We had a crazy, busy, first full week of May! On Monday, I returned to the eye doctor and I’m now scheduled to have my next eye surgery, next Friday. I’m just hoping I can keep myself calm enough during surgery to hold still and let things happen. The recovery will be very similar to that of Lasik, except this time it will only be one eye so I’m hoping I’m not out of commission all weekend.
On Tuesday, we said goodbye to Matt Sr. and Cindy, who were heading back to the US. We had a wonderful visit with them and the house seems extra quiet now!
Tuesday evening, Ryan’s team scrimmaged against the local baseball team, the Herrenberg Wanderers. It was a tough game and Herrenberg ended up winning, but Ryan had so much fun playing. He is thinking about joining the team after the regular baseball season is over.
On Friday, I was off work. Matt had to work that morning so I caught up on things around the house. When Matt got home, we went to downtown Böblingen to get lunch from the Street Food Festival. We had some really good Korean fried chicken and onion rings!
After lunch, I went home for a nap while Matt picked up Ryan from school and took him for his first haircut in over a year! Ryan’s Eighth Grade Dance was Friday night and he really wanted to create a lot of drama so he didn’t tell anyone at school about his plans for his hair.
I can’t believe how grown up he is with his new haircut! Matt told me that when he was dropping Ryan off, everyone crowded around him, complimenting him on his hair. I’m sure that just meant everyone was just repeating ‘bro!!!’ over and over again 😂.
When we picked him up, he said he was going to have to put his phone on ‘Silent’ due to all of the notifications he was going to be getting 😂.
After we were all back home, I was scrolling Facebook and saw a friend post about the Northern Lights being active in Germany. We ran to the top floor of the house and sure enough, bright pink lights were visible, just outside our window. This is all thanks to the solar storm that had occurred a few days before. When we witnessed the Northern Lights in Norway, we didn’t get to see much pink so this was definitely a big treat!
Saturday morning, we were up bright and early for another day of sports. Brooklyn left at 5am to catch the bus to Hohenfels, Bavaria for a double header against their team. The Stuttgart team added two more wins to their record and luckily, a friend sent me videos of all of Brooklyn’s at-bats. The highlight was a nice triple which sent in an RBI.
Ryan had a double-length game against the other Stuttgart team. It was another tough game as the other Stuttgart team has a much better record, but we were happy with an “almost tie.” Ryan also hit a beautiful double that brought in 3 RBIs.
Once we were back from sports, Matt and I quickly got ourselves ready for Stuttgart’s Frühlingsfest and then headed to the train. We made it to our 5:30 reservation at the Grandl’s tent just in time. We had two tables and the twenty of us enjoyed the chicken, bier, and the Schlager band until late into the evening!
Sunday morning came way too early. It was Mother’s Day and we had tickets to the GT International Open at the Hockenheim Ring, about an hour away. It felt like it was especially loud after a night at the bierfest, but we all really enjoyed crossing this off our “Stuttgart To-Do List.”
The Hockenheim Ring used to host the Germany Grand Prix Formula One races. However, the race has not been held there since 2019 and only holds smaller races now at this venue. The race track seemed a little “crumbly” and could use some updating and repairs. I hope the race comes back some time soon so they can shine it back up again. It would be kind of cool if we lived within an hour of a Formula One race.
This week marks three years since I arrived in Germany. It seems like just yesterday and a lifetime, all at one time!
We’ve been thinking a lot lately about what our future looks like. We have decided to extend our assignment in Germany and keep exploring Europe, for now. But, it was not the easy decision we thought it would be! We still love living in Germany and our community here; but, changes are coming. Two of our favorite families will leave in June for their next assignments. We all arrived within a few weeks of each other in 2021 so it’s very bittersweet for them to be moving on and things will definitely be different! Of course we also miss our family and friends back home. Ans lately, we’ve been catching ourselves dreaming of American conveniences more and more. Like, big washers and driers, stores being open on Sundays, and air conditioning. I suspect those feelings will only intensify over time so we will see where the future takes us!
Gilcrests Abroad 