes too much to upload them everywhere we'd like. This blog host, in particular, takes forever to upload pictures. I've been trying to put recent Greta pics on my Facebook (often as my profile pic) and uploading ALL of the pictures we take to Snapfish so that we can order prints and other neat things. SO, if you're checking this blog to see if there are any new Greta pics, I'd suggest you do one of two things: If you just want to see a recent shot to see how she is growing, you can create a Facebook profile and send me a friend request. OR if you want to see LOTS (I'm over 400 for this month, people!) of Greta pics, send me an e-mail to add you to our snapfish distribution list to kvictor@urbanhouseliving.com. I generally send out each months' pics at month end, but sometimes more frequently, so you can also let me know how frequently you'd like them sent and if I'm sending out a batch, I'll include you.
-Kirsten

Last week we drove from our home in Germany to England for our dear friend Tracie's Wedding in Cambridgeshire. Greta got two more countries stamped in her passport, the UK and France, well traveled 8 month old I would say. A long drive and ferry ride across the English Channel and we finally arrived in England. Tracie's wedding was at the manor house of Oliver Cromwell, of English Civil War Fame and was a wonderful time. As you can see Greta loved it, but I told her not to get any ideas for a very long time. Dad, signing off for now.

A Visit To All The Houses We Lived In While In England

Red Riff on Bulstrode Way, Gerrards Cross

Her "Who Loves Baby" photo album (Parents, aunts & nephews: we need 3x5 or 4x6 pics of you as couples, family unit for this!!)
Oh my, last blog entry was August 11. So sorry blog followers. It's just that it takes so flippin' long to upload photos to this thing! Well, that, and the addictive, but time sucker that is facebook (I post a lot more pics on there, sometimes a new Greta pic every day, so if that's why you're a follower of this blog, GET YOURSELF A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT and you'll get your Greta fix a lot easier!). Anyway, I digress. I wanted to post the pictures I took, JUST TODAY so you can see why we have so many photos on snapfish (e-mail me if you'd like the link to our snapfish account) of the first 7 months of G's life. If you're a random stranger trying to follow a blog about Americans living in Germany, sorry to disappoint. As of Jan. 2, 2009, this spot became an occasional report of living in Germany, and more often a Greta update w/ pics. So be it. Oh yeah, and after just adding all those pics, the thing I hate most about uploading pics to this blog (and that I forget every time it's been a while since I've done it) is that they go in opposite order of how you put them in (and it's a royal pain to change the order) and always at the top of the page. So, it's the day in reverse. Urgh.

So, we can't believe that we've lived in Germany for close to a year now. It's been an eventful 10 months so far, we traveled to Kiel and England, Greta was born, visitors have been with us every month since January (and if Susan comes in December, it will be every month this year!). I've been to Trier four times. All that to say, we haven't just been sitting around the house. But, there are so many cool things just outside our door that we're still discovering.

For instance, we finally took the boys for a "walk in the woods," which is how Germans walk their dogs. Awesome! Next time we go, we'll bring the camera and share the scenery with you. Outdoor German pools, also awesome. And, the pics above are from a great park in Kaiserslautern right next to a GREAT tapas restaurant (thank you Tracie for my birthday dinner there, and for introducing us to this wonderful haunt!). If you'd like to drool at the menu, here's their link: http://www.tamarillo-kl.de/html/kontakt.html That beautiful building just above is the restaurant, a surviving structure not bombed in WWII. We've also discovered another great traditional German restaurant in a hotel in Quidersbach, the next town over, well actually Graham and Myra did when they were visiting. They were so impressed that we went there the next night too! Dads, we'll go there when you visit again. Also, with my mommies group, I learned that there's a neat Naturwilpark and zoo nearby. Not really counting as a discovery, but this summer I've very much enjoyed sitting on our balcony with Greta after she wakes up from naps watching and listening to the chickens/roosters, cows, sheep, horses, magical flock of birds that mysteriously fly over our village, and tractors.