We are cruising through the year; I can’t believe it will be the holiday season soon!
September 30th is the last day of our fiscal year at work, so we were grinding right up until the last minute on Monday night after a month of non-stop work! Happily, that meant we could ease off and work at a more natural pace for the time being!
I left Stuttgart early morning and flew back to the US on Thursday. My grandmother’s birthday was Friday, and I planned to surprise her. My parents picked me up from Dulles, and we had a quick dinner before I headed to bed.
Friday was the big surprise. My mom and sister took my grandma out for lunch, and I hid around a corner and jumped out to surprise her. She said I “shocked the hell out of her!” 😂 She was so happy, and we both cried!
Friday night, her favorite volunteer organization hosted a pub quiz, and I re-joined the team I had previously played for when we lived back in Maryland. It was a special night because my grandmother received a special commendation for all her contributions to different community organizations. Our team didn’t win but came in the center of the pack, which we all considered great, considering a lot of the competition was a bunch of librarians.
Saturday, I slept in. (I actually spent a lot of my free time sleeping on this trip; I think I really needed to recharge my energy). We visited my grandmother’s new house, which she is renovating and had a birthday dinner for her at one of her favorite restaurants.
Throughout the rest of the weekend, I spent lots of time catching up with my parents and Matt’s parents, Alli and my nephews, and several friends. I also caught up on lots of sleep I was behind on!
I ran some final errands on Monday morning, and then it was time to return to Dulles!
I lucked out and had a whole row to myself. I was able to lay down and sleep until the flight attendants came by and woke me up for landing.
Matt and the kids also had a great weekend. Brooklyn took the SATs on Saturday, and we are all grateful she has a break from studying. Matt and Ryan completed many Scouts and Civil Air Patrol requirements and spent time hanging out and prepping the house for my parents, who are coming for a visit next week. But first, we are off on another adventure next weekend!
Gilcrests Abroad 